As Rio 2016 get underway, Visa activates its sponsorship of the Refugee Olympic Team with an emotional powerful spot telling the story of Syrian simmer Yusra Mardini.
The powerful video, called ‘The Swim’, is an inspirational story of courage and one that changed the lives of 17 fellow refugees.
The objective of Visa’s support for the Refugee Team is to inspire others and celebrate a team of incredible Olympic athletes from all walks of life ‘because together we stand for acceptance for everyone, everywhere’.
This individually focused spot follows on from the lead film in Visa’s Refugee Team activation ‘Champions Against All Odds’.
Developed with agency Just So and Grey London and The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Olympic Refugees Team campaign isn;t simply about tugging on emotional heartstrings, but also celebrating the power of team unity.
The campaign also includes longer form documentary film and also encourages, social amplification connecting via the #TeamRefugees hashtag and encouraging the public to sign the #WithRefugees petition.
Visa added refugee Olympic Athletes to complete its Team Visa Rio 2016 roster in July: bringing the brand’s athlete endorser group to 60 Olympic and Paralympic stars – the company’s largest and most diverse Team Visa ever.
This year’s Team Visa includes the 10 competitors on the International Olympic Committee’s first-ever team of Refugee Olympic athletes.
The athletes are 1500m runner Anjeline Nadai Lohalith (who fled her home during war and joined the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation where she now trains), 400m runner James Nyang Chiengjiek (who fled to Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp in 2002 and also joined TLPF), 1500m Paulo Amontun Lokoro (who also escaped to Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp and trains at the TLPF in Nairobi), Popole Misenga (Misenga discovered Judo while living at a center for displaced children in Kishasa DRC), 100m butterfly swimmer Rami Anis (Anis and his family fled to Belgium to escape civil war and to find a safe harbor for his training), 800m runner Rose Nathike Lokonyen (Lokonyen joined the TLPF and will compete in the 800-m distance event), 800m runner Yiech Pur Biehl (Biel arrived in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp in 2005, and later joined the TLPF), Yolande Bukasa Mabika (Mabika began practicing Judo as a child living in a refugee center in Kinshasa (DRC). After the 2013 World Judo Championships, she relocated to Brazil where she continues to train and live) and Yonas Kinde (a professional marathon and cross country runner who trains in Luxembourg).
Earlier in the countdown to Rio, Yusra Mardini (Refugee Olympic Team, Swimming) and Raheleh Asemani (Belgium, Taekwondo) were named to Team Visa. Mardini will compete as a swimmer on the IOC’s team of refugee Olympic athletes after her courageous journey from Syria to Berlin, where she continues to train. Asemani will compete in Taekwondo representing Belgium.
‘The refugee Olympic athletes are inspiring the world with their incredible stories of perseverance and bravery, overcoming great odds to get to the top of their respective sports and compete on the world’s stage,’ says Visa Inc chief marketing innovation and brand officer Chris Curtin.
‘These athletes, who will march with the Olympic flag at the Opening Ceremony in Rio, are a powerful addition to the Team Visa family, each embodying Visa’s belief in acceptance for everyone, everywhere.’
Comment
The payments behemoth certainly believes in its endorser brand team sports strategy as the core marketing base of its IOC Olympic rights.
Team Visa athletes have been at the centre of the brand’s activation more than ever for Rio 2016 and the central film of Visa’s global Olympic Games ad campaign features a diverse roster of more than 20 members of Team Visa in the light-hearted, comic ‘Carpool To Rio’ commercial (see case study).
They have also played a key promotional role in pushing several key Games innovations like Samsung Pay and chip cards along the way.
For example, fencer Muhammad, the first Muslim American woman to compete at the Olympics in a hijab, unveiled the Visa payment ring to the world
Brazil’s Guilhermina, the world’s fastest blind woman (alongside Mabika and Misenga) was onsite to open the Rio 2016 Copacabana Megastore in Brazil to make the ceremonial first payment, while US decathlete Ashton Eaton and sprinter English Gardner participated in Visa’s first Team Visa Facebook Live Stream last week.
Team Visa has grown by 62% since London 2012 and spans athletes from 26 sports – from diving and dressage to taekwondo and table tennis.
Since this group program started in 2000, Team Visa has provided its athletes with the tools, resources and support needed to maximise their potential – regardless of origin or background.
The sponsor chooses which athletes to invite to join the team on the basis of ‘their personal journeys to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, athletic achievements and community involvement’ (and, of course, to create a fitting mix of markets and demographics).
The group includes Team Visa members from Europe (including GB stars such as sprinter Adam Gemili, swimmer Adam Peaty and gymnast Claudia Fragapane, as well as Polish table tennis star Natalia Partyka) and the Americas (such as US fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, Brazilian Paralympian Terezinha Guilhermina).
Links
Visa YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/visabrand
Visa Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Visa?lang=en-gb
Visa Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Visa/
Visa Web:
Visa Tumblr:
Rio 2016 Web:
http://www.rio2016.com/
IOC Web:
http://www.olympic.org/sponsors/visa
UNHCR:
