Analytics
Partnerships
Research
Olympics
5 min read
•
Published Jul 16, 2026
What it takes to measure a $300 million sponsorship at the Winter Olympics.
Avery Wright
Custom Research & Consulting Analyst
•
Navigate
01
The Project
Avery Wright came to sponsorship measurement through an unlikely door. She started by asking what happens to the people a city leaves behind when a major event rolls in.
At Arizona State, where she played women's rugby, Avery watched Phoenix displace its unhoused population into surrounding communities like Tempe, areas that had no infrastructure to absorb them. It was the kind of thing that's easy to overlook from the outside and impossible to ignore up close. A FIFA internship turned that observation into action. She spent a semester researching how each 2026 World Cup host city planned to handle displacement, security, and infrastructure, scored every proposal, delivered recommendations, and got follow-up calls from host committees that wanted to move on the findings.
That project launched her trajectory. The following summer she was on the ground in Paris for the entire duration of the 2024 Summer Games, working with Team USA as an intern on partnership activation research. That internship got her hired at Navigate, a data-driven firm in sports and entertainment, where her role is the only one in the company that formally bridges both the consulting and custom research teams.
Earlier this year, she was in Milan for the 2026 Winter Olympics, on the ground as a Navigate analyst for the full duration, with a focus on pre-event, onsite, and post-event measurement and sponsorship strategy for a TOP (The Olympic Partner) program sponsor. That project, measuring how major brand sponsors were actually performing and what the data meant for their next investment decisions, is the work this case study is built around.
Hear Avery explain why you can't analyze what you haven't experienced
CORE TEAM
Navigate consulting and custom research teams working in parallel, Avery as the bridge between both, plus a panel partner for survey fielding
BIGGEST CONSTRAINT
How much the intangibles, like crowd energy, brand perception in the moment, activation quality, would shift the data story versus what the pre-event numbers suggested. You can't model the vibe until you're there.
DELIVERABLES
Pre- and post-event survey studies for multiple brand sponsors, on-site qualitative research and asset photography, sponsorship strategy support, and final impact reports with recommendations
TIMELINE
Full duration of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. Approximately 2–3 weeks on the ground, with pre-event survey fielding before departure and post-event analysis upon return
02
Strategy & Execution
Navigate operates with a simple mandate: be the data teammate, not the seller. The firm has no stake in what a client decides. It has no partnerships to protect or deals to close. Its only job is to tell an honest story from the data and help clients figure out what to do with it.
Avery's specific role sits at the intersection of two research methodologies that most firms keep separate. The custom research team handles primary research: surveys, sponsorship impact studies, brand health measurement, and pricing studies. The consulting team handles secondary research: traditional data analysis, sponsorship valuation, asset analysis, and revenue generation plans. Avery works across both. Her job on any given project is to find the story where the two data streams cross and make sure that story is grounded in what she actually observed on the ground.
T
Tori
When the data comes back and a brand isn't hitting its targets, how do you figure out whose problem it is?
A
Avery
That's exactly where the on-site piece becomes critical. If a brand's switch intent isn't where it needs to be, we dig into the assets. Is it us, is it them, is it the property? Sometimes a partnership just isn't the right fit and that's nobody's fault. Sometimes the brand is barely activating, just rotating digital signage and a basic tent, and then wondering why they're not seeing return. Sometimes the property genuinely isn't delivering the audience the brand needs. Our job is to go deep into what we observed on the ground and figure out where the gap is, then come back with specific recommendations. The brands that really win are the ones that solve a fan friction point. They don't just put their logo on something, they make the experience better. Those are the activations fans remember, and those are the brands that see it come back in the lower-funnel numbers.
T
Tori
You were in Milan for the Winter Olympics earlier this year. Why is it so important to actually be there, boots on the ground? What can't you get from the data alone?
A
Avery
You can't analyze what you can't experience. If we're not there seeing it and experiencing it, we can't properly measure from the point of view of the consumer. One of my favorite examples is that we once got a proposal from a leading immersive entertainment property before we were working with them. Based on our own data, we thought it was overpriced. Then they became a client, we went out there, we experienced it, and we came back completely changed. There were so many intangible factors we couldn't have analyzed without being there. Vibes count. The vibe of an environment, a crowd, a fandom, those things matter when you're trying to understand brand perception. There's actually data that shows when teams underperform, the perception scores of their sponsors among fans underperform too. It's all tied together. Being on the ground is how you catch the signals that never show up in a report.
