The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 were out of the ordinary; postponed a year, with no spectators, at a time when people had been forced apart.

At this time of uncertainty, we wanted to offer a message of hope and solidarity, inspiring and uniting people around the Olympic Games. We wanted to highlight the Olympic message of solidarity and the irresistible power of the Olympic Games to unite people, communities and societies across the globe.

We also wanted to do this while continuing to be human-centric and building, connection and relevance with young people around the world in particular.

We collaborated with inspiring Olympians with powerful and relatable stories to connect with people around the world. These stories emphasized the power of sport to bring people together, and - particularly following a period of isolation due to COVID – demonstrating how sport can be a light in the darkness.

Our stories were designed to deliver relevance beyond sport, generating interest and conversation amongst young people in particularly. Whether it was Naomi Osaka calling upon girls around the world to be the change, or Tony Hawk celebrating the ‘rebels’ and ‘misfits’, their stories went far beyond sport.

One month from the opening ceremony, we launched #StrongerTogether highlighting the Olympic message of solidarity and the irresistible power of the Olympic Games to unite people, communities and societies across the globe. Led by the voices of athletes, who told their stories of how they kept moving when the world around them stopped.

Featuring the voices of some of the world’s most accomplished Olympians past and present, including Usain Bolt, Naomi Osaka, Tony Hawk and Yusra Mardini, each short film celebrated their powerful personal stories of strength, resilience and determination.

The athletes were deliberately selected from different generations, continents and sports – including established Olympic events like the 100m, and newer sports like skateboarding to connect with difference communities.

Implementation

Some of the episodes were filmed for the Tokyo 2020 Games prior to these being postponed. Therefore, when going ahead with Tokyo 2020, some of the footage was re-cut and new storytelling interwoven.

Timeline

The launch film was released ahead of Olympic Day (23 June 2021), followed by weekly episodic film releases leading up to the Opening Ceremony of the Games where the final film ‘What Agnes Saw’ was featured.

Placement

Working with the largest broadcasters and digital partners in the world ensured the films ran across:

- Broadcast (a.o. Seven, Discovery, BBC, NBCUniversal)

- Digital owned, operated and paid (a.o. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Weibo)

- OOH (New York, London, Tokyo)

- Athletes social amplification

Scale

The films were created across:

- Multiple languages

- 2 minutes and 60/45/15 second cuts

- Bespoke version for premium/high-profile OOH including New York Times Square, Westfield London, prominent Tokyo locations

Reach

The campaign generated 4.6b impressions across PR, social, paid media, influencers and an accelerated China GTM plan.

The Olympics Voice film led engagement on Olympics YouTube, exceeding average engagement by x13.

It generated 370m views via GIPHY and TENOR displaying Stronger Together content and became the number 1 trending story.

15m engagements delivered via stakeholders (International Federations, National Olympic Committees, TOPs, Organizing Committees for the Olympic Games).

Impact

This consumer first PR approach unlocked mass, youth and specialist media to land a new Olympic brand globally.

This led to the most digitally engaged Olympics ever across owned Olympic platforms and social media.

Qualitatively, it supported 59% of people considering the Games to have represented a light at the end of the tunnel.