GLOBAL, AUGUST 6 – Olympic sponsors are indeed getting bang for their mega bucks, according to new research, which points to significant increases in interest out of the UK in the Summer Games.
Havas Sports & Entertainment, the event marketing unit of Paris-based Havas, showed a 20% jump among the UK public, who rated their interest as 10 out of 10 in the Games, which ends next week.
The study highlighted the role Olympic sponsors have played in driving up interest in the Games. There was a 76% jump in awareness across The Olympic Partner (TOP) program and Tier One London 2012 sponsors as they ramped up their marketing campaigns in the months leading to the Games.
HS&E conducted the study between March 2011 and April 2012. There was a 20% increase in interest – almost one in four (23.6%) – noted their interest in the Games were at the maximum level possible in the three-month before the Olympics.
This study was undertaken to identify the effects of Olympic Games’ sponsorship on sponsor brands, and to track interest in and attitudes towards the Games over a period of two-and-a-half years.
An earlier study by HS&E showed that sponsors were already enjoying “substantially stronger brand image and purchase intent” for the Games, which has one of the strictest anti-guerilla marketing efforts to protect sponsors’ investment.
Olympic sponsors were more likely to be viewed as “world-class” or “admired” by a quarter of respondents.
Lucien Boyer, president and global CEO of HS&E, said, “We’ve seen from our global work with 10 London 2012 sponsors that, at its best, Olympic sponsorship creates a virtuous cycle. The public is becoming increasingly enthusiastic about the Games as they approach, and the official sponsors are running more and more highly visible supporting activities. Our study shows that these forces have combined to produce ever-growing levels of recognition for sponsor associations, and increasingly effective marketing investments.”
