With the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games quickly approaching, Procter & Gamble is shining the spotlight on moms in its latest “Thank You, Mom” campaign, which highlights the role they play in making Canadian athletes’ Olympic dreams possible.
The campaign is part of P&G’s ongoing ten-year global partnership with the International Olympic Committee, as well as with the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Along with the roll-out of the campaign, P&G has also announced it is sponsoring 12 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including figure skater Tessa Virtue, who will represent the company’s beauty brands, and hockey players John Tavares, who will represent Gillette, and Megan Agosta-Marciano, who will represent Bounty, among others.
The company has also officially partnered with Hockey Canada for the first time to target hockey moms specifically, a move that Melissa Karis, communications director, Procter & Gamble, says was a natural addition to its Olympic plans since P&G is sponsoring four hockey players heading into the Winter Games.
As part of its partnership with Hockey Canada, P&G will supply Canada’s hockey teams with its products, while Bounty will be the sponsor of a special event for the Canadian women’s hockey team and their moms ahead of a series of upcoming exhibition games against the US. Karis says P&G will look to roll out additional activations as the Games get closer.
Meanwhile, the first phase of P&G’s “Thank You, Mom” campaign, with creative by Cossette and media by Carat, includes a microsite and a series of four online “Raising an Olympian” videos, which profile athletes and their moms in the lead-up to the Games. Karis says these videos are part of a huge online and social program that will begin to roll out in full in January, adding that the Olympics continue to be P&G’s biggest multi-brand media investment.
P&G will also begin rolling out TV spots in January, and has partnered with the CBC, the official Canadian broadcaster of the Games, to produce another series of “Raising an Olympian” videos in the lead-up to the Games.
Karis says the creative for this year’s Games will reflect on moms differently by focusing on them as the motivating force behind Canadian athletes rather than as the ones who simply cook and clean for the athletes.
At the Games themselves, P&G will bring its “Thank You, Mom” message to life with the return of its Global Family Home, where athletes can spend time with their families and moms will be taken care of and pampered by brand teams.
P&G first launched its “Thank You, Mom” initiative for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games, where it endowed Canadian moms with half a million dollars to offset their travel and accommodation costs, among other activations.
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