Winter Olympics: Ad Avalanche Across Platforms and Media

The Winter Olympics ad avalanche is in full swing, with integration across platforms and media. For example, the "Olympic Preview" issue of Time included these ads:

• Citibank/Visa, featuring Ted Ligety, U.S. alpine skier (in Citi's commercials, too)
• United Airlines, flying Team USA (photo of pairs skaters)
• AT&T, featuring Shani Davis, U.S. speedskater (in commercials too)

Among viral ads, Procter & Gamble has attracted millions of views with its "Thank you, Mom" ads, celebrating the role of mothers in supporting their Olympic athlete children. P&G calls itself "the proud sponsor of Moms" on its "thank you mom" Facebook page (more than 800,000 likes) and Twitter account (@thankyoumom, #thankyoumom). Visiting the P&G YouTube channel, these commercials are trending into the millions of views:

• "Pick Them Back Up" is an inspiring commercial that has been shared countless times on FB and discussed by many moms I know. More than 13 million views.
• "Raising an Olympian: Lindsey Vonn" has garnered nearly 2 million YouTube views, despite Lindsay's inability to compete at Sochi this month.
• "Raising an Olympian: Mikaela Shiffrin" has more than 1 million YouTube views.
• "Raising an Olympian: Evan Lysacek" has 1.3 million views, even though this US gold medalist won't be competing at Sochi.

AT&T's ads use the tag line "It's Our Time" and feature athletes who aren't as high profile.

These include skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace, short-track speed skater Alyson Dudek, and alpine skier Heath Calhoun. The hashtag #ItsOurTime carries the campaign through to Twitter.

AT&T's store pages on major mall sites (like AT&T at The Mall at Fox Run) also feature Instagram photos of U.S. Olympic athletes, with the request to cheer them on via #ItsOurTime tweets.