The document analyzes the social media performance of sponsors for a major summer sporting event. It finds that McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Samsung had the highest share of voice in social media conversations. However, a sentiment analysis showed that while McDonald's conversations were more negative, Coca-Cola and Samsung fared better, with Samsung having a net positive sentiment of +89. The involvement of Coca-Cola and Samsung in the torch relay was found to boost sentiment. The document provides recommendations for sponsors, including securing central exposure like Samsung did, being imaginative in activations, considering prior reputation, and earning the right to associate by providing value to the public.

1. Who is winning the
sponsorship race?
Summer of „social‟ sport puts
sponsor performance under the
microscope
Contact:
Dan Miles
Brand Insight Consultant
dan.miles@precise.co.uk
T. +44 (0)20 7264 4767
www.precise.co.uk

2. Agenda
Introduction and objective 3
Methodology 5
Findings 7
To conclude: tips for sponsoring future events 17
Disclaimer and notes 19
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3. Introduction and objective

4. Introduction and objective
 Becoming a sponsor of major sporting  Whilst many of the sponsors have been
events is now a calling card for brands seeking to create social media
seeking to reinforce their position as global conversations around their sponsorship, not
leaders or to propel themselves into that all conversation is good conversation.
league. In particular, brands have lined up to
be associated with “the greatest show on
Despite this, many of the medal tables
ranking the sponsors‟ social media
earth”.
performance are based only on volume, or
 This year, however, has seen sponsors on volume and automated sentiment.
come under the spotlight as never before. It
seems that social media has given voice to
 At Precise, we believe that in order to truly
identify the winning sponsors at the current
those who question the fit or indeed the
sports tournament, we need to go beyond
fitness of sponsors to be associated with
this, analysing conversations in depth in
major sporting events.
order to identify which of the sponsors with
 Following on from our analysis of the the greatest share of voice are being
reactions to sponsors in relation to the discussed most favourably.
recent European football tournament, we
have now analysed conversations around
 Our objective, therefore, is to go beyond
the buzz and identify those who are truly
sponsors in relation to the latest major
taking the sponsorship prizes – and why.
sporting event of the summer.
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5. Methodology

6. Methodology
 Share of voice is not the be all and end  Having identified the four sponsors with the
all, but it is important as a first step. We greatest share of voice, we conducted a
identified all mentions of the Worldwide sentiment analysis to understand which
Partners (Coca- brands were being discussed most
Cola, Acer, Omega, Dow, GE, Macdonald‟s, favourably.
Panasonic, P&G, Atos, Origin, Visa, Samsun
g) and Official Partners  Rather than relying on automated
(BP, BMW, Adidas, BT, EDF, Lloyds sentiment, we read a sample of the content
TSB, British Airways, London Olympics), in around each of the four brands with the
association with different ways of referring to greatest share of voice.
the sporting event currently taking place  Not only have we been able to identify the
within all available English language social brands that are being discussed most
media (blogs, forums, Twitter, public favourably, we have also been able, through
Facebook content, comments, video and this detailed content analysis, to understand
images). what has driven this success.
 Additionally, we compared the amount of  Our research covered the two weeks to 31
opinion-led content, compared to the sharing July, encompassing the latter stages of the
of news, competitions and so on, the Torch Relay, the Opening Ceremony and the
sponsors have been attracting, compared to first few days of competition.
the recent UEFA Euro 2012 tournament.
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7. Findings

