As American Olympic athletes bring home the gold at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Team USA is tapping into the Oura Ring’s health, fitness and wellness tracking insights to support training and competition regimens.
The health tech company’s smart ring became the official wearable of Team USA at the Winter Games, a partnership that extends to LA28, with Oura providing wearables to all Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Team doctors will also be able to leverage data from Oura Ring for performance and recovery studies.
Oura’s Olympics Story
Oura CMO Doug Sweeny calls the company’s work with Team USA “one of our best kept secrets” because it hasn’t yet done much marketing around how it partners with collegiate and professional sports teams around the world. For example, Oura has actually supported a number of Team USA governing bodies since 2024 and has worked with U.S. Ski & Snowboard, USA Hockey and U.S. Speed Skating.
Things ramped up quickly in the weeks leading into the Winter Games. Sweeny tells Chief Marketer that the Team USA partnership was signed right before the Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony, but that it all came together in an organic way over time because many athletes were already using the wearable.
The partnership also allows Oura to spotlight how its wearables help athletes. That includes a TV spot released for Milan Cortina centering on the benefits of the smart ring’s wellness and recovery insights. “Behind every medal, there’s a good night’s sleep. Rest up, Team USA,” reads the 30-second commercial.
“Back six to eight months ago, we had already booked broadcast and streaming support of the Olympics anyway. So it was a relatively fast pivot in the two weeks prior where our internal creative team quickly revised assets to support the partnership and make it more tailored to the athletes that were going to be in Milan,” Sweeny said, adding that Oura is moving quickly to tell more stories around the partnership in the coming months. “We are going to be telling stories about these athletes who are using the product, and how they use the product, from rest and recovering to ramping their performance readiness.”
These storytelling moments don’t necessarily have to happen in a training or competitive setting either. Oura is also thinking about how the brand shows up after sports events.
“As a lot of these athletes medal … they’re still going to be out there talking to the media. Think late-night TV across all the major networks within the U.S. and streaming media. Oura can be a part of those conversations,” Sweeny said.
The Segmentation Challenge
Oura’s mission is to advance preventative health, which is why its hardware and software have many applications depending on the user’s needs. It can track sleep and rest, heart and metabolic health, stress, activity and movement, women’s health and more. But all of these use cases also pose an interesting marketing challenge.
“One of the things that we are constantly trying to think through [is] how we segment the right health story for the right audience. It’s a good problem to have, but it’s something we’re constantly challenged with,” Sweeny said.
Oura doesn’t just have to think about segmenting storytelling for consumers’ different health experiences. It’s a brand expanding globally, which means it has to tailor the right product and brand stories for different countries. The massive international reach of the Olympics takes that challenge to a whole other level.
“Japan has really low sleep scores, some of the lowest in the world, so the stories are different there. Australia has a culture that’s very akin to the West Coast of the U.S., so they’re much more leaning into wellness. Finland and the Nordics [are] very focused on balance. It’s not a one size fits all.”
It’s why Oura spends a lot of time embedding itself in new markets before launching there. That research involves meeting with as many people as possible, including partners on the ground “who help us get really smart quickly.”
Two of the key demographics questions Oura is looking to answer when expanding into a new market: What type of consumer is actually wearing the product here? What are the features they rally around?
Preparing for LA28
Even as Milan Cortina comes to a close, Oura and Team USA are preparing for what comes next, including the 2028 Summer Olympics, which return to American soil for the first time since Atlanta ‘96. With an even bigger spotlight on Team USA in two years time, there’s no time to waste, according to Sweeny.
“[LA28 prep] starts the minute that the Milan games end. We have to figure out how we integrate with those athletes and support them in Los Angeles in the coming two years. How do we onboard them, if they’re not already a member or not already experienced with a product?” Sweeny said. “We’re working on a variety of touchpoints that are happening in the spring, with the athletes out of Milan, and then the beginning ramp to LA and planning out how we’re going to show up.”