Gold Medal Partnerships: How Social Media Supercharged Brand-Athlete Collaborations at the Olympics

The TOP Programme

The Olympic Partner (TOP) programme grants brands global marketing rights to the games over a minimum 4-year period and is currently formed of 15 partners.

Coca-Cola, the longest standing brand on the TOP programme (dating back to the 1928 Amsterdam games and who will hit their 100-year partnership at the LA Games), ramped up their sponsorship throughout Paris. The brand was a huge presence around the Olympics, and at all Olympic venues the Coca-Cola logo could be seen – either on food/drink stands or dotted around on advertisement boards. In the athlete village, all athletes were provided with a ‘fob’, permitting them to use the vending machines located around every corner, at any time of the day/night. Additionally, keeping in line with environmental sustainability, an element central to the Paris games (i.e. the world-renowned cardboard beds!), Coca-Cola ensured athletes limited the use of plastic bottles. Re-fillable stations were found within food venues, and Powerade (Coca-Cola’s 2019 acquisition) sachets were provided across the whole games.

Another long-standing TOP member is Samsung, who will continue to support the IOC until 2028. Not only was every athlete lucky enough to receive a brand-new Samsung Galaxy ZFlip 6, it was also the first time ever that athletes could take these phones on the Olympic podium with them. This led to the famous “Victory Selfie”[1], permitting athletes to engage with their family, friends and fans, whilst standing on the podium, whereas previously phones were not permitted on the field of play.

Premium Partners

LVMH entered the Olympic world as a premium partner and had a prominent presence at the games, helped by the Parisian fashion world taking a big interest. They created a “Louis Vuitton” medal trunk to hold the medals, as well as the group’s jewellery house (Chaumet) being responsible for the making of the medals. During the opening ceremony, the history of the “Louis Vuitton” trunk was highlighted, whilst the LVMH HQ was provided with notable airtime. The partnership entered new waters; areas of the Olympics previously known to be ‘clean’ environments with no commercial branding, featured LVMH brands. For example, the (not so subtle) branding on the medal trays at every ceremony, as well as the clothing worn by the ceremony volunteers meant that LVMH brands were highly visible.

Athletes

Away from the TOP sponsors and large brands, athletes also had to balance IOC rules and regulations against their desire to publicise themselves and their personal sponsors. Historically, the IOC has imposed strict rules on the use by athletes and their personal sponsors of the athlete’s imagery during the “Games Period” (the key rule being “Rule 40”). However, the IOC loosened its regulations for the 2024 Games[2], with athletes now permitted to post non-commercial video content up to two minutes long on their own social media accounts. This change, alongside the modern-day use of social media, enhanced the fans’ insight into the daily lives of athletes throughout the games.

One staggering example was USA rugby player Ilona Maher, who gained a 250% increase in her following on TikTok by the end of the games. She has since been linked to numerous large brands such as Delta Airlines and was the digital cover star for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. Sprout Social, a social media management company, has claimed Maher is in the top 1% of all creators for follower growth, whilst one of her videos alone is estimated to have generated $3.5 million in media value. Importantly, for all of Maher’s work to help promote her own brand, rugby itself has also reaped the rewards, with the trailblazing businesswoman, Michele Kang (owner of the Washington Spirit, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin and London City Lionesses), recently announcing the investment of $4mn to the US Women’s Rugby Sevens team.

Another athlete who rose to stardom, and not only due to his talents in the swimming pool, was Henrick Christiansen, otherwise known as “the muffin man”! Whilst his Tik-Tok escapades have not yet reaped the same rewards as Maher, it certainly increased his exposure throughout the games and allowed Christiansen to create an individual brand himself.

Influencers

Perhaps predicting the influence of social media and fan engagement, NBC took a different approach at the Paris Olympics, investing a large amount of money into not only its broadcasting deal (worth a reported $4.5bn), but also into influencers such as Snoop Dogg. The CMO of NBCUniversal, claimed to have ‘torn-up the playbook’ for its social strategy at the Paris Olympics, embracing social media as a promotional tool, rather than a threat. Snoop became a sensation at the games, being used as a ‘Special Correspondent’ out in Paris and gaining a lot of attention in the process. NBC claims it had 35.4mn viewers on the middle Sunday, reaching an audience of over double that on the same day in Tokyo. 36% of these viewers said they tuned in after watching events on social media.

Key Takeaways

Dubbed the ‘Social Media Games’, the Paris Olympics have set a new precedent for how sport can be used to not only empower individual athletes, but for brands to do so too.

Whilst TV and broadcast rights remain important for all sporting events, this alone will not create the same traction. Gen Z’s content consumption is very different to previous generations – subscriptions to sports providers are decreasing and young consumers are now looking to new providers, such as TikTok, to find content that appeals to them. Such platforms, in combination with influential athletes and celebrities, offer brands a powerful means to supercharge audience connection and reach in the modern-day era. Athlete influencers are using these brands and promotions to also tell their own ‘story’, often wound up in the partnership itself. These collaborations are shifting the structure of the ordinary rights deals, allowing for the athlete stories to be shared live and in turn, broadening the horizons for the sports world.

Rightsholders and event sponsors (including, but not limited to, the TOP partners at the Olympics) will need to ensure that official rights are activated, and collaborations with athletes are created, in a way that reflects modern content consumption, or risk being left behind.

[1] https://olympics.com/ioc/news/paris-2024-medallists-capturing-victory-selfies-thanks-to-samsung

[2] https://olympics.com/athlete365/app/uploads/2023/12/IOC-Social-Media-Guidelines-Paris-2024-EN.pdf