Visa’s Olympic ad charts the long road to greatness—in any field

Olympic advertising is beginning to ramp up ahead of the Paris Games, which open July 26. Above is Visa’s new anthem, featuring a handful of celebs and bearing the message that hard work and incremental progress—not some kind of overnight success—is what leads to greatness. The spot, created by Wieden+Kennedy, features archival footage of stars including musician Pharrell Williams, racecar driver Daniel Ricciardo, chef Roy Choi, tennis player Iga Świątek, Olympic skateboarder Sky Brown and artist and designer Gemma O’Brien. A voiceover explores the hard work and challenges faced on their path to becoming the best in their fields, long before they were recognized as such. Also read: Olympics 2024—how Team USA is targeting Gen Z with new marketing leaders and agency The campaign will run online and on broadcast globally, initially in North America beginning June 15 and in portions of Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa beginning in July. It will also run during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. “‘Prodigies’ highlights Visa’s enduring belief that no matter how you define it, success does not happen overnight,” said Frank Cooper III, chief marketing officer at Visa. “It happens through the power of small steps as people put in the work to continuously improve. This is true of some of the world’s biggest names in sports, music and art and for anyone at any level.” Popular Creativity stories from Ad Age: Sign up for our daily Creativity newsletter to see the best stories of the day.

Visa’s Olympic ad charts the long road to greatness—in any field

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