Against the backdrop of the global pandemic, the decision was taken to postpone the Olympic Games. When it returned a year later, for the first time, it would be held without fans.

This presented a unique challenge. We had to find ways to bring people together around the Olympic Games, connecting them to the action and each other, irrespective of their physical distance.

At the same time, in absence of spectators on the ground, it was vital to ensure that the athletes felt the support of their loved ones and millions of fans at home.

The circumstances also provided an opportunity to accelerate our digital engagement strategy, a key component of which is to grow digital engagement with the Olympics, especially among digital-first young people.

We sought to connect with fans globally during the Olympic Games, by creating innovative engagement opportunities with the Olympics and each other, across various digital touchpoints.

We launched the Tokyo 2020 FanZone on Olympics web and app – an interactive gamification experience, allowing fans to come together during the Olympic Games, to win prizes through creating Fantasy teams, taking part in Trivia competitions, predicting podium places and voting for their favourite moments at the Games.

We created ways to support the athletes and feel part of the action. Fans could upload cheer videos and send virtual claps, which were then relayed on giant screens in the venues. We created athlete moments – dedicated digital station to ensure that immediately after competing they could connect to friends and families thousands of miles away.

We pioneered the #OlympicSpirit TikTok challenge, to give fans, Olympians and their loved ones a place to

To bring people together around the Olympic Games, making sure they felt the same connection to the action and each other, irrespective of their physical distance and to ensure Olympians were still able to feel the support of the fans and their loved ones at home, our strategy was to create a series of innovative digital engagement opportunities across the Olympic ecosystem.

To accelerate our digital engagement strategy, a key component of which is to grow connection with young audiences in particular – we focused on digital fan experiences that would resonate with them.

For the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, we launched a series of digital engagement opportunities across the Olympic ecosystem - spanning Olympic-owned channels, digital partnerships, and broadcast technologies to create a global virtual Olympic fan community.

The Tokyo 2020 FanZone launched to bring fans together on Olympics.com and app, to win prizes through creating Fantasy teams, taking part in Trivia competitions, predicting podium places and voting for their favorite moments.

We created ways to support the athletes and feel part of the action. Fans could upload cheer videos and send virtual claps, which were then relayed on giant screens in the venues. We created athlete moments – dedicated digital station to ensure that immediately after competing they could connect to friends and families thousands of miles away.

We created the #OlympicSpirit TikTok challenge, to give fans, Olympians and their loved ones a place to get together and show support.

Tokyo 2020 was our most digitally engaged Olympic Games to date, with audiences interacting with the Olympics like never before.

This fan-centric approach was integral to this.

5M Unique User (20% above target) and 1.5M game plays (40% above target) on FanZone

6 billion people viewed the #OlympicSpirit challenge on TikTok

In total 255 million cheers were sent to athletes from across the globe – a remarkable expression of the feeling of solidarity the Olympics inspires.

Survey results from Kantar suggest that we fulfilled our ambition of building connection and relevance with the Gen Z target audience.

20 Point Increase in Weekly engagement with the Olympics

10 Point increase in Brand Relevance

56% of Gen Z declared they would "Absolutely Love or seriously Like to interact with the Olympics" after Tokyo 2020