The Olympics in marketing is a little like the Super Bowl, but it only comes around every four years. A lot of brands are counting on a lot of eyeballs to make marketing budgets count. In the past you could almost hear the marketing shots being made by big advertising execs, and see them fall flat on big billboards and small scrollable screens. Not this year, though. In 2024, Olympic marketing is landing like Simone Biles landing the Yurchenko Double Pike. Brands, teams and creators alike seem to be posting and promoting in ways that feel proportional to the moments, allowing for authentic and socially native feel-good fun, athletic feat fandom, and fawning over favorite moments.
Team USA has tapped into TikTok trends like Pass the Phone, classic dance celebrations, and “everybody wants to know what I would do if I didn’t win.” Brands like Samsung have partnered with celebrities like Sydney Sweeney in ways that integrate product into a Paris Olympics trip carousel that felt authentic vs. overly-promotional. Uber created a ‘On Our Way to the Olympics’ content series with the likes of Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris that gives off under-produced and hyper-delightful vibes, and brands like Nike went bold with the more surprising subversive ‘Winning Isn’t For Everyone’ campaign that brings out the inner ruthlessness in best in class athletes with copy lines like “My dream is to end theirs.”
It’s also paying off for the big players like streamer NBC Universal, that shared record ad sales surpassing $1.2B in advertising sales, with over $500M from first time sponsors trying to engage global audiences.
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