Clearly the management team at Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium knows a good thing when they see it.
The Consortium won plenty of kudos and awards in 2010 for developing opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers beyond buying 30-second commercial spots during the Vancouver Olympics.
Not surprisingly, the Consortium will reprise those broadcast features for the London Games, which start July 27, for advertisers like Rona, McDonald’s, P&G and Chevrolet, airing across the multiple platforms that comprise the Consortium.
“Storytelling has always been the foundation of our content plan,” said Rick Chisholm, executive vice-president, broadcasting, Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, in a release. “It was an easy decision to bring back these remarkable signature features, now with a new Summer athlete focus.”
The marketers and their features include:
• Rona and “Canadian Performances”—the positive Canadian news stories each day of the Olympics.
• RBC and “Difference Makers”—hosted by Rick Handsen for English Canada and Chantal Petitclerc for French Canada, the series will feature Canadian Olympians and the people who made a difference in their lives, including soccer star Christine Sinclair and her coach Clive Charles.
• Hotels.com and “The Experts”—professional athletes taking on Olympic sports, including Toronto Blue Jays Brett Lawrie and J.P. Arencibia putting down their bats and picking up ping pong paddles.
• McDonald’s and “Gold Medal Moments”—an “unforgettable” image from a gold medal-winning performance each day.
• P&G and “Raising an Olympian”—hosted by Olympian Kelly VanderBeek, this series will tell the stories of six Olympians and the critical role of their mothers, offering a “raw look at the highs and lows experienced within a family.” (A particularly good fit for P&G, which has put moms at the core of its global Olympic strategy; see below.)
• Lexus and “Superbodies”—a Gemini Award winner in 2010, the series uses 3D computer imaging and high-focused production shooting to explain the inner workings of Olympian bodies.
• Chevrolet and “Upclose”—“Dramatic stories of struggle and sacrifice told in the voices of Canada’s Olympic athletes,” including aboriginal boxer Mary Spencer from the Cape Croker reserve and Clara Hughes, one of Canada’s most decorated and lauded athletes ever.
