The athletes had been flown in by Delta, the official airline of the national team, with the triumphant pair not only receiving Top Chef hall of fame status, but a $10,000 gift card for the “cheftestant.” Ghzawi and Weggemann took home the medal in this instance.
For NBCU, the promotion started it off on the road towards the Olympic and Paralympics, which will be a huge broadcasting moment. For Delta, the activation kicked off its partnership marketing strategy ahead of the next games, which are scheduled to kick off in July 2024.
The sponsor’s branding also pops up throughout the season, especially during scenes filmed at Charles de Gaulle airport, while earlier this year the business opened a Delta Sky Club in Minneapolis airport, serving Top Chef-inspired dishes.
“We never just wanted to have our logo slapped on something,” Delta’s Young said. “We wanted a true partnership and integration.” NBCU pitched the idea of bringing Olympians and Paralympians to the challenge via Delta and Young was quickly sold on the idea.
A ‘One Platform’ pitch
The episode aired during an upfronts season in which NBCU has been honing in on how brands can tap into its sports programming (including the 2024 Olympic Games) and its reality-tastic Bravo library during upfront season owing to the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike, which saw most of its entertainment talent decline to participate in the upfront in solidarity with writers.
The media owner’s president of Olympic and Paralympic advertising and partnerships, Dan Lovinger, told Adweek the integration was testament to NBCU’s “One Platform” pitch to advertisers, which lets brands buy media and produce bespoke integrations across the broadcaster’s roster of content—which usually comprises everything from Vanderpump Rules to SNL.
“Not only did Delta help make an international season of Top Chef possible—we were able to close out the competition in Paris, while also leveraging and cross-promoting one of the most iconic tentpoles we have access to—the upcoming 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” he added.
“It really was a trifecta between NBC, Top Chef, Delta and the Olympics,” said Delta’s Young. She said the brand would be conducting post-episode analysis to see how the integration had impacted brand uplift and whether consumers understood Delta’s purpose to “connect the world.”