On-site data collection is almost entirely qualitative. Wright is not running 30-question surveys at the stadium. She is having one-on-one conversations, observing activations from the consumer's perspective, photographing assets, and capturing everything that cannot be recorded from a spreadsheet later.
The quantitative work happens after she lands back home. Pre-event and post-event surveys go out through a panel partner, screening for Olympic fans. The goal is not just to measure the people in the seats. Sponsors spending hundreds of millions of dollars need their reach to extend well beyond event attendees. The screener targets anyone watching, streaming, or engaging with the event, which means the data represents the full footprint of the sponsorship, not just the venue.
When the post-event wave comes back, Wright compares it to the pre-event baseline and builds the story from what the data actually shows, not from what the client hoped to find.
"There's a real truth to data overload. Sometimes you can have too much, or get too granular, and it's really important to take a step back and understand what this means. What are we actually going to activate? What decisions are being made here, and what's really important to informing them? That's where my role plays in."
Avery Wright
Two things drive Navigate's measurement methodology:
1
The sponsorship funnel, measured at every level
Navigate tracks the full funnel from awareness at the top to purchase intent and switch intent at the bottom. Aided brand awareness matters for newer sponsors. Consideration and perception matter for brands trying to shift how they are seen. Switch intent, the likelihood a consumer will leave a competitor and choose this brand, matters for telecoms and any category where consumers have to choose one or the other. The client's funnel becomes Navigate's funnel. Nothing is bundled. Every report is built around what the client is actually trying to move.
2
The cycle: experience, measure, adapt
The measurement is not the end of the work. It is the input for the next activation. Wright's framework holds that data cannot stand alone. It has to be paired with on-the-ground experience and industry expertise to become something a brand can act on. The goal of every report is to make the next experience better than the last.
1
Social and digital, led by Donny
Countdown content, game-day graphics, real-time social assets, and the full digital suite. Donny owned this end and managed the external agency producing assets the internal team couldn't get to.
2
Parade and championship assets, led by two designers and the creative director
Win-scenario content including parade look and feel, championship graphics, and print.
This workstream ran at the same time as digital. They couldn't afford to wait and see if
they'd need it.
3
Project management, a first day on the job
The Seahawks had hired a project manager two weeks before the Super Bowl. Her first
assignment was tracking roughly 100 deliverables across five people. It worked.
T
Tori
When the data comes back and a brand isn't hitting its targets, how do you figure out whose problem it is?
A
Avery
That's exactly where the on-site piece becomes critical. If a brand's switch intent isn't where it needs to be, we dig into the assets. Is it us, is it them, is it the property? Sometimes a partnership just isn't the right fit and that's nobody's fault. Sometimes the brand is barely activating, just rotating digital signage and a basic tent, and then wondering why they're not seeing return. Sometimes the property genuinely isn't delivering the audience the brand needs. Our job is to go deep into what we observed on the ground and figure out where the gap is, then come back with specific recommendations. The brands that really win are the ones that solve a fan friction point. They don't just put their logo on something, they make the experience better. Those are the activations fans remember, and those are the brands that see it come back in the lower-funnel numbers.
T
Tori
When the data comes back and a brand isn't hitting its targets, how do you figure out whose problem it is?
A
Avery
That's exactly where the on-site piece becomes critical. If a brand's switch intent isn't where it needs to be, we dig into the assets. Is it us, is it them, is it the property? Sometimes a partnership just isn't the right fit and that's nobody's fault. Sometimes the brand is barely activating, just rotating digital signage and a basic tent, and then wondering why they're not seeing return. Sometimes the property genuinely isn't delivering the audience the brand needs. Our job is to go deep into what we observed on the ground and figure out where the gap is, then come back with specific recommendations. The brands that really win are the ones that solve a fan friction point. They don't just put their logo on something, they make the experience better. Those are the activations fans remember, and those are the brands that see it come back in the lower-funnel numbers.
03
The Outcome
The work Avery Wright does at major events is not visible to most people watching from the stands. But the brands and properties she advises make decisions worth hundreds of millions of dollars based on what she brings back. The impact is measured in whether those decisions get smarter the next time around.
100+
Engagements with leagues, brands, properties, and universities at Navigate
$300M+
Scale of sponsorship investments Navigate measures for major brand clients
5
Major events worked on-site: 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, 2024 U.S. Open, Super Bowl LVII, Super Bowl LIX, 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan
T
Tori
When the data comes back and a brand isn't hitting its targets, how do you figure out whose problem it is?
