Next | Back

Sponsorship Activation at National Houses at Rio 2016

A tradition of the Olympic Games is for countries to establish a “House” where their athletes; friends and family; and sponsors can gather and enjoy some home-grown hospitality.  In some cases the Houses are open to the public – either at no charge or with a small fee – so that the country can showcase its culture and promote business.  Others keep their Houses private as a safe haven for their athletes.   The Houses also offer sponsors of national teams the opportunity to have presence at the Olympics and to activate their partnerships.

At the Rio 2016 Olympics, about 30 countries participated in this way.   While the Houses were spread out over a huge geographical area, I was able to visit those of many participating nations including Canada, the USA, Great Britain, France, Japan, Korea, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, and others.

Some of the Houses were more active in promoting their sponsors than others.  In fact the Netherlands House was branded as Heineken House.  One House stood out though, in terms of effectively activating their sponsor partnerships: USA House. 

The USA House was located in a rented Catholic School – Colegio Sao Paulo at Ipanema Beach, complete with resident nuns who seemed to love the transformation of their space from a place for learning, to a place for celebrating.  They loved all of the action and bemusedly wandered through the space interacting with the guests.

The US Olympic Committee’s sponsorship team did a great job of carving out distinct opportunities for sponsorship activation.  Several of the spaces in the building were named by sponsors, and were completely themed on their brands.  There was a rooftop Citi Lounge; a Budweiser Bar (serving copious amounts of free beer); a Bridgestone Patio (complete with tire tracks on the floor and a mini-golf game where players had to putt through a maze of Bridgestone tires); a Twitter Lounge; and an Uber Concierge Desk. 

All USOC sponsors were invited to provide a custom design for a standardized surfboard, and the surfboards were displayed throughout the house.  Sponsors were given passes for admission to the House so that they could host staff, corporate partners and other guests.

BMW provided a number of BMW-designed bicycles that were available for athletes to sign out and use as they explored the area.  They had a prominent display of a racing wheelchair they designed for a paralympic athlete.   They also provided motion tracking sensors for swimmers and coaches.  Of course a fleet of BMW vehicles was made available for use by the team and the USOC.

Chobani provided free yogurt for people to sample (it proved so popular that keeping the coolers stocked was a never-ending challenge), and presented a Chobani Night where the amazing food presented was prepared using recipes incorporating Chobani product.  AT&T provided branded free mobile phone charging stations throughout the building, which were well used.  The on-site retail store was stocked with Ralph Lauren’s and Nike’s Team USA apparel which people lined up to purchase.

While USA House offered access by invitation only, thousands of people were hosted over the course of the Games, and sponsors received excellent exposure and offered athletes, the USOC,  and their guests a great opportunity to experience the brand of each partner.

USA House – my selection as winner of the Gold Medal for sponsorship activation at a National House!