• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, July 15, 2024

 Coca-Cola's Powerade ad features Simone Biles' comeback story.

While no medals are handed out for Olympic marketing, the marathon is well underway: Which brands have tied their ads to the best athletes? And which athletes are becoming the most influential? Ron Hill, chair of the marketing department at American University’s Kogod School of Business, weighs in on the distinctive opportunities the games present for brands and the complex selling function they bring to athletes.

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Marketing Daily: About 15 million people will see the Olympics in Paris, and 3 billion will view them. Who do you think will be the breakout marketing stars?

Ron Hill: Simone Biles is on the cusp of being one of the most important athletes of her time. Her decision to withdraw last time because of mental health? That’s the American dream: She had a problem, admitted it, dealt with it, and now she's back even stronger than ever.

I also think the women’s basketball team will shine. It was a mistake for them not to bring Caitlin Clark, but the team is expected to do well, and women’s basketball has gained so much in popularity.

Marketing Daily: Some expect Sha’carri Richardson, the sprinter, to get outsized attention, too.

Hill: Yes, and I think this will be the year of the female athlete. I hope so. It would be novel.

Marketing Daily: It makes sense. Paris is the fashion capital of the world. Vogue Business makes a similar prediction, expecting it to be the “most beautiful” Olympics, partly due to Sephora, owned by Paris-based LVMH, and Procter & Gamble, another sponsor.

Hill: Yes. Often, you don’t expect athletes to do well in beauty and high fashion, but people like Serena Williams and Biles carry it all off. And people love the way Biles smiles and the way she conducts herself. The ones who break out are those with big charisma or those who do something particularly marvelous. I wouldn’t be surprised if some new stars aren’t from the U.S., particularly Western Europe.

Marketing Daily: How do today’s athletes want to develop as influencers? Are they looking for brands?

Hill: Step back from the Olympics and look at Caitlin Clark. This is not a woman who said, “I'm out there because I want to make as much money as possible.” She’s completely dedicated to her sport and wants to remain connected to that sport. She is trying to be the best athlete she can be -- and that’s what most athletes try to do. Most are not mining for gold with brands, and even for those who are, endorsements are secondary or tertiary to their main goals.

They are often so young and naïve. They’ve traveled the world, but many never leave their hotel rooms. And they don’t fully comprehend that people are watching everything they do, not just their competitions. They don’t understand that they are role models.

And marketing endorsements are about [the athlete's] totality. Sure, marketers want that pristine Olympic performance. But they want it all -- it’s about how the athletes act in public, dress, and drive their cars. Marketers try to mold that caricature of who they are. Sometimes it sticks, sometimes it doesn't. And sometimes, the athletes get molded away from who they are.

Marketing Daily: How so?

Hill: Remember, from a marketing perspective, unless you're going for a specific market segment, you want somebody that can be rather generic. You want a wider, multidimensional appeal, not a narrower one.

Marketing Daily: And that’s bad for the athlete?

Hill: It doesn’t take into account that in many ways, they are very undimensional. We all forget how much of normal life they gave up to be this good in their sport. They give up their private lives. They give up their school lives. A lot of times, they give up their own family.

The upside is that in a few cases, it leads to them achieving something no one else has ever done. The bad part is that it's a truncated development of that human being. Then, they are in the limelight, and we expect them to know how to act.

Marketing Daily: Some athletes seem predisposed to be true disruptors. I’m thinking of some of Serena Williams’ amazingly defiant wardrobe choices, Naomi Osaka talking about mental health, and Colin Kaepernick’s position on the anthem.

Hill: Young athletes lead such rigorous lives, completely governed by the authority of their coaches and trainers. At some point, often when they’re getting more comfortable in themselves, they say, “Wait a second. I’m going to push back.” Colin Kaepernick struck such a chord and caused young people to think very differently about what's going on politically. But doing so meant he had to throw his career under the bus.

Marketing Daily: That provides a nice segue for me to ask about Nike, an Olympic sponsor and the world’s best-known athletic brand. They have close to 17,000 athletes. How has Nike shaped the athlete/influencer market?

Hill: Nike was very generous in the beginning. And in some cases, it still is. In the case of Michael Jordan, for example, it tried to understand who the athlete was instead of saying, “We’re going to make you into the athlete we want you to be.” That’s very compelling to some athletes, and that’s why the way it negotiates with athletes seems so different from other companies.

It is a company that understands Nike is not simply about the shoes you wear, but a lifestyle. Nike helps us create our illusion about what the sport can be to us,  better than any other brand.

Marketing Daily:Do you expect many political protests, with these young athlete influencers discussing their causes?

Hill: Plenty of protesters will try to make their case to the media, which takes some of the sheen away from the games. It is on the athletes’ radar. But no, they are hunkered down in their rooms. These athletes do everything they can to prepare themselves physically and mentally. Anything that distracts them from their events is a problem. They don’t want to meet anyone with a cold, the sniffles or COVID.