All anyone can talk about right now is the 2014 Winter Olympic games in Sochi Russia. Whether they are talking about #SochiProblems, the mind-blowing opening ceremony, or the now started winter games, the Sochi Olympics are certainly on everyone’s mind.
Nielsen estimates that 31.7 million Americans tuned into the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday.
Just as we saw with the Super Bowl, marketers are taking full advantage of the Olympics with their advertising strategies especially when it comes to online.
Whether you are not able to tune-in and simply need game updates or you are partaking in a multi-screen experience, the Internet is a very powerful source for Olympic coverage. Simply search Olympics and voila…
With so many people getting online to get a hold of their Olympic coverage, sites like TeamUSA.org have become premium publishers for ad placement.
These large-scale display campaigns require a ton of planning and a monstrous budget but can be incredibly beneficial for a brand’s online presence.
See how these 3 brands are taking advantage of the Sochi Olympics with their display advertising strategy…
1. Adecco
Adecco is a well known global provider of staffing solution. In the US, they are one of the top staffing agency brands connecting with 70,000 prospective candidates daily.
They are still relatively new to the display advertising game. WhatRunsWhere only first saw one of their display ads in December of 2012. That is why it’s so interesting that they are the most prevalent advertiser on TeamUSA.org.
Their Olympic campaign was quite clever. Whereas most of the other advertisers on TeamUSA.org used a dedicated landing page, Adecco was able to condone their whole campaign message right in their display ad.
The copy used in the ads, “Hire elite athletes for your team. Learn how…” is very clear and doesn’t need a landing page to connect the dots.
2. Liberty Mutual
Liberty Mutual Insurance partook with an Olympic themed campaign titled #Rise.
From their website, it reads…
“Join us…as we share inspiring stories from Team USA athletes. And contribute your own experiences, as we get ready to cheer on Team USA for the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”
They used a series of flash banner ads to share the struggles various American Olympic athletes faced on their road to success.
Liberty Mutual made their Olympics campaign relevant by drawing on stories of athletes who suffered serious injuries, and likely had to rely on insurance in their time of need.
3. JC Penney
This campaign took a different route with their Olympics campaign. They chose not to mention the Olympics in their ads at all. Instead they used their ad placement on TeamUSA.org to bring attention to their Valentine’s Day Campaign.
The campaign is called “Hint Him Over the Head” and it is a clever campaign on so many levels. It seeks to get women to send Valentine’s Day gift requests. One of their ads reads: “Your man’s not a mind-reader. But he can read.”
Once you click through to the landing page you can choose one of nine images to share with the one you love via Facebook or email.
All nine of the images look incredibly similar to those corny graphics with even cornier quotes written across it (such as…). However, instead of using a sappy quote, they followed their headline with a picture and mention of a piece of jewelry that’s conveniently on sale at JC Penney.
Rather then trying to find some relatable context to tie their ads to the Olympics, they focused on their own promotion.
Online advertising certainly gets kicked up a notch during the Olympics and the Sochi Winter Games have been no exception. Each of these brands did their homework and found a way to take advantage of the spike in online traffic with their display ads.
Have you seen any interesting Olympic themed campaigns? Share them in the comments!
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