Securing rights to leverage powerful archival imagery
As an official partner of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Coca‑Cola France wanted to encourage people to enroll as torch bearers. Their dream TV commercial and billboard campaign idea included famous athletes who carried the Olympic flame in past Games.
Thanks to the Getty Images Rights & Clearance department, all four of the requested athletes, Yoshinori Sakai, Enriqueta Basilio, Nikos Kaklamanakis, and Gina Hemphill Strachan, who appear in iconic shots as past torch bearers, were cleared for use in the campaign.
Yoshinori Sakai carried the torch at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. Sakai was born on the day of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He was chosen for the role to symbolize Japan’s postwar reconstruction and peace. Our team of experts located his widow and son and cleared the use of Sakai’s likeness for this use. Like all the other athletes in the project, the Sakai Estate was delighted to be featured in this ad campaign, and Coca‑Cola was able to stand out early in the lead up to the Games.