14 summer games email ideas for marketing gold

The summer of sports is a great time for related brands to get a big revenue boost. But non-sports-related businesses can also capitalize on the excitement with themed sales, products, or interactive summer games content.  

In this article, we’ll look at 14 fun summer games-themed ideas you can use to engage your subscribers. We’ll also highlight some of the essential dos and don’ts to consider when creating your email marketing plan.

Craft winning newsletters and promos that race ahead of the competition. Perfect for getting a nice head start, winning over your audience, and getting record engagement!

Here are 14 email marketing ideas that you can use to capitalize on the popularity of the summer games. 

Some of these ideas will work best for sports or summer games-related businesses or industries. But we’ve also included plenty of suggestions for how the ideas could work for almost any business.

1. Promote related products

Depending on your business, you may be able to promote products that will resonate during the summer games. 

This could be obvious products like sports gear, gym subscriptions or sports training plans. But it could also be snacks for watch parties, travel experiences, or even services that help brands make the most of the event.

You may even be able to create specific products for the event. For example, cafes, restaurants, or breweries could create sports-themed creations that tie into the themes of the games. Or clothing brands could create Paris-themed collections.

Historic Newspapers has an interesting take on the theme. They created a special summer games-themed book filled with relevant headlines from history. 

2. Start a summer sports sale

If you don’t have, or can’t create, related products you could still take advantage of the theme simply by using summer games-focused language to promote your offers, sales and products.

For example, you could run a special offer that people have to “Sprint to take up” before the games begin. Or offer “Champion level discounts” for the duration of the period. See our section on summer games-themed subject lines for more examples of the types of language you could use.

If you have enough products, you could create a daily sale for each day of the games. Choose a different product in your store and promote each one with a big 24-hour discount. 

3. Include a sports quiz

Not all summer games-themed content needs to be promotional. Adding fun, entertaining, or informational content can increase your newsletter’s value and keep people opening. 

Test your subscribers’ sports knowledge with an interactive newsletter quiz. If you have subscribers from around the world, use dynamic content settings to show a quiz that is most relevant to the sports and athletes of the subscribers’ countries.

MailerLite customers can easily create an email quiz using our quiz block. Just drag the block into your email, customize the design and then specify the questions and the correct answers. 

4. Poll your subscribers

Polling subscribers on topics related to the summer games can help start a conversation with your customers. 

Ask who they think will win high-profile races, how many medals your country will end up with, or which sport they are most excited to watch. You can then share the results in your follow-up emails.

You could also use this to gain crucial insight about your audience that you can use to tailor your content and offers or add unique insights to your marketing. 

For example, a gym could ask if people feel inspired to start exercising during the summer games, which activities they are most interested in, and what the biggest barriers to success are. 

They could then create a product that meets these needs. Or create a blog post highlighting the impact of the summer games on people’s motivation to get fit. 

5. Tie sending times to big events

Email marketers are used to scheduling their messages at the times they know get the most engagement. 

They might use Smart sending features to ensure messages go out at the right time for each individual subscriber, or send emails at the same time each week so subscribers know when to expect the message.

With summer games-themed messages, you could consider switching your sending times up to capitalize on the excitement around particular events. 

For example, you could send emails in the morning of a race, previewing the action. Or send one after an event to celebrate a big result like in the example below. 

6. Offer tiered discounts

Build excitement with offers tied to your country's performance. You could offer an extra percentage off orders for every medal (or gold medal if you’re from a high-performing country) your country gets. 

Gamify buying by highlighting the fact that while the discounts will increase with time, so will the chances of the products selling out!

7. Show a countdown timer

Set anticipation to fever pitch with an in-email countdown timer set to either the start or the end of an event. 

Create a limited-time offer that starts at the same time as the countdown timer so that your subscribers have twice as much reason to be excited. 

8. Make event predictions

You might remember Paul the Octopus who correctly predicted the results of all of Germany’s games in the 2010 soccer World Cup. You could try something similar by predicting what will happen at the summer games. 

You could make the predictions yourself or perhaps you have a furry friend who can make them for you. If they turn out to be particularly talented, perhaps your brand will get as much attention as Paul did back in 2010. 

Alternatively, access the wisdom of the crowd by asking your subscribers who they think will win each event and track how accurate they are. 

9. Have fun with puns

Have some fun by adding jokes, puns, memes, and other content to your emails. There are tons of sports-related puns and plays on words that you can use, you’ve probably spotted a few in this article! 

But if you need some inspiration, ask our AI writer to come up with some for you. Provide details about your offer and theme and the tool will provide suggestions in seconds!

10. Focus on equipment

If your store sells sports and athletic equipment you could focus on the products that athletes will be using and highlight that you sell these goods. 

Unisportsstore highlighted cleats players will wear at the Euro 2024 soccer championships, but you could easily do something similar for the summer games.

12. Start a champion-level challenge

Get your subscribers involved by running an summer games-inspired challenge. This could be anything from encouraging people to spend 20 minutes a day walking, to a more intense fitness-related activity like burpees. 

The challenge could even be something unrelated to sports that nonetheless tests the mental strength of your audience. 

Be sure to incentivize subscribers to take part. Fitness app Freeletics does this by entering anyone who completes its burpee challenge into a prize draw. 

13. Focus on the location 

The location of the games—this year, Paris—is almost as important as the event itself. Consider introducing the city and key locations. You could even ask subscribers to submit images of themselves at the host city.

There are obvious opportunities for travel companies here, as these brands can offer tours of the most important areas. 

Other businesses can also create interesting content with the right angle. For example, a restaurant could focus on the city’s cuisine, or a clothes brand could focus on fashion.

14. Share statistics and facts

Wow your subscribers with fun statistics and facts related to the summer games. Try anything from the amazing, such as the fact that with 28 medals Michael Phelps has more medals than anyone else, to the strange, such as the fact that over 165,000 towels were used in the London summer games. 

Ensure your email gets the result it deserves with an summer games-themed subject line. Here are 18 you can use as inspiration for your messages. 

For more subject lines, use our AI generator to create themed subject lines tailored to your messages. Tell it what you want the message to be and it will create options based on your input.

Need more summer games email marketing tips? Who better to ask than an actual Olympian and email marketing expert! We spoke to Marcin Cieslak, owner of swimming school 5Styl and former summer games swimmer, to learn how he will promote his school during the summer games.

Summer games-themed training programs

Summer games-themed products are a fun idea to capitalize on the excitement of the games. And as we highlighted in our first point in the list above, almost any business can offer one if you think creatively enough.

Sale on intensive swimming courses for girls

Summer games sales are a great fit for businesses in the sports niche like 5Styl, but any brand can generate extra revenue with a limited-time offer.

Behind-the-scenes content

Most businesses will struggle to offer behind-the-scenes content from the summer games Village. But, all businesses have their own strengths.

Think about ways to offer a unique perspective in your newsletter. Even if you can't during the summer games, there's sure to be an event or topic where you can offer expertise no one else can.

Motivational summer games stories

While Marcin and his team can share stories directly related to the summer games, we've all overcome big challenges that we can talk about in our newsletters. Alternatively, profile an athlete with an interesting story.

Daily wrap-ups

One thing that makes the summer games special is its ability to bring people together. Make the most of this in your newsletter by celebrating the top achievements of the athletes your subscribers are most likely to follow.

Hopefully, these ideas have ramped your inspiration up to 11. Now’s the time to take some of the tips and use them in your own summer games-themed email marketing. The games start on July 26, so you’ve still got time to get organized and plan your campaigns.