Olympic Sponsors’ Inspiration Wins Gold at ‘Social Games’

By now the Olympic Games in London are well under way. In fact, the first medal will have already been awarded—for the Women’s 10m air rifle competition (just so you know).

All eyes will be on the athletes, of course, but the 11 major Olympic sponsors are hoping all eyes will also be trained on their brands’ Facebook and Twitter pages, garnering awareness and engagement far beyond what a “normal” event might produce.

And because the Summer Olympics are special, occurring only every four years, social media pundits are saying that London just could be the coming-out party for all things social—even going so far as to tout the event as the “Social Games.” Indeed, organizations are paying big money to get involved, with the top Olympic sponsors paying a combined $1 billion to use the Olympic seal during the London Games.

A good chunk of that spend will be used for digital outreach, and for most of the major brands that outreach starts with Facebook—the big brands are using Facebook as the hub for all social activities. PR News decided to take a look at some of the brands’ Facebook efforts, what makes them distinctive and determine what best practices can be learned from their Olympic efforts.

BIG APP ATTACK

What we learned first about brands’ Facebook pages was they were defined by innovative apps created to draw the public into the social fray. Consider Samsung’s “Everyone’s Olympic Games” Facebook hub. According to Adam Vincenzini, head of social media at Melbourne, Australia-based Mango Communications, the highlight of the page is the Samsung Global Blogger area, which features posts from a blogging team—including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver—who are reporting on various happenings around London.

And then there’s candy maker Cadbury. Its “Choculator” app allows the user to pick one of the company’s chocolate bars and match it with an Olympic event. Voila! A clever fact appears. This writer paired a Crunchie bar with weight lifting, with the response, “The average male heavyweight lifter can lift 760 Cadbury Crunchie bars.” Now that’s a factoid that you definitely would share with friends.

Olympian Facebook Efforts

British Airways is one of the most innovative London 2012 sponsors on Facebook. Its Home Advantage app enables users to digitally drive a BA plane down their own street in England. “It helps relay the airline’s message that the entire country is behind Team Great Britain,” says Adam Vincenzini of Mango Communications.

Coca-Cola’s “Move to the Beat” asks people around the world to create their own personalized theme tune for London 2012. “The Facebook integration of this campaign is terrific,” says Vincenzini.

Panasonic has digitized a classic fan activity, allowing people to show their national colors by virtually painting their face on the company’s Facebook page. “This app has generated tons of shares and significant online buzz,” says Vincenzini.

ATHLETES RULE

One particularly engaging app, says Lynne Johnson, director of digital and social strategy, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, is GE’s HealthyShare app, which enables visitors to take fitness challenges and monitors their progress during the Games. Points are accrued by completing challenges, “liking” other people’s efforts and having people like your own efforts.

The beauty of GE’s app, says Johnson, is that the engagement activity is connected with athletes. For instance, Team USA basketball player Kevin Durant has a push-up challenge, and USA women’s soccer player Alex Morgan has a yoga challenge. “Any initiative that is linked to an athlete will break out from the pack,” says Johnson.

INSPIRATION IMPACTS

Facebook efforts like GE’s may start with a clever app, but it’s all about inspiration once the engagement begins, says Priya Ramesh, director, Social Media Strategies at CRT/tanaka. And make no mistake, it’s the athletes that inspire, not the brands. Ramesh is particularly steadfast on that point. “I couldn’t care less about the apps and the gimmicks,” she says. “It does make an impact on me when Lebron James sends a message through the Olympic channel that goes directly to me.”

In fact, Ramesh is avoiding brand social channels like the plague during this Olympics, turning instead to the Olympic Athletes Hub (hub.olympic.org/home/index), where she can find her favorite athletes and sign up to receive their posts.

That’s what excites Ramesh, who says she’s never been able to get closer to Olympic stars until now—via social media.

PEAKS AND VALLEYS

Of course, there will be social media hiccups: A Greek triple jumper was dropped from her country’s team before the Games began for comments she made on Twitter, and major sponsor McDonald’s lost considerable social credibility when London Mayor Boris Johnson defended the nutritional value of the company’s products.

WHO WILL WIN?

That may take McDonald’s out of medal contention. So which brands will win in these Games for their Facebook prowess?

Johnson says there’s really no contest: the most popular brands before the Games will most likely perform the best during the Games. They include Coca-Cola and British Airways (see Vincenzini’s critiques of those two, plus Panasonic). So it’s up to the other brands to be distinctive in their engagement: to perhaps inspire, as Ramesh suggests.

Perhaps that should be your Facebook goal as well. PRN

[Editor’s Note: Vincenzini, Johnson and Ramesh did not work on any of the major Olympic brands’ campaigns.
Learn more about social media strategies that work at the PR News Big 3 Conference—

Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest—set for August 9 in  San Francisco (prnewsonline.com/theBigthreeconference/).]

CONTACT:

Adam Vincenzini, [email protected]; Lynne Johnson, [email protected]; Priya Ramesh, [email protected].

Follow Scott Van Camp: @svancamp01