It was the summer of sport and the summer of sass as the Olympics and Charli XCX’s pop album “BRAT” dominated the marketing world. The 2024 Paris Olympics had over 30 million viewers. Every four years the Olympics has the power to capture the attention of people all across the globe, and many brands took advantage of that. The companies that benefited from the global visibility stayed true to the moment and true to the place. Mental health was a focus at the Games. All eyes were on Simone Biles who was making a personal comeback in Paris after withdrawing from Tokyo due to mental health struggles. Biles was open about her issues – and her redemption arc resonated with many people.

Powerade, recognizing the influence of Biles and the conversation around mental health, chose to side with the star, too. Powerade released their “Pause is Power” campaign centered around the idea that sometimes taking a break allows athletes to come back stronger. While Biles headlines the campaign, Powerade also features other athletes like Chilean Paralympic swimmer Alberto Abarza, Dutch cyclist Harrie Lavreysen, and Australian surfer Tyler Wright among others in additional digital promotions and in-store displays.

LVMH, a luxury Paris-based conglomerate with many fashion brands, stayed true to the place by showing Paris’ classy style during the Games. The Olympics embraced the culture of the city with every event. The iconic Eiffel Tower served as the backdrop for beach volleyball, and equestrian events took place at the Palace of Versailles. In every sport, athletes competed for a medal that contained a piece of the Eiffel Tower inside of it. Paris has a rich history of being a fashionable and artistic city, which LVMH tried to leverage during the Olympics. LVMH hosted an exclusive party before the Games and invited LeBron James, Serena Williams, Zendaya and other celebrities. Louis Vuitton, a member of LVMH, designed cases for medals and torches. LVMH also designed the Opening Ceremony outfits for France. While sports are not often associated with high-class fashion, the marketers worked to show that fashion and sport do belong together at the Games. 

But it wasn’t just an Olympic summer – it was a brat summer, too.

In June, Charli XCX released her “BRAT” album which immediately was a hit. The album’s design features the lowercase low-resolution “brat” title on a lime green background. Brands across the world took that distinctive look and ran with it. Many social media accounts mimicked the style to highlight their own company. Across the world, people embraced the idea of a brat summer – one in which you can be sassy and imperfect and yourself, or as Charli XCX describes it, “me, my flaws, my f***ups, my ego all rolled into one.”

Brat summer was adopted by people across the world. Most notably, Vice President Kamala Harris hopped on the trend with her presidential candidacy after Joe Biden decided he would not run for a second term. President Biden quickly endorsed Harris, and Charli XCX threw in her political support with a tweet that read “kamala IS brat.” The Harris campaign’s official Twitter page quickly responded to the support and changed its profile to use the iconic lime green color to show that Harris is brat. This move helped Harris identify with a younger demographic and show some of her personality to potential voters.

Whether it was tackling conversations about the mental health of elite athletes or proving that sport and fashion can work together or even making a pop album political, marketers found innovative ways to connect with consumers over the summer and will continue to ideate new ways to relate to people.