Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.
International marketers were stunned when Banco Bradesco paid more than $320 million in 2011 to sponsor the 2016 Rio Games, more than what the International Olympic Committee charged at the time for worldwide Olympic rights.
But the price might have been more reasonable than conventional wisdom dictated, according to a new public opinion research product called Ring Monitor, launched by marketing consultancy GlideSlope. The first edition of Ring Monitor found that top-tier sponsors of particular Olympics — like Bradesco — enjoy better recognition in host markets than global sponsors such as Samsung.
GlideSlope founding partner Dave Mingey said the firm created Ring Monitor because, while the Olympics are among the world’s most coveted sports marketing vehicles, many brands remain in the dark about the details. He hopes to shed new light on the market-to-market and demographic nuances in public perception of the Olympics through extensive international polling.
“Many brands, especially nonendemics, are data rich and insight poor, as the saying goes,” Mingey said. “And we feel this is especially true in the Olympic Games, given that it morphs significantly every two years, taking on the benefits and challenges of each host country.”
The early timing of Bradesco’s deal also makes more sense in light of another finding: Good feelings and optimism about the Olympics tend to be highest in markets where the Games are still years away — such as South Korea and Japan — and are lower in places that already hosted, like Canada and the U.K., or where the Games are imminent, like Brazil.
To develop Ring Monitor, Stefanie Francis, GlideSlope’s vice president of analytics and insights, developed an eight-minute web survey asking about perceptions of the Games’ value and benefits, as well as their sponsors. She contracted with the online sampling and data collection company Research Now to survey 2,296 residents of Canada, the U.K., Russia, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, China and two control groups, the U.S. and a general international sample.
The countries represent former, current and future Olympic hosts.
The questions will be asked regularly over time, so brands can ascertain how opinions change in countries as the Games’ buildup, execution and wind-down plays out, Francis said. For instance, they will be able to tell if Chinese residents grow less excited about the 2020 Beijing Winter Games as they approach, she said.
GlideSlope will publish monthly reports looking at various findings from the research, and also will make the details available to clients on request, Mingey said.
Some other findings of the first run of the data: Support for the Olympics is highest among the young, the highest incomes and sports fans. Also, young consumers are more likely to purchase products from Olympic sponsors than older buyers.
