Overview
After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, BP was facing a serious brand and trust crisis. As part of its recovery, the company became a sustainability partner of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games, a chance to invest in green initiatives and start repairing its public image. BP's involvement included supporting UK and US Olympians and Paralympians, fueling 5,000 official Games vehicles, and running its carbon-offsetting program, "Target Neutral."
To help promote the sponsorship, Ogilvy Interactive was brought on to build an online platform that put the athletes, not the brand, front and center: promoting their journeys, sharing their stories, and showing BP's support for Team USA in an authentic, human way.
The Campaign: "United"
Our team designed and built an interactive site combining video and emerging technology, including some of the earliest applications of augmented reality in a branded sports campaign. Each athlete's story was told through short-form video content, giving them the platform to speak directly to their journey rather than having BP speak for them.
The campaign extended across social media drivers and interactive AR playing cards, each one unlocking an athlete's personal story when scanned. The core idea remained consistent throughout: let the athletes inform and inspire the audience, with BP positioned as a supporter of their journey rather than the center of the story.
"United": the :30 broadcast spot storyboards featuring US Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Campaign end card driving social engagement, and physical, AR-enabled athlete trading cards. Scanning each card unlocked that athlete's personal story.
Outcome
Despite the controversy still surrounding BP at the time, the "United" campaign succeeded in shifting public opinion. One study found that 38% of people aware of the sponsorship felt BP was working toward a cleaner planet. A central goal of the campaign was raising visibility of BP's relationship with the USOC, and by the close of the Games, awareness of the sponsorship reached 23% among the target audience, well past the initial 15% goal and ahead of fellow USOC sponsors Citibank (14%), BMW (7%), and Dow Chemical (5%). BP also posted the second-largest increase in brand perception of any Olympic sponsor, moving from -5.9 to +2.6.
On Facebook, BP's following grew to over 300,000 fans, with post comments running 74% positive in support of the brand's commitment to US athletes during the Games. According to third-party analytics firm AlchemySocial, BP was among the most engaged brands on Facebook throughout the Olympics, generating the single most-engaged Olympic-related post of any brand: over 93,000 likes, 2,000 comments, and 1,300 shares. With BP committed to supporting Team USA through at least two more Olympic Games, the fan base built around the London campaign became a lasting foundation for continued engagement.
The Interactive Platform: BP Commitments iPad Experience
Alongside the Team USA campaign, our team designed an iPad experience to help audiences understand BP's broader commitments to a cleaner energy future. Rather than a static list of corporate promises, the app organized BP's initiatives, including new technology, advanced fuels, stronger operations, and reduced carbon impact, into an explorable format centered on the people carrying that work forward.
Each commitment paired a clear statement of intent with a real story of progress, using embedded video, photography, and interactive timelines to make complex technical and environmental work approachable. The goal was to move beyond messaging and give users a tangible sense of how BP was investing in technology and operational change in pursuit of a greener, more sustainable future.
The BP Commitments iPad experience, connecting each corporate commitment to the people driving progress, with embedded video, rich media, and a navigable chapter structure.
