Olympics Show How to Execute a Medal-Worthy PR Campaign

The 2016 Summer Olympic Games are underway and, like most of America -- most of the world, really -- I'm fully engrossed in the action … and the drama. How will Michael Phelps' historic Olympic journey end? Is the current U.S. women's gymnastics team the best ever? What will the commentators say next and how will social media react? For two weeks every four years, we all stumble into work each morning groggy from staying up late the night before glued to our TV screens. We suddenly become fans of sports we hadn't even heard of the month prior, like race walking, trampolining and handball; and, in this day and age, we use patriotic Snapchat filters and share memes that highlight the Games' most humorous moments, like Aly Raisman's nervous parents and Phelps' baby boy in the stands. What is it that sucks us in to the Olympics? Is it the competition? The uniting of countries from across the globe? It's a combination of both: It's the storytelling.