August 21, 2012

Fast Food and Olympics Sponsorship

OK: so I know I’ve been going about how Twitter is the brand that has gained most from The Olympics (closely followed by youtube), and I stand by that.

But this is interesting.  An article from SMI confirms that all the main sponsoring brands (even the much-hated, over-monopolistic VISA) saw significant uplift in their Twitter followers during the Golden Fortnight.  VISA gained over 14 million new followers during two weeks.  For a me-too credit card brand, that’s not bad going.

But. McDonalds did not see much of an uplift.  I am not surprised.  Did I miss the messaging that persuaded me that they are a health food brand?  (Perhaps Kate Moss had it printed on an under-shirt in the equally incongruous Fashion Section in the Closing Ceremony).  But I digress: the serious point is that McDONALDS AND THE OLYMPICS DO NOT GO TOGETHER.

If this was an attempt to persuade us that they do, it must be logged as a failure.  No?