As a former managing partner of the leading sports, entertainment and lifestyle public relations agency Taylor, representing some of the largest brands in the world, SC&I Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, Communication Mark Beal has created campaigns for sponsors of the Olympic Games since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

At #Paris2024, for the first time, Beal attended as a non-working spectator, and was able to closely observe all the advertising campaigns, promotions, and content creation  – not just those of his clients - aimed at Gen Z.

An expert on Gen-Z, Beal has published four books on this generation, including “Win The Job & Thrive In A Multigenerational Workplace;” “ZEO: Introducing Gen Z, The New Generation of Leaders”; and “Gen Z Graduates To Adulthood.”

While in Paris, Beal spent time with Lindsay Balsamo Laureano COM’15, a former student of Beal’s, who was working at the Olympics in her role as Director of Advertising Sales Marketing for NBC-TV for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

While observing the Olympics in Paris this summer, Beal knew a major focus for him would be watching how NBC in the U.S. would engage the next generation of potential Olympic fans, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and to discover whether these generations would be following the Olympic Games on NBC or the streaming side of Peacock.

According to Beal, for a network like NBC, who owns the broadcast rights to the Olympics in the United States, to be successful and drive viewership, whether that's on NBC or Peacock, they need to market, advertise, and promote the games in a different way than they have in previous Olympics. 

“Consumers today may not tune in to something that's just a sports event. While it is the world's greatest athletes across sports, the Olympics are actually so much more than sports. The Olympic Games, the broadcast holders like NBC, and sponsors have to go well beyond that if they want to engage,” Beal said. 

Beal said that NBC created partnerships that expand outside of their own network for this year's Olympic Games.

“They created a partnership with TikTok, Overtime Sports, Google, and Roblox. They weren't doing as much of this in 2021 in Tokyo, they weren't doing this in 2016 in Rio, but in 2024, they realized that in order to engage the next generation of potential fans, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, they need to go well beyond the television set.  They need to go well beyond NBC, the network, and they need to market, advertise, and promote the games in a way that goes beyond sports and on channels that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are consuming, whether that's TikTok, which is one of the preferred channels of Gen Z, or even a gaming experience like Roblox. A lot of members of Gen Alpha and Gen Z are hanging out on Roblox, so NBC created a whole virtual Olympic experience there,” Beal explained.

“Anecdotally, my Gen Z students were tuning in. Now, they may not have been tuning on traditional NBC, they were tuning in on Peacock or they may have been getting content on TikTok, but they were definitely tuning into the Olympics. I think if NBC didn't take that approach, they may not have tuned in at all.”

Beal said the Olympics in 2024 and eventually, Los Angeles in 2028, are not just focused on athletics, explaining that the Olympic Games have now become a global sports and entertainment event. He notes that as a result there are many more elements that play into promoting the Olympics. 

One new element, Beal said, is bringing in entertainment personalities and making them part of the ongoing program. “Having Snoop Dogg there the entire Olympics, attending the events, appearing in segments, interacting with the athletes–that's expanding the Olympics beyond the actual [event] and what's happening on the track, in gymnastics, going well beyond that, and appealing to those consumers who might be what I would call kind of “fringe fans” to give them a reason to really tune in. I'm not saying that Snoop is that reason, but he's one of the reasons why more and more people may have tuned in because you had someone from entertainment who is now immersed in the Olympic Games,” he said.

Beal said that NBC did well in creating an Olympic highlight show which brought entertainment figures like Kevin Hart and Keenan Thompson from Saturday Night Live on Peacock. 

Hosting “a late-night Olympic highlights Olympic show featuring entertainment personalities, not just sports personalities – I thought those were really important things that NBC did to attempt to engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha,” Beal said.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the first 13 days of the games averaged 32.2 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and other streaming platforms.  As for the Paris number, it is 76% higher than the audience for the Tokyo games in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was three years ago. 

Beal said these statistics are proof that marketing, promoting, and advertising in the Olympic Games in more of a sports and entertainment manner, and bringing in figures from entertainment to be part of the content, is an effective strategy. 

The phrase Beal uses to describe NBC’s partnerships with TikTok, Google, Roblox, etc. is “surround sound” which drives significant viewership numbers. 

When asked about the future of entertainment personalities entering the arena of the Olympic games, he emphasized that sponsors need to continuously evolve their advertising techniques to stay aligned with their audiences. 

“At the closing ceremonies, Tom Cruise jumps off the roof of the stadium, into the stadium, and then gets on his motorcycle and takes the Olympic flag, and ceremoniously hands it over to Los Angeles. That's not an NBC thing. That's an Olympic thing but NBC, of course, is carrying it out. The Olympic Games moving forward, including NBC who holds the broadcast rights in the United States and sponsors– need to continue to evolve their approach to marketing, promoting, and advertising the games. What's key with that is going well beyond sports and making the Olympic Games as a sports and entertainment platform and drawing a strong connection to pop culture, including celebrities, music, actors, and actresses. To me that's not much different than what the NFL and NBA needs to do,” Beal said.  

That “surround sound” effect Beal said also relates to Olympians who are content creators such as Ilona Maher, an American women's rugby player. She created attention and engagement consistently producing and distributing content about her experience around the games.

Beal said although most of Maher’s content wasn’t about the games, it had to do with the Ralph Lauren apparel she was wearing for the opening ceremonies and her experience in the athlete village. 

As for 2026 and 2028, Beal said more athletes are likely to create content. With many of these athletes being Gen Z, many of them are content creators outside of competition and training and they have a passion for creating and sharing content. 

The main points that Beal will bring back to his students in the SC&I classroom in the fall semester include describing the ways NBC created innovative partnerships, and the role of Olympians as content creators. “If you're a consistent and engaging content creator, you can rise above the others. Even if you play a sport like rugby or table tennis– breaking through your channels, you can really amplify your brand, and doing that, you're amplifying your sport and the Olympics.”

Learn more about the Communication Department at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information on the website. 

Photos: Courtesy of Mark Beal.

Top photo caption: While in Paris, Beal spent time with Lindsay Balsamo Laureano COM’15, a former student of Beal’s, who was working at the Olympics in her role as Director of Advertising Sales Marketing for NBC-TV for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.