From Paris to the Pitch: Applying Olympic Marketing Insights to Sports Marketing Campaigns

The 2024 Paris Olympics witnessed record-breaking activity, and not all of it was accomplished during competition. Marketers and advertisers spent more money on the games than ever before. NBC sold a record $1.2 billion in advertising for the events and companies likeNike bet big with global advertising campaigns during the games. Overall, ad spending was up 18% compared with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This is especially true for CPG brands globally, which made big investments knowing that major sporting events have a significant influence on consumer purchasing behavior. 

And the Gold Goes To: Medal-Worthy Marketing Campaigns During the Olympics  

The Power of Contests and Sweepstakes

Leading up to the Olympics this year, AirAsia MOVE and Visa created a contest in which customers could win a pair of tickets to the 2024 Summer Games by making purchases through the AirAsia MOVE app.

Contests and sweepstakes that unlock exclusive offers are strategic approaches for brands to collect customer data in exchange for meaningful rewards for the customer. Brands acquire an average increase of 34% in new fans through sweepstakes and contests. Additionally, contest emails have an average open rate of 8.8%, a considerable increase over an average open rate of 3.3% for standard marketing emails.

Knowing Your Audience

 Reese’s created gold-medal-shaped chocolate peanut butter bars during the 2024 Olympic Games. Aside from the shape, they were no different from their standard product, but customers were more driven to purchase them due to their love of unique seasonal chocolate bars (for reference, Reese’s Eggs were the top-selling candy last Easter, despite cocoa prices surging). Reese’s is known to offer limited-time-only shaped bars throughout the year based on different seasons and holidays, and these items are very popular with customers. 

Reese’s has a cult following for their limited edition-shaped chocolate bars and they tapped into their fans’ collective interest in the 2024 Olympics by creating a medal-shaped bar. 

A Sense of FoMo

These two examples also show how scarcity increases sales. Studies show that the rarity of products increases consumers' likelihood of purchasing goods due to the fear of missing out on the opportunity. Campaigns running for limited periods and tailored to a specific moment increase sales and customer engagement. 

Enticing customers to enter giveaways and provide first-party data can be problematic (or complicated – pick one), but offering them a true value exchange, like tickets to the Olympics or a limited-time-only product, incentivizes them to provide their information because they understand they are getting something desirable from the exchange. Additionally, because the gold medal-shaped Reese’s chocolate bars were only available for a limited time, consumer purchasing increased because they would not be able to buy them later. 

As brands and marketers transition from Olympic marketing strategies to this year’s sports calendar, the lessons learned from these Olympic campaigns can be effectively applied.

3 Tips for Applying Olympic Marketing Successes to the Upcoming Sports Season

Based on what was successful at the Olympics, here are three ways CPG marketers can enhance their strategies for sports marketing: 

1.    Incentivize consumer purchases

This is a common strategy used by CPG brands to boost sales and attract new customers. Sweepstakes and promotions, including instant wins and gift with purchase programs, are used to incentivize participation and customer engagement. This is a "win-win" because brands can easily collect first-party data to enhance their marketing campaigns and products based on their customer’s preferences and shopping habits, and consumers can potentially win something meaningful to them. Receipt upload promotions are a great way to incentivize consumers to purchase, while also providing data to the brands that identify exactly what customers are buying, where they’re buying and what else is in the basket. 

 2.    Encourage customer loyalty

Incentivizing purchases is a highly effective strategy to drive shorter-term sales and customer engagement, but as the economic and digital environments evolve, a brand's loyalty-driving tactics should also be a high priority. Promotions are a way to get customers started in the brand’s loyalty program and then a series of promotions tied to the sports calendar can be a great way to combine sports, the brand’s products, and increased customer engagement. A robust loyalty program is a great way to have an ongoing relationship with customers, to get more insights into their preferences and shopping habits and to reward them for loyalty, especially with a tiered loyalty program that provides bigger rewards for higher engagement and spend levels. Loyalty programs also deepen relationships, lead to higher customer lifetime value and more brand advocacy.

3.    Unlock untapped channels for customer acquisition

The third key is to deeply understand your customers and adjust your strategies based on audience insights. Promotions drive data collection via surveys or receipt capture. Loyalty programs enhance this by giving a longer view of customer interactions, more insights into preferences and purchase frequency, and the ability to predict response rates to promotions. All of this data can be analyzed and used for segmentation, personalization, retargeting, marketing campaign changes, as well as future product development or even packaging.

As we transition from the Summer Olympics to this year’s sports marketing calendar, it is clear that the campaigns that produced success on the global stage can be just as effective when applied to other major sporting events. The key lessons—such as incentivization, personalized loyalty programs, and responsibly leveraging customer data—are crucial for maximizing engagement and increasing sales.

Score A Marketing Touchdown With Your Next Campaign 

Although the Olympics happen every two years, successful marketing strategies used during the games can be applied to other annual sporting events and seasons. The biggest lessons learned from marketing campaigns during this year's Olympics are incentivization and truly knowing and understanding your customers are critical to increasing consumer engagement. Brands should take note of what was done well and how they can apply that knowledge and information to upcoming sports seasons. 

If you are interested in learning more about sports marketing and how brands can apply these findings, explore Snipp’s services for more marketing insights, and share your own strategies for success. 

Speak to our experts to discuss how you can integrate sports marketing into your promotions calendar or loyalty program with Snipp.