P&G Awards Virtual Gold Medal to Olympic Athletes' Moms

Procter & Gamble’s ongoing global "Thank you, Mom" campaign is getting a fresh push 100 days prior to the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Centered around a dedicated Facebook page, P&G is celebrating the power behind the glory, success and dedication of many an Olympic athlete — his or her mother — in the biggest campaign in P&G’s 174-year history, which will run from now through the end of the Olympic Games.

The showpiece of the London 2012 campaign is a 2-minute commercial by award-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu, titled Best Job (above), which was filmed on four continents with local actors and athletes from London, Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles and Beijing.

In-language and regional versions have been produced to run locally around the world, including a "Thank You Mum" one-minute commercial for Australia and New Zealand, while the two-minute English-language official short film debuted on the Thank You Mom Twitter feed as well as Facebook today:

On Twitter (via a #ThankYouMom hashtag) and on a special Facebook tab, P&G is encouraging everyone (not just athletes) to take a moment and share why they're thankful to their own mothers.

The previous incarnation of the mom-honoring campaign promoted P&G's support of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancover, which tied into to its Thank You Mom promotion for Mother's Day in North America. P&G helped over 250 Team USA moms with expenses of traveling to Vancouver to see their children compete.

This year’s Thank you, mom campaign will run online, on TV and in print and social media (the latter powered by Buddy Media) with a clear message from "The Proud Sponsor of Moms," namely that: “Moms carry us for nine months and then keep on carrying us. Through countless sacrifices they are loving nurturers and selfless providers and motivators as well as chauffeurs and doers of laundry and dishes. Our campaign celebrates the role of moms all over the world.”

And in the host country for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, P&G has created a series of eight documentary-style short films (narrated by comedian Dawn French) titled "Raising an Olympian," which tells the stories of Team Great Britain athletes — including Sir Chris Hoy, Jessica Ennis, Victoria Pendleton and Paula Radcliffe — through the eyes of their mothers. Check out their stories below.