• by Aaron Baar , August 14, 2008

Sometimes it helps to get in early with a potential Olympic star. Just ask Visa, which has sponsored Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps for six years. Now that Phelps has claimed a record-setting 11 Olympic gold medals (and counting), the credit card company and longtime Olympics sponsor has created a new television commercial commemorating the feat.

"We were probably the first mainstream brand to support him," Elyssa Gray, Visa's head of media and creative services, tells Marketing Daily. "We like to think we cemented him as an athlete to watch. Now, everyone's talking about Michael Phelps and what he has achieved in these games."

Using the same sepia-toned photography and voiceover from Morgan Freeman that characterizes its Olympics-themed "Go World" campaign, the commercial uses still shots of Phelps competing, while the voiceover states: "He's competed against the past. He's competed against the history books. He's competed against time, expectations and everyone who came before him." As the spot concludes with a shot of Phelps celebrating the American team's comeback victory in the 4 x 100 free relay, the voiceover states: "Most of all, he's competed against himself."

"Michael really embodies what the spirit of this campaign is about," Gray says. "And because he embodies a lot of the same characteristics of our brand, [this spot] helps in building the Visa brand overall."

The commercial aired on Tuesday night after Phelps won a gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly. Phelps came into the Olympic Games with six gold medals to his name and the potential to win eight more in this year's contest, giving him a shot to win more gold medals than anyone else in history. With that feat a distinct possibility before the games started, Visa completed the spot in advance of the games' start.

"We had planned if he was successful in breaking the world record to record that ahead," Gray says. "We weren't making conclusions, but we were hopeful."

By winning the 200-meter butterfly and the 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay, Phelps has won five gold medals in this year's Olympics. And he has the potential to win three more, surpassing Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in the 1972 Olmpiad. Gray would not say what plans the company has made is Phelps achieves that record. "We're continuing to evaluate all opportunities to reinforce our partnership with Michael," she says.

While Visa has been a sponsor of the Olympic Games for more than 20 years, its sponsorship of Phelps is part of a separate initiative of the company sponsoring individual athletes through its Team Visa program. Other athletes in Team Visa are long-jumper Dwight Phillips, BMX rider Bubba Harris, beach volleyball competitor Kerri Walsh, swimmer Katie Hoff, sprinter Allyson Felix, gymnast Nastia Liukin, decathlete Bryan Clay and paralympic track and field athletes Marlon Shirley and Cheri Blauwet.

While Liukin and Clay have already been featured in individual spots, Gray was intentionally vague about what marketing plans the company may have to showcase those other individual athletes in advertising during the games. "Right now, we're evaluating everything," she says. "I couldn't speak to what we're going to exactly do."