AT&T, an official sponsor of the U.S. Olympic team, made a major splash with its five “new possible” spots, an ambitious campaign out of BBDO New York created within 24 hours of Gold Medal achievement in order to demonstrate through actions and words how AT&T “rethinks possible.”
Meanwhile TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles once again showed how you don’t have to be an official sponsor to tie into the Olympics–its latest example being a Gatorade :30.
First, AT&T’s campaign featured inspiring Gold Medal-winning performances from athletes ranging from decathlon champion Ashton Eaton to swimmer Rebecca Soni. A young girl watches on her cell phone the latter’s world-record setting race to the Gold Medal in the 200 meter breast stroke. The youngster watches intently as she walks about her home, sees the world-record time and then writes it down on a erasable notepad mounted on the refrigerator: “Goal 2:19:59.”
The spot aired in the U.S. right after NBC’s tape-delayed presentation of Soni’s breathtaking, breakthrough performance that night.
The “new possible” campaign was directed and shot by Ellen Kuras of Park Pictures. The BBDO New York team included chief creative officer David Lubars, executive creative director Greg Hahn, associate creative director/art director Danny Adrain, associate creative director/copywriter Mark Anderson, executive producer Diane Hill and music producer Melissa Chester.
Geoff Hounsell and Will Hassell of Arcade were editors on the campaign, with Absolute Post serving as post/VFX house led by creative director Dirk Greene.
Gatorade
Meanwhile, Gatorade promoted its involvement in the Summer Games as something that comes from within–but without official sponsorship.
In fact, this spot titled “What’s Inside”–with portions directed by The Cronenweths of Untitled and Jaron Albertin of Smuggler–boasts of Gatorade’s lack of Summer Games sponsorship as we see a lone figure walking through London, his face concealed from us.
A voiceover relates, “We weren’t there on stadium walls…on double-decker buses…on buttons…souvenirs…or commemorative snow globes. We weren’t there officially sponsoring anything.”
Then the person is revealed to us as being Gold Medal-winning, world-record holding sprinter Usain Bolt who’s looking over London’s now empty track-and-field stadium. As Bolt chomps on a Gatorade chew, the voiceover continues, “We were there for real–inside the bodies of some of the greatest athletes on earth.”
TBWA\Chiat\Day has a bit of a lineage making an Olympics splash for clients who aren’t official sponsors of the Games, perhaps the most impactful and famous such example coming during the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. While Converse was the official shoe of those ’84 Games, Chiat\Day ran an “I Love L.A.” Nike campaign, the centerpiece of which was a spot adapted from Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” music video. In the commercial, Newman’s song dovetailed with world-class athletes doing their thing in L.A., like Carl Lewis jumping past bikini-clad girls on the beach and Mary Decker jogging down Hollywood Boulevard. That year Nike resonated with the public as more of an Olympic sponsor than the official sponsor in the product category, Converse.
The TBWA\Chiat\Day creative ensemble on Gatorade’s “What’s Inside” included executive creative director Patrick O’Neill, global group creative directors Brent Anderson and Steve Howard, creative director Jayanta Jenkins, creative director/copywriter Linda Knight, executive producer Sarah Patterson, producer Molly Tait, and producers Michael Gross and Matthew Magsaysay.
Production services company was Mad Cow Films, London.
Editor was Angus Wall of Rock Paper Scissors with The Mill serving as VFX house.
Here are Gatorade’s “What’s Inside” and AT&T’s Rebecca Soni spot:
