Your Favo(u)rite Olympic Tv Commercials

[Durban Sandshark]

The BBC may not be known for or air TV ads, but British Olympians have appeared in TV commercials in the past long before London 2012. The first Brit Olympian I picked for this thread is the two-time Olympic decathalete champ Daley Thompson and some traffic lights. Perhaps filmed in LA. He appears in fondly remembered 1985 British TV commercial for Lucozade, a hugely popular glucose sports drink in the UK. It looks like he a nice swig and rinsed it out as he was running. The original flavored ones lost popularity over the years with the fruit-inspired ones taking a huge amount of sales since. Iron Maiden's "Phantom Of The Opera" makes this ad rock even more.

[Durban Sandshark]

Three of history's world's fastest men are on board on this post.

Carl Lewis runs through the streets of New York, on water, and eventually running up and long jump leaping the Statue of Liberty with Pirelli tires as feet in this 1998 commercial under a Aphex Twin (Caustic Window here actually) soundtrack.

Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell with a couple of other Jamaican sprinters pass the baton ("Stick! Stick! Stick!") to Jamaicans of all walks of life and typical settings in Jamaica with Puma running sneakers magically appear on their feet to run, often with hilarious results, in this 2004 Puma commercial for the Jamaican Athens Olympics, essentially the track team in the public mind. Dancehall star Elephant Man, whose track is in all the commercials, appears in the last one and runs out of the recording studio. Puma still is the official athletic supplier of the Jamaican Olympic Team

[Durban Sandshark]

This is a very recent commercial that has hit the Italian airwaves. This stars Italian swimming star and Olympic gold medalist Federica Pellegrini leaving a hotel presumably for a swimming competition and actor Ricardo Rossi as the hotel manager in a spot Italian energy provider Enal Energia. I don't know what the dialogue is about since I can't speak/understand Italian. Maybe it has something to do with Federica having admirers everywhere for being so attractive. Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" provides the soundtrack. Surely, you'll see Federica again here on this thread in the near future.

I knew that Ukrainian figure Elena Liashenko enjoyed some popularity in Japan when she was skating on the Grand Prix circuit thanks to a commercial that she did. Could it have been this one? This Japanese IBM commercial encourages fans to send fan mail to Elena leading up to the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. Maybe there was another. Whatever, this would boost her popularity even further in Japan when Japanese fans. Likely they admired her for her skills, artistry, and never giving up.

[Durban Sandshark]

One thing I must mention is that later on, I will mention about some more IBM Olympic commercials from the 1990s-2000 when it was an Olympic sponsor and powerer.

Back to the pool with a couple of Australian gold medal legends. The first features three-time Beijing gold medalist from Stephanie Rice at the dinner table dining a beloved product from her native state of Queensland: Er, what else? Rice. Australia's top rice brand SunRice Quick Cups, as part of several dinner entrees, that is. After all, rice IS produced in Queensland.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8vAvhxrqf0

Grant Hackett gets down to the music everywhere he goes on his CD player(s) powered by Varta Batteries. They're not available here in the US or Canada, if at all. It's a huge brand overseas, I understand. Sounds like they don't last very long in terms of battery life. Sorry, I like the Energizer Lithium batteries better. But Grant, why dump the entire CD player? Just go get the batteries recycled.

[Durban Sandshark]

All Olympic hopefuls "thirst for greatness" to be the best. Not to mention apparently Coca-Cola with this 1988 commercial that uses a version of David Foster's famous "Can You Feel It?" theme from the Calgary Winter Olympics earlier that year.

CBC's 1988 promo for the Seoul Olympics looks back at Los Angeles 1984 with Alex Baumann, Mary Decker, Sylvie Bernier, and the late Victor Davis

[Durban Sandshark]

I think it's only appropo that since we're in 2012, the year of the 2012 London Summer Olympics, I should start the year on this thread with a British Olympic star. World champion heptathlete star Jessica Ennis appears in a Powerade teaser commercial ready to take on the Sweat Session. She appears on the cover of the latest issue of Marie Claire UK edition this month. The results will arrive later.

