The NCAA has extended its involvement with the Olympians & Paralympians Made Here campaign to include short videos of former Olympians, Paralympians and Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls sharing their collegiate experiences.
In April, the NCAA partnered with Fresh Tape Media to create a replica dorm room at the Team USA Media Summit in New York City. The retro-style interactive space was complete with collegiate memorabilia and sports equipment, providing a setting for athletes to showcase their personalities, reminisce about college and talk about how elite NCAA competition helped prepare them for the world stage.
Former Texas student-athlete Ryan Crouser, a four-time NCAA track and field champion was the first to tell his story through the new creative campaign. More than 50 athletes were interviewed during the summit. Content will continue to be released on NCAA social channels leading up to the Olympic Games this summer in Paris.
During March Madness, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the NCAA released a commercial highlighting college sports as the training ground for Team USA. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, 67% of Team USA competed in the NCAA, with 78% of Team USA medalists having competed collegiately across the three NCAA divisions. The commercial remains in rotation on broadcasts and in venue throughout spring championships.
"As athletes secure their spot on an Olympic roster, the NCAA will celebrate their incredible achievement through feature storytelling," NCAA Vice President of Communications Gina Lehe said. "Our content plan includes video, editorial, custom social graphics, research and data. Our hope is to generate excitement leading up to the Paris Games and beyond for these elite athletes."
Launched in 2019, the Olympians Made Here campaign was designed to strengthen Olympic and Paralympic sport programming at the collegiate level. In partnership with the USOPC, the NCAA works with member schools, conferences and national governing bodies to develop a year-round, comprehensive content plan.
