Why Is It So Hard to Score a Perfect 10 With Your Olympics Ad?

With the stage set for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the pressure is mounting for competitors to make their mark on a global stage that comes only once every four years.

Advertisers also feel the heat to deliver during an event that attracts high brand interest due to its over 13 million spectators and 4 billion viewers around the world. NBCUniversal set a new ad revenue record with Paris 2024, securing $1.2 billion in commitments, over $350 million of which came from new advertisers. 

Yet the Games have also been facing questions in recent years about their continued relevance, and Paris 2024 is under scrutiny after organizers promised a more transparent, ethical and sustainable event. Plus, audiences are fracturing across myriad platforms. Against this backdrop, standing out as a brand during the tournament is in itself an Olympic feat. 

A unique set of expectations come with making an Olympics ad. 

“When dealing with an audience of that size, you want to create something iconic and timeless, which can live on and be referenced,” said Pete Nordstrom, group creative director at Ogilvy New York, which created Powerade’s Paris 2024 ads.

Walking a crowded tightrope  

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) notoriously has tight and complex regulations for brand partners, which can present added creative challenges to agencies. One creative told ADWEEK about an idea being scrapped because it talked about the concept of time, which is the domain of longtime sponsor Omega. 

This year’s Olympic advertisers are also playing in a competitive field, grappling for attention amid a busy “summer of sport” that has already included the UEFA Euro championship, Wimbledon and Copa América, to name a few.

In this crowded and oversaturated landscape, marketers can fall into the trap of perpetuating clichéd narratives about sports. 

“Everything starts to look the same,” said Thierry Albert, creative director of studio Albert Albert, pointing to sports marketing tropes such as manifesto ads or voiceovers talking about greatness and coming together. 

Those tropes are also easy to lean on in a more polarizing environment where advertisers can face social media backlash, causing some to lead with caution as opposed to taking creative risks, Albert said.

He presented an idea to Paris 2024 organizers for an ad that would thank sponsors for their support. His initial concept imagined what athletes would do if the Olympics couldn’t happen—a fencer used his sword to slice meat at a kebab shop, while a pole vaulter used his vault to fish. 

However, the clients opted for a crowd-pleasing idea that was easier to sell internally, according to Albert. In the resulting ad, French comedian Thomas VDB dubs over athletes saying “merci” in a variety of playful ways. 

For advertisers to raise the bar, Ogilvy’s Nordstrom advised talking less about the brand and telling specific, authentic stories about the athletes, like when Powerade spotlighted American track and field sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, swimmer Katie Grimes and gymnast Simone Biles. 

“That’s where the territory gets rich,” he said. 

Matt Readman, chief strategy officer of Dark Horses, a U.K. agency specializing in sports and fitness marketing, said that to retain relevance, it’s time for marketers to challenge traditional narratives about the Games, particularly the “over-romanticization of sports” and its power to bring people together. 

“That’s a blinkered view of what’s actually going on in the world. There’s so much stuff you’re wallpapering over, that you’re losing credibility [with that narrative],” he said. “Maybe we need a fresh approach to marketing [the Olympics] and the way brands talk about it.” 

Not in the ad breaks

Some of the best Olympics marketing this year won’t happen in the ad breaks at all, according to industry leaders. 

“What we’re seeing a lot more of is work around the edges, from brands starting to understand fan conversations and what’s happening in culture and finding an additive role rather than being in the ad break,” said Toan Ravenscroft, managing director of M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment Amsterdam. 

One recent example came from underwear and apparel brand Knix, which isn’t an Olympics sponsor but used the moment to call attention to the taboo of periods in sports. Knix is offering to pay athletes to talk publicly about this issue.

As younger audiences spend more time on social media and streaming, they’re more likely to be tuned into conversations about the Games there, observed Daisy Domenghini, managing director, EMEA, at VaynerMedia. Many athletes themselves are sidestepping traditional and brand channels to share their personal experiences through social media. 

She said because of this trend, more brands activating around the Games are considering ways to engage niche or fringe audiences who might not tune into the broadcasts. For example, Olympics sponsor Visa made a hero ad, but it also produced a collection of online docuseries that told stories about Team Visa athletes, local influencers and creators in Europe. 

To appeal to people who may not typically follow Olympic sports, Visa’s videos fuse the intersection of sports with other passions like gaming and music. For example, the U.K. series with swimmer Adam Peaty also explores his love for music.

Olympics, but make it luxury

Another fresh approach came from sponsor LVMH, the luxury group that owns brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Tiffany and Moët & Chandon. 

Its jeweler, Chaumet, crafted the Olympic medals using original iron from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. LVMH designed the 1920s-inspired outfits for the 515 volunteers who will present the medals on trays covered in Louis Vuitton’s signature Damier canvas. The outfits to be worn by Team France for the opening ceremony were designed by Berluti, while trunks housing the medals and torches were also made by Vuitton.  

As the first luxury sponsor of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LVMH broke ground with “a quite subtle and elegant way of approaching sponsorship instead of signing a bunch of athletes,” said Alexander Kalchev, chief creative officer of DDB Paris. “It’s a holistic integration.” 

Ravenscroft said LVMH’s approach to Olympics marketing is savvy because “what they’ve done is represent the crossover of different passions and give real cultural relevance.” 

“They’re going to be present in every medal ceremony; it can’t be skipped,” he said. “They’re not part of the ad breaks. They are in the action.”