United Activate Team USA Rights Via Fun & Upbeat ‘One Journey, Two Teams’

The central commercial in United’s Team USA campaign for Rio 2016 sees airports and airliners used as an Olympic-style obstacle course by US sports stars as they begin their journey to Brazil.

Developed in harness with creative agency Mcgarrybowen, the ‘One Journey, Two Teams’ spot features both airline employees and an impressive line-up of athlete ambassadors using everything from check-in to boarding as an opportunity to showcase their skills.

The 60-second TVC was first launched online on 26 July – a few weeks before the Games begin to coincide with the competitors beginning to make their way to the Games.

It is also scheduled to air on US broadcaster NBC’s live coverage of the opening ceremony on Friday, 5 August.

The USA Olympians starring in the spot – who include volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings, soccer star Carli Anne Lloyd, four-time gold medal winning swimmer Missy Franklin, gymnast Simone Biles and decathlon champion Ashton Eaton – all performed their own stunts.

The ad also features a Brazilian-style remix of the brand’s usual theme song ‘Rhapsody in Blue’: the Gershwin standard was reworked by sound production outfit Yessian Music and a set of Brazilian street musicians.

The voiceover is by Hollywood actor Matt Damon and the video was shot on a United 787 Dreamliner in Los Angeles.

The commercial,

is also being amplified by social media pieces ranging from tweets

See how our #TeamUSA athletes are getting ready to board for Rio!https://t.co/r3FvmGdLwA

— United (@united) July 26, 2016

to Gifs

Watch me kick it into high gear for Rio w/ @united! And see the rest of #TeamUnited at https://t.co/VmkpodCb7t pic.twitter.com/kNaNsYiNyM

— Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) July 26, 2016

and posts on the athlete’s own social channels.

Watch me kick it into high gear for Rio w/ @united! And see the rest of #TeamUnited at https://t.co/VmkpodCb7t pic.twitter.com/kNaNsYiNyM

— Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) July 26, 2016

Here’s my latest routine w/ @United! To see the full spot with my #TeamUnited friends go to https://t.co/zhzsavkqrH. pic.twitter.com/Feqe08EBSE

— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) July 26, 2016

This lead TVC is also supported by a set of other Team USA activation pieces: led by an online video series that includes the now almost obligatory airline sports sponsor ‘Team USA Safety Video’ (which since its April launch has notched up a solid 576,563 views),

plus a ‘Destination: Team USA’ trailer,

‘Team USA: Meet Our Safety Crew’,

‘Get To Know The Team’,

and ‘Been There, Want To Go There’.

‘Our 2016 Olympics advertising was a great way to engage and showcase our employees and our partnership with Team USA,’ explains United managing director of marketing and product development Mark Krolick.

‘The United team works incredibly hard year round to transport US Olympians and Olympic hopefuls to training, competitions and the Olympics and this campaign demonstrates that in an upbeat, fun and optimistic way.’

Mcgarrybowen executive creative director Haydn Morris adds: ‘It’s an honour to have a client with such an intimate and long-time relationship with Team USA; they do the hard work of flying those guys wherever they need to go, year in, year out. Mcgarrybowen does the easy bit of bringing that story to life.’

Other members of the team working on the campaign included group creative directors David DiRienz and Erik Izo, content production managing director Dante Piacenza, global music production managing director Jerry Krenach, executive producer Stacy Kay, group managing director Jamie Ross, account director Joey Ziarko, account supervisor Kayla Friedman.

The production company was Pulse Films and the director was Michael Haussman, with visual effects by Framestore.

Comment

The TV spot and spoof safety video are racking up solid social engagement numbers, although some of the supporting online films only have YouTube views in the 100s and low 1000s.

But there is a light and upbeat feeling of positivity to the campaign creative – which perhaps stands out now more than ever as multiple factors have combined to make air travel seem less fun and optimistic than it once was.

Indeed, the tone and setting of the core commercial reminds us of the classic 1998 Nike ad starring the Brazilian team waiting at the airport to fly to France.

United is just one of a fairly impressive portfolio of US Olympic Team sponsors that includes 11 Worldwide partners, 29 domestic partners (including United) and 31 licensees (plus a 9-strong national medical centre alliance network).

Links

United YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/united

United Twitter

https://twitter.com/united

United Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/united/

United Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/UnitedUKIE/?brand_redir=199504650087085

United Google+:

https://plus.google.com/u/1/+united/videos

United Web: