71. The best marketing campaign of 1H 2026 đ
When controversy works in favor of a brand đ€©
A collision of my favorite worlds, sports, and marketing, Enhanced Games takes my trophy for the marketing campaign of the 1H 2026.
Until the games happened, I had never heard of NYSE: Enhanced Group, the company promoting the games, whose main business is supposed to be in prescriptions and supplements.
The games piqued my curiosity, and I ended up devouring a lot of content on them. I briefly even considered buying its products, but more on that later.
The idea of the games is simple - athletes could do what is banned in other international events, such as taking steroids, using banned gear, etc and attempt to break existing world records or beat their own personal records.
42 athletes competed in three disciplines â swimming, track, and weightlifting â over fifteen events. But in the end, only 29% of the athletes broke their PRs, and only 1 world record was broken. Most of the PR came from swimming, and some of the credit would go to a banned swimsuit.
So, was this event a very expensive brand-awareness campaign/product demo that failed to prove its point?
To answer this, I look at this campaign from two perspectives-
1. As a marketer:
The Enhanced Games generated substantial earned media for its parent company. As reported, there were -
sponsorship worth $ 32 million generated
The event was streamed for free to over 100 million homes
there were 4,000+ media mentions
which led to a significant increase in website traffic (as seen below)
180+ creators drove organic social media engagement
The games received 640K+ social media followers on IG + TikTok + X. Interestingly, the company does not have separate business social media accounts
Although almost 50% of this media coverage was largely negative. Search âDoping Olympicsâ and the first result is âDoping at the Olympic Gamesâ and the second one is Enhanced Games. Thats how most headlines covered it.
Also, the stock market did not seem to think much of it - there was hardly any impact on the stock price. Since its NYSE debut, the stock of the gamesâ parent company, Enhanced, has fallen 70% from its IPO price.
I love a16z framework called the lighthouse playbook, which says for any startup to win trust from zero, they need to have the following:
Define a world view -Â The Enhanced worldview that drugs should be normalized in sports is controversial. But atleast it is a clear position. It is easy to take a for-or-against position on it. The injectables category is crowded, and no brand stands out. Enhanced essentially created a new category for itself, a first-of-its-kind global sports franchise supported by its products. The lesson for startups is that to differentiate yourself in a very crowded market, your narrative needs to be clear, simple, and unique
Find your lighthouses -Â Many professional and amateur athletes take a variety of âsupplementsâ and injectables to give themselves an edge. Enhanced has clearly identified them as its set of early believers. The presence of longevity influencers such as Bryan Johnson creates a halo effect to attract this tribe.
Build their brand, not yours -Â The games amplified the stories of world-class athletes who had retired from professional sports but got a second chance at professional success. It is inspiring for many women like me to see a mom who gave up her athletic career to come back and win. The games inspired many people to think that it might still be possible to relive their athletic dreams - and that is a precious feeling for any brand to stimulate.
âWe can impact anyoneâs life, from a 25-year-old woman whoâs training for a marathon to a 65-year-old guy whoâs looking to have a little bit more energy to take their grandkids to the playground and play with them.â - CEO of Enhanced Group
Research shows that advertising and brand-building can increase company value before they generate proportional earnings because investors capitalize expected future cash flows.
Enhanced games are a textbook example of this.
Even though stock has not picked up, Enhancedâs valuation has become richer. While its stock hovers around $2.85 per share, it received an additional $50 million investment priced at $3.89/share after the games, suggesting investors have confidence in managementâs strategy.
2. As a potential customer:
I am possibly their target market - someone who wants to extend the years I can play sports. I donât have any world record-building goals, but I would like to set new PRs. I visited the Enhanced Group website excitedly to check out their products, but then balked, scared. The images of the supplements reminded me of the movie The Substance.
What if these supplements help me follow my modest athletic dreams but with potentially damaging side effects? I don't have the answers, and I am too scared to
But maybe someday I will have more confidence to try them out - if I see my peers in my communities adopting these products. I would be curious to see what happens when future editions of the games feature fitness influencers racing alongside elite athletes. Perhaps there would be smaller events that create avenues for more athletes to showcase their enhanced potential. As in the lighthouse playbook, Enhanced needs to create more rooms for the real magic to happen for the rest of us, for the growth flywheel to churn.
Sources:
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/enhanced-nyse-enha-surpasses-32-140700569.html
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/may/26/the-enhanced-games-will-fail-by-2031-this-is-why
https://sherwood.news/markets/the-enhanced-games-isnt-about-sports-its-a-31-million-product-demo/
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/05/enhanced-games-sports-doping/687296/
https://www.mmm-online.com/news/how-the-enhanced-games-turned-controversy-into-social-media-gold/