Dan Hunjas, founder, Edge Marketing.
Brisbane’s successful bid to host the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games is often discussed in terms of infrastructure, tourism and economic uplift.
But for CMOs, the more important story is not what happens in 2032, it’s what is already happening now.
Major global events do not create growth overnight, they act as long-range accelerants, reshaping perception, behaviour and competitive dynamics years before the first stadium lights are switched on.
So, if your marketing plan for the 2032 Brisbane Games is to start “closer to the event”, you’ve already misunderstood the opportunity.
Big global moments don’t reward late entry, they reward early commitment.
The brands that tap successfully into the ‘2032 Effect’ will be the ones that spend the years prior building trust, audience, data, and digital infrastructure while the market is still relatively quiet.
And then, by the time global attention arrives, positions are already locked in.
Brisbane’s transformation isn’t theoretical. Capital is moving, talent is relocating, competition is already lifting and commercial expectations are rising.
This is what the early phase of every serious growth cycle looks like. It’s subtle enough to ignore and obvious enough, later on, to regret ignoring.
History shows that Olympic host cities undergo a prolonged brand recalibration. Barcelona’s transformation began well before 1992.
London’s commercial repositioning accelerated years ahead of 2012. In each case, the most successful brands didn’t treat the Games as a sponsorship opportunity, but as a signal and a marker that the city was entering a new phase of global relevance.
Brisbane is now at that same inflection point, and the 2032 Effect is already in motion.
At Edge, we didn’t open a flagship Brisbane office because of the Olympics, we did it because the long-term signals were already undeniable and the Olympic opportunity is the icing on the cake.
You don’t commit capital, people, and infrastructure on hype. You do it when you believe the market will demand higher standards for the next ten years, not just louder marketing in the final twelve months.
And that’s the same decision CMOs should be making right now.
The Olympics won’t save weak marketing, if your brand lacks clarity, credibility, or execution discipline today, global attention will simply expose that faster.
And while we are talking about global attention, the Olympics will amplify global visibility in a way no paid media budget ever could. In the next few years, Brisbane will increasingly appear in international media, business conversations and travel considerations.
That shift in global exposure changes context and local brands will be judged alongside their global competitors. Growth moments don’t hide cracks, they widen them and CMOs need to ensure their brands are built for a global stage.
Importantly, the 2032 Effect is not limited to tourism, hospitality or major sponsors. Professional services, education, health, property, retail and B2B brands all stand to benefit, or lose ground, depending on how well brands align their growth strategies to this emerging reality.
The common thread across sectors is trust. As new audiences enter the market, they will gravitate towards brands that feel established, confident and relevant. That perception is built over time, not launched in a campaign.
For CMOs, this demands a shift in mindset. Marketing leadership in an Olympic decade is less about chasing attention and more about long-term strategy and growth.
The smart marketers will have done the boring work early. Proper positioning. Owned audiences. First-party data. Measurement that holds people accountable. None of that is glamorous, but together it compounds.
The most dangerous assumption in marketing for 2032 is believing you can wait, then sprint. You simply can’t.
By the time the starter guns fire in 2032, the marketing podium positions are already decided.
I suggest, as marketers, the only real choice left to us is whether we move early with intent or explain later why the moment didn’t deliver what we hoped.
History suggests only one of those paths ends well.