Forget nine-point-something. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) may channel the Romanian gymnast’s 1976 achievement and score a perfect 10, with its uplifting and tightly integrated “Celebrate Olympic Day” summer marketing campaign.
Celebration With Integration
Olympic Day is an international celebration held every June 23 to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympic games. Organizers use the event, and the weeks before it, to engage international athletes and sports enthusiasts in promoting fitness, and advancing Olympic ideals of fair play, perseverance, respect and sportsmanship.
To mark the event’s 65th anniversary this year, the Olympics rolled out the “Celebrate Olympic Day” campaign in early June 2013.
Lessons for Small Businesses
A look at how the IOC’s gold-medal mix all ties together may help inform your next integrated campaign:
- “Get Active and Win!” Contest. Theme tells entrants how they can win the grand
prize–a trip to the new Olympic Museum’s October, 2013 inauguration in Lausanne, Switzerland. - Facebook. Would-be winners enter by going to Facebook to upload photos of themselves performing a sport or fitness activity. Facebook is also used to directly promote Olympic Day, showcase timeline photos and post updates.
- Twitter. Campaign managers distribute contest-related information using the Twitter #olympicday hashtag.
- YouTube and Instragram. Tweets link followers to YouTube videos, while event pix and other images are shared on the photo social network, Instagram.
- Olympics.org. The Olympic Games’ own website features Olympic Day links and content, including a map showing entrants’ country of origin, and a video appeal from (injured) spokesjock, Kobe Bryant, urging viewers to “take up the slack for him by being doubly active.” (Bryant is recovering from a torn Achilles tendon suffered in the 2013 NBA playoffs).
Get Active and Win!
The IOC’s contest theme reminds marketers who are planning future campaigns, that winning more exposure, engagement and sales, requires being more active on social media–and being more intentional about integrating social networks, YouTube and your company website.
In 1976, when she became the first Olympian ever score a 10.0, 14-year old Nadia delighted the world with an unexpected and magical performance. Will the skillfully conceived “Celebrate Olympic Day” campaign do the same? Only time will tell.
(AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)