Olympic sponsor awareness tested by Opinium
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Since January 2012, Opinium Research has been keeping a close eye on the brands benefitting most out of the London 2012 Olympics. When asking the nation (a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults): who do you think are the official Olympics Games partners, Opinium Research found: · Only 10% of Brits are aware that BMW are an Olympics partner, a result which remains steady each month · McDonalds and Coca-Cola consistently come out on top with almost half of the nation aware they are partners; and awareness has significantly increased since January as we get closer to the games.
According to the researchers, this highlights the success and experience of these global brands in sponsoring major sporting competitions, although it seems that global sports supporters such as official Olympic sponsors Samsung and Panasonic have yet to be fixed in the minds of UK consumers as key associates. Both brands fall outside the top 10 after Opinium’s most recent survey. ·It remains to be seen in future surveys if Samsung’s major investment in the Torch relay pays dividends in terms of host nation awareness.
The Opinium research has already notes some positive trends for key associates, as the survey has been completed monthly since January. As the Olympics draws nearer, awareness of EDF, BT and BP has risen · Awareness in Coca-Cola has risen the most with an increase of 10 points from January to April.
The survey also shows something of a halo effect on behalf of rival brads who are not on the official roster. Opinium states that “It seems the public is getting confused with the Big Six as a fifth (22%) of Brits mistakenly believe EDF’s rival, British Gas, is a partner · Visa, British Airways and Lloyds TSB may also be annoyed at their competitors’, MasterCard, Virgin Atlantic and HSBC, gaining from their reputations as a partners.” In April 2012, Opinium Research asked 2,014 UK adults if they believed the following companies (amongst a whole host of others including all the official sponsors) were official partners and found that the following brands seem to be benefitting despite not being official Olympic sponsors:
