Demand rises for Olympic sponsors

Olympic sponsorship seems to be paying off in China, according to Universal McCann's Media in Mind research.

Sampled from ten tier one, two and three cities, 37 per cent of the respondents said that they would start buying, or increase their purchases of, Olympic sponsors’ products and services. The figure is composed of first-time intent to purchase (18 per cent) and those who intend to buy more (19 per cent).

Despite criticisms of the lack of creativity in the use of athletes in the run up to the Olympics, 66 per cent of the sampled consumers said they preferred to buy celebrity-endorsed products and 50 per cent noted that they were encouraged by the mere inclusion of the Olympic symbol. This can probably be attributed to the importance placed on ‘trustworthiness’, which was identified as the most important aspect for 55 per cent of people responding to Olympics-related messages.

It appears that Olympic sponsors are achieving two key objectives with their marketing, said Universal McCann China CEO Manpreet Singh. There is an increase in the consumer base with large numbers of first-time buyers responding to Olympic-related marketing and buying Olympic sponsors’ products and services. Secondly, they are strengthening affinity among current consumers and increasing purchases. The net effect is a huge upswing in demand for Olympic-sponsoring products and services.