If you're working with any major brand, then the Olympics is one of the most significant marketing investments you'll make. Here are more than a dozen trends marketers need to plan around if they want to be relevant come the summer of 2016, along with some highlights of Olympics marketing in 2012 and 2014.

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2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
• About this report
• 13 trends for Rio 2016
• Great moments in Olympics digital marketing
• Contact us

3. ABOUT THIS REPORT
Training for the Olympics takes years of preparation, dedication, and motivation. What’s true for athletes is also true for
marketers. The next Olympics always seems to come along faster than expected, and marketers can’t prepare early
enough.
For dozens of major brands, the Olympics is one of the most significant marketing investments they make. For brands
that don’t have the rights to the Olympic rings, many will still be looking for ways to compete aggressively for attention
during the games, and in the months leading up to the event. The Olympic Games – especially the Summer Olympics
– remains one of the most unifying global ‘water cooler moments,’ where a single topic dominates global conversations
for weeks.
That’s why we paved the Marketers’ Road to the Olympics. Included here are more than a dozen trends marketers
need to plan around if they want to be relevant come the summer of 2016. These span the immediately applicable
fundamentals of social media to a future rife with artificial intelligence and drones. Following these trends are several
highlights of Olympics digital marketing from 2012 and 2014, so we can learn from previous triumphs.
We welcome your thoughts and feedback, and hearing about your plans for 2016. With the competition for share of
voice ahead, may the odds be ever in your favor. Wait, wrong contest. Make that: Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher,
Stronger).
- Team MRY

5. 13 TRENDS AT A GLANCE
1. The Second Summer (Olympics) of Social
2. The Wisdom of Connecting Crowds
3. Goodbye Storytelling, Hello Storymaking
4. Private Social is the New Norm for Sharing
5. Silicon Panda
6. No Wonder, Woman
7. First Screen, Meet Second Screen and the Extended Family
8. APIs Just Wanna Be Friends
9. The Dawn of the Interpretation Age
10. Droning Onwards and Upwards
11. The Death of the Wallet
12. One HAL of an Olympics
13. Virtual Reality, for Real

6. THE SECOND SUMMER (OLYMPICS)
OF SOCIAL
The 2012 London Olympics were properly deemed as the world's first social media
Olympics. In 2014, a Sochi Games spokeswoman reported that they saw more than
10,000 tweets per minute during the opening ceremony. Now, headed into 2016, we can
only expect things to get bigger, better, and more creative on social.
Begin by covering off on your social media to-do list heading into Rio. Review your main
platforms, determine a plan, and build for the future. You do not want to wake up on August
1, 2016 realizing you need to rush to get your social profiles up to par. You will also have to
pay far more last-minute to build an audience.
Social media also offers an effective way for brands that are not official sponsors to get in
on the Olympic conversation via a tactic called Ambush Marketing. Ambush Marketing has
long been an unofficial Olympic tradition, and even actively discouraged by the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), but this has not stopped brands from doing it. For example,
although Adidas paid $60 million to be an official sponsor, Nike made a bigger splash in
2012 with their #findgreatness campaign celebrating everyday athletes (see more about
that in the “Great Moments in Olympics Digital Marketing” section below).

7. Teens in 52 countries
around the globe used
their social feeds to
create 3.5 million
personalized versions of
producer Mark Robson’s
Olympic anthem
“Anywhere in the World”
in Coca-Cola’s “Move to
the Beat of London”
campaign.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

8. THE WISDOM OF CONNECTING
CROWDS
You can turn your home into a hotel room, your car into a taxi, a few free hours into a
messenger business, or a photography hobby into a rights licensing operation. Whether
people are seeking a part-time or full-time job, supplemental income, or some degree of
fame, there are marketplaces to pool just about any talent or asset and turn it into at least a
nominally viable business.
This is the crowd economy, where hard goods can be shared and services can be
performed by anyone who is deemed to be trustworthy. Jeremiah Owyang’s Crowd
Companies reported that collaborative economy companies have attracted $8 billion in
funding over the past decade, with about half of that coming in 2014. Brands are
increasingly going to discover that they must find ways to partner with such marketplaces
rather than try to ignore or obstruct them.

