I witnessed a lot of interesting marketing at the Olympics during my visit, and one that jumped out at me was VISA.
Their “Go World” campaign is a powerful example of a truly integrated campaign. But it stands out because it was built on a beautiful piece of creative.
When I first saw the “Go World” headline, I almost felt it was too simple. Too obvious. But as I watched the campaign unfold I realized its beauty resided in its simplicity. But don’t mistake simplicity with lack of impact. This is a campaign with impact.
The grey blue imagery is beautiful and consistent from TV to retail bags to Point of Sale to even the support trucks roaming Vancouver. VISA did a beautiful job of creating POS merchandising that delivered a warming message every time you purchase a souvenir.
What do I mean by warming? Inspiration.
I think that’s the power in this campaign. It’s inspiring. Whether it be the ads that celebrate the Jamaican Bobsled Team history, or celebrating Canadian athletes from coast to coast, or the congratulatory ad celebrating Canada’s first gold on home soil.
When it comes to executional brilliance, that ad was on the air a mere eight minutes after Bilodeau won gold. Unbelievable.
Speaking of execution, I find Morgan Freeman to be the perfect voice for the campaign. Almost as if he was born to read these scripts.
Around Vancouver you can’t miss the millions of Hbc garments. Their clothing is awesome. What a recovery from Beijing!
The Coke house looked amazing. After I spent a grand total of 4.8 hours waiting to get in, I never saw inside but one of my team who went loved it. Personally I just loved the shape of it! It was a Coke can lying on its side.
Samsung had an awesome sponsor pavilion with technology to knock your undies off.
I didn’t get into the Bell Ice Cube either, I hate lines, but the exterior of it and a/v was unreal.
So many events. So many sponsors. So much fun. Kudos to all.