As Vancouver Olympics End LBi Shows Sponsors Visa and McDonald’s Lead in Social Media Conversation

March 3, 2010 - PRLog -- With the conclusion of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, new social media research shows only Visa and McDonald’s realized significant sustained social media conversation throughout the first 12 days of the Olympics.  The research by LBi Atlanta shows most Olympic sponsors failed to take advantage of their massive sponsorship deals to engage their customers in digital conversations throughout the Olympic Games using the social web.

Key LBi Olympic Social Media Study Results:
•   Visa saw a 13 percent increase in social media conversation
•   McDonald’s saw a nine percent increase in social media conversation
•   Omega saw just a two percent increase
•   Samsung saw just a one percent increase

The results of this “LBi Social Media Deep Impact” Olympic study were released today.  The study was conducted by LBi Atlanta (www.LBiAtlanta.com), the global marketing and technology agency.  

Visa’s Results
The LBi Atlanta research concluded that Visa’s campaign was successful because they effectively tapped into our collective desire to personally connect with and share stories. Visa’s powerful advertising, featuring the personal stories of Olympians, connected directly to the Visa Go World microsite and Facebook Fan page, making it easy for customers engage in conversations about the athletes’ stories.

McDonald’s Results
McDonald’s results were mixed. “McDonald’s was successful at facilitating increased conversation volume because it tied its social media efforts around a new product launch, its new Sweet Chili sauce,” said LBi Atlanta CEO Joe Schab.  “Their Olympic social media strategy included a microsite that tied to the Sweet Chili sauce launch by directly calling it out, bridging the gap between the ads running during the Olympics and the digital marketing programs.”

Schab notes that McDonald’s effectively used their Twitter account and their Facebook page to actively respond to customers who had something to say about the sauce or other related topics.  On the other hand he says, consumers were quick to point out their belief that McDonald’s’ menu is not an authentic fit with the Olympic ideals. In fact, amongst blog articles mentioning McDonald’s and the Olympics, the word most associated with the articles was “obesity.”

Opportunities for Brands to Improve

“It’s clear from these results that most Olympic sponsors did not impact the level of social media conversations surrounding their brand,” said Michael Nurse, Customer Strategist for LBi Atlanta. “In most cases, the brands missed an opportunity to create social engagement by being part of the digital conversations driven by the incredible number of viewers who have a deep cultural interest in the Olympics.”

Methodology

LBi Atlanta used Sysomos, a leading provider of social media analytics, to track the companies’ social media impact.  Sysomos tracked mentions of Olympic sponsors in mainstream news articles, online forums, comments, blogs, and other social media sites. Olympic sponsors studied included Visa, McDonald’s, Omega, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, GE, Acer, Atos Origin.

LBi Atlanta did a similar study in February, examining the social media impact of Super Bowl advertisers.

About LBi Atlanta
LBi Atlanta is a full service global digital marketing and technology agency and a member of LBi International AB's worldwide portfolio of interactive agencies, providing award-winning strategy, creative, and technology solutions for leading brands around the world. LBi’s clients include Bayer CropScience, Roche Diagnostics, Newell Rubbermaid, Calphalon, Graco, Rubbermaid, and TheLadders. Learn more at http://www.lbiatlanta.com.

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Leff & Associates is an Atlanta-based PR agency specializing in media relations, media training and crisis communications.