The creative industry continues to help define the Winter Olympics

This year’s Winter Olympics seems to be igniting more chatter than ever, and campaigns by Channel 4 and Samsung are adding fuel to this organic verbiage.

Water cooler chats are still a thing in modern offices, and lately I’ve been struck by the number of times the Winter Olympics has come up as I idly earwig people’s conversations.

Michelob and NBC go big on celebrity

Michelob ULTRA killed two birds with one sporty stone for its Winter Olympics campaign, using the Superbowl as a kick start, while simultaneously jumping on some celebrity nostalgia.

The brand kicked off its Milano Cortina 2026 activation – as official Team USA beer sponsor – with ‘Run Back the Miracle’, a January teaser nodding to Kurt Russell’s iconic coach in the 1980 hockey film Miracle.

The full Super Bowl spot 'The ULTRA Instructor' unites Russell with snowboarder Chloe Kim and hockey star T.J. Oshie in a lighthearted world where Olympic training bleeds into bar games, blurring elite competition with mates‑down‑the‑pub banter. 

Speaking of celebrities, the Winter Olympics was notable for its star-heavy leanings this year.

NBC Universal teamed up with Dua Lipa, Scarlett Johansson and Cynthia Erivo for its coverage. These ‘broadcaster promo as music video’ efforts also make Milan the star of the show, tapping the trend seen in Tokyo/LA Games films.

A Galaxy of inspiration

Next up is an effort by Samsung that similarly catches the water cooler mood. As a worldwide partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Samsung’s ‘Open Always Wins’ platform for the Galaxy Z Flip7 leans into the idea that every victory is a team effort – and every team has a camera.

The brand film, which ran around Winter Olympics coverage on TNT Sports and YouTube, uses the Flip7’s Dual Recording mode to capture "Victory Moments” from both athlete and entourage perspectives, all framed in split-screen.

The Milano Cortina executions feature Team Samsung Galaxy athletes like Jacopo Luchini, Flora and Miro Tabanelli and Ian Matteoli capturing their journeys in Milan’s streets and on the slopes, with billboards and OOH across the city extending the dual-screen visual idea.

Our take

While NBC and Michelob's efforts aren't groundbreaking, they represent a bigger push this year for enhancing and broadening the Winter Olympics appeal, lending a very 'consumer' feel to the event. 

Samsung’s effort, meanwhile, uses the “flip” camera as more than just a novelty form factor, incorporating it in the storytelling across the touchpoints, and making me think ‘yeah, that’s pretty sweet’. Job done then, I reckon.