We asked ourselves the question; what in the world does P&G—the corporation and its 34 participating brands—have to do with the athletes of the Olympic Games? The honest answer? Nothing. P&G is not in the business of helping athletes be better athletes. So we focused on a provocative insight and truth. P&G is in the business of helping moms. So let’s use our voice in the Olympics to acknowledge Mom’s rightful place in these Games and inspire others to do the same. To salute not just the moms of Olympians, but all moms around the world who have given so much. The Moms who have raised great athletes and the moms who have raised great kids. Because moms dedicate their lives to supporting and serving everyone else. Someone needs to support and serve them. Someone needs to say, “Thank you, Mom.” P&G. Proud Sponsor of Moms.

Our film series demanded a media strategy that leveraged big media partnerships, sponsorships and high-impact placement to reach our audience. At the same time, we coordinated local efforts and used channels to engage local communities. Before the Games, we launched each film to coincide with a big moment for the featured athlete. We increased paid media around each film when that athlete was competing in London. Finally, we celebrated their performance, in real-time, by creating quick-turn films and pushing them out just hours after competition. All told, we brought a unique and locally relevant angle to a massive global campaign.

Nearly every person who experienced the campaign was deeply moved by it, transforming the image of one of the world’s biggest corporations into that of a brand with a huge heart.

P&G won the Olympics, hands down. P&G’s campaign was the most viewed and shared of all Olympic sponsors. The Raising an Olympian film series achieved over 27,000,000 global views.

People fell in love with P&G. The campaign successfully drove all three corporate equity measures. Net familiarity, favorability and trust were all up over 10 points. P&G engaged with fans and generated 370,000,000 Twitter interactions.

And we converted love of P&G into sales. The overall program delivered over $500,000,000 in global incremental sales. Retailers reported success with an average of 5%–20% sales lift. All told, the P&G campaign had a 30% higher ROI than the average ROI for a single-brand program, making it the most successful campaign in P&G’s 175-year history.