TOW #19: Visa's Olympic Commercial

Visa is known for producing multiple commercials during the Olympics to announce their support for Team USA and broadcast their services, amongst these commercials is one featuring Sarah Hendrickson that seems to stand out due to the incorporation of historical context and representation of a new event. The commercial opens with a quote from Amelia Earhart about women accomplishing that of man and that failure should be used as inspiration. While this quotation is being read in the background, Sarah Hendrickson prepares for her ski jump; this year was the premier of female ski jumping as an Olympic sport. By incorporating the historically recognized story of Amelia Earhart, Visa is appealing to not only fans of women’s ski jumping, but anyone that supports equality among genders and female athleticism. This approach causes a larger audience to be drawn into the advertisement. Immediately following the quote, Hendrickson executes her jump therefore appealing to any ski jump or Olympic enthusiast and thus broadening the audience even further. During her time in the air, Hendrickson states, “Now women get a chance to fly” which connects back to Amelia Earhart solidifying the use of her quote and proving its relevance. At the end of the commercial she said, “This is my everywhere. Visa, everywhere you want to be” the famous line that concludes all of Visa’s Olympic advertisements. This line illustrates that Visa is an international financial service corporation and an excellent choice as a credit card service. Majority of the commercial is focused on presenting the new Olympic event and the fact that Visa is a sponsor of the Olympics to draw attention from the audience. At the conclusion of the advertisement Visa presents itself as an international credit card that Olympic athletes that are constantly travelling around the world trust. It is through the development of a large audience and presentation of the desirable aspects of Visa’s company that Visa is able to effectively market their services.