Tom Duncan, Global Olympics Lead at P&G, met with the GW Winter Tour team yesterday morning at the 2018 Olympic Games P&G Hospitality House in South Korea. Duncan immediately highlighted P&G is the worlds largest advertiser, touching over 5 billion people a year. As a GW business student studying marketing, this was such a unique and valuable opportunity to learn from a worldwide Olympic sponsor – how cool is that?!
The P&G family of brands views the Olympic Games as a celebration of humanity and about 2-3 billion people watch the Games. Given the wide audience, P&G leverages the Games to showcase how it’s many brands enable athletes to achieve their goals through enabling everyday life activities.
The company has used over 300 Olympic athletes in its advertising campaigns to promote its products. Duncan noted P&G brand marketing team must determine if/ how the Olympics can be incorporated into an marketing campaign. Promotions can range from in store activation to social media. However, ultimately the company uses metrics provided by its partners to evaluate the ROI of its campaigns.
The Games also provides P&G an opportunity to meet with different company execs from around the world. Here, P&G can showcase its products and make new business partnerships to enter new markets. The Games provide Olympic sponsors a forum to discuss business deals they may not otherwise have an opportunity to explore.
Speaking with Duncan highlighted the interconnected relationships of sport, business, and marketing; I found Duncan’s insider perspective to be invaluable.
#onlyatgw #olympics #pyeongchang2018 #gwu
