How Los Angeles-Based Brands Can Prepare for the 2028 Olympics
In 2028, the Summer Olympics will be hosted in beautiful Los Angeles, CA. While this historic moment has a lot of us Angelenos preemptively packing our bags for an extended summer vacay, it’s fantastic news for the businesses of LA. We can expect a massive flood of tourists and visitors from all over the world. While the date may seem like a long way away, three and a half years will go by in a snap, so the time to prepare and align your marketing efforts is now.
Creating an Olympic marketing campaign
Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar retailer readying yourself for increased foot traffic or an online service provider planning to capitalize on the influx of eyeballs from across the globe, there’s a way to make the most of the 2028 Olympics. At Elevate My Brand, our marketing experts have a few ideas on how you can build brand awareness and increase your profitability during the event. Let's go over the game plan!
Research your audience’s connection to the Olympics
First, before you do anything, be extra sure to discover how your brand's existing audience feels about the Olympics and what about the Olympics inspires them. While there will be a huge wave of new customers in 2028, your current audience can serve as a model and will be the recipients of your marketing efforts as you warm up for the big event. Plus, you don’t want to alienate the audience that has been here all along and will still be here for you after the last shot has been put.
Every brand and audience is different, so look for your unique connection to the Olympics. Your brand might be sporty. Your audience may love inspirational stories. Your audience might go gaga over a specific celebrity athlete. Determine what your audience wants to see with extensive market research.
Find where your values and the Olympics’ values align
Next, find out how to connect the Olympics with your brand's core values. The Olympics are built upon certain ideals, such as athletic excellence and world peace. Look long and hard at your company’s core values and find at least one aspect of the Olympics that aligns with your ethos. Consider how your brand's positive message can mesh with promoting and becoming part of the city-wide celebration of the Olympics.
If your product or service isn’t at all related to sports or the Olympics, that’s okay! There will always be connections. The Olympics are deeply rooted in community, dedication, hard work, camaraderie, pride, etc. Surely you can connect to one of those values! Maybe the simplest way to connect is to talk about how, as an entrepreneur, you can relate to the athletes’ dreams of winning gold.
Cultivate smart brand partnerships
Once you have your Olympic-themed messaging locked in, look for business partners. Consider partnering with sports or athletic brands, or building a brand coalition with others who share your values that you share with the Olympics committee. (Perhaps find five partners to represent the five rings? Hint, hint.) If you partner with an athletics brand, look for opportunities to provide sports-themed promotions.
Together, you and your brand partners can grow awareness and visibility in tandem. Even if your brand seems completely unrelated to the Olympics, you can still work out a mutually beneficial partnership with a brand that is related. No one who wins a sports-themed prize package is going to turn it down because it also comes with a bottle of lotion.
Cater to international tourists and tastes
LA will be flooded with people from all over the world. While LA has always been a welcoming melting pot for travelers across the globe, local businesses can gain an advantage by cultivating international awareness and cultural sensitivity in the years building up the Olympics. The way you go about it can and should differ, but some examples include hiring multilingual team members, improving the diversity in your visual content, and expanding the borders of your search and social ads in advance.
It’s important to remember, however, that the new customers you acquire during the Olympics are most likely temporary. Sure, they may return to your store if they ever come back to Southern California, but you can’t focus on this particular audience segment too deeply. Ensure whatever efforts you take in making your marketing more international has long-lasting effects that benefit your brand well after the Olympics have ended.
Leverage traditional advertising avenues
Lastly, make plans to engage traditional advertising. For your current audience, social media might be your biggest marketing focus, but temporary new audiences probably won’t care to click the “follow” button. Billboards, digital signage, public transportation banners and broadcast ads are more likely to reach this massive wave of new visitors, especially since they will have to rely on public transportation during their stay. (All hail the supposedly soon-to-be-open “automated people mover!”)
While digital content marketing and your position in Google Maps local business rankings still matter—most international visitors will have smartphones with translation options—the increased foot traffic and people using public transit will create a golden opportunity to raise awareness.
Planning ahead with a marketing agency
You can’t be successful during the 2028 LA Olympics unless you successfully plan in advance. Our team may not have experienced the Olympics in Los Angeles before—after all, the last time we hosted them was in 1984—but we are digital and experiential marketing experts who eat, sleep and breathe in this city.
Contact us today to start building your personalized 2028 Olympics marketing strategy.