8. Share of voice analysis - the global sponsors score big
 McDonald‟s, Coca-Cola and Samsung are  The other leading brands on share of voice
the three brands enjoying the greatest share also found that events in the host nation -
of voice within all English language social notably the torch relay - made a significant
media. contribution to their volumes of mentions.
 That all three are Worldwide Partners is  Some brands - including Adidas - drove
unlikely to be a coincidence, as this tier of traffic around hashtags rather than brand
sponsorship allows brands to promote their name mentions, but the top four based on
association globally, and our study is based brand name mentions were sufficiently
on all available English language social ahead of the rest for us to rely on this
media content, no matter where it was measure for share of voice.
generated.
 Of the Official Partners, who are only able
to promote their association in the host
nation, Adidas performs the best on share of
voice, standing fourth overall and
outperforming all of the other Global and
Official Partners.
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9. Share of voice analysis - the global sponsors score big
Level of conversation around Worldwide and Official Partners Level of conversation around Worldwide
(Top 10) Partners
(Top 3)
McDonald's
McDonald's
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Samsung
Adidas Samsung
P&G
0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000
BMW
Level of conversation around Official Partners
(Top 3)
VISA
Adidas
General Electric
Panasonic BMW
Dow Chemicals British Airways
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000
Source: All accessible English language social media conversations around the Worldwide and Official Partners‟ sponsorship, 19/07/12 to 31/07/12
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10. Beyond buzz - not all publicity is good publicity
 Share of voice is only the start of the story.  Samsung, Adidas and Coca-Cola fare far
Content quality matters more than quantity. better in terms of favourability, with net
favourability scores of +89, +35 and +26
 Certain sponsors, such as respectively.
McDonald‟s, attracted a high proportion of
opinion-led content, whereas others, such as  With a net sentiment score of +89, it would
Samsung, were more successful at driving appear that Samsung has taken sponsorship
the sharing of news about them. gold, though Coca-Cola and Adidas were
Often, opinion-led content can be more successful in generating greater proportions
valuable than news sharing, demonstrating a of opinion-led content around them.
higher degree of engagement with the
brand‟s activities.
 When share of voice and favourability are
considered together, Samsung and Coca-
 However, as was the case during UEFA Cola currently appear best-placed to claim
Euro 2012, the high proportion of opinion-led sponsorship gold. After looking at the
content around McDonald‟s sponsorship of sentiment breakdown of all four brands, we
the current sporting event is being driven move on to consider what is driving
more by unfavourable than favourable sponsorship success.
comments, leaving McDonald‟s with a
negative net favourability score of -7. On this
basis, it is hard to argue that McDonald‟s
has won sponsorship gold.
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11. Beyond buzz - sentiment analysis on the top four sponsors by SOV
Samsung: share of sentiment Coca-Cola: share of sentiment
Neutral
Unfavourable 5% Neutral
3%
6%
Unfavourable
34% Favourable
60%
Favourable
92%
Net Favourability: +89 Net Favourability: +26
McDonald's: share of sentiment Adidas: share of sentiment
Neutral
25% Neutral
Favourable 35%
34% Favourable
50%
Unfavourable
41% Unfavourable
15%
Net Favourability: -7 Net Favourability: +35
Source: All accessible English language social media conversations around the Worldwide and Official Partners‟ sponsorship, 19/07/12 to 31/07/12
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12. Drivers of success - the torch relay ignites positivity
 The involvement of Coca-Cola and  Social media puts the activities and
Samsung in the Torch Relay is clearly a motivations of brands under a forensic lens.
contributory factor to their success – This makes it all the more important for
especially in the case of Coke. 12% of brands to be able to articulate a clear benefit
conversations about Coca-Cola and 5% of to the public from their sponsorship.
conversations about Samsung cited the Delivering the Torch Relay appears to have
Torch Relay. been viewed by the public as a clear and
legitimate benefit.
 It appears that the sponsors of the Torch
Relay have seen real benefits through their  Of course, the benefits of the Torch Relay
association with an event that has brought may not play out at a global level, but this
the excitement of the current spectacle to only highlights the importance of delivering
more people. This appears to be one of the real, tangible benefits at a level close
reasons why Coca-Cola and Samsung have enough to consumers that they can engage
out-performed McDonald‟s so far in terms of with it.
public favourability towards their
sponsorship.
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13. Drivers of success - amplification
 Coca-Cola succeeded in amplifying its  The inclusion of prominent popular
sponsorship of the Torch Relay via its „Move figures, such as Mark Ronson, in the
to the Beat‟ music events, with „beat‟ campaign was also a contributory factor to
mentioned 600 times in association with its success, tapping into popular culture to
Coca-Cola over the two weeks researched. inspire excitement around the Olympics.
 The success of „Move to the Beat‟ in  Of course, when amplifying an
driving conversations mentioning Coke aim association, it helps if the events being
provides further evidence that the public amplified are a success, and the success of
values tangible benefits delivered by the Torch Relay has clearly fed the success
Olympic sponsors, above and beyond their of „Move to the Beat‟ – and vice-versa.
financial contribution to the staging of the
sporting events.
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14. Drivers of success – taking centre stage
 With venues „clean‟ of sponsoring  The Galaxy devices were mentioned in
brands, it is arguably more difficult for more than a third of all comments about the
sponsors to gain exposure and create brand, demonstrating that the central role
association than it is at other major events. secured for the device did indeed drive
interest in Samsung, enhancing the profile
 This is why Samsung‟s securing of a role the Galaxy S III in particular was already
within the Opening Ceremony for its Galaxy enjoying as the official phone.
S III and Galaxy Note devices was such a
coup for the brand, securing a huge level of  It will be difficult for every sponsor to pull
exposure and - importantly - giving the brand off a coup on this scale, but it is clear that
a meaningful role over and above its role as the exposure and the imagination on display
a sponsor. contributed significantly to Samsung‟s
success as a sponsor.
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15. Limitations on success - association to other sponsors
 Adidas, as a sports brand, arguably has  It seems that Adidas has suffered
the most obvious natural fit with sporting somewhat by being associated to other
tournaments, and it out-performed „corporate‟ sponsors, whereas this
McDonald‟s in terms of favourability, just as association was not made to any great
it did during UEFA Euro 2012, gaining a net extent during UEFA Euro 2012.
sentiment score of +35.
 It also appears that Adidas has not
 However, Adidas‟ performance as a received as much credit for being the
sponsor of the current sporting event does manufacturer of kits as it did at the recent
not appear to equal its success as a sponsor football tournament.
of UEFA Euro 2012, with Adidas frequently
cited alongside other high profile Worldwide
sponsors in critical comments.
 Some social media users are critical of
what they see as the commercialisation of
sporting events, and high-profile sponsors
including Adidas have suffered as a result.
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16. Limitations on success - fit and fitness
 The more unfavourable response to  Coca-Cola - albeit to a lesser extent than
McDonald‟s sponsorship of the Games is McDonald‟s - also attracted criticism on this
consistent with our findings when we basis. Coca-Cola was often cited alongside
analysed conversations around the sponsors McDonald‟s in conversations about the
of UEFA Euro 2012. brands‟ perceived “unfitness”.
However, there were fewer conversations
 McDonald‟s appears to struggle to criticising Coca-Cola in isolation than there
establish a clear perceived right to be a were for McDonald‟s.
sponsor of sports tournaments, with some
social media users again questioning the fit -
and in some cases the fitness - of
McDonald‟s as a sponsor.
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17. To conclude – tips for
sponsoring future events

