When the marketers at Figs first started planning their Winter Olympics campaign, the story of alpine skiing legend Lindsey Vonn jumped out.<\/p>\n
The mission behind the scrubs and medical apparel brand, which is the official outfitter of Team USA\u2019s medical staff, is about supporting healthcare professionals, CMO Ben\u00e9 Eaton told us, and Vonn is certainly familiar with the medical space. The World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist came out of retirement in 2024 after a partial knee replacement and then tore her ACL about a week before Milano Cortina, but announced her intention to race anyway.<\/p>\n
To kick off the Olympics, Figs started running a campaign tied to Vonn\u2019s return to the slopes with messaging centered on how medical professionals help athletes achieve their dreams. Then, the unthinkable happened: Vonn suffered a crash while attempting to reclaim a gold medal during the women\u2019s downhill event, resulting in a fractured leg and several surgeries\u2014not to mention a total shift in the narrative around her comeback.<\/p>\n
Figs could have pulled its campaign entirely. Instead, Eaton and her team adjusted, working quickly to shift the creative and social strategy to address the changing circumstances, while leaning further into the message they had already been working to elevate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh-profile sporting events like the Olympics always come with unpredictability, but\u2026our campaign wasn\u2019t dependent on podium outcomes,\u201d Eaton told Marketing Brew. \u201cWhen Lindsey was injured, what became visible was the team of healthcare professionals working around the clock to support her, and that was the story that we were already telling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Operating room<\/h2>\n
Figs\u2019 original ad, narrated by Vonn, tracked her through injury, surgery, rehab, and return to skiing. It featured several members of her medical team, and presented an honest portrayal of recovery, but also featured the tagline \u201cIt Takes Heart to Build Bodies That Break Records,\u201d a relatively optimistic message that didn\u2019t feel quite right after her unexpected injuries at the Games.<\/p>\n