As Rio 2016 draws ever closer BP is activating its Team USA partnership through a video-led ‘The Energy Within’ campaign.
For the ‘100 Days To Go’ countdown in late April BP launched a core phase of its ‘BP’s Team USA – The Energy Within’ commercial which posits the idea that we all have a special energy inside, but few bring it out more than Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Amplified socially,
The #RoadToRio starts here. BP proudly supports @TeamUSA athletes as they discover their #energywithin. #100DaysOuthttps://t.co/cWruUqazZr
— BP America (@BP_America) April 27, 2016
the spot urges viewers to join BP in supporting Team USA on the Road to Rio by clicking through to its various digital and social platforms – including http://www.bp.com/TeamUSA, www.facebook.com/BPAmerica and www.twitter.com/BP_America.
BP then backed up this core commercial by rolling out fresh work in its ongoing series of individual mini documentary style films about each of its seven-strong US athlete ambassadors.
Thus, in mid May the oil and energy giant posted ‘Meet BP’s Team USA Athlete… Tatyana McFadden’ webfilms in which the US Paralympians David Behre and Tatyana McFadden trumpets the campaign tagline ‘Anything you want to do in life comes from the will within and that energy within’.
The video work is being supported across BP America’s social channels – such as Twitter – using the campaign hastags #EnergyWithin and #BPTeamUSA.
These posts mark Olympic countdowns,
.@TatyanaMcFadden is ready for #Rio! Wishing all @TeamUSA athletes the best as the countdown begins. #100DaysOut pic.twitter.com/7PlHGACNmt
— BP America (@BP_America) April 27, 2016
combine imagery with industry-related athlete performance statistics,
With 3 marathon grand slams, @TeamUSA’s @TatyanaMcFadden is chasing the limits of science. #EnergyWithin #BPTeamUSA pic.twitter.com/ISaOl6ciG0
— BP America (@BP_America) May 17, 2016
and drive users to BP’s US website for further details on the sponsorship programme and athlete insight and opinion.
Learn what helps U.S. Paralympians like @TatyanaMcFadden train to go the distance https://t.co/2ssYrOWYbb #RoadtoRio pic.twitter.com/MkW8hF2lbx
— BP America (@BP_America) May 16, 2016
This strand follows in the same creative style and activation approach as December 2015’s film about US Paralympian and top ranked ‘Armless Archer’ Matt Stutzman setting a world record for the farthest accurate shot in archery.
and another video in the series focusing on the story of US Para Judo champion Myles Porter.
It was back in September 2015 that BP held a launch event to unveil its sponsorship of seven Team USA athletes competing for a spot at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
This announcement was supported by a PR push and an introductory online video about BP’s sponsorship of the seven US Olympic and Paralympic athletes for the Rio Games and urging the public to ‘join us in supporting them on the road to Rio at www.facebook.com/BPAmerica and www.twitter.com/BP_America’.
The group includes three returning BP Team USA athlete ambassadors: wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden, sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross and Paralympic archer Matt Stutzman.
It also includes two U.S. military veterans wounded in combat – Paralympic swimmer Brad Snyder and paratriathlete Melissa Stockwell, as well as swimmer Nathan Adrian and Paralympic long jumper Lex Gillette.
‘These elite athletes embody BP’s values,’ commented George Bauernfeind, BP head of US Olympic and Paralympic programs.
‘They are strong champions for their communities and relentless in their pursuit of excellence.’
With the announcement, BP become the first-ever corporate partner of the US Olympic Committee to sponsor an athlete roster featuring more Paralympians than Olympians.
The deal sees BP help ensure the athletes have the coaching, equipment and travel capabilities they need during training and competition, plus the energy giant will donate to organizations and charities of each athlete’s choosing.
BP is proud to support @Dare2Tri, USA paratriathlon club, on behalf of U.S. Paralympian @MStockwell01 pic.twitter.com/IA7wvIjlK9
— BP America (@BP_America) May 17, 2016
BP Team USA Athlete Ambassadors are:
Nathan Adrian, Swimming
Nathan Adrian is a four-time Olympic medalist, winning two gold medals and a silver medal at the London 2012 Games and a gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Games. In 2016, he hopes to become the first American to win the 100m freestyle in back-to-back Olympics since 1928.
