In one spot from the IOC’s global Olympics campaign, Naomi Osaka - the face of Tokyo 2020, who lit the Olympic flame at the opening ceremony last week - reflects on being “different” and not fitting the box of a typical Olympian, as she inspires younger female athletes.

The film, which debuted earlier this month, felt timely and topical. It features a top athlete much in demand by marketers, an acknowledgment of how the world has changed, a nod to female empowerment and a message of inspiration. 

Few would guess that it was created by a tiny creative studio most people in the ad industry have never heard of — Hulse & Durrell — consisting mainly of a two-person design team. What's more, it was crafted pre-pandemic and then reworked amid COVID restrictions into an entirely new campaign.

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Vancouver-based design studio Hulse & Durrell is behind the “Stronger Together” campaign and has been on its own “Olympic journey,” not only over the past 18 months but over the last decade. Co-founders and creative directors Greg Durrell and Ben Hulse first met when they worked on the design team for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, part of a brand and creative team working on 10,000 projects ranging from the look of the games to the torch, medals and mascot.

After Vancouver, the pair continued to work on Olympic projects. Their work included rebranding Team Canada and licensing projects for the IOC. Then, in early 2019, they got an email to submit to a global RFP for the Olympic campaign, working on both branding and films.

While the pair had more than enough experience working on Olympic branding, for the film side they got in touch with top Canadian director Mark Zibert, known for his work on SickKids Foundation, and production company Scouts Honour, which helped them craft a mood film. Derek Kent, the former chief marketing officer of Team Canada, also stepped into the team to advise on marketing.

They were eventually invited to pitch to the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland against some of the world’s top creative and branding agencies. As a two-person team versus agencies with thousands of employees, “it was a real David and Goliath situation,” recalls Durrell. “But we went all in and focused on the pitch. We dropped everything we were doing for two months, worked 18-hour days, until 3:45 a.m. before the pitch.”

In order to compete against the big guns, when they could barely even afford the flights to Switzerland, “we had to find a way to use our size to an advantage,” says Hulse. “We made it clear Greg and I would be with the IOC every step of the process.” 

“In credit to the IOC, they still took a risk – no one gets fired for hiring the big agency,” adds Durrell. “But we felt we were put on this earth to do this project.”

Having won the pitch in April 2019, they then set about creating and preparing to deliver the campaign. From October 2019, the team set about creating films themed around Olympic values, featuring athletes like Usain Bolt, Tony Hawk, Yusra Mardini and Osaka. Cinematic scenes and footage were shot all around the world. One iconic scene, for example, features Bolt running through the streets of Jamaica followed by a crowd of children; another depicts Hawk skateboarding through a tunnel. Zibert co-directed the films alongside fellow Scouts Honour director Kevin Foley.

By March 2020, the ads were in final edit and weeks away from going live. Then, COVID-19 struck.

“We were literally on the goal line with the five films,” says Hulse. “But then the world went on pause. The IOC requested that we halt production. No one knew if these games were going to happen. We were sitting on this incredible footage, and we had no idea if it was ever going to see the light of day.”

Once the Games were officially delayed by a year, the campaign had to pivot entirely. While this will be familiar to any marketer who’s had to change their strategy due to the pandemic, there was the added uncertainty as to whether the Tokyo Olympics would ever even materialize.

“The core message and campaign no longer felt right for the world,” says Hulse. “The message of simply inspiring greatness didn’t feel like the right one for the next year ahead. We needed a message of unity. “

The Olympic motto, therefore, went from “faster higher stronger” to “faster higher stronger together,” and “Stronger Together” became the new tagline for the campaign. “Part of our pitch is that what the Olympics stand for is hard to grab onto – what makes them unique?” says Durrell. “ So we brought two ideas together – inspiring human potential and uniting the world.”

At the same time, following a change in the IOC’s marketing leadership, there was a new brief to focus more on individual athletes. While Hulse & Durrell had plenty of athlete footage, the original films had been themed more on Olympic values rather than the athletes’ personal stories. It turned into a project of co-creation with athletes, who were involved with reworking scripts, recording voiceovers and more.

Originally, the team had only spent an hour with Osaka. “All we had were some beautiful cinematic shots of her hitting balls, so we had to turn that into a narrative. What was the story that Naomi could tell that only she would say?” In the end, Osaka contributed personally to the final spot, including recording the voiceover. 

Somewhat serendipitously for the agency, it was completed before she pulled out of the French Open, which made it even more relevant when it finally aired. (In the same week it debuted, an essay by the tennis star appeared in Time magazine, on the theme "It's OK not be OK.")

All of this was made all the more difficult by COVID filming restrictions. Voiceovers were recorded on Zoom amid athletes' hectic schedules and the team used found footage and filmed three days of extra scenes in Toronto to fill in the gaps. For example, they collected shots of two young brothers boxing in the living room while dad does the laundry, in a nod to pandemic life.

Matt McKie, head of global marketing for the International Olympic Committee, says that as a small agency, Hulse & Durrell were able to be “incredibly nimble and “reactive” when working directly with athletes in the co-creation phase of the project; for example, they had 24 hours notice to get Usain Bolt in a studio and build on his script. All of this helped with the IOC's shift in strategy to make the content more about the athletes and their voices.

“Through the pandemic athletes around the world kept moving, even when the world stopped,” adds McKie. “Our aim was to honor this journey, spotlighting the human story that sits behind the athlete, showcasing their strength, resilience and determination to inspire people around the world despite the challenges they faced. This campaign represents the next chapter in our people-centric strategy, a shift in emphasis so that people experience a more human, relatable Olympic brand."

Right up to shortly before the Games, there was still uncertainty as to whether the campaign would even happen. “It never felt real till it went live,” says Durrell.

Even then, there was still a ton of negative publicity ahead of the Tokyo Olympics. But what characterizes this team, and no doubt won it the brief, is its experience with, in-depth knowledge of, and belief in, the Olympic Games.

“The cycle of the media is always negative in the run-up,” says Hulse. “For example, even in Vancouver, we were coming out of a financial crisis and no one was sure about it. But once that first gold medal is awarded, the sentiment of the world changes.” 

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