The Olympic Games, a sporting event observed globally to showcase athletic excellence around the world, has evolved into a massive opportunity for brand promotions and marketing. Alternating between the Summer and Winter Games, the event captivates millions of spectators worldwide and presents an opportunity for brands to engage with a diverse audience.
In 2024, the Olympics will be held in Paris, commencing on the 26th of July 2024. With the Olympics drawing closer and more anticipation building among fans globally, we see more and more promotions and brands getting involved, capitalising on the event’s massive reach and dedicated fans. Whilst our focus is on the huge benefits to national and global brands, let’s give a nod to local businesses expecting many new customers during the event in Paris. According to the economic impact study conducted by the Centre for Law and Economics of Sport (CDES) at the University of Limoges, “the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games could generate €10.7 billion in economic benefits and create more than 250,000 jobs in the Ile-de-France region.” This is a massive economic opportunity and with such a massive biannual event, comes an opportunity for brands to capitalise on the attention surrounding the Olympics and have activations that will get fans engaged and invested into participating in each activation.
The sporting event that dates back to 1896 has a long history to it, gathering the best athletes from around the world to compete as a show of sportsmanship and athleticism. Its branding and prestige remain strong and make it a global event that brings in big audiences across the globe, remaining one of the most viewed sporting events across the globe. For companies, associating with the Olympics provides a halo effect, enhancing their brand image and aligning their values with those of the Games. The Olympic rings are one of the most recognisable logos globally and carry immense prestige. Brands that become official sponsors gain exclusive rights to use this logo, which can significantly boost their market positioning.
However, successful Olympics sponsorships goes beyond just the logo and brand should engage audiences with various activations to maximise the biannual event.
Moreover, sports fans are dedicated followers and are often highly invested in the careers of athletes - and the Olympics are a prime opportunity to see their favourite athletes compete and participate in a competition on a global scale. Several athletes have very dedicated fans and bring their audience to the Olympics, filling the viewer count with serious and highly engaged fans.
For example, in 2022’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, competitive figure skater and 2-time Olympic gold winner, Yuzuru Hanyu skated at the Olympics for the last time as a competitive skater before retiring. His free skate program alone, racked up 2 million views on YouTube.
His free skate in 2018 at PyeongChang had over 36 million views. Within the figure skating category, there’s a large and devoted fanbase, each across the individual divisions of singles and pairs. Similarly in 2018, Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot’s pairs free skating performance garnered over 37 million views.
For the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics, just within the figure skating category, there were 91.4 million views on the Olympics’ YouTube Channel.
That kind of traction does not even account for even more well-known athletes like Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps and the more popular sports categories such as gymnastics, track and field, or swimming - who have equally if not larger and more engaged fanbases.
The target audience of the Olympics can be a little hard to pin, appealing to a wide and diverse range of demographics, so instead, brands can focus on their audience within the Olympics’ audience.
With a large number of viewers of the Olympics being athletes and aspiring professional athletes themselves, targeting that focus on healthy living and exercise is a great way to try and resonate with that audience and those shoppers. For example, Green Cuisine is a brand and a line of products under Birds Eye that offers a vegan alternative to protein-based meals. Birds Eye is a well-known brand with many product lines, by highlighting Green Cuisine specifically, it helps funnel more attention and awareness to that specific line of products and target an overlapping audience of those interested in sport and may also be interested in healthy living.
Dedicated fans may also have a vested interest in specific athletes and by zoning in on that niche, it may prove to be more beneficial, boasting higher rates of engagement and higher levels of interest. One example is seen in the brand promotion by Old El Paso whose on-pack promotion works closely with Team GB and even features athletes on the back of each promotional pack. Working with athletes as an influencer for your brand can be a great way to get that fanbase’s attention on your brand - having a well-respected advocate gives your brand and products a stamp of approval that garners more trust for your brand from that influencer’s audience.
Another way that brands can get involved outside of promotions is by contributing to the online conversation and community. Leading the conversation is all well and good, and it’s a great way to establish a brand as a trailblazer or authority, but even the Olympics takes effort to contribute to the fan base and the fan culture around the event, the athletes, and online discussions - making a concerted move to involve and get younger generations more interested in the event as they’re distinctly less interested than their older counterparts. A great way they’ve done so is through their TikTok account, not overly focusing on the event itself but on the athletes, and their performances, and posting a range of heart-warming, relatable, and funny content that’s light-hearted, engaging, and interesting.
