Paralympics brand advertising that struck gold

The 2024 Paris Paralympic Games were the most successful ever, with the International Paralympic Committee projecting the event will surpass the of 4.1 billion people that tuned in for the Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016 Games. 

For the first time in history, all 22 events were broadcast live, demonstrating the increasing popularity and respectability of parasports with the mainstream public.

This growing interest opens the potential for sponsors to reach a valuable global audience through the Paralympics. With this comes the responsibility to communicate appropriately, understanding that the Games are not just a marketing opportunity, but a platform to promote inclusion and challenge narratives around disability. 

This approach can be seen in how brands are choosing to activate both on the ground in Paris, and here in the U.S.

Nike has supported its athletes in Paris with the Nike Athlete House: a dedicated space for preparation, celebration, rest and recovery. The House offers athletes physical therapy and recovery services along with specialty stations for personal styling appointments and spaces to unwind with their families.

It's another example of how Nike has centered on athletes’ voices, following its Winning Isn’t For Everyone campaign that playfully lets us in on the killer mindset of elite competitors. The Athlete House certainly seemed to help Tatyana McFadden, who became the most successful American track and field competitor of all time. In her seventh Paralympic Games, Tatyana now has 21 medals, including eight gold, dating back to Athens 2004.

As France’s most valuable company and an official Paralympic partner, LVMH was unlikely to let the Games pass without leaving its mark. Similar to the Olympics opening on the Seine, the Paralympics also broke the mold with its opening ceremony — a parade down the iconic Champs-Elysées. Creative talent from LVMH brands Berluti, Louis Vuitton and Vuarent provided bespoke pieces to build on the company’s positioning as the “artisan of all victories.”

Beyond the ceremony, it also opened La Maison LVMH, a pop-up space in an elegant private residence, for the duration of the Games. Here, it has staged a number of events and panel discussions about the steps its 75 brands are taking to promote disability inclusion throughout the fashion industry.

Long-term Olympic partner Procter & Gamble has made headlines for its role in improving the experience for athletes in the Paralympic Village, showing the earned media value of demonstrating its products in action. P&G brands including Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Mielle, Gillette and Braun are providing hair care and grooming services for the 4,400 Paralympic athletes in Paris.

In the U.S., the biggest story regarding the Paralympics has been the unprecedented access to the Games for audiences watching at home. NBC aired only six hours from the London Paralympics, increasing that to 70 in Rio in 2016. By Tokyo 2021, it had 200 hours of network coverage, with 1,200 hours of streaming. In Paris, it aired 140 hours of network coverage and streamed a record 1,500 hours on Peacock.

Official sponsors have led the push for more access, buying ad space to ensure broadcasting the Games is commercially viable for NBC. Paralympic partners such as Visa are invested in the long-term success of the athletes and want to give them as big of a media platform as possible. Since 2000, Visa has financially supported individual Paralympians, and for Paris 2024, it signed its largest roster, sponsoring 46 athletes globally.

More hours of sport to broadcast means more gold medals to celebrate. NBC’s iconic headquarters at Rockefeller Center was transformed this summer into the ultimate place to cheer on Team USA in the Paralympics. The Michelob Ultra bar sits where the ice rink usually is, and brings to life the beer brand’s Summer of Team USA campaign, hosting watch parties with multiple screens. 

It was the perfect place to watch the closing ceremony on Sunday, where Paris formally handed over the Paralympic flag to Los Angeles for the 2028 Games, the first on U.S. soil since Atlanta 1996.

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Alex Beazley-Long is senior creative strategist at Imagination.