In days a flame will be lit in Turin, Italy, and the XX Olympic Winter Games will officially be under way. Sports such as bobsled, curling, and biathlon, which normally receive little media coverage in the United States, will be airing in prime time, exposing millions to these sports and their competitors. Athletes who were unknown just a few weeks ago will suddenly be household names and national heroes.
For marketers, this quadrennial occurrence is a golden opportunity to associate their brands with these new Olympians. While not everyone can afford the multimillion-dollar price tag that comes with an official Olympic sponsorship, companies could capitalize on the Olympic juggernaut by aligning with individual athletes and creating promotional events in the weeks leading up to the Games.
My company, Grand Central Marketing, recently produced an event for Napster leveraging the online music service’s sponsorship of Olympic snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler. The 2005 X Games and Gravity Games gold medalist, Bleiler is among the favorites to win an Olympic gold medal in Turin.
Our promotion took place in Aspen, CO, site of the 2006 Winter X Games, and Gretchen’s hometown. We designed and built The Napster Lodge—a 144-sq.-ft. cedar cabin at the base of Aspen Mountain. The interior of this cozy lodge was customized to reflect Napster’s irreverent image and provide a temporary home for Gretchen and her friends, family, and fans. It included a Napster-logoed deer head mounted on the wall, a fireplace projected on a large plasma screen, photos of Gretchen adorning the walls, and shelving and seats made from snowboards. Consumers were invited into the lodge to stay warm, check out the latest offerings from Napster’s library, and pick up “Gretchen Rocks!” shirts, hats, and posters.
Consumers were able to borrow a complimentary MP3 player filled with Gretchen’s playlist of favorite songs—including hits by Moby, Gwen Stefani, and 50 Cent—which they could then sample on the slopes. Gretchen also made a two-hour appearance at the lodge, where she signed autographs and posed for pictures with several hundred fans.
The association with Bleiler was just part of a fully integrated marketing campaign to give Napster a heavy presence among X Games fans. In addition to the exposure Napster received from having its logo on her helmet (a large photo of Gretchen ran on the front page of the Aspen “Times” that weekend), there were also many promotional giveaways, including two K2 Napster- and Bleiler-branded snowboards, more than 100 MP3 players with Napster subscriptions, T-shirts, beanies, and lip balm.
We also assembled a team of 10 Napster-branded professional snowboarders to hit the slopes and drum up additional support for Gretchen. The Napster team canvassed Aspen’s mountains from summit to base, entertaining crowds along the way by doing tricks and giving away Napster- and Bleiler-logoed premiums. In the days leading up to the X Games, local teams posted fliers around Aspen, and the Napster Lodge was promoted on Aspen Mountain Websites.
While it will be a few more weeks before we know who America’s next Olympic heroes are, marketers don’t have to wait until the opening ceremonies to strike gold with their promotions.
Matthew Glass is chairman/CEO of Grand Central Marketing, a New York-based event marketing and promotion agency, and pens a monthly column for CHIEF MARKETER.
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