Go World
By
Many of you may remember this Visa commercial that aired in the United States during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. It was a part of a campaign to support the 2008 Olympics through television, radio, print, and more. From May through the end of the Olympic games in 2008 Visa was given exclusivity in their category for advertising and sponsorship of the Olympics on NBC.
What is striking about this ad is that it not only appeals to Americans to unite in support of the United States athlete representatives, but it also reminds people that everyone on the planet comes together to celebrate these events and there is more reason to celebrate our similarities than our differences. It uses this point of view to show how diverse the world and American culture is. The television spots show a variety of American athletes as well as memorable athletes from years past from different countries.
Several Americans watched the Summer Olympics at some point in 2008, so Visa had the ability and opportunity to reach a wide variety of Olympic consumers who would find the ads relevant and moving. Visa uses several different tactics to appeal to consumers through these ads. They use the appeal of aesthetics and pleasant pictures throughout the commercial by portraying significant moments in a sepia hue. They also use emotional appeals through these memorable events in Olympic history. In television spots other than this one, Visa invokes nostalgia and memory retrieval through images of past Olympians.
This kind of support and sponsorship of world athletes during arguably the most significant athletic moments of their lives, shows consumers that Visa cares for America and the world. It builds Visa’s credibility, brand image, and company reputation through these messages, placing the brand in a favorable light in consumers’ eyes. These uplifting emotional messages serve to benefit not only the Visa brand and its marketers, but also consumers and athletes in the process.
3 Comments
November 29th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Great commercial, Kelli. I remember when this spot ran during the Olympics: I thought it had a good message.
The spot attempts to de-emphasize the competition that takes place at the Olympics and focus instead on our similarities as human beings, no matter what country we might be from. This “feel-good” appeal positions Visa as brand that supports and cares about the Olympics. However, one point of interest: almost every one of the athletes featured in the spot were AMERICAN athletes (Nastia Liukin, Michael Phelps, American beach volleyball players, etc). Compare this to the range of nationalities portrayed in the famous 2008 Olympic Nike spot (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RYt8gh388Y ). To really illustrate Visa’s point about tolerance and unity, the spot could have featured a wider range of nationalities.
Overall, what a feel-good commercial that really puts the consumer in the spirit of the Olympics.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Thanks Mallorie. I love this spot and the message of focusing on world unity. I agree that this ad in particular does feature only American athletes, but it also features flags from other countries like the boy with the Greece flag on his forehead. There are also other Visa commercials from this campaign that do feature great moments of Olympians from other countries. For example, look at this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V22PebTiik. Same message, but different images. Altogether, I have to disagree on the point that Visa did not portray a wider range on nationalities. Where as the spot that does feature Olympians from other countries is great for this emphasis of world unity, I think this commercial in particular does a great job of focusing on world unity but also Americans need to unify behind their athlete representatives for this momentous occasion.
December 11th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I love this campaign. One of my favorite spots from the 2008 Olympics is from this campaign, but I could never find it because I always confused it with Nike.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU3jfbb172E&feature=related
That is my favorite spot from the campaign, because to be honest I can’t watch it without tearing up. It’s such a great story and the fact is, sometimes the truth, the history, the story that someone else told better than you ever could, that’s the best ad you can make. It’s very humbling to think that out of all the creative concepts that came out of that room, all the sports related go-world ideas, that this one made such an impactful connection on me.
The idea that this campaign radiates is that it’s ok if you fall, as long as you pick yourself up, and to do that during the Olympics, in such a wonderful heartfelt way, was truly amazing.
I almost don’t want to call this socially responsible because then it says that we need to think about this stuff ahead of time because we don’t usually. I would rather say that this commercial just did. It was right, it was powerful, and it was one of the best messages that came out of the entire event.