Iconic’s James Kirkham has an idea that’ll make sports marketers drop their golf clubs in shock; what not just wing it? Hear him out. The image of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina and his surfboard appearing to float on air over the water when he was competing at this year’s Olympics has become one of the defining moments of the event . It shows Medina as a superhero, levitating above the water and ascending to greatness.
A moment of utter calm in the hectic storm of competition, it was instantly compared with other iconic sporting imagery, such as Neil Leifer’s Muhammad Ali overhead shot. The image was seen hundreds of millions of times in a matter of hours. Within 48 hours, Corona Cero, a non-alcoholic beer and the first-ever global beer sponsor of the games, launched a powerful out-of-home campaign centered on this striking image of Medina, one of the brand’s long-standing ambassadors.
Corona Cero leveraged its sponsorship in a brilliantly meme-friendly way. With a creative platform around ‘golden moments,’ it hijacked one of the greatest moments so far at the Olympics. This campaign shows that when it comes to grabbing people’s attention, the best strategy is to plan for the unexpected.
First of all, talent strategy is a long-term commitment and isn’t about short-term gain. Corona’s cultural nous and partnership with Gabriel Medina meant that the brand wasn’t just well placed but was effectively the only brand that could capture this moment and catapu.