london 2012: the #social olympics
DESCRIPTION
A review of how brands connected with fans during the London Games. MINI Cooper, Cadbury, Adidas, and more #CMCADigitalTRANSCRIPT
The SocialOlympics
Image Credit: Cadbury
Communica wanted to define best prac7ces within social media during the London Olympic Games. We also wanted to inves7gate any opportuni7es that may have been missed as brands struggled to create connec7ons during the first Social Olympics. Focus points: Occasions to celebrate original ideas. Response strategies that may have enabled people to feel a part of the Olympic experience. Truly engaging social content that inspired sharing and connectedness.
Key Learnings Defining an effec7ve use of Real-‐Time media during the games… McDonalds was one of the most social brands, but nega7ve comments made up most of their 24 % share. At 7mes McDonalds seemed unprepared to respond to the level of nega7ve comments. -‐Brand reputa7on requires immediate and consistent response. For Cadbury responding and co-‐crea7on enabled marketers to leverage natural people-‐to-‐people connec7ons. -‐Amplify use of real-‐7me media with crea7ve social content in exis7ng community spaces. Coca-‐Cola, Samsung and Adidas nurtured enthusiasts wan7ng to connect with peers, encouraging them to share their emo7ons with the rest of the world. -‐ Added benefits: emo7onal connectedness, contributory data and organic growth.
Source: Interpublic Group's Momentum and Radian6
What brands were really ready for London2012? Fans did not seem to be cap7vated by "branded discussions” during these Olympic games. Brands that created emo7onal connec7ons seemed to be experiencing the games, right along with the fans. Content and messages not only engaged fans, but also enabled encounters that made people feel like they were personally a part of the Olympics. They became reporters, storytellers, and their heart-‐felt excitement reached every corner of earth. Moving from a “the-‐Games” to a “my-‐games” mindset… With less than 400 days 7ll the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, brands must learn to nurture, not force, social interac7ons and with earned media winning the Gold.
Inspired fans wanted to connect. Brands should have interacted, and in real-‐7me, celebra7ng with fans. When athletes posted real-‐7me and behind the scenes content, fans felt close to the ac7on. Fans shared content, frequently tagging athletes and brands. Opportunity missed: We noted few instances where brands responded. A need for more images from the athletes/brands, not just of the athletes/brands.
Facebook reports over 116 million posts and comments rela7ng to the
games and athletes. 12.2 million Likes.
Usain Bolt [most liked athlete]
Facebook likes increased by more than one million reach more than
8.9 million connec7ons.
Image Credit: hap://usainbolt.com Stats Facebook
80,000 Tweets per min as he won the 200M Gold
Source: Twiaer
When the Athletes and the Fans were front and center the messages seemed REAL
Authen7city: Fan-‐generated images became an emerging source of content and people around the world couldn’t get enough. Some of the most compelling images came from fan’s real-‐7me perspec7ve. The rest of the world: We wanted to feel like we were there… and social media gave us a real-‐life, vantage point.
People “celebrated” connected: People wanted to par7cipate, be a part of the the games. In person or via real-‐7me media fans, wanted to discover, connect, report/inform and share… OpportuniIes missed: Celebrate the global reach of the Olympic games, thorough the unique perspec7ve of local stories Respond to comments of global fans wan7ng to know more. Reward with repos7ng / twee7ng original content and crea7ve dialogues Offer meaningful real-‐7me resources
SenIment via emoto
The Rela7ve Status and Poten7al of The London 2012 Sponsors
Our Points of total agreement… • Most campaigns did not take real-‐7me media seriously. Many used social media as a channel to simply echo
adver7sing campaigns but failed to interact or enable people to use the content crea7vely.
• Authen7c messages and content seemed to help smaller brands move up in the Sociagility PRINT™ rankings
“The brands that led the Sociagility PRINT™ rankings were those that used social media to
focus on engagement not just brand awareness.”
Brands that focused on engagement and interac2on were able to build trust, offer relevance and support las7ng emo7onal connec7ons with fans. Integra7on within social media was cri7cal. Sociagility’s PRINT™ findings confirm that some brands may have missed opportuni7es to connect with fans due to the lack of social integra7on and the ability to move beyond lead genera7on and awareness as an underlying communica7on goal. Source: Sociagility followed 25 brands from 18, April to 12, August 2012, They study looked at 4 social networks and 5 dimensions of social media performance. In the process they collected 43,500 individual data points.
