My love of the Olympics started back in 1988 when Calgary hosted the winter games. Since the games were being held in Canada, it was a very big deal both at my school and at home. I remember learning about all of the unique winter sports as I cheered on Canadian heroes Brian Orser, Elizabeth Manley, Karen Percy and Gaétan Boucher. My family even had a special connection to those games when one of my cousins made national headlines. The day before she was scheduled to carry the torch, she gave birth to her first child. Not letting that be a deterrent, she still fulfilled her duties albeit from the comfort of a wheelchair. Another connection was my future stepfather, who worked in the marketing department for Kodak which, at the time, was a huge sponsor of the Olympic games. He taught me about sports sponsorships, advertising and how Kodak perceived the value of sponsoring the Olympic games. Looking back, the ‘88 Olympics was one of my first introductions to the world of marketing and advertising.
My childhood love for the Olympics has stayed with me over the decades. Even after a year of delays, I was very excited for the Tokyo summer games. My wife and I brought our young boys to watch the opening ceremonies, which led to lots of questions around the Olympics, international countries, and the athletes who participate. I knew my seven-year-old Julian was hooked when he would wake up early every morning and come down stairs to watch the morning broadcasts with me. This quickly became a wonderful summer education in different sports and countries from around the world. We would discuss which countries we have family ties to while being wowed by the incredible athletic performances we were witnessing.
An unexpected learning that arose from these Olympics was around advertising. My sons rarely watch conventional television and don’t spend a lot of time on YouTube. Because they don’t see many commercials, Julian was quickly fascinated with the ads he would see over and over. He marveled at how they made him feel patriotic or have a connection to a brand he knew nothing about. This brought a smile to my face and it led to a good lesson on the power of advertising. We discussed how brands will use athletes and our love of Canada to try and build an emotional connection with us. They hope this emotional connection will sway us to purchase a new car from them or use their banking services. It was interesting that he was quickly able to pick out the good and bad commercials, and most of the time, was spot on. It was definitely an interesting and unexpected learning opportunity but one I was happy to share based on my years of experience in the media industry.
There was some sadness when the games ended. Julian had such a good time cheering on the Canadian athletes that he didn’t want this experience to be over. I explained there will be the winter games next year, with a whole new group of interesting events. For me, I felt as if I had done my part in igniting Julian’s love of the Olympics, his understanding of the countries around the world and the mantra “with hard work anything is possible”. Even though Julian has little interest in what I do for a living, I’m happy I was able to take my work experience and teach him a little about the power and influence of advertising.
