10 things that the Olympics can teach us about branding
This week marks exactly one year until the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad begin in Paris. To mark the occasion, here are ten things that the Olympics can teach us about branding. Let's start with the big one...
1. The Olympic Rings
In 1913, Pierre de Coubertin designed one of the world's most famous symbols. Five equal, interlocking coloured rings represent the five inhabited continents of the world. Blue for Europe, yellow for Asia, black for Africa, green for Australia, and red for America. Don't be tempted to use the Olympics logo in your marketing though! The IOC is hypervigilant around unsanctioned use of their intellectual property (hello guys!). That doesn't stop people from trying to slalom around the rules, though!
Focus Formal Wear in Surbiton adopted an unusual approach to avoid infringing the IOC’s IP.
2. C’est trés chic
The branding for the 2024 Paris Games is very cool. The emblem features an optical illusion, which is both the Olympic flame within a gold medal and a female face at the same time. It immediately says Parisian style, thus delivering on the perennial brief to "create a design that represents the host city and the Olympic brand". A brand is more than just a logo, of course, and any successful modern brand will utilise a comprehensive brand toolkit. Paris 2024 is no exception and uses colour, typography, motion graphics and a triumphant, Art Deco-inspired arch shape to tell its story!
3. Context
Most markets have a visual language. It's up to you whether you use it or strike out on your own, but it is important to be aware of what it is. Brands often lean on this visual shorthand to help audiences understand what they offer. There have been 56 previous Olympic emblems, and although separated by time and geography, there is definitely a 'look'. Recurring themes include abstract figures and graphic representations of ice and snow.
4. Logos are only one part of a branding system
Design agency Wolff Olins describe the colourful, jagged logo for the 2012 London Games as “bold, spirited and dissonant, reflecting London’s modern, urban edge”. But when the logo was revealed for the first time in 2007, people queued up to describe it in less flattering ways. Criticism ranged from calling it ugly and too '80s' to claiming hidden religious meanings. And, let's not even mention Lisa Simpson!
It may be the afterglow of a successful Games which had such a positive effect on the national mood (Super Saturday anyone?), but the logo is viewed more positively with hindsight. Logos are the centrepiece of a brand but they are not the brand on their own. The 2012 solution is a good example of only seeing the power of a brand when you see the whole system. It also proved to be ahead of its time.
5. Branding is a superpower
The branding for individual games often captures the cultural zeitgeist as the emblems for Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 (below) demonstrate. The two emblems perfectly reflect the posturing of the two superpowers at the height of nuclear tensions and neither would look out of place on the side of a space shuttle.
When two tribes go to war! 1980s Russian and American designers made cool logos during the Cold War
6. Brands must be memorable
Ask people about their favourite Games logo and Mexico 68 will likely crop up more than most. Have you noticed the relationship between Lance Wyman's iconic Op Art design for the 1968 games in Mexico and the FIFA World Cup in the same country 18 years later? The original was such an enduring symbol for Mexico it became embedded in its visual language. The parallel lines in the wordmark resemble lane markings on a running track and were the inspiration for many more 'sporty' typefaces and logos.
The Mexican house style for global sporting events
7. The simpler, the better
Alongside Mexico 68, the graphic simplicity of the Tokyo 64 emblem is another crowd-pleaser, but my favourite is a purely typographic solution. In 2014 the Winter Games were hosted in Sochi, where the Caucasus Mountains meet the Black Sea. The wordmark (also the first to feature an internet domain suffix) subtly reflects this er, reflection by flipping four of the letters from the word Sochi to form the numerals 2014.
Look past the motto (see ‘10. If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything’ - below), and immerse yourself in the beautifully lined up emblem for the 2014 Winter Games in Russia.
8. Making icons iconic.
The Tokyo 64 Olympics helped popularise pictograms when organisers realised that employing symbols rather than letters could efficiently communicate to an audience of international athletes and spectators. Although they existed before, this was the first time icons were reduced to a simplified and consistent graphic language. Communicating all the necessary information, but with a bare minimum of detail.
The mascots for Paris 2024 are based on the Phrygian cap, a symbol of liberty
9. If you want to get ahead, get a hat (or a badge or a T-shirt)
The mascot for the Paris games is called Phryge (named after a hat!) They are the latest in a long tradition of Games characters which started in the Grenoble Winter Olympics in 1968. An abstract skiing character (called Shuss) was incorporated into a small range of souvenirs including badges, keyrings and magnets. It didn’t take long for the IOC to realise that great branding can generate additional revenue in it’s own right. 40 years later merchandise for the 2008 Beijing Games generated £102M!
10. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
Like all good brands, individual Games have mottos or straplines. From the descriptive - Play a part in History (LA 1984), aspirational - Inspire a Generation (London 2012) to the leftfield - Hot. Cool. Yours. (Sochi 2014). Sochi organizers helpfully provided an official explanation of the slogan, describing it as “intended to reflect the national character of Russia and the values of the Sochi 2014 brand, as well as Sochi 2014’s progressive and innovative approach to the organization and staging of the Games.” So that's cleared that up, then! Also, if you have to explain your strapline, it’s probably not very good.
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