Winter Olympics: Who is winning the official sponsor race?

Ted MarzilliCEO YouGov Direct
February 20, 2014, 12:39 PM GMT+0

With $900 million on the line with American advertisers for the Sochi Winter Olympics, Chobani and Visa have received the biggest consumer perception boosts so far among the official sponsors.

While official sponsors such as Volkswagen, AT&T and The Hartford have made strides with their consumer perception, none of them have achieved the statistically significant improvement of Chobani and Visa.

However, no brands have moved the needle significantly on purchase consideration, an indicator of strong potential sales. The two brands which have come closest to achieving numbers are Chobani and Nike.

Chobani seems to be firing on all cylinders during the tournament: not only have they achieved the biggest positive swing in consumer perception and had notable impact on purchase consideration, but they also made the largest gain in word of mouth.

Before the opening ceremonies even took place, team sponsor Chobani made an unintended splash when their shipment of Greek yogurt headed to the Olympic village was rejected by Russian officials for “improper paperwork.” Chobani upped the coverage by donating the 5,000 yogurt cups to food banks around the United States.

Visa, an Olympics mainstay, became the first sponsor to use paid search to drive visitors to its Tumblr account. The ads have been appearing on both Google and the Yahoo Bing Network. Visa’s current Morgan Freeman-narrated campaign “celebrates that incredible moment when an Olympic athlete knows they nailed their performance,” spotlighting several notable competitors and their preparation.

Worldwide and U.S. sponsors of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics were measured with three of YouGov BrandIndex’s scores: Buzz ("If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?"), Purchase Consideration ("When you are in the market next to purchase office supplies, from which of the following brands would you consider purchasing?”) and Word Of Mouth ("Which of the following brands have you talked about with friends and family in the past two weeks -- whether in person, online or through social media?"). All respondents were age 18 and over.

YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score ranges from 100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.

The Purchase Consideration and Word Of Mouth scores range is from 0% to 100%.

Buzz: Winter Olympic Sponsors

Buzz: Winter Olympic Sponsors

WOM: Winter Olympic Sponsors

WOM: Winter Olympic Sponsors

Purchase Consideration: Winter Olympic Sponsors

Purchase Consideration: Winter Olympic Sponsors