Case Study: Increased Awareness of the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award

Overview

Nu Skin Enterprises was the exclusive sponsor for the 2002 U.S. Olympic Spirit Award. The Olympic Spirit Award is a United States Olympic Committee (USOC) award given to recognize outstanding levels of courage, determination and perseverance of American Olympian athletes. Wilkinson Ferrari & Co. was hired to direct all media relations activities of the award prior to and during the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Planning and Implementation

The timing of the Games was a major opportunity for the campaign. The Olympics occurred when the celebration of the American spirit, determination and perseverance was at its peak. The goals for the campaign were to drive legitimacy of the Spirit Award; generate consumer awareness of the award; and increase public participation by 400% from the 2000 Summer Olympics Spirit Award. The audience consisted of worldwide viewers of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, the news media, the USOC, Olympic athletes and alumni athletes.

We had a large target audience, a very modest budget and a limited window of time, so we concentrated on non-paid advertising and media to raise awareness of the award. To drive legitimacy of the award, we began to search for a well-known and well-respected spokesperson to represent the award and for a credible and wide-reaching venue to present the award. To increase consumer participation, WF&Co. suggested enabling individuals to nominate their favorite athletes online through a Web site established in conjunction with the USOC Web site. The campaign timeline was split into three parts: pre-Olympic education of the Spirit Award, building the buzz during the Olympics, and post-Olympic coverage of the winning athletes.

Press releases were sent out along with a media kit both locally and nationally, and a press conference was held at an Olympic media center in downtown Salt Lake City to talk about the award and the nomination procedure. Two more press conferences were held during the Olympics where the alumni Olympians of the Selection Committee encouraged people to vote. Two more press releases were issued locally and nationwide during the Games.

Posters were hung in storefronts announcing the award and how to nominate an athlete. Alumni Olympic athletes Brian Boitano and Bonnie Warner were recruited to serve on the Selection Committee for choosing the winning Olympic athlete and to promote the award during their national interviews. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was approached and he agreed to serve as honorary chairman on the Selection Committee and to present the award in a national venue.

Results

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani presented the award on NBC’s Today Show on February 21. During the U.S. Olympic Spirit Award project, for the Olympics and Paralympics, 43 print stories were released in 17 states with total circulation of over 3,424,370. Total broadcast reach was 13,614,236. The broadcast coverage included Today Show, a live segment on CNN Live, Today cable network, two MSNBC spots and several Weekend Today Show spots promoting the appearance of Rudy Giuliani on the Today Show on Feb. 26. Broadcast news included reports in 66 cities.