Early this week I got a random email from a publication that was looking for me to weigh in on sports sponsorships and whether they are declining or changing due to economic pressure. Luckily, I just happened to have walked out of an all-company meeting in which our P&G team here at Bridge Worldwide shared their contribution to the Procter & Gamble Olympic Winter Games partnership—a tribute to Moms that brilliantly ties together multiple brands in a meaningful way.
In the past I have been fairly unkind to sports tie-ins in this blog. For example, a while back I criticized the practice using the example of State Farm’s naming sponsorship of the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby during All Star weekend. At best, most sponsorships are just the 3,001st meaningless ad impression that a consumer might see on a given day. At worst, and as Seth Godin suggests, they are a way for marketers to get a free trip to a game.
However I genuinely love the work that P&G has done on a corporate basis around this year’s Olympic Winter Games. If you’ve been watching the games, you have certainly seen a number of TV commercials for P&G products such as Bounty, Tide, and Olay. While it’s true that I’m not a fan of this kind of advertising, I have to admit that pooling together multiple brands for a single media buy is a smart approach to making the medium work harder.
But what is really special is how the company decided to make its partnership and mass media buy meaningful by embracing Moms. As part of its Olympics effort, the company is specifically directing funds toward the mothers of Team USA athletes in a program titled “Thank You Mom.” This “cause” within an Olympics partnership recognizes that the economy has made it tougher for families to afford to travel to see their kids’ special moments. It is also a perfect tie to the company and its brands—most of which target mothers and are used by mothers for years in raising their children.
To bring deliver on the promise and address mothers’ needs. P&G is providing funds earmarked toward helping athletes’ families travel to the games in the form of debit cards that have gone to more than 200 individuals. The company also set up a special home in Vancouver near the games that provides a place for families to gather before and after events. (It’s a little-known issue that families can’t come into the Olympic Village where athletes stay.) And to honor these special mothers—and build a connection to mothers everywhere—P&G is using some of its media time for a series of truly tear-jerking videos. More than 130,000 people have chosen to view the video above so far on YouTube. Kudos to Wieden+Kennedy for the nice work.
Online, our team helped activate the partnership with additional meaningful elements. There is the opportunity to download a $100 coupon book, which will help directly link the program to sales results. And we added content that cannot be found elsewhere—including video interviews with Olympic Winter Games athletes’ moms, and blog recaps and live Twitter reports from the games. If you are touched by the content and tribute, you can even send a thank-you note to your own mother with this tool.
There are plenty of big companies such as Visa and McDonalds that are back at the Olympics again, and they have also purchased a lot of commercial time with game-themed ads. But I haven’t seen anyone who has worked to do something special, memorable, or meaningful with their large commitment. The bonus for P&G, should it choose to continue sponsoring in years to come, is that it can “own” this idea around embracing the unsung mothers and make future events bigger and better. And we hope to help continue this new tradition!