This one's pretty funny! Also simple. A boy and later his dad end up awestruck at the very sight of Olympic golden goal man and NHL superstar Sidney Crosby in the flesh at Sportchek, a Canadian sporting apparel and footwear chain. Neither actor fainted during the filming of this commercial.

[bgdrewsif]

Found it for ya, Sir Roltel!

Really damn funny! (stadium is actually Telstra Stadium filmed of course)

Great commercial! We'd never get that here un the states, it would be too controversial...

[jawnbc]

First I have to say I loved the Svend Kramer ad--he was such a jerk in Vancouver, at both the test event and the Games. He even pushed a woman volunteer out of the way when she tried to check his accreditation. Sorry eejit--we don't have 25000 speed skating fans in Vancouver who would recognize you.

A few related to Vancouver 2010. First is the more famous "Destiny" ad from Nike, but I actually prefer their other ad, "Force Fate":

Very much a Canadian sense of humour.

But the one that still makes me cry--the two, in fact--are the ones for the official slogans. "With Glowing Hearts":

For anyone who doesn't understand French they're almost identical, word-for-word.

They hold a special place for me because I was working at Vanoc when the slogans were launched. Lots of people--including myself--weren't entirely comfortable with using lyrics from our national anthem. But when they showed these clips--and the 4 minute versions of each--200 people were weeping.

I have these on my iPhone and they still make me cry. It was such an honour to host the Games in my hometown. It was amazing how the country was transfixed for 2 months (paras included). Words fail me.

[Durban Sandshark]

A great find here! Never thought we would see this given that a lot of the clips on You Tube are far more recent than this unless they're preserved. Here's ABC promo for the 1972 Munich Olympics, an Olympics we of course sadly remember for all the wrong and dark reasons consequently making ABC Sports turn into ABC News. Hyping for the time the most coverage for any televised sporting event in the US--almost 63 hours paid on $7.5 million. Still largely holds up well; makes me wish NBC could produce an updated version of this for promoting London. This suggests it was the first time ABC sent a team to cover the Summer Olympics instead of being in a NY studio. Note the famous "up close and personal" line used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSPSSEeu16I

This next one from not too long ago--2009 to be exact--stars track star Kim Gevaert, Belgian silver medalist from Beijing in the relays, doing what she does best: sprinting from the starting blocks simulated with the Kia Venga that she drives as well in a Flemish/Dutch commercial that got play in both Belgium and in the Netherlands.

[Durban Sandshark]

Seven Network rules the roost in this post looking back at what was (and still is) Australia's most ambitious television project in its history when it rightfully known as "Australia's Olympic Network" (with now-defunct sister sports network C7 Sport doing more fuller Olympic coverage) until Nine Australia and FOXTEL subsequently took over. Of course, I'm talking about the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

A trio of promos 7 did in that year to get those sports-mad Aussies excited about the Games like it was Christmas morning. First a brief bumper depicting a long jumper leaving a rainbow trail in the Olympic colors since at the time Channel 7 was utilizing them in all of its promos. The the countdown--at 3 days--with the daily coverage plans from morning to late night with the ending very much the same: Australia as nothing but a set of TV filling the nation from the zoom-out. Finally we have Australians from all walks of life across the nation gathering around the TV and celebrating Australian Olympians winning gold--well, actually in this case all over the state of Victoria--on 7.

Ian Thorpe 2000 promo-profile on 7

[Durban Sandshark]

Just strolling through some Olympic commercials for future use as I was writing this until I touched on this one that really caught my attention. Seems contemporary enough from Budweiser. It's about a yuppie heading to the bar after a hard day's work during a hot day, likely in the west coast city like LA, about ready to shoot some pool or leave the place, and catches the American Olympian getting gold that piques everybody else's. The jacket on the gold medalist screams the 1988 one (more on that later), so it was made in time for NBC's Seoul telecast for its commercial breaks. What got my attention the most was of the man playing the Olympian: Eriq La Salle! Before ER. Right around the time he was getting notoriety playing the spoiled and somewhat socially ignorant Soul-Glo heir Daryl Jenks in "Coming To America", fighting for the attention of McDowell's daughter with Zamunda's Prince Akeem. The Adidas podium jacket? Notice how the colors are reversed from what the actual US Olympians wore on the medal stand in Seoul from largely blue to red. The style is the same, though. Maybe it was a prototype.

