IOC The Fire BTS

Our broadcast PSAs for the 2016 Olympics, airing in tandem with the lighting of the Olympic Flame, were shortlisted for a Clio Award, and selected as Creativity's Pick of the Day! More love on CampaignLive, AgencySpy, and Olympic.org.
"Together, we can change the world," was the message of the opener to the Rio 2016 Olympics, a sweeping, blockbuster-style film from the International Olympic Committee putting the spotlight on athletes and ordinary people around the world as they demonstrate the power of sport.
The PSAs, which coincided with the lighting of the Olympic torch in Olympia, Greece, was created by VML and directed by Prettybird's Max Malkin, who has helmed music videos for the likes of Eminem and Green Day. Percussionist and DJ Questlove executive produced on the music side, re-recording the song, "The Fire," originally by Questlove and The Roots, as the soundtrack, using artists including America's Lenny Kravitz, British singer Corinne Bailey Rae, African artist Nneka, Asian artist Yuna, Brazilian musician Diogo Nogueira, and Oceanic artist Darren Hart (aka Harts). Uma Thurman provides the English voiceover, while Juliette Binoche narrates the French version, Paz Vega the Spanish and Taís Araújo the Portuguese.
Shot and directed by Prettybird's Max Malkin. Cut by Rock Paper Scissors' Austyn Daines. With VML agency team Mike Wente, John Godsey, Steven Martin (creative), Erik Iversen (lead producer), Tamara Lund, Kolby Slocum, Tyler Smith, Lisa Stevens (production), Chris Gossens, Charlotte Ford, and Elizabeth Rowny (account) and Tomas Gonsorcik (strategy). Huge contributions from Diederik van Middelkoop (Massive Music), Jonathan Hecht (Venn Artists), Mike Marinelli and Fernando Ascani (Sonic Union), Tom Poole (Company 3), Monte Isom, and artists Questlove and The Roots, Uma Thurman, Juliette Binoche, Taís Araújo, Nneka, Corinne Bailey Rae, Harts, Yuna, Diogo Nogueira, and Lenny Kravitz.
The campaign films were shown on donated airtime nearly 22 thousand times in 44 countries around the world. The campaign received 155 million impressions across social media and the hashtag was used over 19 thousand times, including by well-known personalities, artists and celebs.
Experience more at Olympic.org/Peace, and using hashtag #OlympicPeace.
Thanks to Anthony Ramirez for the comprehensive credits detail!