As the official sponsor of the 2016 Olympic Delegation, Samsung decided to leverage its relationship with top Olympic athletes to give children the emotional support they needed. The Olympic athletes would inspire kids undergoing the hardships of chronic diseases through the project “Both sides must win”.

Samsung wanted to maximize their two sponsorships (sponsorship of Rio 2016 and digital classrooms) into one idea where both sides benefitted.

Samsung began by providing technical support to sick children through digital classrooms. In the Olympic year this idea evolved into emotional support for children– through mentoring sessions by national Olympic athletes under the concept "both sides must win".

We created 'mentoring meetings', where National Olympic athletes mentored children battling chronic diseases in their schools and hospital departments. These sessions dealt with not giving up, winning despite the odds… conversations between two people who knew that they simply "must win".

Samsung documented the journey in a book which was distributed to children's hospitals throughout the country in order to inspire other sick children. The positive effect of the project created motivation amongst the sick children to keep on fighting and choose life.

The mentoring sessions created inspirational situations and a buzz in the hospitals. Not only did the athletes help inspire the children to choose life, but the heroic courage of the kids became an inspiration for the athletes heading to Rio.

The project was chosen as the leading article in the top national business newspaper’s "100 most influential people in the country".

Samsung, a large international brand, connected to local consumers on a deep emotional level through national pride in the Olympics, and helping sick children