Lex Gillette, Paralympic Track and Field
Lex Gillette is the current Paralympic world record holder in the long jump, a three-time Paralympic medalist, the reigning world champion in the long jump and a 16-time national champion. He is the only totally blind athlete in the world to eclipse the 22-foot barrier in the long jump, and has achieved medal-winning performances at every major international competition he has attended to date.
Tatyana McFadden, Paralympic Track and Field
Tatyana McFadden is a four-time Paralympian, 11-time Paralympic medalist, 15-time world champion, and has 15 marathon victories. In 2013, McFadden was the only individual in history to win six gold medals at a world championship competition. Two years later, she received the Laureus Award as the best sportsperson with a disability in the world.
Sanya Richards-Ross, Track and Field
Sanya Richards-Ross is a three-time Olympian and a four-time Olympic gold medalist in track and field. She has won six world championship medals, five of which are gold, and has run more sub-50 second 400m races than any other woman in history. At the London 2012 Olympic Games, Richards-Ross became the second American woman in history to win the 400m. She also became one of the most decorated female track and field Olympians of all time, after anchoring the 4x400m relay team to gold for the third consecutive time.
Brad Snyder, Paralympic Swimming
Retired U.S. Navy Lt. Brad Snyder is a two-time gold medalist and silver medalist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. He won gold in the 100m Freestyle and 400m Freestyle, and won silver in the 50m Freestyle. Snyder became blind after stepping on a bomb while serving in Afghanistan in 2011.
Melissa Stockwell, Paralympic Triathlon
As a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, Melissa Stockwell was the first female soldier in U.S. history to lose a limb in active combat. She competed in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games in swimming, and the following year began racing in triathlons, where she is a three-time world champion and Ironman. At the Rio 2016 Games, she hopes to compete in the first-ever paratriathlon.
Matt Stutzman, Paralympic Archery
Born without arms, Matt Stutzman is the top-ranked Paralympic archer in the U.S. A silver medalist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, he is ranked fourth in the world, and holds the world record for the longest accurate shot with a bow and arrow at 230 yards.
BP actually first announced its sponsorship of the US Olympic Committee and Team USA at the Vancouver Games in February 2010 and the following year BP America became the official energy partner of the USOC through 2016.
BP is also an international partner of the International Paralympic Committee as well as a sponsor of the National Paralympic committees in several countries around the world, including the United States.
BP America and local BP-branded fuel retailers are also helping build awareness of the US Paralympic movement through grassroots support of Paralympic Sports Clubs (PSCs) and since 2011 BP-branded retailers in 13 states have donated more than $900,000 to their local PSCs.
Furthermore, 2013, BP donated $1m to build the USOC’s new Ted Stevens Sports Services Center in Colorado Springs and to support existing Paralympic programs by providing a world class facility for technically advanced training services for U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes (as well as serving as a resource for disabled veterans).
Comment
Sponsoring national Olympic associations during a games cycle is a classic approach to building market-specific affiliations – whether you are an overseas company relatively recently arrived in a new nation and attempting to wrap your brand in a new flag (like Germany supermarket Aldi & Team GB – see case study), or trying to rebuild relationships after a disaster/consumer backlash (like UK oil giant BP & Team USA).
Despite the last 10 years seeing BP invest more than $90 billion in the US, employing 17,000 people across the country and supporting more than 170,000 additional jobs through all of its business activities, its brand remains somewhat tarnished by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Mexcian Gulf oil spill disaster.
Sponsoring Team USA is part of its relationship rebuilding strategy.
Do such tactics really work in this era of supposed brand openness, honesty and authenticity?
Sometimes!
With just a few hundred YouTube views thus far for each video in the ‘Energy Within’ series, it doesn’t seem likely that this stage of activation will do the trick.
While some have criticised BP arts sponsorships (such as its partnership with the Tate Gallery) as ‘greenwashing’, perhaps its Team USA Olympic partnership might be described as ‘stars and stripes washing’.
The Team USA campaign follows BP’s London 2012 sponsorship and marks a switch in support as during the previous Games in the UK the oil giant backed the ‘Home Team’ (see case study).
Links
BP Team USA Microsite:
BP America Facebook:
BP America Twitter
BP America Website:
Team USA Homepage:
Rio 2016:
http://www.rio2016.com/