A
Avery
That's exactly where the on-site piece becomes critical. If a brand's switch intent isn't where it needs to be, we dig into the assets. Is it us, is it them, is it the property? Sometimes a partnership just isn't the right fit and that's nobody's fault. Sometimes the brand is barely activating, just rotating digital signage and a basic tent, and then wondering why they're not seeing return. Sometimes the property genuinely isn't delivering the audience the brand needs. Our job is to go deep into what we observed on the ground and figure out where the gap is, then come back with specific recommendations. The brands that really win are the ones that solve a fan friction point. They don't just put their logo on something, they make the experience better. Those are the activations fans remember, and those are the brands that see it come back in the lower-funnel numbers.
T
Tori
What are the biggest things you would tell someone reading this about why this kind of work actually matters?
A
Avery
Two things. One, if you can't measure it, you shouldn't be doing it as a brand. And two, if you can't experience it, you shouldn't be measuring it. Those two things have to come full circle. The cycle is experience, measure, adapt. And the adapt phase is what makes the next experience better. A lot of people think measurement is just about proving something worked. It's not. It's about understanding what to do differently. Data is only useful when it's paired with real-world experience and real industry expertise. That's what translates it into a decision someone can actually make. Without that, you're just turning out charts.
T
Tori
You started this whole career path with a passion project about unhoused populations and the FIFA World Cup. How does that connect to where you are now?
A
Avery
That project is why I care about what I do. I've always been drawn to the impact of sports, both the positive impact and the ways that major events can affect the people around them who never bought a ticket. That FIFA research taught me that data with a purpose matters. The Bay Area commission took those findings seriously and some of those outcomes are real. Then at Team USA in Paris, I got to flip it and look at the positive side — how brands can actually improve the fan experience when they show up the right way. Those two experiences together are basically my whole philosophy. Data should make things better for people. That's it.
Three things to carry forward
01
Experience before you measure.
Wright's most important rule is that you cannot properly analyze something you have not experienced. This applies to sponsorship measurement, but it applies just as well to any strategic decision. The intangibles, the vibes, the things that never show up in a report, only become visible when someone is physically present to observe them. Before you interpret the data, make sure someone on your team has actually lived the thing you are trying to understand.
02
Know which metric you are actually trying to move.
Awareness, consideration, perception, purchase intent, switch intent. These are not interchangeable. A new brand entering a space needs to move awareness. A well-known telecom brand needs to move switch intent. Measuring the wrong metric and declaring success is one of the most common mistakes in sponsorship. The work starts with being clear about what you are actually trying to change, and then building everything around that.
03
Data is not the destination. Adaptation is.
The most valuable part of any measurement project is not the report. It is what the client does differently because of it. Wright's framework, experience, measure, adapt, treats every activation as a learning cycle. The goal is not to prove the last thing worked. It is to make the next thing better. If the data just confirms what you already believed and nothing changes, the measurement did not do its job.
01
Process is the method to the madness, and it's a blind spot in sports.
Donny came up through an agency before she ever worked in the NFL. That experience gave her the habit of building strategy before touching a design file: kickoffs with data teams, alignment on voice and narrative before anything visual exists. That's what lets you build a campaign that holds up seasons later, not just one that looks good this week.
02
Build the relationships before you need them.
Donny describes herself as a seed planter. She builds relationships with teammates, freelancers, and collaborators all year, not just when a deadline appears. That's what made it possible to assemble a Super Bowl caliber production team in a matter of days. You cannot manufacture that kind of trust in the middle of a crisis.
03
You have to advocate for the vision. No one is going to hand it to you.
The Seahawks gave Donny a sandbox. But she had to decide what to build in it. That meant going to her VP and asking directly for more budget so she could push the work further. The organization's openness to creative is real, but it only activates for the people who show up with conviction and a track record to back it up.
Connect with
Avery Wright
Avery Wright is a Custom Research and Consulting Analyst at Navigate, a data-driven firm operating across sports and entertainment. Her role is the only one in the company that bridges both the consulting and custom research teams, translating complex data into actionable insights and storytelling. She got her start in the industry through a FIFA internship and a Team USA internship at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, and has since worked on-site at the 2025 Super Bowl and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan with Navigate.
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