📳 Winter Olympics 2026 Special II
PULSE/4: The 'invisible hours' become the battleground
Welcome to CO/SIGNALS[PULSE] - In this quick-fire series, we highlight the collabs we’ve come across to help you to keep your finger on the pulse of brand and media partnerships.
Following on from our apparel-focused part one, we’re back with the next instalment.
One of the most interesting creative threads at Milano‑Cortina is how brands are moving into the liminal spaces of the Games: recovery, mental health, sleep, downtime and yes, even laundry.
Nike ACG x Hyperice
Hyperice and Nike ACG have built a custom, non-retail Normatec Elite system in ACG orange for Nike-signed Olympians. It’s designed for “recovery in transition”, the forgotten minutes on flights, transfers and between venues, and sits inside Nike’s activation houses across Italy.
🔗 Read more: Hyperice and Nike ACG Debut Exclusive Normatec for Winter Olympics
P&G Champions Clubhouse
This physical activation spans both the Milan Olympic Village and Cortina Paralympic Village, offering athletes a mix of wellness, grooming, laundry and relaxation experiences.
Every athlete receives a welcome kit with brands such as First Aid Beauty, Oral‑B, SK‑II, Dash and Lenor, while village laundries hero P&G’s brands as part of the everyday athlete routine.
It’s an activation that embeds into the fabric of village life, not just into ad breaks.
🔗 See more: The P&G Champions Clubhouse welcomed more than 800 Olympic athletes from nearly 40 countries
Corona’s Cero Stress Zones
Corona Cero has extended its TIME CERO platform from Paris 2024 into Milano‑Cortina by building nature‑filled “Cero Stress Zones” (Zero Stress) across the Olympic Villages.
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These spaces, complete with relaxation workshops such as breathing and sound bath sessions and a plant shop where athletes can bring greenery back to their rooms, are designed as post-competition retreats and a physical embodiment of the brand’s relaxation-first positioning.
🔗 Read more: LinkedIn recap from Joao Zattar, Global Marketing Director or sponsored coverage with Highsnobiety here.
Athlete365 Mind Zone x Powerade
Through the International Olympic Committee’s Athlete365 platform, Powerade rolled out Mind Zones in every Olympic Village.
First rolled out during Paris 2024, they were back bringing calm spaces for athletes to decompress, practise mindfulness and access confidential mental‑health support, with private consultation pods being a new addition for Milano‑Cortina.
Activations like these do point to a shift: mental health space (for better or worse) is now branded sponsor terrain.
As a side (and in the direction of worse), the inclusion of the Powerade drink in this official video is jarring. We get why it’s there (distinctive brand assets and all that) but it just feels a little heavy handed.
Training + Recovery with Technogym
As they’ve done for the last ten Olympic Games, Technogym installed state-of-the-art gym facilities across six villages and 22 training centres. With 1,000+ pieces of equipment serving more than 3,500 athletes, this is a serious investment in the invisible engine room of the Games.
See a clip here of their gyms full of Olympians - can you imagine?! Next level.
The brand also showcased its heritage and latest technology in its “Casa Italia” pop-up, alongside a handful of athlete-led ads that feel a little generic and dated. Alas, when your products are trusted by Olympians, perhaps that says enough.
🔗 Watch one of their spots here. Or don’t. I wouldn’t blame you.
Casa Airbnb + Athlete Travel Grant
As an official sponsor of the Games, Airbnb stakes its claim as the brand of “feeling at home”. 'Casa Airbnb' translates that into physical form, a pop-up at the intersection of tourism, cultural belonging and the wider Olympic narrative.
Athletes, teams, fans, delegations, tourists - they all need a place to stay and somewhere to sleep.
Airbnb embodies their brand promise through Athlete Travel Grants, supporting athletes to cover stays while training and competing internationally. It’s a nice fit and they tell the story well in the longer form documentary (with lots of cuts on social).
🔗 Watch: Airbnb’s Bring It Home documentary
What this signals
The new premium real estate is the invisible hours around the competition: training, recovery, sleep, logistics, mental wellbeing. Brands that design for those moments earn deeper, more credible roles in the Olympic story.
For anyone working in media or partnerships, that’s the opportunity: map the in‑between moments your audience actually lives in, and treat them as your next canvas.
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