Everyone knows that major sports games and tournaments call for some of the greatest commercials to ever be broadcast on TV.  But out of the multitudes that are shown with up to millions of dollars invested in each of them, which are the advertisements that really stick with the audiences sitting on their couches and waiting for the games to come back on?

Well, during the London Olympic Games in 2012, here’s one particular ad that stood out to me above all the others:

It’s shot so cinematically and partnered so well with the piano in the background that you forget that it’s actually a commercial that you’re watching until the Proctor & Gamble logo briefly pops up at the end.

But what’s the point of the clip? It’s not like its advertising any product or a service, and it’s not like P&G just wanted to take the opportunity to show off their show-biz skills.

The answer is brand recognition.  P&G’s present in so many product categories and in so many countries these days that it’s hard to tell exactly what the company is and what it stands for.  So what P&G does is to convey its purpose of “touching lives in small but meaningful ways” in a way that will resonate with a vast majority of the audience of 2012’s largest sporting event — the athletes, the mothers, and everyone watching them. Through making a TV advertisement that strikes a chord with the affective component of millions of viewers around the world, P&G not only delivers its purpose, but it shapes the attitudes of viewers to see this multinational, multi-billion dollar company as one with a cherished, sensitive regard for its customers.