Today the 2018 Winter Olympics—formally known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games—kick off in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Ninety-two nations will be participating in 102 events across 15 disciplines, up again from the last Winter Olympics: the highest number of countries ever participating in the Winter Olympics and the first time the number of events has passed 100!
Photo by Republic of Korea
The U.S. Olympic team consists of 242 athletes, 107 women and 135 men. Team USA 2018 is the largest delegation of athletes for any nation in the history of the winter games. The U.S. has been represented at every Winter Olympics since their inception in 1924—one of only 12 countries that can make that claim. We’re one of only six countries that has medaled at all of those, and we’re the only country that has earned gold medals at every one of the Winter Olympics.
These are fun statistics, right? If you’re a knowledge geek like me, it’s nice to learn these things just for the pleasure of trotting them out at parties or the chance that they’ll come in handy for a game of Trivial Pursuit. But facts and statistics aren’t what cause the Olympics to capture the hearts (and eyeballs!) of 2.1 billion people worldwide (the record-setting broadcast audience size of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi). What drives the Olympic fairytale is the same thing that drives your business: stories.
For example, did you know that Team USA has SEVEN pairs of siblings competing this year? Many have been before, but for a few—cross-country skiers Caitlin and Scott Patterson and Logan and Reese Hanneman and curlers Becca and Matt Hamilton—this will be their first. The Hamiltons are Team USA’s first ever mixed doubles curling competitors. And one of the sibling pairs is a set of identical twins! Ice hockey players Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (a forward) and Monique Lamoureux-Morando (a defender) each have twin sets of silver medals to match, too, from Sochi 2014 and Vancouver 2010.
Or the stories of Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere, and Akuoma Omeoga, three Nigerian-American women (born and raised in Illinois, Texas, and Minnesota, respectively) who will be representing Nigeria on that country’s—and Africa’s!—first ever Olympic bobsled team. They’re the subject of an ESPN documentary, Fast Tracked, that will air Feb. 19, right in the middle of the games.
When you dive into the stories behind the statistics, you access personality, emotion, and character. These are also crucial when developing a promotional marketing campaign. What story do you want to tell? Who are the people behind the product: Who will be using it? Who will be handing it out? The wide variety of promo products available allow a multitude of opportunities for your company’s personality to shine. Tell a great story and you’ll have a win every time!