Spotlight: Olympics

Shopper Marketing examines how major brands activated their sponsorships online and at retail heading into the 2012 London Games. See the related articles and images at right for more information about each company's activities.Kellogg Co.Kellogg Co. leveraged its official sponsorship of the 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams with a "From Great Starts Come Great Things" campaign that focuses on what the consumer product manufacturer knows best: breakfast.The company has relied heavily on social media to push the campaign. A Facebook page engages consumers with informational videos about nutrition as well as links to profiles of eight "Team Kellogg's" athletes through inspirational "Start Story" videos. Olympic beach volleyball champion Kerri Walsh, for example, talks about growing up in an athletic family. As of July, the Kellogg's Olympic Facebook page had received more than 385,000 "Likes" and 1,000 discussion posts.The idea for the "Start Story" profiles was developed by Denver, Colo.-based promotions agency The Integer Group and evolved into a brand campaign with Chicago-based Leo Burnett, according to Kellogg Co.'s Sandy Uridge, senior director. It was then brought to life by these agencies with help from partner agencies such as Tapestry, Chicago; VML, Kansas City, Mo.; Ketchum, New York; and Starcom MediaVest Group, Chicago.Shopper Marketing recently queried Uridge about the Olympic marketing effort:SM: How did "Start Stories" become the cornerstone of the campaign?Uridge: The campaign is about celebrating the start – the potential we all feel at the beginning of something, even the beginning of each day – and centers around our belief that "from great starts come great things." Our focus is on celebrating the important role that a great start plays in reaching your full potential – for Olympic athletes as well as the consumers watching from home. Kellogg's is reaching out to breakfast fans, with a focus on parents and boomers, reminding them that each day is filled with the potential to achieve their goals when they start it off right.SM: Are there promotions related to this theme, or is it mainly an umbrella campaign?Uridge: The campaign engages consumers in a robust marketing program encompassing all of Kellogg's cereal brands. Select cereals will feature on-pack athlete cards for fans to collect leading up to the Olympic Games and beyond. The eight cutout cards feature each Team Kellogg's athlete and his/her individual start stories to inspire fans to unlock their own potential. A sampling of our additional activations includes:Team Kellogg's journeys are chronicled in a series of "Start Story" videos that follow the athletes' inspirational journeys that can be seen at Kelloggs.com/teamusa.Regular updates posted to Facebook .com/kelloggs and on the athletes' own social channels.Great Starts Video Series: 20 nutritional videos from Kellogg's and United States Olympic Committee nutritionists featuring 1992 swimming gold medalist Summer Sanders and other U.S. Olympians.An engaging yearlong employee communications program includes regular updates on Team Kellogg's and the campaign, opportunities to meet Olympic athletes, contests to award employees for their leadership and a fund program to support Kellogg employee family athletic endeavors. We also are planning to have celebrations around Games time and a support Team USA well-wishing program.SM: Why did you focus so strongly on the athlete stories using social media and in particular Facebook to engage consumers?Uridge: We believe that the London 2012 Olympics is going to be the most digital Olympics yet, so it's a natural fit for us to have a strong social and online presence. The website and Facebook pages serve as a hub for athletes and fans to interact and share experiences leading up to and during the Games.SM: Are there other digital elements to this campaign (online ads, mobile, etc.)?Uridge: We have a mix of activations planned across both digital and traditional media channels from a new Olympics commercial that was unveiled this July as well as a presence in online media, which went live beginning July 1. All of our Team Kellogg's athletes will be featured in banner display advertising, which will live on NBCOlympics.com.Additionally we will be activating in-store where all of our Team Kellogg's athletes will have a presence with Olympic-themed point-of-sale displays designed to drive excitement and engagement with consumers for the 2012 Olympic Games.Procter & GambleProcter & Gamble began to establish its Olympic footprint two years ago with a "Thank You, Mom" campaign to salute the mothers of athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. The message struck a chord with P&G's core female consumers, laying the groundwork for a more aggressive push in advance of the 2012 London Games.Then in April, P&G released "Best Job" – a short film celebrating the role that mothers around the world play in raising Olympic champions – through online, social media and TV/print channels. It later created a dedicated "Thank You, Mom" Facebook page where visitors could post videos and share their own personal stories to honor everyday moms. Additionally, the company announced it would give each mom of the nearly 800 Team USA athletes a $1,000 Visa gift card to help offset travel costs to London. P&G drew more than 5 million views of the film in its first three weeks, per company releases, and recorded over 600,000 Facebook "Likes" as of July.Retailers launched extensive promotional activity around the "Thank You, Mom" campaign theme. Major retail chains including Walmart, Target, CVS/pharmacy and Family Dollar featured weekly savings coinciding with P&G's Sunday "brandSaver" FSI, including special offers timed to Mother's Day. Exclusive activation included a custom merchandising program at Rite Aid to promote a $30 beauty gift set with purchase of $50 worth of P&G's beauty products, and a "Road to Olympics" sweepstakes at ShopRite stores that sent one grand-prize winner to the London Games.For those who could not make the trip, P&G's Duracell brand created an online virtual stadium as part of a "Go for the Gold" campaign that also included events and retailer promotional support. Visitors to the virtual site could leave video, text and phone messages of encouragement for their favorite athletes, as well as interact with members of Team USA through