4 Intelligent Olympics Advertising Campaigns [+Top Takeaways]

Olympic adverts don’t make as massive a splash as Tremendous Bowl spots, however the Video games are nonetheless a dependable show of promoting creativity each two years. 

Because the Paris Olympics come to a detailed, I’ve collected 4 adverts (plus three honorable mentions) that stood out from the fray in 2024. I additionally talked to a couple entrepreneurs at HubSpot to get their views on why these adverts work and how one can apply the identical ways to your individual advertising campaigns.

And it wouldn’t be the Olympics with out some GOATs, so I’ve included a pair favorites from earlier Video games.

2024’s Olympic Advertising Campaigns

1. LVMH: The Rooftops

Should you watched the fever dream that was the 2024 Opening Ceremony, chances are you’ll recall the masked marauder scampering throughout the rooftops of Paris and bellhops dancing with outsized Louis Vuitton baggage alongside the banks of the Seine.

The Louis Vuitton trunks appeared by means of its guardian firm, LVMH, sponsoring the Paris Olympics. Fortunately (or not, relying in your threshold for absurdity) Louis Vuitton took a unique tone for its official Olympics adverts.

Fully unvoiced and scored solely by a crescendoing bassline, the deep shadows and wealthy colours evoke “luxurious” from the primary second. The digital camera skims over well-oiled athletes’ our bodies, drawing focus to kind over perform. Shot totally at evening, the shadows create thriller and construct intrigue.

Strive This At Residence

• Whether or not you’re going for luxurious or seashore vibes, make an inventory or a temper board of every thing that evokes your required tone: colours, shapes, textures, sounds, fonts, you identify it. Each single component of your advert ought to serve the singular goal of eliciting your outlined voice.
• You too can use HubSpot’s promoting plan equipment, which incorporates free planning templates and a information.

2. Corona: For Each Golden Second

I significantly like this advert as a result of it breaks from the self-serious tone so many different campaigns use. Kyle Denhoff, Senior Director of HubSpot Media, can also be a fan, so I requested if he would break it down:

• Product focus. The Corona advert efficiently positions the beer because the hero of the story. By means of delicate but efficient visuals, the advert integrates the product into the narrative, and a gaggle clinks beer bottles with a “cheers,” highlighting the product because the advert ends.
• Model message: The tagline “For each golden second” cleverly aligns Corona with the status of Olympic gold, suggesting that its beer is the best choice for all times’s particular moments. It’s a message that encourages customers to affiliate Corona with holidays, adventures, and friendships, reinforcing the concept that it’s the go-to beer for memorable experiences.
• Cultural relevance: The advert successfully faucets into the cultural significance of the Olympics. It makes use of seamless visible transitions to hyperlink private golden moments with the triumphs of world-class athletes. This elevates the model by associating it with excellence and achievement — from an occasion that everybody is watching.

Denhoff additionally pointed to Corona’s clear understanding of its demographic — adventurous vacationers of their 20s and 30s — and famous how Corona skillfully invited potential clients to see themselves within the advert.

Strive This At Residence

• Preserve your product central to the advert with out overwhelming your potential clients.
• Elevate your model by associating it with excellence.
• Know your demographic.

3. Hyundai: It’s OK

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Hyundai faucets into acquainted Olympic tropes like perseverance and onerous work, however from a much less acquainted viewpoint. At first, it appears to be like like an advert about Olympians training a whole bunch of hours starting as very younger youngsters.

After which a sequence of oldsters inform their respective children, all pissed off by sports activities apply, that perhaps it’s time to take a break. “Like a break break.”

As an alternative of pushing by way of, every of the aspiring Olympians switches sports activities, accompanied by the tagline, “By no means hand over on discovering what you’re keen on.”

Strive This At Residence

• Subvert tropes: This can require a transparent narrative, so don’t skimp on the storytelling.
• Do some good: Simone Biles’ 2024 Olympic comeback has as soon as once more put psychological well being within the highlight. After drawing criticism from some corners of the web in 2021, when she pulled out of the Tokyo Olympics to deal with her psychological well being, Biles delivered a transparent message to the haters this 12 months that she made the suitable name. Hyundai subtly faucets into the significance of psychological well being with out being too on the nostril.

4. Parmigiano Reggiano Sponsorship

That is technically a 2021 advert, however we’re counting it because it went viral in the course of the 2024 Olympic Video games.

Italian gymnast Giorgia Villa was sponsored by Parmigiano Reggiano in the course of the Tokyo Video games in 2021, the place she pulled out of competitors due to an damage. And regardless that the sponsorship reportedly led to 2022, I prefer to assume that the Italian workforce’s group silver medal this 12 months was powered by a barrel-sized wheel of piquant cheese.

