Inside Citi’s big bet on Paralympic athletes

You probably won’t see a Citi Bike used to win any cycling championships, but Citi’s going to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, anyway.

More specifically, the Paralympics: Citi sponsored Team USA in the 2012, 2014, and 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, after which the banking company pivoted away from the official sponsorship to focus on individual Paralympic athletes.

Almost a decade later, the vast majority of Citi’s Olympics marketing hinges on Paralympians, according to Tina Davis, its head of enterprise marketing and brand engagement.

“When we measured the partnership and we looked at what it did for our reputation, what it did for brand preference, goodwill toward communities, all of that, all those numbers went up, up, up,” Davis told Marketing Brew. “They would go up on Olympics overall, but when you then layered in Paralympics, it was off the charts…Quickly, the Paralympians became our favorites.”

“A different kind of lift”

Citi’s bet on the Paralympics, which Davis said was met with support from the start, was primarily driven by data from its Team USA sponsorship: From 2012 through 2016, the company’s Paralympics spots generally outperformed its Olympics spots, according to Citi. And the investment was also partially mission-driven, Davis added.

“The lift that we got with Olympians was great, but we saw a different kind of lift with Paralympians,” she said. “We saw an opportunity to be one of the leaders of changing the perceptions of people with disabilities.”

In 2021, the year the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics took place after being postponed due to Covid, Citi debuted its #StareAtGreatness campaign focused on Paralympic athletes. It became “one of our best-performing campaigns,” Davis said, with 192,000 engagements, according to company figures.

Citi currently sponsors 24 athletes, including US sprinter and long jumper Scout Bassett, wheelchair tennis player Diede de Groot of the Netherlands, paratriathlon gold medalist Lauren Steadman of Great Britain, and wheelchair basketball player Trevon Jenifer, a member of the 2024 US Men’s Wheelchair Basketball National Team.

The company is also the founding partner of Para Sport—a self-described grassroots organization dedicated increasing awareness and participation for para-sports. It’s also partnered with World Para Swimming and World Para Ice Hockey.

Reaching further

While viewership and broadcast rights revenue has grown, the Paralympics don’t tend to get the same level of attention as the Olympics.

To account for the less-expansive reach, Citi relies on its own platforms—online and off—to tell the stories of its athlete partners, especially around “tentpole moments,” Davis said. Last year, the company hosted the 2023 Wheelchair Softball Tournament and Clinic at Citi Field, and used the Ryder Cup to spotlight stories of athletes with disabilities.

Citi’s decision to incorporate a grassroots element to its Paralympics athlete sponsorship strategy came from working directly with para-athletes, Davis said.

“When the IPC came to us with this opportunity to help found Para Sport, we already knew the value that these grassroots organizations had for these athletes, how they help them with their sports, especially Paralympians,” she said.

The Paralympics is one of those major moments Citi targets to amplify its sports sponsorships, according to Davis. The brand is working on a “multimedia campaign highlighting several of our athletes” for Paris 2024, she said, but declined to share more.

“That’s when everybody’s paying attention,” Davis said. “I’m going to say 95% of our focus is on the Paralympics. That’s where we spend the majority of our time. If we do anything around the Olympics, it’s about supporting the Paralympics coming after the Olympics.”