The Greatest Event on Earth

The Olympics: the greatest event on Earth; an unmissable, unavoidable spectacle uniting countries in one place and individuals in a common goal. It has the history, the entertainment (Nadal vs. Del Potro, for example), it has the media coverage and it has the attention of both the public and big name brands.

Brands have always been heavily involved with the Olympics, big brands such as Samsung, Coca Cola, Nike and Panasonic to name a few. They want to be associated with the best, and what better encapsulates ‘the best’ than the Olympics?

This year we’ve seen some brands moving away from the traditional grit and passion of the likes of Under Armour’s ‘rule yourself’ ads. P&G’s Olympic TV campaign, for example, is a sentimental piece featuring American gymnast Simone Biles and touches on the important role her mother played on her journey to becoming a gold medal athlete. And Twitter took a different approach again by backing hundreds of athletes by creating over 200 new emojis in support of all competing countries’ flags along with one for each Olympic sport.

It’s been great to see that despite the undeniable atmosphere of tension in the build up to the Olympics: with the threat of Zika, the fear the site wouldn’t be finished and now the green pool debacle, that brands have got fully on board and support has remained relentless.

The headlines are ablaze with sporting superiority, medals galore and history in the making – it’s no wonder brands want to be involved, especially since the IOC has amended its Rule 40 making it easier for non-sponsor brands to capitalise on the event. Though there are still restrictions, brands have found ways around them and thus content has come from all sorts of places as opposed to a handful of brands dominating the show.

The BBC in particular has done a fantastic job of capitalising on the Olympics and this is not just based on their excellent commentary. Their seamless customer journey on their website has resulted in it being so many peoples’ first port of call for latest updates and roundups of things missed.

Likewise with Nike, a brand closely associated with professional athletes across the globe has been spectacular in not only its investment in Olympic advertising but in its advertising as well. The TV ads part of the ‘Unlimited’ campaign feature a range of athletes, from 400m runner Allyson Felix to Chris Mosier, the first transgender athlete to compete in the Olympics.

Like athletes, brands have to be great to stand out whilst the good falls mid table, and this means it’s a risk for brands to invest heavily in associating themselves with the Olympics, that is unless they’re a long-term sponsor.

Everyone wants a slice of the Olympic pie, even if the success of the event is uncertain or if the rules are restricting, brands will never fail to get involved one way or another. The plethora of different content platforms has encouraged wider brand involvement this year than ever before and with Tokyo still four years away, we’ll no doubt witness greater involvement next time round.

The post The Greatest Event on Earth appeared first on VCCP.