Non-Olympic Sponsor Nike is Most Associated Brand with London 2012

Sports apparel giant Nike is the brand most affiliated with the 2012 Olympics even though it is a non-Olympic sponsor according to new research by digital agency Jam.

Research on web buzz, carried out by BrandWatch, commissioned by digital agency Jam – from 1 December to 7 February, shows that Nike is dominating conversations on the internet, with 7.7% of the conversations about the Olympics associated with the brand.

By contrast, Adidas is only pulling in 0.49% of conversations, despite a reported £100m sponsorship deal to be the official Olympic sponsor.

In January, Nike launched its “#Make it Count” campaign, which features a number of British, Nike-sponsored athletes, such as cyclist Mark Cavendish, through black-and-white photographs.

Observers believe the campaign has clearly resonated with the public as being aligned to the Olympics, despite Nike not being a sponsor and not breaking any Olympic rules in the campaign.

HSBC is the brand that is receiving the second-most buzz on the web in relation to the Games, but it is far behind Nike with just 0.68% of the web buzz.

Coca-Cola and British Airways have come in third and fourth, ahead of Adidas in fifth.

Coca-Cola has come out on top of the “Olympic Sponsors’ social leader board”, which takes into account Facebook fans, Facebook engagement, Twitter followers and YouTube video views.

The drinks brand had 38.9 million Facebook fans, half-a-million Twitter followers and 55 million YouTube views on the 7 February.

Samsung Mobile claimed second place in the table, while BMW, Adidas and McDonald’s came in third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Separately, the three most-followed UK athletes on Twitter are tennis player Andy Murray, Mark Cavendish and diver Tom Daley.

by Ismail Uddin