by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, Yesterday, 12:55 PM
While Americans may not be watching much of the summer games in Rio, Nike says its Olympic-themed “Unlimited” creative is soaring, including its newest spot about transgender athlete Chris Mosier. That spot, called Unlimited Courage, follows Unlimited You, and Unlimited Future, the athletes-as-babies spot that Nike says is its most-retweeted ad, and its most-liked ever on Twitter. All told, it says the Wieden + Kennedy campaign has collected more than 260 global views on various platforms.“We are connecting with consumers and narrowing the distance between elite athletes and everyday athletes,” says Greg Hoffman, Nike’s CMO, in a release touting the milestone. The Beaverton, Ore.-based sporting behemoth says it will follow up these ads with more spots showcasing “extraordinary athlete journeys and highlighting some of sports’ most iconic athletes.”
Still, observers say it’s unlikely that the company—or any Olympic sponsor—will realize any revenue increase as a result. “Brands use the Olympics as a long term branding tool and as a showcase for new products and technologies,” says Matt Powell, sports industry analyst for the NPD Group. “There typically is not a real bump to sales because of the Olympics.”
And with a loosening of the restrictions on advertisers who are not sponsors, such as Nike challenger Under Armour, who is getting plenty of mileage from its deal with swimmer Michael Phelps, “brands that pay a lot of money to be the official sponsor likely will see that sponsorship devalued with the change in the marketing rules.”
Nor does it help that viewership for the Rio games continues to struggle. Variety reports that while splashy swim events are helping NBC recover somewhat, ratings for the second night of the games are off 17% compared to the London games in 2012. For the opening ceremonies, ratings fell 33%, and on the first night of competition, they dropped 28%.
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