motion-sensing technology. Consumers accessed the site through Facebook or a mobile application, and were also able to send messages through a Twitter feed.P&G's massive Olympics activation encompasses sponsorship of 28 U.S. Olympic athletes and hopefuls and 150 athletes worldwide. The list includes gold medalists Michael Phelps (headlining marketing activity for Head & Shoulders) and Kerri Walsh (representing Pampers).As part of the effort, Procter & Gamble is conducting a mobile shopping campaign in collaboration with Walmart that lets New York and Chicago pedestrians shop for large consumables. In New York, a mobile shopping truck began a monthlong tour on June 7. In Chicago, ads appear at bus stops.Coca-Cola Co.Much like the world-class athletes that represent its brands, The Coca-Cola Co. has had to remain agile in adapting its messages to reflect changing societal norms. Consider its global marketing initiatives ahead of the 2012 London Olympics. In the U.S., for example, Coca-Cola extended its former six-athlete sponsorship program to an "Eight-Pack of Athletes" – a nod to last year's rollout of an eight-pack of 90-calorie mini-cans – and employed a mix of digital, social and in-store tactics to reinforce a more modern interpretation of its brand. The company is the longest continuous (since 1928) corporate partner of the Olympic Games."Our sponsorship of the Olympic Games provides a complementary platform to promote healthy, active living," says Andy McMillin, vice president of shopper marketing. "The diverse team of athletes selected to be part of the Coca-Cola Eight-Pack of Athletes – and featured on in-store materials – serve as Coca-Cola 'Ambassadors of Active Living,' helping encourage and inspire people to lead active, balanced lives."One of the campaign's interactive components involved an Olympic-themed website. Visitors to the site could submit a photo of themselves and a brief note of support for the Eight-Pack of Athletes and Team USA. Coca-Cola featured some 3,600 of the submissions on a giant digital billboard in Times Square on July 18, sending an email to those consumers with a composite image of their newfound fame.In stores, packaging and merchandising materials prominently featured images of the Eight-Pack athletes – which include men's diver David Boudia, women's boxer Marlen Esparza and the current highest ranked U.S. men's tennis player, John Isner – along with inspirational messages. For example, Eight-Pack women's gymnast Shawn Johnson appeared on endcap displays at Hy-Vee stores, underneath the "Power to Inspire" tagline, wearing her multiple Olympic medals.Coca-Cola's strategy was to target the family shopper in large retail stores and teens in smaller-format stores, "with the goal of bringing shoppers closer to the Games than ever before," says McMillin. Other retail activation highlights included an interactive display featuring Facebook photo-ops, a QR code initiative that enabled shoppers to experience a unique Olympic-related moment, and account-specific promotions that leverage the company's existing "My Coke" Rewards program. The latter included a sweepstakes at Family Dollar stores offering a trip to Miami and a chance to meet NBA all-star and Olympian LeBron James with requisite purchases of Coca-Cola, Dasani or Powerade products."Shopper marketing programs operating under the Olympic banner offer the excitement and allure of the sporting event, deliver the opportunity for shoppers to purchase everyday goods at value prices when purchased in tandem, and may also offer rewards such as gift cards or Olympic-themed premiums," says McMillin.BPBP activated its official sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams in two consecutive promotions. Running May 2 through June 5, the first effort involved a sweepstakes awarding eight trips over five promotional flights to the Olympic Games in London. Shoppers who purchased at least 10 gallons of gas received a card at checkout that contained a code to submit to a promotional website (where they also could find free codes). Pump signs promoted the sweeps.In the second promotion, which runs June 6 through Sept. 4, the same purchase requirement triggers receipt of an instant-win game card that also carries an entry code. The instant-win prizes identified on the peel-back cards are either free gas for a week (awarded as $65 in BP gift cards) or an autographed Team USA photo or poster.The promotional website (Bpusathletes.com) details BP's partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee and presents nine athletic hopefuls the retailer has supported through a social media campaign spanning Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.In other activations, a "BP Team USA Experience Tour" visited six U.S. cities leading up to the Olympic Games opening ceremonies on July 27.Bimbo BakeriesBimbo Bakeries, activating its status as the "official bread supplier" of the U.S. Olympic team, leveraged Olympic gold medalists Misty May-Treanor (beach volleyball) and Abby Wambach (soccer) by featuring the athletes via digital and in-store activations with a "From Grains to Glory" campaign. Among the activity are a sweepstakes and recipe contest accessible from the manufacturer's Arnold and Oroweat brand Facebook page.Dollar GeneralDollar General rallied support from three official Olympics sponsors for the latest flight in its ongoing "Every Day Heroes" program. The extreme value retailer teamed with Coca-Cola Co., Procter & Gamble and Kellogg Co. for a campaign titled "Behind Every Champion is an Every Day Hero." The effort tapped into the May 13 Mother's Day holiday by borrowing the theme from P&G's concurrent "Thank You, Mom" program. Coca-Cola serves as lead sponsor for the program, which encompasses a sweepstakes and instant-win game running on a co-branded website (Everydayherosweeps.com).KrogerKroger propelled its latest "Cart Buster Savings Event" to a new level by drawing on the Olympics sponsorships of several participating manufacturers. Positioning the company-wide promotion as "Supporting Our Home Team," the supermarket operator leveraged the official sponsorships of Coca-Cola Co., Procter & Gamble, Kellogg Co. and Bimbo Bakeries USA to lend a timely patriotic theme to the event.

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

You May Also Like

Johnsonville Celebrates Bratsgiving at Cub

Coca-Cola Rewards Marvel Fans at Kroger with Disney+ Subscriptions