9. U-Haul created the
Investors Club to crowd
fund its equipment, giving
customers and supporters
a way to directly support
and profit from its
business. Surprising
examples abound of
established brands giving
more people a stake in
their success.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

10. GOODBYE STORYTELLING,
HELLO STORYMAKING
Conversations about the Olympics can be predictable – the media landscape is dominated
by stories of record-breaking, drama-filled, superhuman feats of athletic prowess. With
social media, however, the Olympics conversation has changed. People want to see a little
piece of themselves in every athlete’s story, which gives brands the opportunity to transform
unbelievable or unrelatable moments into shareable ones.
Marketers that focus on the human element of the games – how each of us is motivated by
the same basic passion and drive to achieve our goals – give fans a way to be a part of the
athletes’ winning moments and thus engage with the brand in a unique way. At MRY, we
call this storymaking. While storytelling is a one-way street, storymaking facilitates and
taps into the stories that people are creating and sharing with each other. This can be as
simple as a daily interaction with a product, or as awe-inspiring as an Olympic victory; the
key is that it puts the consumer at the center of a branded story, and thus taps into a deeper
emotional meaning.

11. G O L D
M E D A L I S T
Visa led US advertisers in
social engagement during
the Sochi Olympics, and
timely content married
with storymaking was a
big reason why. The
Team Visa Mosaic
encouraged fans to send
their congratulatory
messages to athletes,
and fans’ avatars became
part of the celebratory
mosaic.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

12. PRIVATE SOCIAL IS THE NEW NORM
FOR SHARING
So many of the fastest growing apps are messaging apps where people are sharing posts
constantly, but most sharing is private to select individuals and groups. These private
conversations can’t be readily tracked, and these consumers don’t want to be monitored
and targeted. As a few of these apps cross the billion-user mark in 2016 and others keep
scaling fast, marketers will have to find new creative ways to reach such elusive audiences.
App developers are trying to meet marketer demand. In Asia, Line offers up several cute
and creative ways for brands to become part of the apps content. Silicon Valley’s Snapchat,
meanwhile, has come up with bold offerings in the US that allow brands to sponsor content
from major publishers.
The most important assets for marketers in 2016 will be the athletes themselves. After all,
chat apps are all about people connecting to each other, so this is a prime opportunity for
brands to get personal and become part of the content that athletes share.

13. G O L D
M E D A L I S T
McDonald’s has promoted
Snapchat heavily through
other social channels to
feature exclusive footage
of its athletes (this judging
is a bit biased, coming
from a certain agency
which was the first
business to accept
payments through
Snapchat).
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

14. SILICON PANDA
Increasingly, the market leaders in every field, from social media to e-commerce to search
engines, are (or will be) Chinese properties. E-commerce company Alibaba claimed the title
for largest global IPO ever in September of 2014. Facebook needed to go all over the
world, except China, to hit 1 billion users, but China’s Tencent/QQ can do that within its own
borders. Clearly, there’s a reason Mark Zuckerberg revealed that he has become fluent in
Mandarin.
In 2015, more than 680 million people in China will be online – 2.5 times the number
of people in the United States. It is no surprise then that other technologies bubbling up in
the Far East are further defining subsequent developments on global shores. If your brands
are in China, Chinese fans following the Olympics through social and mobile apps will want
to cheer for their home team right along with you.

15. China’s WeChat app is
partnering with
Buzzfeed to give
chatters some content to
snack on between
sending and receiving
messages; expect brand
integrations to follow.
(See more in the trend
“Peekaboo: Privately
Social is
the New Norm
for Sharing”)
Gold
Medalist
China’s WeChat app is
partnering with Buzzfeed
to give chatters some
content to snack on
between sending and
receiving messages;
expect brand integrations
to follow. (See more in the
previous trend, “Private
Social is
the New Norm
for Sharing”)
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

16. NO WONDER, WOMAN
There’s a reason why Under Armour was named Ad Age’s 2014 Marketer of the Year: its “I
Will What I Want” campaign, a self-proclaimed “woman-a-festo,” is the latest, and perhaps
most successful, embodiment of the growing female empowerment movement in
advertising. Featuring “female athletes and athletic females” using spokeswomen ranging
from ballerina Misty Copeland to supermodel Gisele Bundchen, the campaign provides an
inspirational look at the power of women to achieve their goals in a world of barriers and
stigmas.
Brands are finding that campaigns that empower girls and women instead of perpetuating
stereotypes are proving to be popular, not to mention effective at generating sales. For
example, sales of Dove grew from $2.5 billion to $4 billion since the launch of their
“Real Beauty” campaign, which includes the now famous "Real Beauty Sketches." This
growth in sales should be no surprise given that 52% of respondents in a recent SheKnows
study had purchased a product because they liked the way that the ads portrayed women,
with 56% of those respondents being in the key millennial demographic.
The inspiring nature of the Olympics provides a perfect backdrop for brands to continue
taking advantage of this trend, but marketers must be careful to do so in an authentic
matter. There’s a thin line between empowering and exploitative.