[Durban Sandshark]

Ah, Ben Johnson. The Jamaican-born Canadian sprinter. Undoubtably, the most notorious drug cheat ever and disgraced his adopted nation in the process. What more can be further uttered? In the leadup to the Seoul Olympics where he seemingly blew away everybody like he did in Rome the year before in sham races, he appears in this 1988 Finnish Valio Milk Energy commercial by giving a Finnish boy a great delight upon seeing his favorite athlete. What would that boy would think now after what has transpired? Don't you think it wasn't just the milk and its nutrients did his body good? Valio is Finland's largest processor and is owned by its farmers and milk producers.

We got another notable 80s Olympic star in the following. She's much more endearing and remains so to this day, especially whenever she flashes that massive sweetheart smile. Yes, I'm talking about 1984 gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton. Does she ever any perkier? I'll bring up all the commercials she's done, even up to now with the Diary Queen and the pinata. She's telling us the Energizer AA batteries in 1985 are now "supercharged". No need to get redundant three times, now that we got better minerals in our batteries that can last longer like lithium from Energizer. Years later, that pink bass drum-banging bunny came to rule the company.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTjoIwyi_j4

[Durban Sandshark]

Between the years 1995 and 2001, IBM produced and aired a successful series of diverse, numerous, and multicultural TV commercials under the popular "Solutions For A Small Planet" ad campaign. At that time, it was taking a lead from what Coca-Cola was doing with its "Always Coca-Cola" campaign in terms of its diversity of ads in order to attract a wide fanbase that already knows about the fizzy iconic cola. To emphasize and reflect the "small planet" portion of the commercials and the globalization of computer technology like the Internet and software programs, an overwhelming number of them were done in various languages other than English that were aired in the US and worldwide. Whenever those small number of these IBM TV commercials were in English, the dialogue wasn't done in everyday conversational English. Two that I recall are the one at the Australian hotel in 1996 when Trevor shows off his laptop to his mates in the outskirts of the outback speaking 'Strine and a group of California surfers using surf slang. These ads dealt with how usually IBM's innovation, technology, and software will help people in various walks and stages of life wherever they are. Oftentimes, the second person will offer it as a solution. These commercials ranged from a man and his granddaughter talking about him working on his doctoral thesis thanks to IBM condensing the entire University of Indiana's library while walking through the grandfather's vast vineyard (Italian); a team of scientists and researchers stranded in the Amazon rainforest (Brazilian Portuguese); a husband offering IBM voice recognition technology for his wife's monthly marketing analysis while doing the tango (Argentinian Spanish); Santa's helpers saving Kris Kringle at the last minute with a secure Internet website to connect with business people, toy orders and revenue, and updates on the good boys and girls (Norweigan); a group of fisherman working on their day's catch (Greek); on the trail catching a criminal at the Hong Kong harbour (Cantonese); Ladysmith Black Mambazo hitting the right notes through the use of IBM Kid Riffs during an outdoor choir practice (Zulu); two businessmen discussing IBM tech solutions at a bazaar (Arabic); and during a surgery with the patient not anathesized (Indonesian?). I enjoyed these ads for they showed the aforementioned multiculturalism and the widespread use of languages other than English in commercials on American TV. If anybody was going to do it, it was the all-powerful IBM.

