The Olympics are all about competition, and the advertisers are no exception.
Brands pay big bucks for commercial slots and as much as $3 billion to be official Olympic partners, all in the hopes of making big waves and even bigger returns. Here at Idea Kraft, we watch the advertising race just as closely as any athletic race.
Now that the 2024 summer Olympics have wrapped up, we think it’s safe to say which brands made it to the creative podium and which ones straggled behind. Keep reading to see the list of advertisements we’d give a medal to or check out the highlights from some of our own clients’ campaigns.
Gold: “Big Moments Every Day” x DICKS Sporting Goods
The Olympics tug at our heartstrings, and so do most of the ads. But DICKS Sporting Goods did it best.
They did it best because they did it authentically, forgoing an emotional voiceover and highly produced cinematography for home video of kids and teenagers as they achieve amateaur athletic triumphs like making the team, scoring a touchdown, and sinking a halfcourt shot.
By using small but powerful victories anyone who’s ever played a sport will understand, DICKS strikes a fine line between sentimentality and inspiration. It reminds their sporty audience that even Olympic athletes had to start somewhere, and many of them probably started at DICKS.
Perhaps most impressively, “Big Moments Every Day” can make a viewer laugh, smile, and tear up all in the span of a little over a minute. It just goes to show that the TV spots with the best scripts are the ones that don’t feel scripted at all.
Silver: “Every Dream They Hold” x Nulo Pet Food
Like most pet food brands, Nulo Pet Food had the opportunity to lean on the cuteness of their clientele. Instead, they decided to take pets – and the roles they play in our lives – with refreshing seriousness.
“Every Dream They Hold” shows several Olympic athletes training alongside their dogs and cats before introducing Nulo as the food they choose to fuel their pet. And, by extension, it’s also the food that fuels their training and motivation.
We’re giving Nulo Pet Food the silver medal for a well-done B2C product tie-in. It’s not easy to connect an everyday household item like pet food to the Olympics, but they definitely rose to the occasion. After all, wouldn’t you remember the brand that introduced you to Simone Biles’ dogs?
Bronze: “Winning Isn’t for Everyone | Am I a Bad Person” x Nike
Nike wins bronze for this ad because it’s bold, well written, and edgy enough to get people talking.
It’s at the bottom of the podium because it’s too divisive and out of character to achieve its full potential. Counterintuitive messaging can be incredibly effective; just take a look at some of our favorite alternative campaigns from 2024.
But the secret to a successful counterintuitive approach is a little irony or self-deprecation. “Winning Isn’t for Everyone | Am I a Bad Person” does the opposite, fully embracing a message of superiority and ego.
While its originality can’t be denied, the ad ultimately fell short among audiences. It scored high for creativity but low for brand association and likeliness to choose the brand among a sample of viewers in the US and the UK, according to The Drum in collaboration with market research firm Ipsos.
Dead Last: “Dear Sydney” x Google
Artificial intelligence tools did not earn many – if any – new fans during the 2024 Summer Olympics. They have their ad creative to thank for that.
Google ended up pulling a TV spot for their AI personal assistant, Gemini, due to backlash. In “Dear Sydney,” a father helps his daughter, who recently discovered a love for track, write a fan letter to the American hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. Except he simply asks Gemini to write it for them.
It did not go over well. Vox called the ad “soulless and strange,” with plenty of other media critics and even tech consultants panning the idea of AI as an adequate substitute for human expression and parent-child bonding. We’ll see if Gemini aims for redemption at the next Olympic games.
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Idea Kraft is a boutique creative agency with over 10 years of experience creating winning brands for clients in the consumer products, nonprofit, and B2B industries. We specialize in creating cohesive campaigns through design, content marketing, web development, and overall brand curation.
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