17. Under Armour and P&G’s
Always "Like a Girl" video takes
on the question, “when did
doing something ‘like a girl’
become
an insult?”
Gold
Medalist
P&G’s Always "Like a
Girl" video takes on the
question, “When did doing
something ‘like a girl’
become an insult?”
Viewed more than 50
million times with 9x as
many likes as dislikes, it
got further attention as
the brand’s Super Bowl
spot in 2015.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

18. FIRST SCREEN, MEET SECOND
SCREEN AND THE EXTENDED FAMILY
As connected devices proliferate, creating more challenges for marketers to track
consumers, marketers are getting help thanks to the rapidly innovating field of cross-device
targeting, which aims to identify the same consumer regardless of which gadget they’re
using. When done well, it helps marketers accomplish a range of goals, from more accurate
frequency capping to more holistic messaging.
There are two primary ways to do this. One is through technology solutions such as Tapad
and Drawbridge which developed algorithms to determine when the same person is using
various devices. Another is through media companies like Google and Facebook that know
which users are signed in not just to their sites, but to any site using their logins.
During the Rio Olympics, when people will be watching games and reading updates across
several devices spanning home, work, school, and elsewhere, effectively identifying and
reaching the right people will be more important than ever. It will be essential for
marketers to adapt experiences to different screens, as consumers behave differently with
media they encounter on a TV versus a laptop, smartphone, or smartwatch.

19. Dell worked with Tapad
to identify connected TV
viewers, which it knew
were early adopters and
then targeted consumers
on smartphones. This
led to a 68%
engagement lift and
double the number of
page views when people
saw Dell’s ads across
TVs and smartphones
Gold
Medalist
Dell worked with Tapad to
identify connected TV
viewers (fitting Dell’s
target of early adopters),
and then targeted those
consumers on
smartphones. This led to
a 68% engagement lift
and double the number of
pageviews when people
saw Dell’s ads across
TVs and smartphones
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

20. APIs JUST WANNA BE FRIENDS
Steve Jobs once said, “Creativity is just connecting things.” Fortunately for marketers, there
are many more things to connect when it comes to technology, thanks to APIs. The techie
acronym means “application program interface,” and it refers to any kind of technology that
allows others to build on it.
Consider Google integrating Uber into Google Maps (while Maps itself has APIs), or
Weather Underground’s API for adding forecasts to travel or sports apps. Brands can mash
up existing platforms to create new experiences. Coca-Cola, for example, launched an app
called Placelists that tapped into Facebook and Spotify to allow people to create music
playlists for any location.
It’s now possible to imagine what you want to build, discover which technologies
address elements of it, and figure out how to fuse them together to create a new experience
that fits your brief.

21. Mercedes-Benz synced
up its cars to Nest
thermostats (owned by
Google) to have your
home adjust the
temperature for you as
you’re driving home so it
feels just right by the
time you walk in the
door.
Gold
Medalist
Mercedes-Benz synced
up its cars to Nest
thermostats (owned by
Google). That allows
people who own both a
Mercedes and a Nest to
have their home adjust
the temperature as
they’re driving home, so it
feels just right by the time
they walk in the door.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

22. THE DAWN OF THE
INTERPRETATION AGE
Every day, 2.3 trillion gigabytes of data is created. Big data keeps getting bigger, and the
Information Age has transformed into the Information Overload age. Part of this is being
fueled by the pervasiveness of social media and the rise of mobile as the first screen. Then
there are emerging fields such as beacons in stores, connected appliances at home, and
wearable technologies. All contribute to the data glut.
Now, the quest for brands and product manufacturers must shift from merely
amassing data to interpreting it. This is where brands have an advantage, as successful
brands are those that can change consumer preferences and behavior. Brands can tap into
this data to create experiences that move people. Technology companies are focused on
this as well. For instance, the Pavlok, which raised $269,000 for its Indiegogo campaign
(more than five times its goal) is a wristband that shocks people when they miss self-
improvement goals, such as spending too long on Facebook or walking into a fast food
restaurant. Marketers can be the ones to tap into all that data and steer consumers toward
their brands’ recommendations.

