For the 2016 Summer OIympics, Panadol turned to technology to give its athletes the boost of home advantage. When Puerto Ricans couldn’t travel to Rio, Panadol found a way to still bring the fans’ good vibes.

As part of its sponsorship deal, the brand gave every Puerto Rican athlete a new smart watch. Besides being a great training tool, the device that came loaded with an app connected with a mobile site that Puerto Ricans could use to send “good vibes” to their favorite athletes. In response, the smart watches on the athletes’ wrists instantly vibrated with encouraging messages.

The brand gave every Puerto Rican athlete a new smart watch. Besides being a great training tool, the device that came loaded with an app connected with a mobile site that Puerto Ricans could use to send “good vibes” to their favorite athletes. In response, the smart watches on the athletes’ wrists instantly vibrated with encouraging messages. On social media, we followed the events of every Puerto Rican athlete and asked Puerto Ricans to send their support.

The app even took on a real-time unexpected new purpose after Javier Culson, a heavy favorite to win a medal in the 400 meters with hurdles, was disqualified after a false start. After the heartbreaking loss, Panadol gave Puerto Ricans a way to help Culson manage his pain.

In these Olympic Games notorious for small crowds, over 1.6 million Puerto Ricans sent their cheers, almost 20 times the attendance capacity of Rio’s main Olympic stadium.

Its cheers peaked during the women’s tennis final, when Mónica Puig made Olympic history by winning Puerto Rico’s first ever gold medal, right after more than 350,000 Puerto Ricans sent good vibes before the match.

The effort also received significant social media coverage, and even made it to ESPN.

It brought a 30% sales increase to the brand vs. the same quarter in the previous year.