Despite difficult economic conditions in Europe, more than one-fifth of the continent’s sports fans said they intended to increase their usual consumer spending this summer during Euro 2012 and the Olympic Games, according to a study released this week by Havas Sports & Entertainment and Coca-Cola. Nearly one-quarter of respondents who identified themselves as fans of Euro 2012 claimed that they would consume more products during the tournament than before the matches started, namely: more food (23%), more alcoholic (20%) and non-alcoholic (16%) beverages and more national team merchandise (11%). Fans of the Olympic Games are similarly undeterred by the economy, according to the study: 17% of the respondents who identified themselves as Olympics fans said they will consume more food during the event than before or after the Games. Similarly, 14% said they will spend more on alcoholic beverages, and 8% said they will spend more on Olympic merchandise.
WORLD CUP NO. 1: The online study was conducted by market research company Toluna between April 23-May 8 using a sample of 1,000 people per country age 15-and-older from France, Germany, England, Spain and Belgium. Fans were categorized for their responses based on how they identified themselves as sports fans in general as well as being fans of specific events, such as Euro 2012 or the Olympics. France-based Havas is providing public relations, social media and experiential activation consulting with six Euro 2012 partners: Adidas, Hyundai, Kia, Castrol, Coca-Cola and French Telecom-Orange, as well as 10 London 2012 sponsors. Among other findings in the study -- when respondents identified as sports fans were asked to select their favorite sporting event from a field of 17 events, the most popular response was the FIFA World Cup final, at 86%. That was followed by the Euro final at 85%, the Champions League final at 75% and both the Olympic men’s 100 meter final and the Wimbledon men’s final at 60%. In addition, among all 5,000 respondents, 66% of the survey participants said they believe the Olympics will improve their mood, and nearly one in five said they planned to leave work early at some point to watch a Euro match.