Since medaling, adverts from her 2021 sponsorship have gone viral. The images of Villa have the sharp gentle and deep shadows of a Caravaggio, as she fortunately holds a wheel of cheese greater than her torso. She’s been quoted saying that she’s beloved the cheese since she was somewhat lady, and the smile on her face dares you to problem that.

Strive This At Residence

• Faucet into your viewers’s cultural heritage. By paying homage to Italian Renaissance painters, these images show a deep appreciation for Italian identification and heritage.
• Don’t be afraid of some uncommon juxtapositions if it’s based mostly on reality.

Honorable Mentions: Personalities and Influencers

I’m creating an honorable mentions class as a result of these are neither conventional adverts nor simply replicable in your personal advertising. However I might be remiss to not embrace a number of the personalities and influencers who’ve grow to be strolling adverts for the 2024 Paris Olympics:

Snoop Dogg

The surprising gold medalist of our hearts, Snoop joined NBC as an official Olympic correspondent in Paris. In my extraordinarily unscientific survey of some fellow HubSpotters, 100% agree that he’s the most effective commercial for the Olympics, arms down.

Dréa Hudson, HubSpot’s Head of Viewers Improvement, Distribution, says, “There is no such thing as a one — and I imply NO ONE — who I might belief to hold the torch greater than him.”

She additionally sums up his authenticity and enchantment: “The convenience wherein he traverses Paris in the course of the Video games is alleged finest by Uncle Snoop himself: ‘It’s me, being me.’”

Snoop’s curiosity is palpable (though he did require the emotional assist of bestie Martha Stewart for the equestrian occasions, as he harbors a slight worry of horses). His pleasure is actual. (As is his paycheck — a reported $500K per day.)

Colin Jost

Most of us don’t have entry to skilled comedians, however Olympic surfers are in all probability grateful that NBC does. Their sport acquired an enormous increase in visibility when SNL Weekend Replace anchor Colin Jost assumed his place as NBC’s browsing correspondent.

Jost took one for the workforce and headed to Tahiti, the place his stories have largely poked enjoyable at his personal ineptitude. After a minor accident involving shallow waters, coral reef, and ants, he claims that he’s visited the medical tent greater than any of the athletes (I’ll chorus from additional description for the faint-hearted amongst you).

However as a surfer himself, Jost isn’t simply peddling jokes — he has a deep appreciation and understanding of the game, and he’s making Olympic browsing appointment viewing.

Greyhound Olympics

Instagram and TikTok have been an limitless, and endlessly entertaining, supply of unofficial Olympic adverts and commentary, however I’ll point out only one that’s consultant of the model and humor in these homespun Olympic tie-ins.

A greyhound’s ears flop in unison throughout a stroll, and textual content over the video reads, “My canine might have competed on the Olympics however they cancelled the synchronised ear occasion.” It hits all the suitable beats: Shouting out synchronized athletic occasions, lovely ears, and naturally evaluating Olympic greatness to a really pointy canine.

Strive These At Residence:

• It’s a cliche, nevertheless it’s true: Be like Snoop and simply be your self.
• Comedy might be an efficient advertising instrument — nevertheless it’ll be much more efficient if it’s undergirded by data and appreciation for the product you’re marking.
• Apply Olympic tropes to on a regular basis life.
• Embrace absurdity. Synchronized ear occasions would undoubtedly draw an enormous fandom.
• If every thing else fails, put your canines in an advert. (Kidding. Largely.)

Finest Olympic Campaigns of All Instances

After I requested associates and HubSpotters what adverts they beloved from the 2024 Paris Video games, there was a transparent consensus: They’re simply not so good as they was. (In accordance with Vox, there’s a purpose for that, and it rhymes with shmartificial shmintelligence.)

So only for enjoyable, right here’s two gold medalists from the previous decade:

Canadian Institute of Variety and Inclusion: The Luge (2014)

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The Canadian Institute of Variety and Inclusion ran this advert in assist of homosexual athletes on the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It’s a very good reminder that severe matters can nonetheless be approached with humor.

Visa: Carpool to Rio (2016)

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Visa’s 2016 Carpool to Rio advert is filled with intelligent particulars, just like the synchronized divers nodding off in unison. This advert stands somewhat increased on the rostrum due to its joyous tone — many (most?) slick company Olympic adverts take a severe view of the athletes’ onerous work and the obstacles they’ve overcome.

Advertising Takeaways

Even when you don’t have entry to celeb spokespeople or a company price range, there’s nonetheless a lot to be taught from these adverts. Probably the most profitable Olympic adverts faucet into the cultural significance of the Video games and discover genuine methods to hyperlink their product with the most effective athletes on the planet, all with out being too overbearing with their product placement.