P&G’s “Thank You, Mom”: The Olympic Ad That Cast Mothers Instead of Athletes

Olympic advertisers usually put athletes on screen. For the 2012 London Games, Procter & Gamble made the mothers the heroes. Its film “Best Job” was part of the “Thank You, Mom” campaign, created by Wieden+Kennedy, and it followed the work behind every athlete: driving the children to practice, washing their clothes, feeding them on the run and standing by as they compete.

It was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and shot on four continents, with local actors and athletes in London, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles and Beijing. The ad celebrated the moms rather than the athletes, and it did so from the point of view of the family.

P&G backed it with real actions. It gave the mother of each of nearly 800 U.S. Olympians and Paralympians a $1,000 Visa reward card to help with travel costs, built the P&G Family Home in London as a home away from home for families of athletes, and flew Team USA moms to the Games. There was also a digital platform where anyone could thank their own mother.

Reports put the film at more than five million views globally. P&G also continued the campaign at later Olympic Games, which shows how far a simple thank-you can go when a brand is prepared to back it with real actions.