18. To conclude - tips for sponsoring future sports events
1. Take centre stage for maximum exposure 3 Take account of prior reputation
Sponsoring brands should consider how to Sponsoring major sporting events is not a
replicate Samsung‟s coup in securing a central reputational panacea, and can serve to give
role in the Opening Ceremony, in order to greater exposure to negativity around a
secure the exposure that sponsoring the brand, or to cause it to be associated with
current sporting event, with its „clean‟ other sponsors who are perceived negatively.
venues, does not necessarily guarantee. Considering what the potential negatives are
and how to to proactively manage them will be
2. Be imaginative increasingly important, with future sporting
Samsung‟s role in the Opening Ceremony and events likely to become ever more social.
Coke‟s amplification of the Torch Relay were
imaginative. They went well beyond the 4. Earn the right
traditional mechanics of Paying for association with major sporting
sponsorship, harnessing elements of pop events appears no longer to be enough to
culture, and cut through as a result. create permission in the mind of the public. To
win hearts and minds and earn the right to
association, the public appears to need to
believe that a brand is creating value through
its sponsorship. Identifying a clear and useful
role to play can help a sponsor achieve
this, but in particular, creating opportunities for
the public to participate earns sponsors the
right.
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19. Disclaimer and notes

20. Disclaimer and notes
Disclaimer Notes to editors
 This briefing note is not intended to imply  Precise regularly reviews the performance
any association between Precise and any of sponsors of sporting events, using social
particular sponsor or event being sponsored. media as a research source. This research
The analysis has been conducted follows up on Precise‟s research of sponsor
independently, and is part of a series of performance at UEFA Euro 2012, and
analyses Precise conducts into sponsorship Precise will be comparing and contrasting
effectiveness. sponsor performance at future events.
 Precise‟s research papers into sponsorship
at other events over this summer are
available on request.
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21. Thank you.