USOC Sponsor Liberty Mutual Signs Latest Batch Of Olympic, Paralympic Hopefuls

USOC sponsor Liberty Mutual has signed 13 Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls to feature in marketing ahead of the '14 Sochi Games. The insurer is creating digital vignettes around each athlete that showcase how they overcame obstacles to pursue their Olympic or Paralympic dreams. The videos are part of a campaign Liberty Mutual is calling “Rise,” which ties the athletes’ ability to overcome unanticipated obstacles with consumers' reliance on insurance to “come back from catastrophes, flat tires and all sorts of unexpected life events.” Liberty Mutual Exec VP & Chief Communications Officer Paul Alexander said the company chose athletes that had a history of “responsibility and behaving with integrity.” He said it opted to do digital videos of the athletes and develop a digital campaign because it wanted to tell the athletes’ entire stories and that would be difficult to do in a TV commercial. Alexander: “With our target (35 years old and above), online is a really strong place to reach them. The whole Olympic idea about folks who have had difficulties or setbacks and then come back to succeed is compelling and online gives you the chance to tell that story more in depth than in mass media.” Ketchum Sports & Entertainment helped Liberty Mutual select its athletes. In addition to the digital videos, the athletes will make appearances at Liberty Mutual events and offices. Alexander said it is possible that some of the athletes will be featured in Liberty Mutual’s TV ad campaign before and during the Games. Creative is still being developed by Boston-based Hill Holiday. Liberty Mutual also works with 21 Marketing on its Olympics sponsorship.