Poten7al dimensions (engagement and interac2on) moved about as “social” interac7on defined new leaders
Findings suggest: Status dimensions of social media performance (awareness and reach) stayed “rela7vely constant” across brands
When marketers elected to "humanize” Olympic brands they were able to connect in more meaningful ways.
Lesson learned: Sustainable one-‐to-‐one
connec7ons requires authen7city, emo7on, convic7on and then… a response.
Nega7ve sen7ment hints to the need for brands and media to pay closer aaen7on to viewers before the winter games.
Viewers had rather strong opinions to share during the closing ceremony and they expected to be heard…
This Twiaer comparison of BMW and AUDI reflects BMW’s ability to maintain a good share of the twiaerverse during the games. S7ll, the ability to leverage this aaen7on for stronger connec7ons may have been missed. YouGov's BrandIndex service reflects BMW experiencing a sharp decline in U.S. brand percep7on during the games. Americans were not in London. Perhaps “social-‐friendly” experiences designed to sa7sfy those abroad, wishing for a BMW Olympic view, would have helped. Or, simply recognizing and responding to fans-‐at-‐home would have encouraged them to feel a part of the games. Sponsored “social” content and occasions seemed to be missing… BMW offered liale opportunity for fans-‐at-‐home to truly connect with and share the BMW or MINI brand. Even the grand BMW Olympic Pavilion had rela7vely small trac7on across social media. At the same 7me, fans were discovering the now famous MINI Minis, and asking for more. MINI Minis was not scripted, but soon the fan generated social content enjoyed organic growth and aaen7on across social plaporms.
Communica mined Vigiglobe to reflect share of Twiaer for BMW from 20, July to
9, September 2012
Source: Vigiglobe teamed up with Kantar to monitor Tweets “specifically” men7oning the Olympic sponsors and their key compe7tors. Source: YouGove| U.S.-‐facing London 2012 Olympics sponsors were measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through adver7sing, news or word of mouth, was it posi7ve or nega7ve?
Immersive Shopping Experiences
We would have loved to see MINI UK support shopping with discovery.
For instance, mobile interac7on that encouraged people to seek out hidden elements within the store. Use of augmented reality,
check-‐ins and social media to curate user-‐generated content. This would allow fans to feel a part of the environment.
Advantages: Shopping becomes more of an occasion, worth social
sharing of the space and of course, the MINI brand.
Discovered, Viewed and Shared Hey look what I found “MINI Minis”
“Turns out some of the best stuff is the things that you don’t usually see on the TV coverage. The hammers (and the shot, discus and javelins) are all returned to the athletes in radio controlled mini Mini Coopers, operated by some of the 70,000 games maker volunteers – had I known this could be part of their job, I would have definitely applied”
NATHAN BARRY Wired
“I’m On It” Fan’s responded A cycle-‐of-‐courtesy was naturally created as fans enthusias7cally begged for more images of the MINI Minis, those aaendance, were thrilled to respond and accommodate their wishes.
Surprise ConnecOons and Data Driven DesOnaOons Our favorite example of naturally discovered and naturally shared content. Real-‐7me connectedness came into play as a result of MINI’s mini remote control cars. The MINI Minis were created to assist with the javelin and discus retrieval, but fans fell in love with them. The result: Relevant branded, but s7ll original content that supported posi7ve sen7ment, awareness and enormous levels of data. MINI will need to transi7on this data into insight, offering what’s next (e.g. content / posi7oning) and ensuring relevance and targeted response scenarios. MINI branded content and original content united. Opportunity: Responding to original content becomes a form of celebra7on and creates strong connec7ons.
Fan posted image via Facebook
Moving from engage to connect MINI UK connected with on Facebook via “Hear the Roar” Driven by “Emo7on” MINI wanted to bring fans into the cheering sec7on crea7ng unique connec7ons with enthusiasts via Hear The Roar. The co-‐created, roaring content was naturally prone to sharing, but may not have created the las7ng emo7onal triggers MINI was hoping for. Smart: MINIUK has done an outstanding job with responding to comments within the MINIUK YouTube channel.
