The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Deloitte have launched a co-branded campaign titled ‘The First Effect’.

Created by Deloitte Digital Australia & New Zealand, the campaign aims to establish a new metric for success, one that extends beyond the podium and measures the transformative impact of humanity’s firsts on the world’s greatest stage.

‘The First Effect’ will be showcased in Deloitte’s key global markets and through IOC digital media channels, Meta, TikTok and X, leading up to and during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024. The campaign will focus on the stories of five trailblazing athletes from around the world, including Nicola Adams, Sarah Attar, Natalie Du Toit, Abdellatif Baka, and Rose Lokonyen.

In addition to the athletes’ stories, the campaign will highlight other transformative firsts from the Olympic and Paralympic Games, such as the first time female athletes competed in 1900 and the first live global broadcast in 1964.

Global Partnerships Managing Director, Deloitte Global, Pia Devitre, said: “The Olympic and Paralympic Games always provide an opportunity for a set of ‘firsts’. Paris 2024 will be no exception, with the first time that the Opening Ceremony will happen outside a stadium, and the first time that we will see equal numbers of male and female athletes participating. The anticipation of the ‘firsts’ to come – the human ambition and what the athletes themselves might deliver for the first time. This is what we are excited to see and feel the impact of.”

IOC TMS Vice-President of Delivery and Activation Worldwide Olympic, Anne Aikman, said: “‘The First Effect’ campaign epitomises the spirit of pioneering excellence that defines the Olympic and Paralympic Games. As we look forward to the start of Paris 2024, this campaign highlights the IOC and Deloitte’s belief in the transformative power of sport.”

Chief Creative Officer Deloitte Digital, Dan Wright, said: “Seeing something done helps us believe we could do it. It’s such a simple human insight, but now we can measure the seismic effect it has had (and will have) on humanity’s progress. This work has seen a hugely-diverse range of talent – from creative storytellers to analytical economists – come together to give weight to a feeling, and shape a whole new category of achievement at the Olympics.”

Partner Creative Brand and Advertising at Deloitte Digital, Adrian Mills, said: ““We deservedly celebrate medal winners at the Olympics and Paralympics. But we often overlook the progress the Olympics and Paralympics stimulate in host countries and the world at large. By combining Deloitte’s deep insights and understanding of innovation with our creative capabilities, this campaign shines a new light on the incredible value created beyond the podium and gives new meaning to the notion of ‘first’ in the context of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”