Samsung has been the World Wide Olympic Partner of the Olympic Games since 1998. For the Summer Games in Tokyo, Samsung Electronics Benelux sponsored BMX riders Niek Kimmann and Judy Baauw. The brief was to develop a strategy and creative idea for a sponsorship campaign around the Games that connects seamlessly with the Samsung brand mantra: ‘Do what you can’t’.

Concrete objective is: Achieve a top-3 position as a named sponsor of the Olympic Games in the Netherlands.

Regulations at the Olympic Games are very strict, which means you can’t contribute during competitive racing. So we had to find a way to make to innovate and contribute in the way the athletes trained.

As sponsor of BMX athletes you can hope for Olympic success. But as tech brand saying ‘do what you can’t’, why don’t you help them to be successful?

BMX is all about the perfect start, where 70% of the races are won. This start consists of three elements: reaction speed, power and the angle at which the bike is pulled up. The ideal combination of these 3 factors is the biggest mystery in BMX. Until Samsung FastFrame.

A customised BMX innovation with built-in technology and app that measures the factors in real time. The data, directly transferred to the coaches’ smartphones, unlocked this ideal combination of the perfect start.

This way we created true value for the athletes (a daily training tool), resulting in the first Dutch Olympic BMX gold medal ever. And an awareness explosion for Samsung being a real contributing sponsor. A bold statement, fitting Samsung's brand promise.

The athletes and coach trained with Samsung FastFrame in secret for months. Just before the Olympics, at June 23 2021, when normally the buzz about sports innovations and tech at the Olympics was at its peak, we brought it to the entire Dutch press.

We didn’t just invite them to come and see Samsung’s latest invention. We invited them to come and discover the biggest BMX-innovation ever. We invited them at Papendal, the place where all Dutch Olympic athletes are training, so the press could see the bike doing the job for real. Within days after the press day over 12 million people in The Netherlands knew about the secret weapon. And – in the slipstream – about Samsung being a real contributing tech sponsor of the Olympic shorttrack skaters.

During the Olympics, we demonstrated our intense involvement with the Olympians and earned appreciation with news-jacking videos and real-time advertising.

3-10-2019 – Finding the big barrier in BMX, together with BMX coaches and athletes. BMX is all about the perfect start. But what makes the perfect start? A combination of reaction, power and bike lift. But the perfect combination of these factors is a mystery. From this insight the idea was born.

11-11-2019 — Start pre-production cycle. Get functional design for all elements, software, firmware and hardware to create a solution that will be invisible for the athlete and analysing the results in realtime. Testing all different types of technologies.

25-11-2019 — Developing design to talk to the different types sensors measuring the performance and angular data from the bike. Synchronising all these different data streams in to an atomic clock accurate single data stream.

14-02-2020 — First integration on the BMX bike with a specially 3D designed enclosure to house all the electronics. Allowing easy access and being out of the way to the athlete while performing. Without the added weight upsetting the intricate balance of the bike during a training session.

18-02-2020 — Initial technical integration test for timing systems and data capture on the BMX-track at Papendal.

May 2020 — Different tests each week. Quickly get feedback and rework including software and hardware tweaks and redesigns of the enclosure as BMX jumping impact is hard on equipment.

June 2020 – Olympics 2021 – Fully training with Samsung FastFrame.

July - September 2020 — Last updates to design of the geometry of cranks.

23-06-2021 – PR kick off. Samsung FastFrame presented to the entire Dutch media.

Beginning July 2021 – Campaign follow up with TVC, Online video, TikTok, DOOH, Retail, Metro AdTrack, Olympic sales promotions, digital/social backstory content and catch-up sets for after the finals.

30-07-2021 – Olympic Gold for Kimmann. Dutch first BMX gold ever.

After the press release, in no time the whole of The Netherlands knew about this magic bike. And about Samsung being a real contributing tech sponsor. The uniqueness of this sponsorship benefited the brand significantly; see below.

Campaign reach: 70+ million impressions

Sponsorship awareness: Named No 1 sponsor by Dutch public

Brand barometer (Proud To Own-index): +16%!

PR/Free publicity: 60+ national publications, 12.9 million OTS. TV: Containing Primetime News on National Television, big items at the biggest late night talk shows, Sports news items. Printed and digital press in dept articles.

We literally proved ‘Do What You Can’t’. During the Olympics, Niek Kimmann won the first ever Dutch Olympic BMX gold.