Is official Olympics sponsorship worth it? New research highlights the winners and losers from the last games, and looks at the impact ahead of Rio 2016.
Greenlight research discovers what marketers can learn from the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012 and how brands without a huge sponsorship budget can make the most of all the hype around the summer of sports.
The study found that brands sponsoring this year’s Olympics won’t resonate with 47% of UK consumers as almost half of Brits admit that sponsoring the Olympics and Paralympics wouldn’t impact their perception of the brand, according to research from digital marketing agency Greenlight. In fact, almost one in five (18%) consumers said they wouldn’t even notice if a brand was to sponsor the tournament.
Key findings
• Sponsorship is worth the investment for some brands: Coca Cola and McDonalds came out top with 42% and 38% of people remembering their presence in 2012, making them the most memorable sponsors from the Olympics and Paralympics 2012.
• Sponsorship is money down the drain for many household names: TV advertising is still king: 30% of Brits say they remember a brand’s sponsorship from TV. Product design comes in second with 11% of people remembering a brand’s sponsorship after seeing it on a product.
• Stunts are extravagant but ineffective: only 10% of consumers remember stunts from the Olympics & Paralympics 2012
• No UK consumers remember one of the biggest brand sponsors from the 2012 games, Acer, and only 11% remember P&G’s infamous ‘mother’ campaign. Similarly only 17% of consumers remember Samsung from the last Olympics and Paralympics.
With brands spending up to £64 million on Olympics sponsorship in 2012, Greenlight’s research finds that most consumers can’t even remember the brands presence during the Games, with no UK consumers remembering one of its biggest spenders, Acer, at all. Only 17% remember Samsung’s campaign and worse still, just one in ten (11%) remember P&G’s ‘mother’ campaign. But, not all brands went unnoticed – Coca Cola and McDonalds, two of the biggest sponsors, came out king with 42% and 38% of people referencing these two companies as memorable Olympics and Paralympics sponsors.
In a bid to understand how brands can learn from previous marketing campaigns around the 2012 London Olympics, Greenlight commissioned the research to find the younger audience as the most receptive of sports sponsorship – almost half (49%) of 16-29 year olds feel their opinion of a brand would be improved if they were to sponsor the games, the highest out of any age group. When it comes to effective communication during the Games, the traditional means of TV advertising comes out on top with 30% of Brits saying they remember a brand’s sponsorship from its TV advert. Product design comes in as the second most effective tool with 21% remembering a brand sponsoring the Olympics as it was clear on its products, followed by social media with one in ten (11%) respondents remembering brands from the Games due to its use of effective social media campaigns.
So what do marketers need to know when it comes to making the most of sponsoring the upcoming Rio Olympics? For those marketers without a multi-million dollar budget, Andreas Pouros, COO and co-founder at Greenlight offers his advice on how to make the most of a summer of sport in 2016:
1. TV advertising is still key. Similar to 2012, TV advertising is the way to go with 73% intending to watch the Games on TV this summer. For those brands that don’t have a marketing budget to cover the cost of TV spend, today’s digitally savvy consumer will also be looking online for updates and analysis – 23% said online content will be their go-to and 16% cited social media. Marketers can take advantage of this to target their audience by ensuring they build effective strategies to ensure their brand comes out on top when people are searching for content around the Olympics this summer.
2. Remember online advertising around the 2012 Olympics. With almost one in five (17%) having not forgotten online advertising around the last Olympics, marketers should build an online advertising strategy that tailors adverts exactly to what their audience will be watching and engaging with.
3. A picture tells a thousand words. 18% remember brand’s use of image from the 2012 games. Marketers can take advantage of the power of imagery for their 2016 games by ensuring their online content and social media channel use striking and thought provoking imagery.
4. Stunts are short lived. Considering its potentially high cost, marketers should consider longer running campaigns to ensure their brand isn’t forgotten once the summer is over, as only 10% of UK consumers remember stunts from the 2012 Olympics.
Source: www.greenlightdigital.com