Our goals were to raise awareness for the approaching games in Paris and restore cultural relevance to the Olympics. With a limited media budget it was crucial we make the most of every opportunity to reach as many potential viewers as possible. We needed to capture people’s attention and position the games as a must see cultural event. Our strategy was to partner with popular celebrities with established footholds in the culture and their own passionate fanbases to create compelling sharable content. Working with their teams, we coordinated to reach as many of their fans as possible and in turn to create viral moments that sparked wider conversation and earned free media exposure. We also hoped that by presenting A-List celebrities as fans of the Olympics we could position Paris 2024 as a can’t miss cultural event, reframing the conversation about one of the world’s premier sporting events.

Celebrities in the campaign weren't just interested in the Paris Olympics – they desperately wanted to be involved. Each spot opens with a fantastical vision then cuts to a boardroom to reveal our celebrity actually pitching to a room of NBC Executives.

Peyton Manning floats above the Eiffel Tower in a blimp made from a giant baguette. Megan Thee Stallion’s idea – based on the reality that the equestrian events will indeed be held in the gardens at Versailles – features Megan dancing with Dressage horses and a talking, fire breathing Pegasus. And in Lily Collins’ pitch – in character as Emily In Paris – the world’s fastest man, Noah Lyles, competes in the Olympic 100m final in an outrageous gold outfit with an enormous flowing cape. In the boardroom our stars are met with awkward silence and skepticism - ending with the Paris Olympics logo.

The Olympic Pitch campaign created a unique opportunity for NBC to connect with audiences not typically drawn in by traditional sports marketing content. The Megan Thee Stallion and Emily in Paris collaborations in particular opened doors for NBC Sports to connect with new hard to reach communities and millions of fans eager to view and share new content featuring their favorite stars. Partnering with their Social Media teams, we coordinated our on air promo debuts with online posts – primarily built around their own sizable Instagram accounts.

The corresponding social postings of the spots totalled a combined 60+ million impressions - largely unaided - on owned and earned social channels. Many of those impressions were passionate fans of Megan Thee Stallion and Emily in Paris – groups comprised largely of people we had very little chance of reaching with an Olympic message any other way. They were served promotional content that featured stars they liked, doing things they liked and responded enthusiastically and positively, often stating in comments and shared posts that they were looking forward to the Paris Olympics. The spots also generated very positive coverage in traditional media outlets like Rolling Stone and USA Today. Time will tell if this campaign has contributed to a renewal of interest for American audiences, but so far focus groups are telling us awareness of and intent to watch the Paris Olympics are exceeding expectations.