Samsung Australia and telecoms/entertainment giant Optus teamed up to support athletes at Tokyo 2020 through a ‘Performance Enhancing Music’ project based around creating uniquely personalised audio tracks scientifically designed to create the desired mental and physical response to help athletes to perform at their best.
The scientifically developed music project, developed through agency CHE/Proximity with Edelman, aimed to ensure brand backed athletes were ‘Olympic ready’.
Samsung (an IOC Worldwide Partner) and Optus (an Australian Olympic Team and official broadcast partner of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics) teamed up with a scientific audio research and testing group overseen by Professor Frank Millward PhD and Dr Damien Lafont PhD which saw isochronic tones integrated into the music with specific BPM and intense personalisation including personal mantras, moments from former successes and even enlisting the athlete’s favourite artists to be involved.
The tracks were created for three select Olympians and Optus Ambassadors – Mack Horton, Poppy Starr Olsen and Steph Catley, as well as rising stars Desleigh Owusu, Lexi McLean and Alana Withnall – and were created with music producers in LA, Tokyo and Melbourne in collaboration with artists including Aria winners Sheppard, Karnivool, San Cisco and Triple J Unearthed Artist of the Year, Alex the Astronaut.
Each personalised audio track was taken to Tokyo by the athletes on Samsung Galaxy devices and Buds and formed part of their training regime and pre-performance preparation.
The ‘Performance Enhancing Music’ project was a brand and product-specific marketing activation pushing the Samsung Galaxy and Optus Games’ coverage and was promoted via an online documentary-style video posted across both brands’ Australian digital and social platforms on 30 July and supported across film, digital, social, OOH and media integration.
The full tracks were also released in Australia in partnership with Spotify and, through SnapChat, fans can also take the stems of these tracks and personalise them to create their own unique Performance Enhancing Music.
“While we can’t be in Tokyo to support our athletes, we used the power of Samsung Galaxy and Optus to connect artists, scientists and athletes in all parts of the world to create something truly unique. Music that is designed to get each athlete in their best mindset to compete,” explained Samsung Director Of Product M arketing Eric Chou
Optus Chief Marketing Officer Mel Hopkins added: “This was a true collaboration, not only between brands, but between art and science to support our athletes.”
“The Olympics is the biggest stage of all, so to think we’ve been able to positively enhance an athletes performance, even if it’s by 1% is incredible,” commented CHE Proximity Creative Directors Richard Shaw and Jeremy Hogg.
The campaign was created for Samsung Australia (where the team included President Brian Cha, Director Of Product Marketing Eric Chou, Head Of Brand Marketing Hayley Walton,, Group Partner Marketing Manager Jason Ridge, Channel Marketing Manager Danielle Hoppitt, Marketing Manager Alicia Malmur and Marketing Executive Lilly Lloyd) and Optus (where the team included Director Of Sponsorship & Retail Marketing Benjamin Lawless-Jennings, Associate Director Of Sponsorship & Retail Marketing Danielle Rapley and Sponsorship & Marketing Consultant Jen Coleman by CHE/Proximity.
The agency group working on the project included Chief Creative Officer Gavin Mcleod, Executive Creative Director Justin Ruben, Creative Director Richard Shaw, Creative Director Jeremy Hogg, Senior Art Director Daniel Smith, Senior Copywriter Ernie Ciaschetti, Head Of Strategic Production Tash Johnson, Executive Producer Sophia Tubby, Managing Partner Jonny Berger, Group Account Director Grace Vizor, Account Directors Peter Thomas and Blade Griffiths, Senior Account Manager Raisa Mushrafi, Chief Media Officer Mike Deane, Head Of Media Strategy Tim Russell, Communications Planning Director Alex Connell, Investment Director Elizabeth Lonsdale, Addressable Director Sophie Curtain, Senior Addressable Manager Sue Lau, Investment Trader Amanda Bodagh, Ad Ops Manager Andrea Quach, Head Of Art Tim McPherson, Senior Digital Designer Joe Tran, Head Of Mixed Reality Charlotte Bruton and Operations Director Mary Anne Truong.
The Edelman team on the project was led by Director & Group Head Of Technology Natasha Brack and Associate Director Thom Landers.
The production company was Revolver and the Director was The Glue Society, with casting by Citizen Jane Casting, post production and editing also by The Glue Society Studios, resonance by Sonic Branding and music by Big Sync Music.
Comment:
With no fans allowed at Tokyo 2020 due to the pandemic, the idea (as was the case with so many other notable Tokyo 2020 activations) here was for Samsung Galaxy and Optus to show their support for the individual athletes and for Team Australia without the brands or any Aussie fans actually being there.
By leveraging the current social audio activation tactic the two brands have created an on-trend personalized content campaign which is both entertaining and (possibly) useful for athletes and consumers alike.
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