Madrid, July 18, 2024. – The Olympic Games will open on Friday, July 26 in Paris. These Games will be disruptive from a sporting, advertising, and cultural perspective. Athletes will leave the stadiums to flood the streets, squares, and even the waters of the Seine. They will be able to advertise the brands that sponsor them. And they will reach out to Generation Z and Millennials with new Olympic disciplines such as skateboarding, breakdancing, and street basketball.
These will be the first truly 21st-century Olympic Games. The brand creative consultancy Darwin & Verne has prepared a report on Paris 2024 analyzing these trends and interviewing experts and brands involved in this paradigm shift.
Here are the 5 trends analyzed by Darwin & Verne:
- Urban leisure becomes a sport – The latest additions to the Olympics seem to reflect the desire of Baron de Coubertin’s heirs to mix sport with urban leisure. It’s about bringing to the Games what happens in the streets of major cities: a fusion of athletic skills, music, and dance.
Breaking (or breakdancing), introduced in Tokyo in 2021, will be solidified in Paris, with the competition taking place in the Place de la Concorde. Paris will also feature surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding, BMX, and 3×3 basketball (the street basketball seen in many American movies). These are sports linked to nightlife, vacations, and even musical styles like rap or hip hop.
Brands have focused on these types of sports that are closer to the youth audience, whose stars have millions of followers on social media and streaming platforms. Could this be a prelude to the incorporation of eSports into the Olympics?
As Miguel Ángel Hernández, CEO of FinalScore and advisor to Darwin & Verne, points out in an interview, the inclusion of new urban sports “only demonstrates that the IOC is attentive to new trends among the youth and has a long-term vision, something rare in sports. These sports bring fresh narratives that can revitalize the image of the Games.”
“These changes not only diversify the Olympic program but also open new commercial opportunities. Brands can now connect more authentically with communities that previously did not follow the Games,” the expert notes.
- The first gender-equal Games in history – It was in Paris 1900 that women competed for the first time in the Olympic Games. The Paris 2024 Games will be the first Olympic Games with 100% gender parity: 5,250 men and 5,250 women. For a recent reference, in Barcelona ’92, women only represented 29% of the Olympic Village residents.
Aitana Bonmatí, Faith Kipyegon, Iga Swiatek, and Simone Biles, among others, will follow in the footsteps of the 22 pioneers who competed in fencing, croquet, and tennis in Belle Époque Paris.
- No one wants to be an Olympic city – Hosting the Olympics is no longer a profitable venture for the host city. It leaves a trail of debt and grandiose projects that become problems once the events conclude. For instance, only Paris and Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Games. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), aware of this Olympic drought, awarded Paris the 2024 Games and Los Angeles the 2028 Games.
This lack of popular and political support has changed the rules: the IOC now proactively seeks bids. Hence, the 2032 Games will be held in Brisbane, Australia, through direct allocation.
In the 2017-2021 Olympic cycle, the IOC generated $7.6 billion in total revenue. 61% of this came from TV rights, but 30% came from official sponsors, the so-called TOP sponsors (The Olympic Partner Programme).
- The Games of Grandeur – The French language, art, history, style, and way of life will be showcased over three weeks in Games that move out of the stadiums. Paris will become a grand stage for various outdoor disciplines.
The Place de la Concorde will host BMX, urban basketball, breakdancing, and skateboarding events. The Eiffel Tower will provide shade for beach volleyball, and the Grand Palais will host fencing and taekwondo. The Invalides will feature archery and endurance events in athletics and cycling, while the Seine will host aquatic sports, and the gardens of the Palace of Versailles will host equestrian events. Surfing will take place in Tahiti, French Polynesia, specifically at Teahupo’o. This year’s events would delight Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Degas.
The best expression of this grandeur will be the opening ceremony: instead of being held in a closed stadium, it will move to the Seine, akin to Baroque aquatic festivals. Delegations will parade in their own boats, with millions watching from the riverbanks.
Nothing in Paris 2024 is chosen by chance: each of the 5,000 medals awarded to athletes will be minted by the jeweler Chaumet (since 1780 in Place Vendôme) and will include 18 grams of iron extracted from the Eiffel Tower. The Games logo honors Marianne (the symbol of the French Republic), while the mascot, Phryge, is a Phrygian cap worn by the revolutionaries of 1789.
- The athlete-advertisement: athletes can showcase their sponsors – Global sponsors contribute 30% of Olympic revenue, amounting to $3.3 billion, with sponsorship packages starting at $200 million. According to the IOC, these funds support athletes and sports programs.
Who are the major sponsors of Paris 2024? Sixteen companies, known as TOP sponsors, have signed massive marketing contracts with the IOC for the coming years.
One example is Visa, which will have a delegation in Paris larger than many competing nations: 117 athletes from 67 countries and 40 sports. “Team Visa athletes represent the brand’s values but, at the same time, have the ability to reach and connect with millions through their inspiring stories. Today’s sport heavily relies on such stories and athlete visibility, as our studies show an increasing interest in individuality, stories, values, and behaviors,” explains Joao Seabra, Visa’s Marketing Director in Spain and Portugal.
The novelty in Paris 2024 will be individual sponsorships: the IOC has allowed brands to sponsor their athletes and let them acknowledge this support during moments of visibility. An athlete can thank their brand’s support on camera and on their social media.
Brands have selected athletes not only for their competitiveness but also for their social media visibility and impact on specific targets. Hence, sponsorships have focused on Olympic profiles with the most followers on Instagram or TikTok.
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