If you’re Tide, how can you make a big splash at the London Olympic Games in a way that’s brand appropriate? Celebrate the patriot in all of us in a very personal way. Talk about the fact that Tide is the keeper of America’s colors, the only brand trusted to launder the Olympic athletes’ uniforms. Then ask people to tell their unique American story of what those colors—the Red, White, and Blue—mean to them.

That was the idea behind the “My Story Our Flag” campaign. Full disclosure: I didn’t come up with this idea. I was the ACD on the team. My job was to pull this audacious idea out of the trash bin, breathe life into it and make sure it was well executed.

This campaign became the centerpiece of every one of Tide’s online properties. But the program wasn’t limited to the online world. In addition to living on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Tide.com, on Amazon and through iMedia, the idea also existed in the real world.

An actual, humongous flag measuring 117 feet x 52 feet was stitched together, with fabric swatches tagged with the online stories and displayed at a 4th of July event at Bryant Park in New York City, complete with Katherine McPhee singing a heartfelt rendition of the national anthem.