With the London Olympic Games barely over, the leading sports brands were already counting their marketing medals (no longer just gold, silver and bronze, but now also digital hits and fans) and preparing for the next edition in Rio de Janeiro in four years' time.
Though there were many empty seats at the stadiums during some of the competitions, early ratings suggest that the London 2012 Games set a record in terms of TV viewership around the world, reaching a maximum potential audience of 4.8 billion people around the world, not including the digital media. In the U.K., more than 50 million watched the Games on TV at some point, compared with about 500,000 for the 1948 Olympics in London, when households were able to watch the event on TV for the first time. In the U.S., at least 219.4 million people tuned in for the London Games, compared with 215 million for the Beijing Games.
Of all the sports brands, Adidas enjoyed the biggest visibility this time around, since its sports marketing contracts gave it more far-reaching rights than other brands. Several brands had agreements with individual national sports federations, which enabled them to be seen on garments on the field of play, and deals with individual athletes for their performance footwear. Some brands were entitled to advertise in countries outside the U.K. during the Games. However, only Adidas was allowed to use the logo of the 2012 Games and to sell merchandise featuring the insignia; to advertise around the Olympics in the U.K. during the event; and to advertise just outside the Olympic Park.
The personnel serving at the Games were clad in Three-Striped garments. All in all, about 80,000 officials and volunteers were outfitted in Adidas gear. The same applied to about 3,000 athletes competing in all but one of the 26 Olympic sports, the exception being equestrian sports. Some events were all-Adidas, such as the men's and women's hockey finals, the men's handball final, and some boxing matches. In fact, Adidas was so ubiquitous at boxing events that the company received calls inquiring whether it was obligatory for all boxers to wear the Three Stripes.
Along with its official sportswear partnership for the Games, Adidas had an exclusive licensing deal to make the sportswear bearing the logos of the London Olympics, but without its own logo. It also had an all-encompassing deal with Team GB, meaning that Adidas garments were worn by all British athletes and in all disciplines on the field of play and the podium, among others. Apart from the immediate sales of merchandise and gain in U.K. market share, reported in our previous issue, the brand is now inerasably linked with the Games in which Team GB amazingly achieved the third-largest medal haul, after the U.S. and Chinese teams, creating huge enthusiasm around it.
Outside the U.K., France is one of the countries where Adidas appeared most prominently during the Games, since the brand has a sponsorship deal with the French Olympic Committee – along the same lines as for Team GB but even broader since it also comprises the opening and closing ceremonies, during which French athletes wore the SLVR range.
The buzz created with endorsees such as Jessica Ennis, Yohan Blake and Chris Hoy as well as longtime brand partners such as David Beckham was rated as the most positive by a Sociagility study. Adidas scored highly in the digital space with its “Take the Stage” campaign, as well as a video made to a Queen tune with members of Team GB after the Olympics, encapsulating the jubilant and friendly mood of the Games.
Still, one trick that really caught the eye in the second week of the Olympics was the fluorescent yellow color of Nike shoes worn by track and field athletes. In some of the races, particularly on longer distances, almost the entire pack of runners darted on the track with yellow shows – a striking image that could not be missed from any angle. This color was chosen for the Volt track and field footwear range, worn by about 400 athletes at the Games, representing about 80 percent of Nike-sponsored athletes. The yellow color has directly translated to products that are widely available at retail, such as the Flyknit Racer running shoe.
Overall, Nike outfitted athletes affiliated with more than 100 federations. Over 3,000 athletes wore Swoosh-branded items – either garments through their federation or footwear through individual sponsorship deals. Nike athletes won 162 individual medals, including 60 gold medals.
Not only visually but also in terms of performance, Nike endorsees dominated in athletics, where they won 103 medals, including 36 gold medals. Among the standouts were Mo Farah and Galen Rupp in the 10,000 meters, as well as Allyson Felix and Carmelita Jeter in the women's sprint.
Nike accompanied its investments with an integrated digital and TV campaign around the “Find Your Greatness” theme. It cheekily circumvented the rules preventing it from directly using the London 2012 Games in its advertising by using pictures from London, Ohio, London Avenue and so forth. The inspiring video was watched by more than 5 million people on YouTube.
The medal count was much more modest for Puma, as athletes wearing the Wildcat won 18 medals, but the brand secured huge exposure since three of them went to Usain Bolt, probably the most-watched personality at the Games. The podium of the 200-meter race was all-Jamaican and therefore all-Puma in terms of garments.
A fourth gold medal came from the Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the women's 100 meters. The winners were celebrated at the Puma Yard on London's Brick Lane, where the brand staged various sports and music events.
Li-Ning used the Olympics to enhance its international reputation, leaning on its sponsorship of five Chinese national teams that won gold medals as well as the Spanish basketball team, which won silver. The Chinese brand came up with Scarlet Scales sportswear designed around a dragon theme, since the London Games fell in the Chinese Year of the Dragon.
Li-Ning also thought of providing athletes with conspicuously bright yellow spikes on their footwear – adding to the sea of yellow on the track, and causing some confusion with Nike, particularly given the similarity of the two brands' logos. Li-Ning's yellow shoes were particularly visible on the feet of Christian Taylor, the American triple-jumper who won gold.
As the loyal official supplier of the International Olympic Committee since 1996, Mizuno clad the members of the IOC and of several national Olympic committees. In addition, its logo appeared 52 times on the podium during the Games.
With all Olympic eyes now turning to Rio de Janeiro, Adidas has decided that it will not bid to become the official sportswear partner of the 2016 Games. The company will already have wide presence in Brazil two years earlier as Fifa's partner at the football World Cup. Instead, Adidas will focus on its partnerships with the Australian Olympic team and Team GB, which continues until at least 2016. It remains to be seen if the French will still be in Adidas, since the current contract ends in 2012. Adidas has recently renewed its deal with the German Olympic Committee, but that only gives it rights for village wear and medal ceremonies.
In any case, the sponsorship for the Rio Games is not structured in the same way as in Sydney, Beijing and London, where the official sportswear partner was rewarded with a far-reaching deal with the local Olympic committee. Instead, the Brazilian Olympic Committee finally confirmed a few days ago reports that it had signed a deal with Nike for the London Olympics as well as the Rio Games.
The deal calls for Brazilian athletes to wear Nike on the medal stand and while traveling and spending time in the Olympic village – but they will still wear other brands of garments when their federations have separate deals, unlike the situation with Adidas and Team GB. Nike itself has deals with the Brazilian federations for track and field, football and basketball.
