Prior to the Olympics we created some research showing that it was going to be more popular than the Royal Wedding or the Jubilee. And just seeing the outpouring of support, emotion and pride (in the real world as well as the social one) I don’t think many would argue against us that this was the most Meaningful Olympics ever.
There were some stunning viewing figures around the event – 90% of the UK population watching at least 15 minutes made it the biggest national TV event since records began while the opening ceremony gathered 27.3 million viewers, 84% share – as well as some truly astounding social media stats.
Athletes saw followers increase in the millions (Jess Ennis saw her Facebook likes increase by 3657%) while the total number of Tweets posted about the Olympics currently stands at more than 150 million.
However, as much of the prior news coverage focussed on, it was also an Olympics that blazed a trail for how to monetise massive global events.
In an official capacity there have been 53 brands involved and to quote marketing magazine, “This isn’t a 100m sprint. It’s more like a gruelling marathon: an intensely competitive crowded field jostling for advantage across arduous terrain”. But which brands have used their association to make a positive difference to people? Which brands have used this opportunity to leave a legacy after the games have passed? Which have been meaningful?
Unsurprisingly, the three Torch Presenting Partner brands (Samsung, Lloyds and Coca Cola) have made the greatest impact to communities simply through being partners in the Torch Relay, giving the brands ‘Olympic presence’ in towns and villages throughout the UK. As part of our Meaningful Brands research at MPGMC we know that feeling part of a community or a cause and developing links between people drives social wellbeing and the Torch Relay did this in buckets. The energy and buzz created by the branded teams were brilliant and seem to have been well received by people – as shown in the Public Reaction piece on Brand Republic on the 24th July
All three brands celebrated local community heroes through nominations to be a torch bearer; Coca Cola in particular allocated 1,300 through the Future Flames campaign.
Beyond the Torch Relay, these same brands have thought very carefully about how to make their sponsorship more Meaningful; Samsung have created the Hope Relay, an app that tracks every mile you walk, run or cycle and donates a pound to charity for each mile. Here at MPGPM the team have raised over £2,000. If we were to have one criticism it would be that Samsung don’t seem to have promoted this as much as they could. Only 13% of people on a tracker that we run monthly at MPGMC were aware of this and Samsung have extended the campaign period because they are short of the figure they pledged. Meaningful ideas need to be supported in order to make a big enough difference.
Consensus amongst many in our agency is that Lloyds TSB are top of the Meaningful Brands involved. Now that the Olympics are over there has been a huge enthusiasm for funding and promoting sports across the country and particularly in Schools. Lloyds were supporting this idea long before the games had begun. In conjunction with Youth Sports Trust they ran National School Sport Week in June, in which 4.3 million school children staged their own games. Lloyds got athletes involved to help kick start the week, thereby generating even more excitement.
Coca Cola work with the charity Street Games to help bring sport to more young people, particularly in deprived communities. As part of this partnership 45 kids were given paid jobs as part of the elite venue operations team at the Olympic Park. There was also an artwork programme for teenagers to create 7 canvases for the Park.
These examples show that a sponsorship can be so much more than a badge stamping, status building enterprise and that legacies can be created from sponsorships and that businesses can be a force for good
Possibly with a more interesting brief were the brands without Torch bearing sponsorship. As part of the ‘Thank You Mums’ campaign P&G set up the Mums Foundation (in conjunction with IPC) to award bursaries to Mums involved with helping children within their communities. They also put a significant amount of media weight behind the campaign and created a wealth of online video content to support the idea. However, while it is highly emotive and well received territory, the choice to use the corporate name means that linkage to the brand is weak. People still don’t know who P&G are. Meaningful ideas need to be understood to reach full potential.
EDF have also partnered with a youth charity, Envision, to launch the Legacy Champions programme designed to develop local community projects inspired by London 2012. It is part of a three year programme between EDF and Envision and sees 18 employees acting as mentors to young people involved on projects that will leave a legacy in the London boroughs hosting Olympic events. This is a positive example of a brand actively trying to create a legacy after the games have gone.
Because most of these initiatives have only been talked about in the digital space; (and primarily only within the brand websites they have only really cracked the ‘owned’ and ‘earned’ channels. However, if we were to pick one campaign that had real breakthrough it would be Lloyds TSB which has successfully raised the profile of their community involvement through referencing the schools activity in one of their Olympic TV adverts.
Do you think these brands should talk more widely about what they’re doing? Or simply ensure they are making their association more Meaningful without needing to talk about it?
