As the Paris 2024 Olympic Games captivate global audiences, brands are seizing this opportunity to differentiate themselves and forge meaningful connections. At Brand Lounge, we’ve observed how companies leverage this international stage to maximize their brand value and enhance perception while navigating the complexities of authentic engagement.
The Evolving Landscape of Olympic Marketing
The Olympic Games consistently rank among the most watched events globally. The 2021 Tokyo Games despite pandemic restrictions, garnered 3 billion views worldwide. The Paris 2024 Olympics have seen record-breaking viewership across multiple markets.
In France, the Opening Ceremony attracted 23.4 million views while the United States saw its most-watched Opening Ceremony since London 2012, with 34.7 million viewers tuning in.. By the end of the opening weekend, total content consumption across various platforms had surpassed 1.1 billion minutes, a 65% increase from Tokyo 2020.
These numbers underscore the Olympics’ unparalled platform for brand exposure and engagement. However, with great opportunity come great competition, as brands vie for consumer attention in an increasingly cluttered space.
At the same time the marketing landscape makes it more challenging for brands to create meaningful experiences. Displaying logos or creating generic athlete focused campaigns is no longer enough. Today’s successful Olympic strategies focus on meaningful partnerships, authentic experiences, and real-time engagement that resonate with audiences.
Brand Insight: The Olympics embody values such as excellence, unity, and global cooperation. How do these align with your purpose? Uncovering your brand purpose is key to creating authentic and impactful campaigns.
How Brands Differentiated during the Olympics
1. Purpose-Driven Narratives with Authentic Engagement
Today’s consumers gravitate towards brands that stand for something beyond profit. The Olympics provide a perfect backdrop for purpose-driven brands that resonates with global audiences.
Take for example Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and their brand activation & partnership strategy during the Paris Olympics. Their approach focuses on inclusivity by providing makeup kits and tutorials to the 600 young volunteers of the games. This strategy aligns authentically with Fenty’s brand values of diversity and empowerment while address a previously overlooked aspect of the Games, the volunteers.
Brand Insight: Identify a purpose that connects your brand values with Olympic ideals authentically. At Brand Lounge, we specialize in uncovering and articulating brand purposes that resonate with target audiences while ensuring engagement that feels genuine and earned.
2. Innovative Technology Integration for Real-Time Engagement
Alibaba’s OBS cloud has revolutionized the Olympic broadcasting, allowing for a more dynamic and interactive content delivery. This technology demonstrates Alibaba’s innovative capabilities and enhances how viewers experience the Games globally.
Brand Insight: Consider how your brand can leverage technology to create unique opportunities for real-time engagement. It’s important to identify innovative strategies that align with your brand and allow for flexible responses to evolving events.
3. Local Relevance in a Global Event
While the Olympics are a global phenomenon, brands that create locally relevant connections often see the greatest impact, especially in regions like the GCC.
For example, Saudi Arabia’s participation in the Paris 2024 Olympics is part of a comprehensive strategy aligned with Vision 2030, aiming to achieve sports excellence and build vibrant sports sector for Saudi youth. The Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Commiitee, under the leadership of the Sports Minister, has launched several initiatives to support and empower Saudi athletes, including ‘The Elite Athletes Development Program.‘
Brand Insight: There is a unique opportunity for regional brands to celebrate local athletes and create culturally relevant connections. By aligning a global event with Saudi Arabia’s national brand and Vision 2030 for the development of sport, they created an opportunity to connect with both local and global audiences. It’s important to understand local markets and develop brand strategies that resonate locally when trying to position your brand at such global events.
4. Filling Market Gaps and Addressing Overlooked Opportunities
Some of the most successful Olympic marketing campaigns come from brands that identify and fill market gaps.
Skims, co-founded by Kim Kardashian, became the official underwear outfitter for Team USA, filling a previously unaddressed need. This partnership, now in its third Olympic Games, showcases how brands can create value by identifying overlooked opportunities for differentiation.
Brand Insight: Look beyond traditional sponsorship roles. What unique value can your brand bring to the a global event?
5. Long-Term Brand Building vs. Short-Term Visibility
While the Olympics offer a moment of intense global attention, the most successful brands use this platform for long-term brand building rather than just short-term visibility.
Ralph Lauren’s long-standing partnership with Team USA for the opening and closing ceremony outfits has become an integral part of the brand’s identity, reinforcing its positioning with American style on a global stage.
Brand Insight: To ensure long-term success, ask this pertinent question: How can your brand activation opportunities contribute to your long-term brand goals? Look beyond mere awareness. By activating your brand through engaging experiences, you can foster deeper connections with your audience and drive meaningful growth. These strategic activations should align with your brand’s core values and overall vision, creating lasting impact that extends far beyond the event itself.
6. The Luxury Play: A New Frontier in Olympic Marketing
The 2024 Paris Olympics saw a shift as luxury brands increased their sponsorship of the games. LVMH’s unprecedented $160 million investment as the first luxury brand to sponsor the Olympics represents a strategic move to integrate luxury with sports.
LVMH incorporated their brand essence into the games through French culture and craftsmanship, with Chaumet-designed medals, Berluti-outfitted athletes, and branded Louis Vuitton medal ceremony trays.
This luxury focus comes at a crucial time for the sector, which faces slowing growth and decreasing demand. By aligning a global event of such scale, luxury brands aim to expand their market reach, rejuvenate their image among younger audiences, and build long-term brand equity. The strategy of inclusivity in generally exclusive goods allows these brands to broaden their appeal while maintaining their status. However, challenges remain in ensuring authenticity and balancing accessibility with exclusivity.
Brand Insight: At Brand Lounge, we help brands identity unique opportunities to maximize their value and reach new audiences. Consider how aligning with major events like the Olympics can help reposition your brand and open new market segments.
Navigating Potential Pitfalls
As the stakes in Olympic marketing rise, so do the risks of missteps. Brands must be cautious about appearing inauthentic or forcing connections where they don’t naturally exist.
Brand Insight: Before engaging with high-profile events like the Olympics, ask yourself two critical questions: “Has our audience given us permission to be in this space?” and “Does this align authentically with our brand identity?”
At Brand Lounge, we guide clients through this critical assessment, ensuring their brand engagement feels genuine and resonates powerfully with their target audience. Our strategic approach helps you avoid potential pitfalls and maximize the impact of your brand presence in these prestigious arenas.
Achieving Brand Excellence in the Global Arena
The Paris 2024 Olympics offered brands a unique platform to showcase their values, innovation and relevance on a global stage. As the Gaems concluded, it became evident that the most successful brands were those that authentically aligned with Olympic values while creating genuine value for their audiences.
The winning strategies we observed blended purpose-led narratives, innovative brand experiences, local relevance, and the ability to identity and fill untapped market gaps. By implementing these approaches, numerous brands successfully differentiated themselves during the Olympics, capitalizing on this momentous opportunity to forge lasting connections with audiences that can endure long after the closing ceremony.
At Brand Lounge, we pride ourselves on our ability to uncover a brand’s unique purpose and transforming it into powerful, differentiated strategies. Our deep-rooted expertise in the region, coupled with our global insights, uniquely positions us to develop winning brand strategies that authentically resonate with your audience and drive long-term value.
Whether you’re looking to leverage major events like the Olympics or seeking to redefine your brand’s position in the market, we’re here to guide you. Connect with us to explore how we can maximize your brand’s value and build brand equity.