It was during this span that Big Blue was a TOP Olympic sponsor and even powered the Olympic websites from Atlanta to Sydney--I miss the Sydney website it did! There in those Olympics it developed something like a popular yet primitive social networking pages for Olympians of sorts predating (or eveolved to) the likes of Xanga, Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Google+, and VKontakte (the Russian Facebook) where fans can write brief messages to them and they can write back. Some got more messages than others like Wayne Gretzky did in Nagano. IBM devised a series of commercials profiling a small sampling of athletes between Nagano and Sydney to air on TV worldwide. Many of these athletes were also-rans, the ones who Bob Costas always remind us every Olympics NBC airs that they will never even get a sliver of an Olympic medal. I already showed the Elena Liashenko IBM Japan commercial for her immense popularity there; it's somewhat related but not really connected to the following. For the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics, IBM selected the British curling team (on location in their native Scotland), figure skater Yulia Lavrenchuk (Ukraine), skiier Andreas Vasili (Cyprus), the Japanese women's ice hockey team, and figure skating pair Marina Khaulterina and Andrei Krukov (Kazakhstan). For Sydney, the roster featured Waneek Horn-Miller (Canada, water polo), Stephen Davies (Australia, field hockey), Akhenaton Spencer-El (USA, fencing), and Mame Maty Mbengue (Senegal, basketball). I can even remember an IBM print ad featuring New Zealand skeletoner Angela Paul, later a flag bearer for NZ in Salt Lake City in the OC, on USA Today. None really scream superstar, and that was the point with them--to be more open-minded and intrigued about other Olympians. Obviously, the host nations had to be involved in these. With these, Olympic fans are encouraged to "look for me" and others on the Olympic pages to get to know them. Many of them were like :30 "Up Close and Personals" with family and friends talking about them too. Unfortunately, almost all of them are presently not on YouTube right now. So I can't link them, which were nicely done. Perhaps they were there and since taken off, I have no way of knowing. In one heartbreaking moment into Lavrenchuk's commercial after going out to her daily skating practice on a crowded Kiev streetcar bus, Yuila had to hastily cut short her practice at the rink to make way for a kids' hockey game. In the Kazak figure skating pair one, kids were asking them questions online regarding their nation. They never spoke--just skating at a frozen pond. Likely because neither spoke enough English.

But I did find one such of these commercials! Japan as hosts automatically qualified its women's ice hockey team for the debut of Olympic women's ice hockey in Nagano. Chie Chie Sakuma is your guide for her team in this IBM commercial, likely because she's apparently the only player on it back then who could speak a conversational level of English. They "[weren't] the favorites". They sure weren't playing like they were the favorites; in fact, they flat out sucked as the only second Asian team in the field with China, finishing dead last in a field of 8 scoring only 2 goals and giving up 48. Japan made it back in a top-level international women's ice hockey tournament at times only doing the yo-yo routine mostly being at Division I in the IIHF World Championships, despite being being among the top 5 Asian women's ice hockey nations, usually one-two with China. It was as much of a cultural thing with women's ice hockey in Japan and learning how to cope with it. Anyway, none of its national teams understandably played last year because of the earthquake. Gotta love that all-Japanese girl punk rock as the soundtrack! My favorite moment is when they all mob each other after scoring agoal and collapsing on the ice with the music stopping because they weren't supposed to do that. For some reason, that reminds me of the Teletubbies in this. The Japanese women's program will return this year in international hockey and hopefully be much better than they were back then.

[Durban Sandshark]

Brazilian basketball legend and five-time Olympian Oscar Schmidt encourages his team of supermarket staff for good team service at Brazilian supermarket chain Bon Marche.

[Durban Sandshark]

It just wouldn't be an Olympics anything, be it a Summer or a Winter one, like on this thread without any mention of the famed 1988 Jamaican bobsled team. Yes, their time in Calgary inspired the Disneyfied movie "Cool Runnings" and became, along with the likes of Eddie The Eagle Edwards, the patron saints of "Odd Olympians", something that Mexican skiier Andy Himalaya couldn't quite capture the public imagination. Didn't matter they they got wiped out in Calgary; they were celebrated and appeared on MTV once. Here, Freddie Powell, a member of the original team back in 1988, likes his Miller Lite as "the only thing cold" and assures the Jamaicans will be even more ready in 1992 (they didn't qualify then but returned later in Lillehammer) in this Miller Lite 1989 commercial--one of my favorite Olympic-themed ones growing up.

