Gold

The Paris Olympics reminds me of an Olympic story of my own.

Bob Dylan nailed it.

“They say the darkest hour

Is right before the dawn.”

The mood of the world was dark after the Debate. Now we’re seeing the rise of Kamala.

Dark hour followed by a dawn.

If you’re a Mets baseball fan, the mood of the fanbase was very dark pre-Grimace. There were ubiquitous “Wait until next year” vibes. But in the last 6-weeks, with the best play in the game, Mets fans are elated.

Dark hour followed by a dawn.

All of which brings me to the Olympics.

I was working on the Visa brand for the 2008 Games.

We had an important meeting with the CMO on the Thursday of that week.

We were feeling great with an amazing idea…until a junior account person discovered that the exact same idea had been done a few years before for a different brand for the Rugby Sevens.

To put it bluntly, we were fucked.

We called the client and told them where were.

The CMO was sympathetic, but firm.

“Come up with an alternative by Monday.” He said. (The “or else” by the way, was silent.)

I gathered the creative team in a conference room we called, “Oz.” And boy, did we ever need some wizardry.

After spending 20 minutes licking our wounds and cursing the Ad Gods, we started uttering those two magic words that help dig you out of darkness.

“What if…”

I had been reading a book on Olympic stories and offered up, “What if we told Olympic stories?”

Then something magic happened.

Ideas…

“What if we got Morgan Freeman to tell them?”

“What if we used archival footage?”

“What if unified all of the stories with a golden hue?”

All of these “What ifs” became what is with our “Go World” campaign.

Here’s but one of my favorites.

We produced over 300 pieces across three Olympic Games. (Winter, then another Summer).

But it never would have happened without treading water in that darkest of hours.

If you’re in a dark hour now, know you’re in the right place. Because the next step is a step into the dawn.

Image: Visa + TBWA\Chiat\Day