Martech to drive passion on road to Brisbane Olympics
The Australian Olympic Committee’s (AOC) chief of marketing and digital, Will Jago, says having a foundational layer of martech and tapping into fans’ passions will be the key to deepening engagement with the Olympics, ahead of Brisbane 2032.
In a panel session at today’s Mumbrella Sports Marketing Summit, he was joined on stage by the AOC’s head of Olympian services, Daniel Kowalski, and M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment’s strategy director Luke Haynes.
This morning’s panel
The Olympic Games is a huge global event, but as the AOC doesn’t own it, generating retention outside of the Games has been a “massive challenge”, according to Jago.
“We don’t own the event and we don’t own the events between Games, so we don’t capture any data or anything like that through ticket sales. We don’t have any merchandise sales, and we don’t have any sort of membership,” he said.
“Without these data points, it’s incredibly difficult for us to support our member sports in terms of driving participation.
“So the big strategy for us moving forward and looking ahead to Brisbane 2032 is, first and foremost, having that foundation layer of martech in place so we can actually start building audiences,” Jago continued.
He said it’s “obvious” that Olympic fans want to be a part of a progressive movement, but there are lacking opportunities for engagement with the Olympic rings.
The AOC is focused on creating more opportunities, by tapping into fans’ passions, “whether it be through sustainability, sport or reconciliation, education, volunteering, things like that”, Jago said.
M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment’s Haynes added that the Olympics offer brand marketers the chance to connect with fans in a more meaningful way, as unlike other sport codes, it’s not commercially overbearing.
“The Olympics has every bit as much passion behind it, but what it doesn’t have is the same level of commercial clutter,” he said.
“That’s such an amazing opportunity to have your message heard as a brand marketer, because there are massive numbers behind the sports.”
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