The Paris 2024 Olympics are on the horizon and July marks ‘one year to go’ – a notable milestone which historically sees the shift in news agenda and brand activities into that period.
Whilst athletes continue their diligent training programmes and take on final major events before the big one, fans and the general public brace themselves for full saturation in the build-up to an Olympic summer.
For brand and marketing professionals, we’re already running out of time.
Higher expectations & deeper pitfalls
If your external comms strategy and activation planning are still in draft, or even if you have built it but need to sense check against audience trends and behaviours; now is the time to finalise it.
Here are a few things to think about:
The blackout. Training camps suck the life out of athlete-centric marketing campaigns through reduced access in the weeks approaching the event
The ‘human’ athlete. The prominence of causes, issues and personal interests will undoubtedly come to the fore again as sportspeople advocate for change on the world’s biggest stage
The first post-COVID Olympics. The new normal has returned but mass gatherings still take place under a shadow of health considerations and crisis comms templates.
Cost of living. For brands putting products at the heart of their campaigns, balancing sales messaging with ‘tone deaf' consumer lifestyle insights is a line to be trodden.
Using creativity to provide a solution whilst solving brand challenges
Creativity is not a silver bullet or shorthand to replace the need for insight, strategy and activation. In fact, embedding it into every part of that process with fresh thinking and new ideas is the approach which will unlock a new perspective, or nuanced message, to appear within brand storytelling.
It might come to life as an unexpected partnership, a left field audience focus or the use of a channel in a completely new way. However creativity presents in your campaign, a point to start from might be ‘What problem am I trying to overcome?’
We’ll all be singing our respective national anthems before we know it…
We embed creativity across every specialism. Read some thoughts from our cross-team experts.
Sarah Salter Nash, Deputy Managing Director, Corporate
"Brands and their ambassadors will, quite rightly, be held to high account for the partnerships they make. It is critical that brands consider the risks that underpin their alliances and ask themselves some crucial questions: Does this partnership align to our brand values? How might it be construed? Where does this partnership leave us exposed? How can we minimise that risk?"
Amy Williams, Director, Digital
"As sports fandom evolves with closer connections and experiences becoming a minimum requirement, the genuine and authentic relationship between a sport, its athletes and fans is the heartland of community building."
Rebecca Hargreaves, Head of Sport, The Playbook
"This is a once in four years opportunity but the same brands that negotiate so hard for budgets and access in their contract don’t always show the same tenacity in activating their assets fully."
Teodora Coste, Director, Strategy & Insights
"The relationship between brands, states and the sporting world is more precarious than ever. Ambassadors and spokespeople will be held to high account for the associations they forge and the partnerships they make - seen as a reflection of their social, cultural and political values. No longer should we treat sport as simply sporting."