Six Ways for Destinations to Celebrate Olympic Locals

The Olympics and Paralympics are worldwide events that create big stars—and big potential for destinations who want to celebrate their Olympic locals.

When French judo gold medalist Teddy Riner returned to Guadeloupe after winning in Paris, more than 4,500 people met the star at the airport—even before the parade started to honor him! Guadeloupe was on everyone’s lips that day, and in the news, creating a PR boost for the Caribbean island.

That’s just one example, but the point is clear. Destination marketing through the Olympics is a creative way to celebrate the medalists connected to your city or region while also getting your destination’s brand out there. And the best part is you don’t need to spend millions on partnerships or sponsorships to achieve it.

Instead, a few creative strategies will allow your destination to make a splash in the wake of Olympic locals who made their own in Paris this year.

1. Name a Day After The Olympic Local

If there’s an Olympic local who recently won big, celebrate them with a day to celebrate their achievements. Even if they don’t attend, a family member can accept in their honor and it’s still an exciting chance to ignite your social media channels. 

This creates a perennial way to elevate your destination marketing into Olympic and sports conversations each year.

2. Offer Keys to the City

Offer the Olympic local—no matter the color of their medal—a symbolic key to your city to celebrate their participation in the Olympic games. People love to rally behind a hometown hero, and an event to grant them a key to the city will be the perfect media opportunity that gets everyone talking about your destination. 

Get their friends and family involved and create a memorable event that will showcase your destination alongside the Olympian.

3. Throw a Parade

Who doesn’t love a parade? It doesn’t have to be an enormous, expensive affair. Partner with local businesses to sponsor floats, marching bands, and even food trucks. This creates a festive atmosphere, encourages community participation, and potentially generates some revenue for local vendors. Promote the event on social media using a dedicated hashtag and encourage attendees to share photos and videos. 

This can create extra buzz and further amplify your destination marketing efforts in tandem with celebrating your Olympic locals.

4. Assign a New Ambassador

Naming an athlete as an ambassador to your city or region is a solid way to align your brand with theirs, helping elevate each other. It shows that you respect them and trust them as stewards of the destination. The Olympics are all about creating peace and bringing everyone together, and a symbolic ambassadorship is an easy way to keep that message going strong after the games.

Invite them to share messaging about your brand through their networks and speak positively about their hometown—your destination—wherever they go.

5. Create New Signage

Get the design team thinking about creative signage to celebrate your hometown hero. It can be at the entrance of your city, it can be on a local monument, it can be on temporary banners hung around town—just get the message across. When your destination marketing celebrates an Olympic local, people will pay attention. 

It may even be time to consider a new mural to immortalize your hero. Take a forgotten wall and turn it into something to talk about—elevating not just your star athlete but local artists in the process.

6. Develop a New Street Name

Maybe it’s near their home, their school, their first place of employment—wherever—commit to renaming a street after your Olympic local. It’s a permanent and enduring reminder that your destination is home to one of the greats of all time. It preserves their legacy and, hopefully, inspires others to greatness so that you can have a new generation of Olympians representing your destination in the future!

Interested in thinking outside the box for ways to link your destination marketing to athletics beyond the Olympics? DCI has more than sixty years of building innovative strategies. Get in touch with Ayana Young at [email protected] to learn how to tap into our creative mindset.