23. In April 2011, Walmart
acquired the startup
Kosmix and created a
new research arm,
@WalmartLabs.
Achievements from
@WalmartLabs include
launching a new search
engine for Walmart.com
dubbed Polaris, ranking
results based on social
signals – one of several
ways Walmart is
interpreting data in new
ways to benefit its
consumers and its own
bottom line.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
In April 2011, Walmart
acquired the startup
Kosmix and created a
new research arm,
@WalmartLabs.
Achievements from
@WalmartLabs include
launching a new search
engine for Walmart.com
dubbed Polaris, ranking
results based on social
signals.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

24. DRONING ONWARDS AND UPWARDS
2016 could be the first drone-powered Olympics. Drones can give people intimate, riveting
shots of all the action, as well as of the athletes themselves. Depending on what local laws
and International Olympic Committee rules permit, perhaps some contenders will even use
them to take selfies in the Olympic Village or get meat skewers delivered from a drone-
powered churrascaria.
There will be plenty of opportunities for first-mover advantages when it comes to
drones, especially for experiences at live events, and possibly in stores. Caution is
warranted, as it’s possible for drones to cause mishaps, such as when a mistletoe-bearing
drone at a Brooklyn T.G.I. Friday’s chipped off a piece of someone’s nose. Gaffes and
minor injuries aside, drones can be used to add sweeping cinematography to branded
video shoots or deliver surprises from the skies wherever consumers are gathering. New
technologies are also rolling out to give drones a better sense of awareness as to where
obstacles and other drones are. Start posting job openings for drone pilots today, and
prepare for when drones take over your workplace as well.

25. The gold and the Lion
goes to Twitter for its
@Dronie account which
posted Vine selfies shot
by drones at the Cannes
Lions in 2014. The
kickoff dronie starring
Patrick Stewart has
tallied more than
700,000 Vine loops.
Gold
Medalist
The Gold and the Lion
goes to Twitter for its
@Dronie account which
posted Vine selfies shot
by drones at the Cannes
Lions in 2014. The kickoff
Dronie starring Patrick
Stewart has tallied more
than 700,000 Vine loops.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

26. THE DEATH OF THE WALLET
According to Mashable, purchases made using a smartphone or tablet rose 48% year-
over year to $8 billion during the second quarter of 2014, and it is estimated that by
2020 mobile commerce will account for more than 75% of the world’s online transactions
and more than 50% of spend. With this frictionless way to pay, we can now envision the
day when wallets are completely obsolete. Apple Pay popularized the phenomenon, making
the future of mobile payments seem far more accessible to present-day smartphone users.
The potential for marketers to use this technology is limitless. It can be as simple as offering
an easier way to pay at the point of sale. A more advanced case would be enabling beacon
technology to send personalized, location-specific promotions to consumers using mobile
payments. Opportunities should abound in 2016 in Brazil, dubbed “the country to watch for
mobile payments” by PaymentsSource, and also in the US as Apple Pay and its rivals
become more widespread.

27. Starbucks has reported
that their mobile app,
which combines mobile
payments with the
loyalty program
Starbucks Rewards, has
nearly 12 million active
users. CEO Howard
Schultz reported that
transactions from the
app brought in more
than 15% of U.S. sales
in Q3.
Gold
Medalist
Starbucks has reported
that their mobile app,
which combines mobile
payments with the loyalty
program Starbucks
Rewards, has about 12
million active users. CEO
Howard Schultz said that
transactions from the app
brought in more than 15%
of U.S. sales in Q3 2014.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

28. 2014’s Lollapalooza
festival-goers were
outfitted with
wristbands that served
as cardless payment
systems for purchases
made during the show.
Silver
Medalist
2014’s Lollapalooza
festival-goers were
outfitted with wristbands
that served as cardless
payment systems for
purchases made during
the show. Even
wristbands could make
wallets obsolete.
S I LV E R
M E D A L I S T
S I LV E R
M E D A L I S T

29. ONE HAL OF AN OLYMPICS
Media and technology are getting smarter – literally – as artificial intelligence becomes more
accessible and pervasive. IBM popularized this with Watson, which along with beating
Jeopardy champions and solving real-world problems has also recommended food pairings out
of a South by Southwest food truck (IBM calls this “Cognitive Cooking”).
Brands are becoming more comfortable with letting robots do some of their own jobs, as the rise
of programmatic media has shown. Meanwhile, Amazon has an army of Kiva robots supporting
human workers, though one wonders how long it will be before robots run those warehouses by
themselves. As for consumer-facing applications, brands can start with any recommendation
engine, from financial services products to car configurations, and adapt those to proactively
make recommendations tailored to individuals.

