We’ve all seen our fair share of athletic journeys. They’re typically composed of high profile individuals training in ways that your average human couldn’t even aspire towards.

Our approach was to combat this notion by humanizing the narratives of select U.S. Olympians (and TD Ameritrade clients) to demonstrate not only their athletic pursuit but to showcase how these athletes, like you, share hopes, dreams, aspirations, challenges, families, and futures.

This process involved engraining ourselves in the lives of the athletes – understanding what motivates them, how they remain financially stable in between four-year Olympic windows, what their family dynamic is, why they’re participating in the Rio games, etc.

What resulted was three unique stories told in a first person, unscripted format with a raw, emotionally resonant style. Each guided by a singular theme that’s endemic in demonstrating how these athletes identify with everyday individuals, just #LikeYou.

We created three :90 profiles featuring U.S. Olympians Chaunte Lowe (High Jump), Mariel Zagunis (Fencing), and the Bryan Brothers (Doubles Tennis).

Each piece was shot in one single day with the athletes where they live and train every day. All talent featured in the branded content are real, central figures to the story arc of each athlete. Aside from the locations, the format was unscripted, allowing us to capture each athlete in their natural environment and training atmosphere.

The cadence of each piece closely follows a through line of juxtaposing the athletes’ personal and professional subplots. In the case of Chaunte, you have the omnipresence of family. With Mariel, the mental resilience to achieve redemption is center stage. Lastly, with the Bryan Brothers, it’s an uncanny bond shared between twins on and off the court.

The profiles debuted online in June prior to the Rio Olympic games in August.

The business goal of the Olympics campaign was to amplify the TD Ameritrade brand story and enhance engagement through content that connected emotionally with the core audience. To do this, a new digital/social/mobile distribution strategy was employed utilizing several media channels, including a paid partnership between TD Ameritrade and ESPN. The campaign achieved records as the #1 social media campaign with a total of 46M content views and 3.8% engagement rate at two-cents cost per view (the highest rates at the most effective spend). After the campaign, the core target was: 65% more likely to view TD Ameritrade positively, 102% more likely to view TD Ameritrade as a leading financial services company, 155% more likely to view TD Ameritrade as a place for people looking for advice, and 101% more likely to consider using TD Ameritrade services.