Where Do Youth Fit In @ The Winter Olympics?
Posted by meredith on 02-22-2010
Today’s Ypulse Youth Advisory Board post comes from Libby Issendorf who reports back from the Winter Olympics in Vancouver where her company sent her as part of the social media team for U.S. Speedskating (lucky!). Below Libby gives us the lowdown on the crowds, brand presence and the (mostly) missed opportunities she saw for teens and twentysomethings to connect with the historic sporting event.
Remember, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment.
Where Do Youth Fit In @ The Winter Olympics?
Last week I had the incredible opportunity to attend the Opening Ceremonies and two speedskating events at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. I’m a sucker for the NBC coverage of the games; every two years I am glued to my TV and computer to learn the athletes’ stories and watch them compete. The extent of my athleticism is weekly volleyball, so I’m pretty far removed from the lifestyle of an Olympian. As an outsider who really didn’t know what to expect, I noticed an absence of teen and young adult marketing that surprised me.
No kids or teens. Most Olympians are in their late teens and early twenties, but the audience in attendance is much older. Most attendees I saw were sponsors, team staff, parents, family members, and wealthy tourists age 35 and older. I was surprised at the absence of children and teens. Olympic athletes are so inspiring to young people, and are living proof that working hard and staying focused can make dreams come true. I was disappointed that more kids and teens didn’t get to experience that message and see the excitement of the competitions firsthand. Yes, it’s incredibly expensive, but I still expected to see some Washington or BC college students on a road trip to camp out and enjoy the Games.
Although the Olympic venues were full of older spectators, youth in the city of Vancouver were out in full force. City buses, bars, and public venues were packed with young Vancouver residents celebrating Team Canada and taking advantage of the free concerts and other entertainment opportunities.
Coke + Visa = Olympic Games. It’s immediately clear which brands own the Olympics: Coke and Visa. Athletes and Team USA staff are granted Coke bottle-shaped tokens that give them free Coke products from vending machines around the games. Those Visa commercials that end with “The only card accepted at the Olympic games”? It’s true; some venues don’t even accept cash! The message is getting through; I overheard restaurant diners remark that they could finally use American Express cards now that they were off official Olympic property.
These two global brands target almost every segment of the population, including young adults. But their messaging is very much targeted toward a 35-54 demographic. I know that’s primarily who watches the Olympics on TV, and obviously that’s who attends the games in person. But I would still love to see these big brands that are so intertwined with the Olympic message bring it directly to teens. Those Visa commercials right now are incredibly inspiring (anyone else get all choked up at the image of Dan Jansen kissing his daughter Jane?) but the Visa Go World website is bland and generic. I can listen to athletes’ playlists, but I’m not at all inspired to go out and try to pursue my own dreams. I wish brands were taking a more active role in helping kids and teens set goals and pursue them in real life, not just through slapping their logos all over Pacific Coliseum.
Meredith pointed me toward this MediaPost article that mentioned an IOC initiative called the Best of Us challenge, which showed how the International Olympic Committee is trying to engage Gen Y. I thought this effort was really well done, but I didn’t see a single mention of it during the games. The IOC and VANOC are diving into social media (the “Virtual Stadium” is a way for individuals everywhere to participate in the closing ceremony through social media), but I still felt an absence of brands reaching out to teens in this arena.
As an attendee, I felt like brands at the Olympics were speaking more to my mom, not me. Have you seen any examples of brands doing a better job of connecting with teens and college students?
About Libby
After growing up on a farm in North Dakota, Libby Issendorf moved to Minneapolis to attend the University of Minnesota. She discovered her passion for brands and media as a member of her school’s first-place National Student Advertising Competition team. After graduation in 2008, she began her career as a media analyst at an ad agency in Minneapolis. Libby now works as a New Media Strategist at an ad agency in Fargo, ND. Outside of work, she loves blogging at Yaybia.com, the Minnesota Twins, being really geeky with her iPhone, and finally living in the same city as her fiance.
Categorized under: Youth Advisory Board