AdHack Oly Awards: Vancouver 2010 Olympic Brands Scorecard

Top 5 Olympic Brands' Scores

#1 — Coca Cola

Olympic brand score: 124. See photos.

• Clarity: 26
• Relevance: 25
• Originality: 22
• Aesthetics: 26
• Results: 25

Judges comments:

Really well done, and eye-catching.

Very striking. Playful and engaging. Their brand was everywhere. Good use of environmental sustainability. Not sure about what relationship junk soda has to athletics, but...

#2 — Hudson's Bay Company

Olympic brand score: 121. See photos.

• Clarity: 24
• Relevance: 25
• Originality: 23
• Aesthetics: 23
• Results: 26

Judges comments:

Hard not give HBC full marks for their impact and results. Their whole campaign looked good, was on message, and effective. And the lines around the block speak to the results.

#3 — Lululemon

Olympic brand score: 117. See photos.

• Clarity: 22
• Relevance: 24
• Originality: 25
• Aesthetics: 23
• Results: 23

Judges comments:

A shame they didn't have ads and billboards up around town as the pins, toques, scarves, jackets were brilliant—all done guerrilla style.

#4 — Visa

Olympic brand score: 115. See photos.

• Clarity: 24
• Relevance: 24
• Originality: 21
• Aesthetics: 25
• Results: 21

Judges comments:

Strong impact due to consistency and penetration. To be expected from VISA at the Olympics.

These look sexy and pull on heartstrings a bit, but what do they say about their product to differentiate it? Nada.

#4 — Bell

Olympic brand score: 115. See photos.

• Clarity: 24
• Relevance: 24
• Originality: 22
• Aesthetics: 22
• Results: 23

Judges comments:

Pretty good showing for Bell. Their format is rather generic (white space anyone?) but they made a decent effort to tie their products and service into the games that made their sponsorship make sense.

The Olys Brand Scorecard Scoring System

Judges scored brands on a scale of 1 (Boo!) to 10 (Yay!) on the following 5 criteria:

• Clarity — Are the ads clear? Both in their overall message and in execution in the chosen medium?
• Relevance — Are the ads appropriate to the audience? Does they say something new, informing or entertaining?
• Originality — Are the ads innovative? Do they have some personality? Do they surprise or delight?
• Aesthetics — Are the ads beautiful? Are their design and production excellent? Are the images, typography, videography, animation or effects terrific?
• Results — Do the ads reach people? Do they have an impact? (Yes, this is hard to judge without actually being privy to results or sales numbers. But we're observing from the audiences' perspective, considering popularity, educational aspect, longevity, memorability, social contribution or sustainability all in this score.)

Scores were added up and any comments were added. Then we let the brands fall as they had been scored.

Judges for The Oly Awards

Stephen Bailey, Marketing Director at John Fluevog Shoes

Born to nomadic parents, Stephen was frequently the new kid in school, forcing him into marketing at an early age. After starting a number of promising entrepreneurial projects before and during his undergrad, Stephen left UVIC with a double Major in Psychology and Philosophy (for the money, obviously). Later, he completed his MBA at McGill in Montréal. Upon returning to sunny Vancouver, Stephen took a position at Cossette Communications and worked on the Nintendo Canada, Bell Canada and MTS accounts.

Mark Busse, Partner / Design Director at Industrial Brand

Mark has 15+ years of creative management experience having led identity and brand development, implementation and resulting marketing campaigns for both national and international clients. A visual artist, strategist and writer, Mark's communication design talent is augmented by his skills in typography, illustration, photographic manipulation, page layout and electronic pre-press.

Jim Southcott, Chief Strategic Officer at TBWA\Vancouver

Jim has worked for 20+ years in marketing, advertising and strategic planning, both in agencies and client side across Canada. Most recently he's worked with leading accounts including: Labatt, Telus, A&W, Terasen, Vancity, Shaw, BC Lottery Corporation, Corix and HSBC.

Total Scores for All Top Olympic Brands in The Oly Awards