It’s hard not to love The Olympics, and the ongoing Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, are no exception. Between the thrilling moments of victory, the heart-warming examples of athletes overcoming adversity, and the pure joy that competing, let alone winning, creates, it’s no wonder we all get caught up in these accomplishments.
Here at EDO, we not only love watching the games, but of course, the ads that are being shown across the NBCUniversal networks. Like the games themselves, not only have the ads been entertaining, heart warming, and memorable, but impactful too. As was recently featured in the NBCUniversal’s Mid-Games Report, our data found that it takes 37+ Competitive Broadcast/Cable ad units to generate the same level of online search as one ad unit of NBC Olympics Prime.
And while it’s nearly impossible to narrow them down to just a few, below are some of our favorite Olympic-themed ads, our “Fab 4” if you will, that have been shown during this year’s games.
OMEGA
The Swiss watch maker is the official timekeeper of the Olympic games for the 29th time in Tokyo. Their long-term relationship with, and understanding of, the importance of the games is on full display in their artistic 30-second “Timekeeping and Tradition” spot, which features a split screen throughout of Japanese cultural traditions, Olympic-inspired moments, and close ups of their luxury timepieces. And it shows us that brand and product advertising can be one and the same.
The spot, which is perfectly guided musically by “Dream” by Imagine Dragons, ends with the fitting tagline “Recording Olympic Dreams Since 1932.” The spot has made up the majority of the brand’s TV advertising campaign, pulling in the majority of OMEGA’s Search Engagement Volume (SEV) since debuting on air.
GEICO
GEICO is no stranger to celebrity features, from Lisa Loeb to Dick Vitale to Idina Menzel to John Stamos, let alone the GEICO Gecko. In this Olympic-themed spot, Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, a 2012 U.S. Olympic team gold medalist and vault silver medalist, shows off her tumbling skills to save a frisbee off the roof. After chalking up, she tumbles, twists off a tree branch, and well, saves the day.
But wait, remember that face, you know, the meme-worthy face after she earned the silver medal for the vault. The spot pokes some fun at the Olympic memory in the final seconds of the ad while the GEICO logo appears on screen. It also proved engaging to viewers; when EDO measured consumer online search for GEICO in the minutes immediately following the ad, it outperformed the brand’s average by double digits.
VISA
Simone? Is that you? The Tokyo Summer Olympics will long be remembered for the strength and courage Simone Biles showed on and off the mat, and in a 15-second spot, the gymnast shows off the tumbling skills that helped make her a now seven-time Olympic medalist in Visa’s new campaign featuring tap-to-pay in Pay Like an Olympian.
Aside from featuring the gymnast, the brand also took advantage of the 2020 Olympics to promote its rebrand in Meet Visa. The spot opens with “you probably think Visa is a credit card company, huh? But it’s actually a network.” The so-called “Network Working for Everyone” was heavily featured in this year’s Olympics programming.
Not surprisingly, the campaign has also been medal-worthy. In the long-form 60-second variant of the creative, Visa created one of its top performing creatives of the past year, engaging viewers who were over 3x more likely to search for Visa following an ad airing compared to the 12-month brand benchmark.
Toyota
The Official Olympics sponsor has revamped its creative strategy in line with its role as the Team USA Partner. The auto brand originally made waves during Super Bowl LV with the debut of the beautiful 60-second Upstream, which told the inspiring story of Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long as part of its State Your Impossible campaign.
In June, the brand updated the campaign with a variety of new spots, including the story of Mexican Olympic gymnast Alexa Moreno. Other campaign spots include It Could be You and First Date. The final member of our Fab 4, however, the fun and innovative spot Teamwork proved effective in driving Search Engagement for the brand, with engagement levels nearly 3x as strong as the average Toyota brand ad that aired in the past year. Search Engagement is EDO’s proprietary measure of the increase in online search activity for a brand or product in the minutes immediately following a TV ad airing.