P&G's "Thank You Mom" Campaign To Raise Additional $20M For Youth Sports Program

IOC TOP sponsor Procter & Gamble "will be raising" an extra $20M for its global youth sports program as part of its "Thank You Mom" activity, according to Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith of BRAND REPUBLIC. The company intends to raise the money "over the next 10 years as part of its partnership with the IOC, to give children the opportunity to practise sports by supplying facilities and training across the globe." The money will add to the $5M "already raised since January for the same cause." P&G Global Brand Building Officer Marc Pritchard said, "This announcement means extending our plans until the end of our 10-year IOC partnership, working with NOCs from around the world to increase the opportunity for more children to experience sporting and Olympic values" (BRANDREPUBLIC.com, 8/10). 

RETHINK POSSIBLE: The FINANCIAL TIMES' Emily Steel writes advertisers have "tried to make the most of their Olympic tie-ins by deploying the latest technologies and storytelling techniques," and much of this effort "has been driven by the power of social media." Because so much online conversation "relates to events happening in real time, the companies have been forced to speed up turnround times and almost act like the news media to incorporate events of the day into their campaigns." AT&T negotiated with NBC to have five ads that "would include actual footage and most of those were processed in a 24-hour period." In a spot featuring Gold Medal-winning U.S. swimmer Rebecca Soni, AT&T "negotiated to execute a same-day turnround." Soni won the women's 200-meter breaststroke at about 4:00pm ET on Aug. 2, and NBC "quickly alerted AT&T that it planned to televise the race" at 9:30pm ET. AT&T "had pre-produced the bulk of the spot, but the time delay gave the marketer about five hours to tweak the commercial" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 8/10).

CHARTING UPWARD: The social media response to TV ads during the London Games was tracked by Cambridge, Mass.-based Bluefin Labs. Below is a chart showing which brands' spots "get Olympics viewers talking" (ADAGE.com, 8/9).