The City of Lights welcomed over half a million global athletes, celebrities and brands to this Summer Olympics. In a time when AI and digital to physical connectivity is top of mind across global business, Paris 2024 had potential to be the moment when cutting edge technologies could come to life to achieve the organizing committee’s theme — "Games Wide Open.”
However, when consulting with brands and marketing leaders, the sentiment was that emerging tech was noticeably absent from this Summer’s Paris Olympics. So why didn’t we see more technology innovations at this month’s games?
Speaking with Fabien Arneodo Chief Executive Officer of SportSyncTech, it came down to three key categories that the International Olympic Committee and the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee could prioritize to share emerging tech with viewers at home and in person: security, athletes and media.
Using these categories as our guide, let’s explore how emerging tech was incorporated, and what opportunities remain for sporting and entertainment events in the future.
Media
While NBCU negotiated savvy pop-culture informed celebrity partnerships with Snoop Dogg acting as a special NBC Olympics correspondent to the acclaim of inter-generational fans, and much acclaim, an understated win for this media organization was driven via AI.
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NBCUniversal won the media game with live coverage available to North American markets, regardless of time zones. Vice President of Innovation at Warner Music Group, Caroline Giegerich commented that the company “deserved their own medal for all the strategy and planning that went into this programming determination.” NBCU also introduced Oli, which they defined as “an AI-powered logic system that helps viewers find when, where and how to watch their favorite live events and programming throughout NBCU’s coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics.”
Senior Reporter at Digiday, Marty Swant noted that tech companies like Microsoft, Google, Intel and Alibaba launched Olympic ad campaigns, paid media and sponsorship deals “to help market various AI products and services.” Google showcased it’s status as the “Official Search AI Partner” of Team USA,” according to Digiday — which is likely a first of it’s kind.
With AI and immersive entertainment as a strong focus, media made it’s mark at this Summer’s games.
Security
In Paris during the week leading up to the games, there was “an an anti-terror zone [where it was] impossible to move around by any means without presenting a QR code, either on a mobile phone or on paper” closer to the Seine river and opening ceremony, reported Le Monde.
Yet, any tech innovations that this code which was tied to overall Pass Jeux (Games Pass) may have heralded were overshadowed by an overall sense of confusion from tourists and locals alike.
In other ticketing and security optimization, while there was early buzz stemming from the French Government’s Olympics envoy Michel Cadot’s recommendation that that tickets to Paris 2024 would be sold in NFT form, arguing that “blockchain tech is safer than traditional ticketing systems,” this didn’t seem to materialize at the actual events.
However, innovation across the retail ecosystem offered a gateway to global fans and Parisian local small businesses alike at the Games. Visa, created a bespoke payment network across Paris that prioritized contactless payments at over 3,500 points of sale at the Games’ venues. Charlotte Hogg, CEO of Visa Europe affirmed that they saw an “uptick in spending at French small businesses after we helped 13 million of them digitize over the last four years in Europe and connected them to spectators through the Visa Go app.”
While it’s too soon to report data around fraudulent transactions, as Hogg represents, moving local businesses onto a digital payment system and introducing tenants of frictionless checkout is certainly an accomplishment that will leave an experiential impact well after Paris 2024’s athletes and fans have departed for their home nations.
Athletes
Both established and emerging athletes are increasingly conscious of their own personal brands, and there are few stages like the Olympics to draw endorsem*nts, product integration moments and branding campaigns.
With pin trading leading much of the inter-athlete and fan craze in Paris, nWay — a member of the Animoca family of brands — launched its exclusive Olympic Games Paris 2024 Mascot NFT digital pins. Jesse Pollak, creator at Base, shared that this drop offers “a piece of Olympic history showcasing the potential of onchain technology to connect brands closer with their fans.”
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French IT firm Atoz, an Olympic tech provider since 1989, managed elements of Paris 2024’s accreditation, results, athlete entries and IOC Athletes’ Commission voting. There was some pre-games buzz that similar tech innovations like Blockchain, NFT medals and personalized video services that Atoz had shared at the European Games may make an appearance, however this did not seem to materialize at Paris 2024.
Absent was also an Apple Vision Pro headset or Meta gateway to Paris 2024, which could have been an incredible tie-in to Lady Gaga and Celine Dion’s Opening Ceremony events, or Tom Cruise’s finale. Not to mention the virtual twins, holograms and gamified athletes who we could bring into our homes, to participate in VR or XR during the games was non-existent.
With the 2028 Summer Olympics set to take place in Los Angeles, there’s the chance for a very different city, anchored largely on celebrity and entertainment to celebrate the increasing connection between athletes and technology .
While brands, athletes and fandom as well as an iconic city was translated through impactful coverage and fan engagement, this year’s Summer Olympic Games won’t be heralded as an feat of emerging technology. With the International Olympics Committee’s announcement of a partnership with Saudi Arabia bring the Olympic Esports Games to life the future is certainly bright. And it’s up to the creators to help inspire how elements from virtual gaming and emerging technology increasingly integrated across supporting media, security and athleticism advancements on display at this Summer’s Olympic games in a variety of in-person events in the not so distant future.