With the heavy footfall and attention around the event, being an official partner of the Olympics or any of its national teams gives those brands a significant competitive advantage. This year, Paris 2024 has 14 worldwide partners, 7 premium partners, and 13 official partners. As for Team GB, there are 17 official partners, with 4 being in the foods and drinks category. Including Danone GetPro, Green Cuisine, Whole Earth, and Old El Paso.
Danone GetPro, Green Cuisine, and Whole Earth all have launched their Olympics-based activations, on-pack promotions hitting the shelves and microsites live, ready to welcome the devoted audience built by the Olympics.
PromoNow has analysed some of these promotions and provides a real shopper perspective on the on-pack promotions found in stores.
An official partner, Whole Earth worked with Team GB again after a successful partnership in the 2020 Olympics in Japan. Spanning across several of their products, the promotion offers winners tickets to the Olympics.
A few key features of this promotion is its custom microsite, following the general look and feel of its brand but on a separate site. Whilst the prize pool offers Olympics tickets, the promotion focuses on sporting experiences rather than the Olympics itself, offering various athletic experiences. The promotion is also accompanied by various in-store point-of-sales (POS) materials.
The promotion works particularly well because Whole Earth is a brand known for its organic and high-quality spread, targeting that health-conscious audience within the Olympics’ audience.
There’s a variety of ways to leverage the excitement around the Olympics. Brands can create dedicated advertising campaigns featuring Olympic themes, athletes, and imagery. These campaigns can run across multiple platforms, including TV, online, print, and outdoor advertising.
One example is Nike's "Find Your Greatness" campaign, which ran during the 2012 London Olympics, and inspired viewers to pursue their versions of greatness, regardless of their athletic abilities.
This inclusive campaign took note of the Olympics' large demographic and instead of making a move to make sales they focused on building their brand messaging, using the Olympics as simply an event to provide a reason and opening to push their brand messaging through a series of inspiring, inclusive, and diverse short video advertisements. Nike was not an official partner of the games during 2012 and not being able to use Olympic trademarks (which would be considered ambush marketing), so instead of focusing on the Olympics itself, Nike sought to embody and show the values of greatness and achievement associated with the Olympics without explicitly talking about the Olympics.
As mentioned before, partnering with athletes and hooking in their fanbase is a way to engage audiences during the Olympics. Partnering with Olympic athletes as brand ambassadors can be highly effective. Athletes can appear in advertisements, participate in social media campaigns, and attend promotional events. The effectiveness of this kind of partnership is dependent on the athlete’s rapport with their fans, if the fans have a strong parasocial relationship, they’re more inclined to support that athlete and pay attention to what they do, what they endorse, and what they promote.
Social media is a powerful tool for real-time engagement. Brands can run hashtag campaigns, live streams, athlete takeovers, and interactive challenges to engage with their audience.
The interactivity provided by social media gives audiences the change to truly engage in a conversation that is more mutual than traditional marketing channels and platform
Running sweepstakes and contests with Olympic-themed, or at the very least sporting-associated, prizes can drive engagement and excitement. Prizes can include tickets to the Games, branded merchandise, and meet-and-greet opportunities with athletes. Moreover, brands with promotions can move into physical retail locations to create in-store experiences related to the Olympics. This can include themed point-of-sale (POS) materials and experiential efforts such as offering sampling. Creating interactive experiences that engage consumers can leave a lasting impression. This can include pop-up events, sampling, virtual reality experiences, and interactive installations.
With such a large event on the horizon, PromoNow is excited to see what brand promotions will come about and how brands will leverage this season to engage and interact with shoppers.
Targeting such a loyal audience is an excellent prospect for brands looking to build their audience with a type of consumer that is highly loyal and dedicated with a surefire connection, in this case, the Olympics, to reach that audience.
Olympic promotions offer brands a unique opportunity to connect with a global audience in a meaningful way. By leveraging the excitement and spirit of the Games through various promotional strategies, brands can enhance their visibility, engage with consumers, and ultimately drive sales and loyalty. Whether through athlete endorsements, social media campaigns, or experiential marketing, the key is to create authentic and memorable experiences that resonate with the Olympic values of excellence and respect.
