During the panel discussion Made in America — How LA28 Is Rewriting the Rules of Sports Marketing, presented at Sport Beach during Cannes Lions 2026, the conversation showed how a major partnership can build more than external visibility. Sponsorships like LA28 can give employees a clearer connection to the brand’s purpose, values, and role in culture. For many brands, growing brand equity starts inside the organization. Employees shape the experiences consumers have with the brand every day, from service and support to sales, operations, and local execution. When employees understand what the brand stands for and believe in the role they play, those experiences feel more consistent, authentic, and connected to what consumers expect. That is why internal alignment matters. A brand is harder to build externally when the people delivering it do not share the same understanding internally.
BERA’s LA28 sponsorship research shows why the Games create such a powerful platform for sponsors. Nearly two-thirds of the general public express interest in the Olympics, 80% see the Games as unique compared with other major sporting events, and 77% plan to follow the Olympics in some way. Employees of sponsor brands are part of that broader audience too, which means the Games can reach them not only as members of the organization, but also as fans, consumers, and participants in the cultural moment. The panel added an important internal layer by showing how sponsors can turn that shared attention into employee pride, participation, and connection to the company’s broader purpose.
Chase made the Olympics personal for employees
Carla Hassan, Chief Marketing Officer at JPMorganChase, described LA28 as a way to connect the firm’s global scale to local pride. JPMorganChase has “320,000 employees around the world,” and Hassan explained that the partnership gave employees something personal to connect back to their own countries, teams, and communities. Employees felt proud because “they knew what that meant for their own teams and their own countries.”
That kind of internal connection helps a sponsorship become more than a media or marketing investment. Hassan shared that JPMorganChase raised Olympic and Paralympic flags at its headquarters with employees who were Olympians and Paralympians, making the partnership visible and personal inside the company. She also connected the work to financial education for athletes, support for small businesses in LA, and the goal of helping “uplift the communities” where the brand belongs.
Delta made employees part of the moment
Kamaria Morgan, General Manager, Integrated Media at Delta Air Lines, brought the internal brand-building opportunity to life through employee participation. She pointed to “the excitement that happens from the inside” and described a program where employees compete to create an Olympic-themed pin. Delta also has employees who are athletes themselves, which gives the Games another layer of meaning across the organization.
Internal rituals like these help employees feel involved in the sponsorship instead of simply aware of it. That connection can strengthen the external brand experience too, because employees who understand the role the brand is trying to play are better equipped to bring that role to life through travel experiences, customer interactions, and local market presence.
Sponsorship can align the brand from the inside
BERA data shows that employees and consumers do not always understand a brand the same way. In one analysis, consumers gave a brand stronger scores on Meaningfulness and Uniqueness, while employees were more familiar with the brand but less aligned on the perceptions shaping external brand strength. Consumers associated the brand with ideas like cultural relevance, standing out, and excitement, while employees were more likely to associate it with beliefs, inclusivity, hard work, and corporate character.
That gap matters because employees help bring the brand to life every day. Their choices, behaviors, and customer interactions can support the brand’s growth priorities when they understand what the brand is trying to build. The analysis estimated that stronger alignment between consumers and employees was worth millions in revenue to the brand, which shows why internal perception gaps can affect business performance, not only internal culture.
The takeaway for marketers is to treat employee connection as part of sponsorship value. If an Olympic sponsorship helps employees understand and reinforce the right brand perceptions, it is helping build the brand from the inside.
