Is it worthwhile to invest money in the Olympic Games for marketing?

Tomorrow, the Rio Olympic Games will open soon. In addition to the competitive stage that people all over the world expect, another battlefield has also sounded the horn and is ready to go-the Olympic brand marketing war.

The Olympic Games has always been a battleground for military strategists. In the four-year world-class competitions, major brands compete to spend a lot of money on the Olympic Games, just to stand out in front of people all over the world. There is even a saying in the marketing circle: under normal circumstances, the brand awareness can be improved by investing 1 100 million US dollars1%; Sponsoring the Olympic Games, with an investment of $6,543.8+billion, can increase the popularity of 3%. Olympic Games is a "golden marketing period" that enterprise brands can't miss.

But after all, sponsoring the Olympic Games is a matter of throwing money, and where to throw real money is a matter of learning. China's Tai Chi Kung Fu emphasizes "exertion". Counting the history of Olympic marketing, it is not difficult to find a transparent logic: the brands that sponsor the Olympic Games have their own methodology, and whether they are popular or not depends on how you play.

Success story: viral marketing of Adidas.

At the Amsterdam Olympic Games, Adidas successfully got almost all athletes to wear its shoes at the Olympic Games by lobbying the Olympic Organizing Committee, thus completing the first viral invasion.

At the Berlin Olympic Games, Adi found jesse owens, a famous American sprinter, and tried to persuade him to use Adidas spikes in the competition. Finally, he won four Olympic gold medals in a row wearing Adidas spikes, and Adidas became famous on five continents.

During the Beijing Olympic Games, Adidas organized the largest viral marketing activity in history. In addition to unprecedented financial and material input, it has also turned 654.38 million+Olympic volunteers into its own brand spokespersons. This time Adidas beat its old rival Nike in China.

Comments: Among all the sponsors of the Olympic Games, Adidas has created two best sponsors: the most athletes and the most sports teams. This old brand, like a virus, is integrated into every Olympic Games and becomes an indispensable part of the Olympic Games.

Failure case: Acer was dragged down by the Olympic tug-of-war

In 2009, Acer succeeded Lenovo as the top sponsor of the 20 12 London Olympic Games. But as the top sponsor of the Olympic Games, the cost is very expensive, and Acer may pay more than 80 million dollars for it.

However, Olympic marketing is a long-term effort, and the sponsorship fee only builds a platform. Unexpectedly, Acer suffered huge losses for the first time in the history of 20 1 1. In order to maintain a profit of 20 12 years, Acer had to cut back on expenses. Therefore, it can only be quietly lost in the Olympic year when it should have spent money on marketing.

In order to avoid falling into the quagmire of "burning money", Acer can only watch tens of millions of dollars thrown out for the qualification of "top sponsor".

Comments: The business of "losing money and earning money" has always existed in Olympic marketing, and Olympic marketing also includes many levels. Winning the sponsorship opportunity of the Olympic Games is a skill, but whether we can fight this protracted war well also requires the brand to have enough inside information.

Success story: swimming trunks-"sharks" must wear "shark skin"

Speedo is a small company, but it is good at producing swimsuits. Speedo takes swimming competition as its main marketing channel. It has signed top swimming stars such as Phelps, Hackett and Thorpe.

Speedo's first world appearance began at the Sydney Olympic Games. At that time, Speedo released the first generation of "shark skin" called "Quick Skin". At this Olympic Games, 83% of the athletes were dressed in "shark skin", and Thorpe, the image spokesperson, won 3 gold and 2 silver, making a great splash.

In the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, at least 50 national teams participated in the Olympic Games wearing the "fourth generation shark skin", and 94% of the champions wore it. Without any advertising or publicity, Speedo quickly became the focus of media and public attention with Phelps' first eight gold medals and the sensational effect of frequently breaking world records.

Comments: Speedo's success stems from concentration and advantages. If Adidas is fully rolled out, Speedo will be more focused, cover its own niche-swimming, and choose better spokespersons-Thorpe and Phelps.

Failure case: the sky-high price pressed the dragon suit and Anta was frustrated in London.

