Marketers spend hundreds of millions of dollars around their Olympic sponsorships, but consumers often don't appear to be aware of who has paid to attach their name to the games. Worse yet, they often think that honor belongs to a major rival.
Global News
Consumers Don't Really Know Who Sponsors the Olympics
In Survey, Respondents Incorrectly Cite Nike, Pepsi and Even Google as Brands Behind the Games
Source: Toluna
In an online survey of 1,034 U.S. consumers last week, 37% of respondents identified Nike as an Olympic sponsor, and just 24% said, correctly, that Adidas is one. That may be partly due to Nike 's success in identifying its brands with serious athletes of all types. Nike is also a master of ambush marketing, breaking a global campaign today -- the opening day of the Olympic Games in London -- that features ordinary athletes competing around the world in places outside England that happen to be called London. The campaign, from Wieden & Kennedy, is called "Find Your Greatness."
Coca-Cola was cited by 47% of respondents as an Olympic sponsor, more than any other brand, but 28% incorrectly believed that Pepsi is a sponsor. One of the most-cited brands was McDonald's, correctly named by 40% of respondents, but 19% of those surveyed believed Burger King is an Olympic sponsor. (It's unclear whether respondents understood that marketers pay for category exclusivity and so Coke and Pepsi, for instance, can't both be sponsors).
Respondents who identified brands as sponsors, whether correctly or incorrectly, were then asked if that Olympic sponsorship makes them feel more positive about that brand. Some of the highest response rates were for brands that aren't sponsors -- 54% of respondents said Olympic sponsorship made them feel more positively about Nike , 52% said the same about Burger King and 48% about Pepsi.
In one of the oddest findings, perhaps influenced by what a pervasive presence Google is in the everyday life of internet users, 16% of respondents incorrectly identified Google as an Olympic sponsor. And 60% of those asked the second question about their feelings toward Olympic sponsors said that the sponsorship made them feel more positively about Google.
The responses were part of a Toluna Global Omnibus Survey conducted July 16-18 by Toluna, an online panel and survey technology provider to the market research industry.
