With only 365 days left until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Team GB is spreading Olympic fever to mark ‘(only) one year to go’. With recent consumer research confirming that Team GB remains the UK’s most loved sports team, the British Olympic Association have kicked off a day of celebration to help bring the UK back together by reminding them just how great British Olympic fever feels in a campaign concept devised by Hill+Knowlton Strategies, and its Studio created the newspapers which are being distributed.
The new research, conducted by Nielsen, reveals that Team GB is the sports team that makes the UK most proud and is most likely to inspire and unite the nation (64% of people feel that Team GB brings the nation together). In the run up to Tokyo 2020, the British Olympic Association is building on that position with a campaign that places Team GB at the heart of a rallying cry to the UK. The year-long campaign – with fuller details to be released in due course – will be a call to action for the UK to be prouder, more hopeful and more united as the nation counts down to Tokyo 2020.
That campaign reminds the nation that there is (only) 365 days until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. After what feels like months of bad news, Team GB kick-started a moment of national celebration to help bring the UK back together, as only Britain’s awe-inspiring Olympians can, with a selection of activities designed to spread Olympic fever across the UK.
Olympians Greg Rutherford and Beth Tweddle will delight commuters in Manchester, handing out Team GB papers filled with inspiring messages of unity and national pride on the tram from Piccadilly to Media City. There, they will join a unique celebration of the very best of the Olympics in the main piazza at Media City. A showreel of awe-inspiring Team GB highlights will play on the big screen, taking commuters back to iconic moments from London 2012 and Rio 2016. A ‘Team GB Café’ will offer up refreshments and allow fans to sit back, relax and soak up incredible Olympic highlights.
To celebrate five new and exciting sports, as well as modern new disciplines making their debut in Tokyo, skateboarder Alex Decunha and BMX Rider Charlotte Worthington will take part in a unique showcase, shining a light on their Olympic sports and giving passing fans a chance to try for themselves.
Celebrations aren’t limited to Manchester. At Westfield London, Team GB newspapers will be handed out to the city’s shoppers, each containing a call for the nation to come together behind Team GB. Those messages will be repeated across the United Kingdom, as the British Olympic Association has secured prominent advertising spots with Team GB partner Ocean Outdoor to display messages of unity and pride.
Scott Field, Team GB’s Director of Communications, said “Of all the research we undertake, the statistic that humbles us is that Team GB is consistently the sports team that the UK is most proud of. Team GB fans are different ages, come from different backgrounds and parts of the UK, but they are united by their support of the incredible British athletes. Olympic sport has an unmatched ability to bring people from all walks of life together. With one year to go until the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, we are delighted to kick-start our campaign to help bring the nation together by reminding the UK just how great Olympic fever feels.”
Mark England, Team GB’s Chef de Mission,speaking of the team said: “So far we have a projected team of 378 with 86 quota places secured. It’s already shaping up to be a brilliantly mixed and diverse group that includes many teams and individuals performing at an incredibly high level, including the women’s football team, men’s and women’s rugby sevens teams and individuals from sports including archery, swimming, sailing, diving, equestrian, modern pentathlon and shooting. We remain immensely proud that this could yet be the first ever Olympic Games where Team GB will select more female athletes than male.”
Team GB’s campaign to bring the nation together in excitement, unity and pride ahead of Tokyo 2020 will run through the next year with further activations as sports and athletes get announced and the Games draw ever closer.
