Molson campaign highlights Olympians’ parents efforts and support

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The athletes won’t be the only individuals Paris-bound for the 2024 Olympics carrying endorsement deals with them.

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In another uniquely Molson campaign, the Canadian-based brewery is highlighting the efforts and support Canada’s Olympic athletes have got at home by signing sponsorship deals with selected parents of Canada’s 2024 Olympic contingent.

It’s some long overdue recognition of the behind-the-scenes work done by the parents of our Olympic athletes that rarely gets mentioned.

The hours of driving to and from training on a daily basis, the financial commitment to make ensure the progress doesn’t plateau prematurely, and the undying support every athlete requires to make it to the world stage in their respective sport, goes largely unnoticed by the time the athlete arrives on an Olympic stage.

But not this time around.

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This time around parents such as Nancy Tan and Michael Yang, mom and dad to soon-to-be two-time Olympic badminton competitor Brian Yang are getting some of that first-class Olympic treatment their son will be getting in Paris.

They are two of the parents of five Olympic athletes — gymnast Zachary Clay, swimmer Kelsey Wog, synchronized swimmer Jacqueline Simoneau, wrestler Justina Di Stasio and, as mentioned, the World No. 25 ranked badminton singles player Brian Yang — who have signed endorsement deals with Molson.

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Terms of the deals, as is par for the course these days in the world of sport, are kept between the two signing parties, but among the perks similar to deals their children would sign are paid sponsorship, starring roles in a commercial, as well as documentation of their journey in Paris across Molson’s social media platforms.

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And, of course, no Molson endorsement deal would be complete without some of the actual product or as the voiceover in the campaign’s commercial states: “At Paris 2024, Molson isn’t just sponsoring Team Canada athlete’s, we’re sponsoring their parents. They gave their kids everything. We gave them … beer.”

All of the parents involved in the initiative were already headed for Paris to cheer on their children though according to Molson some of the parents have used part of their sponsorship to upgrade their travel or lodging once there.

Yang’s parents sent him off to Paris this past weekend and will be wheels up themselves Thursday to join him.

They were both surprised and pleased when the initiative was brought to their attention and quickly signed on.

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Brian’s journey to becoming an Olympic athlete representing Canada began when he was just eight years old when he first picked up a badminton racket and immediately became obsessed with the game.

Nancy Tan recalls her son’s initial reaction.

“From the time he tried the sport, he loved it,” she said. “He showed us his passion, his dedication, everything. From that point on we have supported him in the sport.”

That support has known no bounds. Whether it was his father Michael being there every day to get him to and from a “gifted school” a substantial distance from the family home, but one with a more accommodating schedule for all this training, or his mother Nancy who was ready to leave her job as a clerk at a law firm if necessary to accompany her son to his tournaments worldwide when he was still a junior, Yang’s parents have always answered the call.

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Fortunately for Nancy, an understanding boss at her law firm meant giving up her job wasn’t necessary, but that is an example of the lengths this couple was willing to go to further their son’s ambition.

Fortunately for Michael, as a self-employed realtor, he could arrange his schedule around his son’s, but none of that takes anything away from their full-time and unreserved engagement in their son’s passion.

“For sure, we have sacrificed a lot,” Nancy told Postmedia recently. “We have invested a lot of money and time in his goals and his dreams but it was worth it to see that he achieved all those goals one by one. His dream came true and he made badminton history so many times. It makes us very proud of him. We know all that sacrifice and investment is worth it.”

And now, because of Molson, the rest of Canada will be able to see it too.

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