Join us on Saturday, May 18 – adidas Atlanta City Games
The 2023 adidas ATL Games fell short in how the adidas team failed to build digital chunks of the event post competition. The brand split media duties with the Atlanta Track Club. The ATC only has a bit over 3000 subscribers (arch has 5,000 subs by comparison). The Atlanta Track Club is a smaller brand/media outlet focused on the Atlanta area. The opportunity for the ATL Games to shine on a broader stage is hindered by their size, but they can still overcome this.
The adidas City Games is a spectacle of track and field prowess which provides a unique opportunity to celebrate Olympians and bring track and field to a city with historical relevance in the sport. The location of the event in Centennial Park is an homage to the 1996 Olympic Games, but this does very little to sway a city that’s not necessarily a track and field hotbed.
adidas’ control of the event allowed for the ATL Games 2023 to be streamed on YouTube. Over the course of the year the video has garnered 68,000 views on adidas’ channel. At 4 hours 34 minutes and 11 seconds the event was not constructed for viewership, but these numbers aren’t bad at all.
The livestream relied on tried-and-true tactics for track and field events.
- The event was discussed
- The event was run
- Athletes were interviewed
YouTube livestreams are best when a combination of details is included in the content. adidas failed to highlight aspects of the city, build into the livestream athlete interviews (Trey Young is a signature athlete with the brand, but was not included). The Games were an opportunity to really elevate adidas as a brand.
adidas’ biggest issue lands on the digital team. They never created video chapters of the YouTube livestream. Video Chapters is a great feature allowing the channel to highlight moments in a video. The digital team never took the time to create chapters. The team also never took the time to create breakout performance videos.
By adidas never breaking down the event down into digestible chunks the brand lost out on additional revenue and brand and sport growth. The beauty of YouTube is the ability to take longer clips and repurpose them. The Atlanta Track Club created a playlist with only two shorter clips. Those clips are the best performing videos on their YouTube channel over the last year.
Currently Track and Field is undergoing a problematic makeover. The rights to the sport were purchased by FloTrack. This will pull the fast-growing sport from NBC and Peacock streaming. FloTrack will place the product behind a paywall at an absurd amount. This will undoubtedly hurt the sport in a year where it will become high profile due to the Olympics.
adidas’ ATL Games provides both entertainment and opportunity only if the product is handled correctly and expanded both regionally and digitally. I’ve long stated brands have an alternative source of revenue as media companies. The ATL Games could become vital tools in the promotion of the sport and a media growth and grassroots vehicle for the Three Stripes.
I hope the ATL Games 2024 go well. This is a compressed season, and athletes are ramping up for the Olympics, so the event is earlier. High School State championship competitions for track and field are taking place which will remove an important segment of fans from the mix. The event will face headwinds, but digitally the brand could have done so much to let fans know about the event. It doesn’t show up on MileSplit, no sites covering track and field were contacted (at least arch wasn’t…). There isn’t a high jump event (I have a personal issue with this, lol). Will you tune into the livestream?
Saturday, May 18 –Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA
With an elevated straight track traversing The Meadow at Piedmont Park, the world’s fastest men and women will display their speed and athleticism up close for the fans.
Adjacent to the track, the world’s greatest vaulters will soar to new heights in the pole vault competition, while on the opposite side of the runway many of the top long jumpers in the world will take flight.