Unleash the New

Toyota and the IOC asked us to introduce the new sports making their debut at Tokyo 2020 in a way that motivated a Gen Z audience to try new experiences and start their journey. We developed and produced Unleash The New, a 5 part series and editorial and social campaign telling relatable stories of Olympic athletes, and making new sports such as skateboarding, surfing and sport climbing feel accessible and inclusive for newcomers.

Our research found a unifying theme in that none of the athletes started with dreams of being an Olympian – they simply found a sport that made them happy and it led them to the greatest stage of all. All the storytelling for the campaign celebrated the joy and fun of trying something new, and nurturing it with the help and camaraderie of a community.

We developed a content plan, with assets to work across owned and third party platforms. A 5 part series was launched on Olympics.com, their OTT platform and YouTube.  Bespoke TikTok content and IG reels were created with athletes and a Snap original series was developed for launch.  Written editorial explored the inspiring psychology behind the themes in the campaign.

The series featured athletes from around the world, and our production team had to find a way to pull off shoots with complicated logistics and CV-19 restrictions. Our Global Creator Network was an essential part of our approach, producing with local talent to mitigate uncertainty. As a result of this approach, we were able to reduce our production carbon emissions by 41%.