A collaborative piece by Hannah Partridge, client services director at creative design agency Seen Studios.
Like many of us, I’ve been gripped by the current Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. The rivalry and hard-fought battles, the courage and determination, the sheer insanity of events from curling to big air skiing. For a small island like Britain, the majority of which rarely sees snowfall, we can be incredibly proud. With three gold medals – including our first ever medal on snow – the UK has made history.
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The Olympics has always captured my imagination. As a global unifying moment around sport, it’s famed for being a place where dreams are made and shattered in equal measure. Where moments of incredible human effort and strength are witnessed in abundance. It’s the ultimate storytelling platform.
The challenge is keeping this moment relevant and refreshing every two years, long after the torch has moved on. It’s about turning a global, yet often niche, sporting spectacle into something aspirational and accessible for a nation, a generation, and a region. It’s about ensuring the brands that invest in the Games see lasting value that extends beyond logo presence and short-term media reach.
I was lucky enough to lead the agency team responsible for delivering Coca-Cola’s London 2012 sponsorship activation. Now, many years on, the experience and lessons this taught me as a marketer still hold true. When the brand wanted to engage younger audiences and make them truly feel like London 2012 was ‘their’ games and ‘their legacy’, we first had to create meaning around the Olympics for that younger audience and view the whole platform through their lens. Success was driven and measured through relevancy.
As an official partner of any sporting event, the investment is likely to be significant. Planning, and ultimately activating, your brand within that moment must therefore feel additive and complementary.
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By GlobalDataAny CMO choosing a particular sport and its loyal communities as a cultural pillar should be willing to commit to the long-haul and build a sustained program that lives beyond the tournament spikes. There must be a clear value exchange between the brand and what it stands for, the sport and its ethos, and the people who love it. Sporting fans and passionate participants expect brands to be well-versed and demonstrate a strong sense of understanding and interest if they’re to be welcomed into this world.
Brands entering a new sporting venture should consider how it can show up authentically. It should ask itself: what can it bring to participants and fans to enhance the experience, and what will its legacy be? Any partnership should think bigger than the major moments and act in a way that promotes inclusivity and accessibility. Long-term brand value comes from sustained involvement and commitment – educating and supporting at all levels, from elite athletes to grassroots talent, and creating experiences where people can connect and share.
Looking back at Milano-Cortina, I can’t help but wonder whether brands activating around the Games did enough to bring the Winter Olympics closer to local UK communities. With extensive coverage from the BBC and other sports media, there was strong visibility, but engagement at a local level remained a challenge.
For a nation with little ice or snow, our athletes must go much further to be considered contenders. Many are self-funded, supported only by family or local sports clubs, and often train in less-than-ideal facilities. Take teenager Mia Brookes, an Olympic first-timer who narrowly missed a medal in the Snowboarding Big Air final – she trains in a Manchester snow dome and was fortunate to have parents who could support her dreams. Her journey highlights the incredible potential for brands to build on such success, bringing sports like snowboarding to young people who live miles away from a mountain.
Nike has done this on other fronts. For example, in our recent campaign for Nike x Zalando in Berlin with the NBA in the European spotlight, we created a four-day hub that fused sport, culture, and performance innovation to launch Nike’s first neuroscience-backed footwear, the Mind 001. The campaign transformed city energy into a live experience, bridging mental preparation and athletic performance while engaging fans through NBA legends like Mark Gasol and local basketball teams such as the Berlin Dreams. It demonstrates how brands can turn inspiration into accessible, real-world engagement at scale.
For growing sports and emerging markets, brands sometimes need to invest in physical infrastructure, not just activation. When we were asked by [cycling brand] Rapha to bring their 'Clubhouse' concept to Shanghai – the first of its kind in Mainland China – the focus was on creating a year-round hub for local cyclists. Rather than a short-term activation, it was designed as a space that seamlessly combines retail, café culture, and live events, showcasing the brand’s commitment to one of the fastest-growing cycling communities in the world. To ensure the space truly served local cyclists and went beyond aesthetics, we immersed ourselves in Rapha’s world through brand immersions, workshops, and working sessions, uncovering key insights into consumer and community tensions.
Sport is not linear, and the way brands activate shouldn’t be either. These entities must be seen as living, breathing engagement platforms. Fans aren’t looking for one-dimensional experiences; they want multi-channel, always-on access and content that feels right for them. Passionate participants need greater support to reach their full potential. From nail-biting moments – like when the nation held its breath as Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale set a Team GB first by winning Gold on the snow – to enthusiasts dreaming of becoming the next big star, brands can play a huge role. Bringing investment outside of the games can provide a significant advantage and help achieve future success.
With the Olympic Torch now passing to LA, brands have an even bigger role to play in sport. Their reach, footprint, and loyal customers mean they can localize global moments and deliver a fan-first experience across their channels from in-store, online, and events. They can champion inclusivity and community-first engagement. On a deeper level, brands can help fans feel closer to the sport they love through grassroots investment, giving potential future stars the vital leg-up and support they need in terms of equipment, apparel, and training. When done right, the results can be very positive for everyone involved.
