The Olympics as Reputation Media, Not Performance Media
Do the Olympic Games Still Matter for Brands?
Short answer is yes. Longer answer… only if you understand why they matter and how to show up.
The Olympic Games are one of the last remaining moments when the world watches the same thing at the same time. Not scrolls. Not skips. Watches. That alone makes them culturally rare, which is exactly why they’re still powerful and exactly why they’re easy to misuse.
For brands, the Olympics are no longer about reach alone. They’re about meaning at scale.
The myth that broke the Olympics
There’s a popular narrative floating around boardrooms and the trades, we overhear sentiments like, “audiences are fragmented, attention spans are gone, and big tentpole events don’t work like they used to.” That story is comforting because it lets brands off the hook from doing harder, braver work.
The truth is more uncomfortable. The Olympics still command massive attention. Even better… for the attention it gains there is an incredible amount of emotional connection and trust. The main culprit of what has changed is the tolerance for hollow presence. People will give you their time during the Games, but only if you give them something back that feels human, relevant, or genuinely earned.
The Olympics as a trust environment
Here’s the part most media strategists and digital first planners today miss. The Olympics don’t just deliver impressions. They deliver context. They exist in a moment steeped in effort, sacrifice, national pride, and shared experience. That context rubs off.
When brands show up with purpose aligned to those values, they borrow credibility. When they show up with generic messaging, they burn goodwill faster than almost anywhere else. The stakes are higher because the emotional volume is higher.
This is why Olympic media isn’t performance marketing. It’s reputation marketing. It’s long game marketing. It’s about what people feel about you when they’re not actively shopping or in “decision mode.”
Worth the investment? Depends on the intent
If the goal is cheap CPMs or immediate ROAS, the Olympics will disappoint you. They’re not built for that. They never were.
If the goal is to:
Reintroduce a brand at scale
Signal seriousness and stability
Align with values larger than product features
Build memory structures that last years, not weeks
Then yes, they’re worth it. But only as part of a broader system. Olympic media works best when it’s connected to owned channels, reinforced through digital and social, and carried forward after the flame goes out. The biggest mistake brands make is treating the Games as a moment instead of a chapter.
Fewer brands should do it. The right brands should do it well.
The Olympics don’t need every brand. They need brands that know who they are.
This is not a place for trend chasing, irony, the same kind of humor you’d see in the Super Bowl, or over-optimization. It’s a place for clarity. For restraint. For confidence. Brands that understand their role in people’s lives tend to shine here. Brands that don’t tend to look loud, confused, or invisible despite the spend.
The Games still matter because people still crave shared meaning. Media investment here hasn’t lost its power and value. It’s lost its patience for nonsense.
For brands willing to respect the moment, the Olympics remain one of the few stages big enough to actually change how people see you and how they feel about you.
Enjoy the games.