MINIUK via YouTube click image or copy url hap://www.youtube.com/user/MINIUnitedKingdom?feature=watch
along with fans…
Cadbury Celebrated
“Social networks are a place to talk about friends, family and the things that interest you – for an event which interests the na7on in such a powerful way, being a sponsor has allowed us to remain meaningful and relevant.”
Jerry Daykin, Cadbury London 2012's social media /community manager
Case Study: Crea7ve, Immersive, Emo7onal Social Media
Measured Social media success: ROI – Connectedness, insight and understanding • SM channels quickly reaching more than 7.5
million during the Olympic Games • 2.5 million fans / followers UK SM
Noted Growth: • 25,000 followers added @CadburyUK
• (Total) 75,000+ • 40,000+ images tagged #Cadbury -‐ Instagram • 2.5 million Google+
Cadbury’s Goals: • Break boundaries and go places we haven’t
gone before e.g. pushing our digital marke7ng exper7se
• Bring an entrepreneurial spirit to the business
• Do things differently with our customers, consumers, colleagues and communi7es
Cadbury's sponsorship took full advantage of every opportunity to include people within their message. The brand co-‐celebrated the games. Other ac7vity: Spots v Stripes, the Crème Egg Goo Games and Keep Team GB Pumped. Cadbury House offered interac7ve experiences for Olympic Fans with the advantages of hyper-‐social sharing built in. RFID technology enabled visitors to effortlessly share the fun with friends as they naturally moved about the Cadbury House. The messages became co-‐created, emo7on-‐driven content for the brand.
Source: Inside the Games
An ideal mix of original and branded content was shared via Social Media, including immersive in person experiences via Facebook
Source Cadbury via Instagram
Opportunity missed: Meaningful use of the emo7on-‐driven content that fans shared and curated during the games. Brands had the ability to strengthen 7es with fans by rewarding fans with their aaen7on. A powerful incen7ve and a very personal form of response. Co-‐Curate the story! Along with fans…simply repin and share crea7ng a contextual fan-‐driven, branded view of the Games.
Across the US and 64 countries including Africa and Asia people watched 231 million total streams. Of those, 72 million total streams came from IOC YouTube Channel. YouTube saw more than half a million livestreams at the same 7me. • The U.S. Olympic Commiaee YouTube Channel
uploaded a behind the scenes video reaching 6.75 million views
• More original content came from 50 YouTube creators who “Invaded” London and shared their views
In the States YouTube partnered with NBCOlympics.com. • More than 159 million total streams • Through NBC’s na7ve apps, 37 percent of views
came from mobile devices, and more than half were in HD
Source: YouTube Click image or copy url hap://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UcmoRy444MY
How the World consumed and shared #London2012 via YouTube
The New York Times shares a collec7on of favorite professional images
Benefits from sharing original images (Instagram/Twiaer): • Celebrate along with Fans • Authen7c content • Real-‐7me view • Viral content
Tagging content owners leverages social sharing
Image&Source:&Chung&Sung0Jun/Ge4y&Images&AsiaPac)&
South&Korea's&Hyeonwoo&Kim&
Be Global… Reach Local Celebrate the Olympic Spirit via original or branded content across real-‐7me media plaporms using local hash tag strategy and local posi7oning. South Korea is certainly becoming a na7on of champions across many sports, and they con7nue to be leaders in the adop7on of technology.
We shared more than 150 million Tweets about the Olympics during the 16 ac7ve days of the Olympic
Games.
P&G’s “Thank You Mom” campaign created emo7onal connec7ons that remained strong even
a�er the games had ended.
Telling the Olympic story through the eyes of our Olympian moms created emo7onal connec7ons that
moved across Twiaer, Facebook and YouTube.
Source: P&G’s YouTube channel Click image or copy url: hap://youtu.be/HbhzLI-‐vNjE
Adidas created emo7onal connec7ons at Wespield Strapord City by simply having David Beckham drop-‐into fans live photo sessions. The events created social content that touched the world.
Click image or copy url hap://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0OzSpzYe6I#
The surprise of a life7me
@deannalawrence
dlawrence@communica-‐usa.com