30. Domino’s gave its
mobile apps some Siri-
ous personality by
adding the voice-
powered virtual
assistant Dom to help
people order pizzas.
Artificial intelligence
hardly needs to be
reserved for
rocket scientists;
recommending pizza
toppings still meets
consumers’ needs.
Gold
Medalist
Domino’s gave its mobile
apps some Siri-ous
personality by adding the
voice-powered virtual
assistant Dom to help
people order pizzas.
Artificial intelligence
hardly needs to be
reserved for
rocket scientists;
recommending pizza
toppings still meets
consumers’ needs.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

31. VIRTUAL REALITY, FOR REAL
Popular Science just named 2015 the year virtual reality reaches living rooms. By 2016, with
the hardware finally in the hands of more consumers, virtual reality should be a major consideration
for marketers, and it’s even estimated that augmented-reality hardware will generate $1.06 billion in
revenue globally by 2018.
Brands like Coca-Cola, HBO and Nissan are already betting on virtual reality as the next big thing,
and social media giants like Facebook are taking notice, too, as evident in their decision to buy
Oculus Rift for $2 billion. Now, it isn’t too far-fetched to imagine watching Usain Bolt win another
gold medal from the sidelines of the Olympic stadium, just by putting on a pair of goggles.

32. Coca-Cola staged a
World Cup VR
experience where fans
were able to move from
a real-life replica of a
locker room at Maracanã
Stadium to the pitch by
putting on an Oculus Rift
headset, experiencing
the thrill of competing in
the world cup from the
point-of-view of the
players.
Gold
Medalist
Coca-Cola staged a
World Cup virtual reality
experience where fans
were able to move from a
real-life replica of a locker
room at Maracanã
Stadium to the pitch by
putting on an Oculus Rift
headset, experiencing the
thrill of competing in the
World Cup from the point-
of-view of the players. In
2016, brands will need to
figure out how to scale
such experiences.
G O L D
M E D A L I S T
G O L D
M E D A L I S T

34. P&G: THANK YOU, MOM
P&G’s “Thank You, Mom” campaign captured the
support of Olympians’ mothers all around the
world in the form of childhood flashbacks. The
brand entered the conversation by telling a story
about mothers helping their children succeed; this
was universally relatable, no matter what
country the fan was rooting for. They also
pushed the #becauseofmom hashtag to
encourage sharing.
“Thank You, Mom” campaign went beyond TV in
2012 by launching on Facebook where users
could upload family photos and write messages of
thanks to their mothers, adding a personal twist to
the campaign that already had people connecting
with the athletes on a deeper level.

35. MINI COOPER: WIN SMALL
Mini Cooper’s “Win Small” campaign in
London 2012 capitalized on its cars’ perceived
weakness – their size – to create a strong point of
messaging: all dreams are valid, no matter what
size they are OR what size the dreamer is. They
also paired this campaign with an activation on the
field using extra-mini remote-control MINIs that
drove discuses, javelins, and other gear back to
the throwing area. This campaign was successful
because people could empathize with the
message of succeeding despite hardship.

36. COVERGIRL: #GIRLSCAN
Even though Covergirl’s #GirlsCan campaign
debuted during the Closing Ceremonies of the
Sochi games, the brand’s female-empowerment
position made the makeup brand relatable in
the Olympics space. The spots featured female
celebrities like Pink, Ellen and Queen Latifah
discussing the hardships they overcame, all while
hearing “girls can’t.” The brand also announced
Olympics Covergirls including Gracie Gold (USA)
and Tessa Virtue (Canada).

37. NIKE: FIND YOUR GREATNESS
Nike wasn’t the official sportswear sponsor of the
2012 London Olympics (Adidas was), but they
gained attention by promoting “greatness” at
locations all around the world that had
“London” in the name, including Ohio, South
Africa and Norway. Their success came without
the costly investment (or legalities) of a
sponsorship, which allowed for additional creative
and legal freedom, even if they couldn’t claim to
officially support the US team or global
competition.

38. CADILLAC: ATS VS THE WORLD
Cadillac’s "ATS vs. The World” campaign wasn’t
altogether special in 2012; it showed the
automobiles driving in certain conditions all around
the world. What made this campaign great was its
strategic placement – after showing their
commercial at the Opening Ceremony, it saw an
increase in shopping by 474% over the
weekend. From there, the auto brand sprinkled in
commercials throughout the rest of the games,
and it effectively stuck in everyone’s mind.

39. David Berkowitz Chief Marketing Officer
david.berkowitz@mry.com
Evan Kraut Chief Growth Officer
evan.kraut@mry.com
Share, email or call us with questions or
comments, or visit us at mry.com/Olympics