Katie Taylor, Ireland's beloved boxer and female athlete overall, brings in a couple of her friends rapper Tinie Tempah from across the Isles, Blink 182/+44 drummer (and major hip hop lover) Travis Barker, and the Wild Ones for a really good Lucozade Sport commercial from last year using Simply Unstoppable (YES Remix). Would've made a solid music video just on that alone! Look for Katie having now qualified go for gold in London as a major favorite there! She just now signed on as Proctor and Gamble's Ireland ambassador for its worldwide "Thank You Mom" campaign.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fhMC9zrUaI

[Durban Sandshark]

Very interesting 2008 Adidas Impossible Is Nothing commercial that was aired on Hong Kong TV in the longform. Noticeably, all the Olympians signed to Adidas involved in this are Chinese--no HK Olympians in the bunch. But clearly the focus is on China as when the athletes (like volleyball players Y.M. Wang and K. Feng and tennis star Li Na) get ready for the competition or practicing, the more everyday people do exactly like the athletes in different and funny ways during their daily routines and settings showing the Chinese public are one with them. Hong Kong, by the way for those who didn't know, was part of the Beijing Olympics as the equestrian host.

Spain's Nike mates and sports stars Pau Gasol, Rafael Nadal, and Andreas Inesta highlight Spain's triumphant glory in sports in 2010 and urges themselves and other compatriots to continue to work hard and "Twinkle. Illuminate your country" with their values and effort against forces of darkness like the economic crisis while namedropping the likes of Rubio, Fabregas, Fernandes, Pulio, and Navarro in their salute to them. This commercial premiered on Christmas Eve before King Juan Carlos' Christmas speech.

For a translation of what those three are saying, look here.

[FiveRingFever]

Not usually a huge fan of commercials, but Visa has been showing one about Lopez Lomong, one of the former "lost boys" of Sudan who carried the US flag at the 2008 Opening Ceremonies. Definitely one of their better efforts.

[Durban Sandshark]

Not usually a huge fan of commercials, but Visa has been showing one about Lopez Lomong, one of the former "lost boys" of Sudan who carried the US flag at the 2008 Opening Ceremonies. Definitely one of their better efforts.

And now, Lopez Lomong's Visa commercial that FiveRingFever likes voiced by Morgan Freeman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nejHSwbHpNA

"What is [the pole vault]? Show me that, please." The attractive Yelena Isinbayeva discusses for Adidas with the help of animation from her own illustration of her how she transitioned from gymnastics to legandarily breaking world records every time it seems in the pole vault ("Five meters? Are you crazy?!"). The world records she keeps breaking now continue to be her own. When she speaks English, she has a lovely voice.

[Durban Sandshark]

ABC's promo for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal. Looks like it only did one and not in sophisticated and high production valued multiples like you see these days from the NBC family of networks. ABC tells us to watch the Olympics "up close and personal", a phrase it made famous. All filmed no video recording at a practice (looks like a high school one). Here's how the athletes featured in it ultimately fared in Montreal: Munich gold medal winner Madelyn Manning-Jackson failed to make the women's 800m final. Earl Bell finished 6th in the men's pole vault. Defending gold medalist Randy Williams scored silver in the men's long jump (still called the broad jump back in 1976). Charles Foster finished fourth in the men's 110m hurdles. It was all stylized in the camera style with the camera shutter sound effect as they made their intro. None of them was wearing the same USA uniform style. Also includes The New Land movie Part 2 promo starring legendary Scandinavian actors Liv Ullman (Norway) and Max Van Sydow (Sweden), set in Minnesota, a state with a rich Scandinavian heritage.

One commercial from McDonald's infamous "When the US Wins, You Win" promotion contest campaign in 1984. McDonald's lost millions of dollars when it was pinning the hopes of the Soviet Union and its fellow Communist nations to boost the odds in their favor when it had the USA winning in events it probrably should not have. Consequently after the Soviet-led boycott, the Americans turned out took the lion's share of the medals, including lots of gold and faring better than expected, entitling customers to many a free menu item. This misfire even inspired a Krusty Burger version on The Simpsons in an episode called Lisa's First Word. There was even an Australian version of this back in 2000 for the Sydney Olympics, no reports of loss of money there.

[Durban Sandshark]

Also, going back to the ABC 1976 Montreal Olympic promo, Madelyn Manning-Jackson since went on to become an ordained minister and gospel singer, becoming a chaplain for the US Olympic team. Interesting to note that the filming took place seemingly at a high school track, possibly in California, and all of the USA outfits were not of the same colors that we would see in international competitions like the Olympics. None of them are sporting the red track top that we know from Montreal. Randy Williams' one looks very much like what the US Olympic track team wore four year earlier in Munich though.

