NBC Olympics and the networks for NBCUniversal will increase Sochi Olympic programming to coincide with the 100-day countdown to the Winter Games on Oct. 29.
A new phase of multi-platform marketing will be highlighted by a 20-channel promotional Roadblock in the 8 p.m. ET/PT hour on Oct. 29. In addition, NBC Sports Group and the networks of NBCU will participate at the kickoff of the USOC’s Road to Sochi Tour in New York City’s Times Square earlier in the day.
“The 100-day mark is the moment when our considerable Olympic campaign kicks into another gear,” said John Miller, CMO, NBC Sports Group. “For Sochi, we will use the full force of America’s largest media company to market the biggest Winter Olympics ever, being hosted by the biggest country in the world. As a Symphony priority, it’s invaluable to have so many parts of the company — 20 channels, 65 websites and the full strength of Comcast — playing together with singular focus to make our campaign come to life and make the Sochi Olympics a massive television event.”
Coverage of the Olympic Winter Games will begin one night before the Opening Ceremony with the start of competition in Sochi — men’s and women’s snowboard slopestyle, women’s moguls and team figure skating.
Here are more highlights of NBCUniversal’s promotional plans from Oct. 29 leading up to the Olympics:
- The NBC Peacock “bug” with the Olympic rings will appear on NBC and other NBCU networks, including NBCSN, with more frequency.
- Locally, NBCUniversal will work with its family of over 230 local broadcast affiliates to air locally-focused spots leading up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, as well as air local news coverage and specific promos about local Olympic athletes and events in their regions.
- NBCUniversal will air spots that aim to help demonstrate the breadth of digital streaming coverage for the upcoming Sochi Games, and how customers of MVPDs and other distributors of NBCUniversal’s Olympic networks can access that content both in and out of the home on multiple platforms.
- Comcast, NBCUniversal’s parent company, will use its wide breadth of digital and cable access to reach its customers in over 22 million homes to distribute Olympic-related promotional materials, as well as direct mailings, video guides and video-on demand features all related to NBC’s coverage of the Games.
- In the final three and a half weeks leading up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, NBCUniversal will prioritize its Olympic promotional ads across its 18 cable channels. NBCUniversal will air spots to push audiences to the first primetime broadcast on Feb. 6 and the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 7.
- Leading up to the Games, Olympic promotion will be featured in 14 different out-of-home networks across 18 different outlets, increasing viewer reach by 50% versus the out-of-market delivery for the 2012 London Summer Games. Shoppers and commuters will begin seeing NBC Olympic promotional spots via out-of-home marketing, which will be featured in national retail stores, including Costco and Walmart, in-dining networks, New York City taxi cabs, and PATH trains.
The push toward 100 days out began last weekend with the debut of four Olympic spots narrated by “Revolution” and “Breaking Bad” star Giancarlo Esposito.
“I’m a longtime athlete and have never been a professional and never played sports in school,” Esposito said. “So when I was a young boy the highlight of my life was to watch the summer Olympics, and you had to wait those four years … and then to see the winter Olympics, it was one of the biggest highlights of my life because I always wanted to be able to compete that way.”
You can view the four spots below:
Care
“What I love about the Olympics is that they’re people who are the common man and woman, everyday people who have the opportunity and the chance to prove to themselves that there is something inside them, a dream that can be fulfilled, and to me the Olympics for America is everything,” Esposito said. “I’m a big runner, a big cyclist and in the things that I do, I hear the Olympics music year round in my head … when I’m running in the park around Ladybird Lake here in Austin, Texas. ”
Trade
“I became a skier from watching television and watching skiers, and Lindsey Vonn has become one of my favorites as has been Bode Miller,” Esposito said. “Some of what Bode Miller is — a skier who I can relate to because he was never perfect — he was unorthodox and he could hit a gate and would be on … go from one leg to the other. There was never any opportunity for him to win that race a few years ago (2010 Olympics super combined), but the physical ability that he had not to crash and to get down that course, to me was everything, so even in his failure I was inspired.”
The Same
“To meet guys like Franz Klammer, the winningest skier in all of history, who you just don’t know how he could get his body to move that way and a guy who is just so lovely,” Esposito said.
Dream
“I just can’t wait to watch and be inspired again,” Esposito said.
