Chobani signed on as a USOC sponsor in ’12, and for the last three years, CMO Peter McGuinness has led the Greek yogurt brand’s efforts to promote that relationship, including on social media (@Chobani). He said Chobani, which sent 70,000 cups of yogurt to Rio, is “spending anywhere between a third and a tenth of our competitors in this crowded Olympics.” McGuinness said of keeping track on endorser performances at the Rio Games, “We created 200 pieces of unique content in advance of this and we have a war room in our SoHo offices. We have the real feed up on the wall at all times and a task force that is all over every detail of the Olympics, following and supporting our athletes and communicating in real time.” The brand last week also generated almost 25 million impressions across its social media accounts.
Chobani’s social media philosophy: We try to be really human, authentic and real. That’s especially true during the Olympics. If you look at our social, we don’t try to be overly righteous. We don’t try to be overly cute or clever. When you break down all the social -- around the athlete’s training, around their recipes, around their life and their story -- it’s very, very human.
Social media difference during Rio Games: The fundamentals are the same. The creative execution and the platform is tailored to the Olympics. But we didn’t go to the Olympics and say, “Hey, we’re going to try something new here.” It’s vintage Chobani.
Most-popular posts: Patriotism works really well. Food and patriotism. It’s us not taking ourselves too seriously or taking credit for the athlete’s performance.
Standing out without being boisterous: We’re sponsoring the Olympics not to be something we’re not, not to borrow equity we don’t have. We’re not making believe. That is the truth. The best way to stand out is to not only be true to yourself, but be truthful.
Incorporating Olympic athletes into #nobadstuff campaign: I met each athlete when we selected our team. I was looking for race diversity, gender diversity, sport diversity, medal potential. But I was also looking for brand fit and value fit. It was important that they were a true believer in the brand. Not just the food, but the charitable components.
Promoting endorsers beyond Rio Games: It’ll go on past this Sunday, and we are partners because whether they are actually in the Olympics, preparing for the next Olympics or being a good community citizen, these are people that we admire and like. These are not one-and-done partnerships and not just during the two weeks of the Olympics. We view them as much bigger than that.
Direction under new Chief Creative Officer Leland Maschmeyer: We also hired (Senior Dir of Digital, Content & Social Galvea Kelly) two weeks ago as well. She will work with Leland and I for sure, but we are founder-led and an innovative company. There is no finish line for us. There never has been. We push ourselves on creative, so we talked about evolving what we do socially and digitally, not only in our voice, but our look. We wanted to bring in a fresh perspective that can help us see things that we weren’t seeing. The best time to do that is when the brand is performing strongly.
If you know anyone who should be featured for their use of social media, send their name to us at
jperez@sportsbusinessdaily.com.