Now I salute the gold medal winning Dutch women's Olympic field hockey team, aka the Oranje like all of their national sports teams, often regarded as among the hottest-looking Olympians around with a commercial. In the first one from KNHB corporate sponsor RaboBank, a young Dutch girl dreams of being with her Oranje idols to take the game-winning goal in an ad campaign "sponsoring dreams" and making them come true.

Cadbury has a long-standing relationship with Ireland. On up to during the London Olympics, Cadbury in partnership with RTE Ireland paid hommage to some of Ireland's greatest Olympic moments as part of its prinicipal Olympic sponsorship of RTE's coverage. Notably including a popular vote as what was Ireland's greatest Olympic moment. Using state of the art treatment and motion capturing from past file footage, it depicted a brief series of motion-captures involving the likes of Michael Carruth, O'Callahan, and Michelle Smith all using RTE's commentary to relive the magic of the Olympics for Cadbury's "Enjoy the Moment" campaign. All in Cadbury's Pure Milk's purple, gold, and white colors.

[Durban Sandshark]

Carl Lewis is back again here in this year's Panasonic commercial to promote London 2012 like those VIERA TVs. As a longtime Panasonic pitchman, the legend appears in this commercial for the worldwide Olympic sponsor reliving his past glory both watching on TV (the 1984 footage) and back on the track, right down to the 1984 USA Olympic track uniform. The commercial was shot on location in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Carl wasn't actually running. Now-established technology allowed Carl's head used in the place of the actual sprinter from Botswana as he was running and placed it during post-production. But it's him as he gets ready on the track and the end!

[Durban Sandshark]

After delays for several reasons here, I return now to the Powerade starring Britain's and Sheffield's recent crowned golden girl Jessica Ennis. Actually there's a lot of Powerade commercials starring Jessica on YouTube. The first one is part 2 of the series at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield when Jess and three boxing-trained guys, under the watchful eye of coach Toni Minichiello, participate in an intense 45-minute workout designed to show the benefits of staying hydrated while losing sweat keeping yourself at your optimal best during exercize. Lot of the sweat, you'll see, is absorbed into clothes, which is why we now got Nike Dri-Fit, Adidas Climacool, and Reebok Play Dry. Here, the comparisons are the loss of weight before and after 45 minutes.

Another Jessica Ennis Powerade commerial. Much quicker though. Just 15 seconds. Everything is black and white except for the Powerade bottle. All leading to the Countdown to London.

[Durban Sandshark]

Pieter van den Hoogenband sucked at soccer at age seven. That's OK because he went on of course to find incredible success in the water, as this Dutch commercial for Calve Peanuts can attest. "You'll Never Walk Alone" is the soundtrack music.

Quick is a domestic French burger chain in the vein of McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King that had the likes of Nicolas Anelka having burgers after them. Here in this Quick commercial, Les Bleues basketball star and Olympian Tony Parker Jr. instantly heads back to France to get a taste of Quick's French Burger that he's tauntingly missing out on in the USA because he's stuck there due to the NBA lockout.

[Durban Sandshark]

On a Kiwi kick here. Valerie Adams talks to Visa in Paris's INCEP about her life, her late mother, how she got into the shot put, and its technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcCiZ-iAi2o

This great commercial coming up stars the Turkish women's national volleyball team featuring soon-to-be-Turkish flagbearer Neslihan Darnel playing in a made-for-the commercial game for its prinicipal sponsor Vakifbank promoting its successful FIVB Olympic volleyball qualification tournament campaign in early May that was hosted in the capital of Ankara.

[Durban Sandshark]

Telstra managed to get Men At Work frontman Colin Hay to get Australians everywhere sing his band's classic #1 80s hit "Down Under" in a new version. Everyone involved in the pubs, school choirs, concerts, along the ferry, and the Sydney Swans had oh so much fun in this! And it shows! All part of Telstra's campaign to send hero messages of support to Australia's 2012 Olympians. The people taking part ARE the singers.