P&G | Thank You, Mom – Best Job | 2012
The Real Olympic Sponsor Wasn't the Athletes — It Was the Moms / P&G "Thank You, Mom – Best Job"
At the 2012 London Olympics, P&G called itself the "Proud Sponsor of Moms" — the official sponsor of mothers everywhere.
The problem
P&G had become an official Olympic sponsor, but the connection between a company that makes detergent and diapers and the Olympics wasn't obvious. Still, every single athlete has a mom. That's the link they found. It was also the company's first campaign to bring all of its brands together under one umbrella.
The insight
W+K kept talking to athletes and their mothers, and what surfaced were the stories nobody tells but everyone knows: the early morning practices, the moving from place to place, the encouragement after every injury. "The hardest job in the world is the best job in the world." Everything rode on that one line.
The idea
The director was Alejandro González Iñárritu. He filmed mothers and children across four continents — London, Rio, Los Angeles, Beijing. Waking them up, making breakfast, sending them off, cheering them on. There's a Chinese swimmer and her mother; the moment her daughter wins, the mother holds back her emotions, her face tightening. That's the moment that gets you.
What happened
The campaign won numerous awards, including the Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix, an Emmy, and the DGA Award for outstanding directing. It also helped boost sales during the London Olympics, and the campaign went on to continue through five more Olympic cycles.
Afterthought
Not a single product appears on screen — just the heart of the brand, laid bare. That one line, "Thank you, Mom," made mothers around the world cry. And every time I think of that mother's face, it still gets me a little, too.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix
