The pressure to win during the 2014 Sochi Olympics is nearly as intense for marketers as it is for the athletes themselves. Companies pay as much as $100 million for exclusive rights to sponsor
Olympic teams, while others shell out tens of thousands hoping to score
gold by backing individual athletes. Many companies believe that companies being associated with a medal winner is the easiest way to capture the goodwill created by the Olympics.
The catch is that brands have to ready to capitalize on a good performance, but plan for a mediocre one. The advertising winners of this year managed to both harness the feel-good
nature of the Olympics and convey a message about their products. Often, the unpredictability of the Olympics can work in a company's favor, when an underdog sponsored athlete suddenly wins gold. But
there’s another side to this...
What happens when the athletes fall under expectations? For example, Under Armor spent years developing and advertising the high-tech suit for
the U.S. speed skating team, which was heavily favored to win coming into
competition. But when the team failed to medal, there became a negative association with Under Armor as some blamed
the suit.
Check out which marketers came out with the gold this year, and which other one's fell short here!
http://www.nwherald.com/2014/02/20/sochis-olympic-advertising-winners-and-losers/avnpsq2/
This is terrible! Proves that being selective with "faces of the brand" is very important. Although the Sochi Olympics is a prestigious event, companies should consider the best and worst scenarios for every campaign.
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