At the London Olympic Games, Anta invested 65.438+0.2 billion yuan to bet on China's "champion dragon suit". However, during the Olympic Games, its marketing efforts were considered to be lacking.

First of all, there is no new sponsorship, just because everyone is sponsoring, so Anta doesn't want to fall behind.

Secondly, Anta has always emphasized China's award-winning clothes, but dragon clothes are of little significance to consumers. Anta's brand spirit and Olympic spirit have not been heard, nor have they been effectively conveyed to consumers.

Finally, although every time the athletes of China Sports Delegation win the gold medal, they have to wear Anta's dragon suit on stage to receive the prize, but the time is a little short, so it is difficult to form a deep impression. On the contrary, competitors who sponsored sports that won gold medals stole the show. For example, Li Ning has always adhered to the "gold medal team strategy". According to statistics, five teams sponsored by Li Ning won 2 1 gold medals, accounting for more than half of the total gold medals of China team.

Comments: If enterprises only regard the sponsorship of the Olympic Games as an opportunity to perform on the international stage, they will not get the ideal return without overall consideration.

Success story: Google can show off without spending money

Google is an ingenious Olympic athlete, neither a top partner nor a sponsor of the Olympic Games. But Google's Olympic brand has been engraved in the hearts of countless netizens.

Google uses the method of four or two. Every important day, Google will launch a commemorative Logo, which has become a part of its culture.

During the Sydney Olympic Games, Google began to emerge, and a kangaroo carrying a torch was added to the corporate logo on the homepage. Kangaroo is a symbol of Australia, and the whole logo image fits the theme of Sydney Olympic Games very well. Four years later, the Olympic Games was held in Athens, Greece. Google skillfully integrates the traditional elements of this ancient Mediterranean civilization into its logo creativity.

During the Beijing Olympic Games, as usual, Google launched a series of Olympic logo icons headed by five Fuwa. This is the Olympic symbol of the China Zodiac with the traditional characteristics of China. Every sport is realized by the most impossible animals, which shows the international level of Google designers.

Comments: The sword is biased but everywhere, which is Google's tactic. Even if it doesn't cost much, you can drill into every loophole. How to use the lowest cost to market the best results is what all enterprises need to think and learn.

In fact, the Olympic Games is not a big ship that can sail smoothly with its brand. The business environment of the Olympic Games is becoming more and more complicated. The decline of traditional media and the rise of self-media make the information flow faster and the Olympic games play more and more diversified. It is an unavoidable problem for brands to find their own position and show their value.

China's brand performance in the Olympic Games has also been criticized-lack of creativity, spending money like water. Rio Olympic Games arrived as scheduled, and China brand also sent a "dream team" to Rio. It is worth looking forward to the strength that China brand can show this time.

Attachment: Some China brands participating in Rio Olympic Games.

36 1 degree, Huajiang participated in the Rio Olympic Games at zero distance. 36 1 degree will provide clothing for volunteers, technicians and torch relay personnel of all Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and test events; Huajiang participated in the facilities construction of Rio Olympic Games.

Gree won the bid for a number of supporting projects such as hotel and airport renovation to meet the Olympic Games.

Yili invited Ning Zetao to speak for her and won CCTV's "20 16 Rio Olympic Games China People's Pride Exclusive Celebration" for 65,438+75 million yuan;

Mengniu initiated the topic of "cattle to Rio" and signed the national swimming team;

Guangming joined hands with China Women's Volleyball Team to help the Olympic Games. At the CCTV bidding meeting, Guangming won the exclusive naming right of "20 16 Rio Olympic Games Medal List";

Yang Yang and Guo Caijie, two spokesmen of Rio, became torchbearers of this Olympic Games and were invited to Greece to participate in the Olympic torch relay. RIO's English word "RIO" is the same as Rio de Janeiro's abbreviation "Rio", and Rio is also marketing by taking advantage of the situation;

Li Ning officially released the brand-new 20 16 Olympic equipment for China national table tennis, badminton, shooting and diving teams;

The number of Olympic delegations sponsored by Peak Sports will be expanded to 10, including 10 Olympic delegations from New Zealand, Slovenia, Ukraine, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.