IMG World Congress: Case Study About Visa's Olympic Activation

Watch Visa's "First Canadian Gold Medal" TV Spot

In the weeks since the Vancouver Games, Visa has determined that three of the 10 most-remembered and well-liked ads during the Olympics -- including the Dan Jansen spot that was the Olympics' best-performing ad -- were part of the credit card company's "Go World" campaign. Discussing Visa's strategy and how creative partner TBWA\Chiat\Day, L.A., executed that strategy was the focus of the "Campaigns in the Spotlight" session at the IMG World Congress of Sports presented by SportsBusiness Journal/Daily. Presenting the case study were Visa Head of Global Sponsorship Management Michael Lynch and TBWA Chief Creative Officer Rob Schwartz. Before the '08 Beijing Games, Visa took a pre-meditated risk by filming a commercial featuring Michael Phelps' achievement of 10 Gold Medals when he entered the competition with just six. After Phelps won the 200-meter butterfly to earn his tenth Gold, Visa ran the spot during the ensuing commercial break. It was the first manifestation of what Lynch called "advertising at the speed of culture," and it became a staple of Visa's Vancouver strategy. Lynch said the Phelps moment also led to the notion of, "Let's not make ads; let's try to make news." Heading into the Vancouver Games, Visa already had prepared a slew of time-sensitive ads, including a memorable pre-Opening Ceremony spot that professed "at this moment, everyone is tied" and another ad congratulating Canada on its first Gold Medal on home soil.

IT'S A DIGITAL WORLD: Lynch said that 40% of Visa's total Vancouver spend was dedicated to digital media, and although he would not reveal ROI specifics, he expressed confidence in this digital direction. Visa's Olympics ads have been watched more than 1.5 million times on YouTube, and a Facebook fan page highlighting the company's 33 sponsored Olympians reached six-digit fan levels. "We were making a special connection with consumers at the time. They were giving us real-time feedback," Lynch said. "It was a valuable lesson for us from a marketing standpoint -- this whole social media phenomenon continues to explode." Each morning during the Games, the Visa team would review the previous day's tweets about the campaign and group them into positive, neutral and negative categories. Alluding to the positive tweets, Schwartz said, "For a brand, you're not paying for that media. You're earning that media." Schwartz, whose team worked on both the Beijing and Vancouver campaigns for Visa, described TBWA's cornerstones to advertising campaign success. Among them was the idea of connecting to the brand, and to help accomplish this, TBWA colored all Beijing commercials gold and all Vancouver commercials blue -- the two tones used in Visa's logo. The fact that these colors also correspond to the seasons during which the Games took place was a welcomed benefit. "We must connect Visa," Schwartz said. "What's the use of doing a great ad if people don't remember the brand's name at the end of it?"

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