When Do The Olympics Start

How To Heat Up The Olympics

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The answer is today - Feb 4th, 2022. However, we just used the title as it’s the number 1 search related to the Olympics in Canada. There’s a reason for this, the Olympics unfortunately have lost a bit of their buzz. Of course, the pandemic and events taking place at all hours of the night, for Canadians, have caused some issues for us to stay up to date.

As we’ve seen in previous years all we need is one. One moment in time that captures the country and generates an audience of medal-hungry Canadians cheering on our athletes from the other side of the globe. However, there must be a better way to create an engaged audience for these games. Why are we waiting for the Olympics to start before we get into it? These athletes are training for years for this moment, this is why we want to share some ideas on How To Heat Up The Olympics.

First, it should be automatic that the games alternate from the different sides of the globe. The last four of five Olympics have been in Asia, or Europe (Russia 2014). At the very least have one year in North America, the next in Asia, the next in Europe, and the fourth in South America, this way the timezones and broadcasting times are always changing and giving the various markets an opportunity to watch the events in primetime.

Second, this is an idea that would not need the IOC Committee to be involved but instead an idea the national governing bodies/ athletes could perform on their own. Develop an all-access series that covers the leads up to the event, at the event, and after the event. This allows people to gain a full understanding of the dedication and the people behind these “overnight successes”. This would allow for these top-level athletes to share their stories and bring the masses together to see what takes place to reach their “15 minutes” of glory that everyone sees.

Lastly, more engaging partnerships, please. We fully understand and support the need to fund Team Canada but there’s a need to be a bit more creativity in the partnership activations. The one that keeps coming to mind, for myself, is the Cadillac Fairview malls ad that I see on YouTube. It has female Olympians just talking about everything they love about Cadillac Fairview and how they can purchase their favourite items there. Not to be too critical but it’s a mall, I hope I can find my favourite shoes there. If you want to post ads on YouTube, why not have your ads be proper videos showcasing the athletes’ personalities? Using the Fairview example, maybe it’s a video where the athletes are shopping at the mall, and clipping it back to them at home packing and explaining they need to be a top-level athlete, traveler, and a well-dressed person. Continuously tying back to their experiences and how that shapes them, that’s what stands out vs you or I, compared to an Olympian shopping. They’re buying a dress for a ceremony, and I’m buying socks cause my feet are cold. I’d much rather hear that I can get a dress for an Olympic ceremony at Cadillac Fairview malls than my cold feet spiel.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that can go a long way. Even if someone were to read this and tweak it to where they develop a content channel for Team Canada and they create a Pro vs Joe series or a weekly athlete feature, that be great! The whole purpose behind this piece is to heat things up and get us hyped up to cheer on our fellow Canadians when they compete on the world stage before they arrive.

Published: February 4, 2022 - Issue 25 of The Sport Marketeer