Monday, July 14, 2008

Beijing Olympic Commercials

I grew up as a competitive swimmer, so once every four years I remember what it was like to be an athlete - I love watching the Olympics. As we approach the games more and more ads are rolling out from official sponsors, and while some are pretty standard- stock footage montages, some are pretty good, and I'm sure many of the best are yet to come.

The most recent batch is from Coca-Cola, they released a spot featuring Yao Ming and Lebron James, a few days ago "Unity."


"Birds Nest Stadium" is set to roll out in the next few weeks, both spots come from Wieden & Kennedy, "Unity" out of Portland, "Bird's Nest Stadium" via Amsterdam.


This next spot was one of the first I remember seeing in support of the Beijing Games, I think the animation and full concept are pretty amazing, there are number of spots in the campaign. The animation and VFX were completed by Psyop and the creative is from TBWA/China.

Adidas "Together"


This next print ad comes from GE as a part of their Green Inititive, showcasing the Olympic Stadium constructed out of windmills.

I already told you I was a swimmer so I couldn't resist getting at least one Michael Phelps spot up here. It's simple but really well done I think, I love the idea of sharks lurking in the water - It's an analogy I remember hearing once or twice in my own small swimmers world. "Power to Push" is out of
Publicis/Dallas.

Power Bar "Power to Push"


This final animated spot, "Higher," is in support of the French Olympic Team, I think it's really sweet and dreamy and different from a lot of the Olympic ads, or any competitive advertising at all. It was directed by Joris Clerte, via Mister Hyde.



I'll be sure to ad more spots to this collection as they roll out...