The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are up and running, media coverage is everywhere and consumer interest is predictably high. Olympic sponsors – and as always, quite a few non-sponsors too – are competing to associate their brands with the Olympic Gamess in the minds of consumers. But given that this will be the most digitally-connected Games in history, are brands making effective digital connections?

With all of this coverage and all of the money riding on the Olympics it seems pretty safe to assume that a lot of people will be looking for information on the games. And certainly, looking at Google Trends which tracks the number of searches for particular key words, there has been a sudden spike in interest in the Olympic Games and associated terms.

With this in mind, and considering that search engines (and particularly Google) are now often the first port of call for consumers looking to find information, one would assume that marketers are utilising the opportunities that search offers. But for some reason that doesn’t seem to be the case.

A search for Olympic Games reveals that only one company appears to be bidding on the phrase to appear in Google’s sponsored listings (AdWords). That company is The Guardian, a brand that have been quick to adopt the web and attempt to make the most of it.

With the recent relaxation of Google’s rules on brand bidding (buying adverts on trade marked search terms) it seems strange that more companies are not making the most of this opportunity. After all, if you’ve spent millions of dollars sponsoring the event, wouldn’t it make sense to promote that association to all those who are actively seeking information on the games?

If companies aren’t willing to add to their existing marketing spend then common sense would suggest that they might simply want to work to make information about their sponsorship as visible as possible. One way to do this would be to invest in search engine optimisation, whereby web pages are designed, written & coded so that the search engines ‘think’ that they are particularly relevant to a search term. Taking Visa as an entirely arbitrary example (I’m sure that this exists on many of the sponsors’ sites), this again seems to be a trick that has been missed by those looking to maximise the sponsorship potential of the Olympic Games.

Looking at Visa’s section dedicated to its sponsorship, it soon becomes apparent why Google doesn’t think this page is particularly relevant to searches related to the Olympics. For a start neither of the words Olympics or games appear in the title tag (the blue bar which appears at the top of a browse window) or the URL, both of which a search engine considers when determining the relevance of a page to a search term. It also sits on a different domain to the main Visaeurope.com site, meaning that it won’t be benefiting from the thousands of links pointed at that site, as Google uses links to judge the importance of a site.

Whilst it is likely to be hard to rank for such a competitive term as Olympics or Olympic games, that doesn’t mean that brands shouldn’t even try. After all, if there’s one lesson that we can all take from the Olympics, it’s that it’s not always the winning that’s important, but that they should at least try to compete.

Ciarán is the SEO & Social Media Director at our partner agency Altogether Digital.

By Synergy on August 12th, 2008

Tags: Digital marketing ,Football ,London 2012 ,Olympic sponsorship ,Olympics ,Public relations

1 commentTweet

Whilst the Olympic Games kicked off in style in the Far East, this weekend also saw the start of the 2008-09 football season.

Don’t get me wrong, I genuinely have a strong interest in sport. I work in the industry, I read the back pages on a daily basis and will more often than not choose to watch live sports coverage over the nightly ritual that is EastEnders or Coronation Street.  But even I was taken to another level this weekend.  In danger of being a football widow, I not only found myself joining my other half at one live match of the opening weekend – but two!

First up was a trip to Charlton, my adopted ‘local’ team in SE London, where The Valley welcomed the newly-promoted ‘boys from the valleys’ – Swansea City.  Nicknamed ‘The Real League’, it really is true-grit football.  Sitting in the stands with 21,000 others, in the pouring rain that defines August in this country, I was again hit by the dedication and passion of all the fans that follow their team, week-in, week-out.  It is something that astounds me everytime I go to a match. However many times I experience it, it never fails to amaze me.

This was the first match of the season and it was a true portrayal of the optimism that every club has at the start of a new year.  Charlton, vying for a place in the Play-Offs at the end of last season, were back to an even playing ground.  Forgotten was the disappointment of the spring months, when they realised that getting back up into the Premiership was not going to happen this year. Fans and players alike are back with high hopes for the next ten months.  This optimism is even reflected in the early-bird discount for season tickets ‘Buy your season ticket before the first weekend, and if we get into the Premiership next year you’ll pay the same price for your ticket’.

Next up was a trip to Wembley Stadium for what is traditionally known as the curtain-raiser of the football season – the Community Shield. A showpiece match, this was altogether a different picture – well apart from the rain, which followed me all weekend but what else would you expect! 

Wembley, the national stadium, was hosting the reigning European club team, Manchester United, and the proud victors of the legendary FA Cup, Portsmouth.  However, whilst there may have been four times as many people, numerous footballing legends in situe (Geoff Hurst represented McDonald’s, the FA’s Presenting Partner), and inflated prices at the concession stands, the underlying themes amongst the fans were still the same as the day before. Passion, pride, commitment, belief.  This was demonstrated to me as we were leaving.  Following a penalty shoot out, Manchester United were victorious once again.  As we were heading down the stairwells, I overheard a voice of a young boy telling his dad, “It doesn’t matter that we lost.  We were the better team”.  This just about summed up my experience over the weekend. 

The Greatest Show on Earth may be taking place in Beijing. But for the hundreds and thousands of football fans who turn out of their homes on a weekly basis to follow the highs and lows of their team, one thing is absolutely certain.  Football in this country really is ‘the beautiful game’, and it is refusing to be overshadowed by the Olympics.

By Sara Wilson on August 12th, 2008

Tags: Barclays Premier League ,Beijing 2008 ,Football ,Olympics

No commentsTweet

You don’t find many articles that compare Stephen Hendry and Zara Phillips but this is one of the funniest I have read. Scratch the comedy surface and you’ll also find a considered and more serious take on the (much debated) topic of funding for our GB Olympic athletes:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/08/09/zaras_horse_sense_beats_allcon.html  

All hail the great and very funny David Mitchell.

By Stephanie Branston on August 11th, 2008

Tags: Beijing 2008 ,London 2012 ,Olympics

No commentsTweet

What memories will you take from Beijing 2008? The Beijing Olympics got underway last Friday, with a unique and quite incredible Opening Ceremony. The fireworks, theatre and special effects were nothing short of spectacular, and after the opening weekend’s sporting events, the Games themselves promise to be little different.

I for one spent the weekend glued to my TV. Already we have witnessed some truly great sporting moments, full of achievement, hope and emotion. I’m already watching sports I’ve not watched for four years, I’ve been gripped to Craig Fallon’s valiant attempt at the bronze medal in the judo (he ended a credible 7th), as well as witnessing the most nervous of starts by Team GB badminton hope Andrew Smith (he finally came through after a dreadful opening first round match). Among other sports, I also took in Chinese weightlifter Chen Xiexia winning the hosts their first gold, the first of many I suspect.

Sunday’s action saw a wonderful first gold for Team GB; Nicole Cooke in the women’s road race (cycling) took victory in a thrilling sprint finish at the end of the gruelling 75 mile course. Extra special for me as she’s from my native Wales, the first Welsh gold of my lifetime. Awesome. In the boxing, 18 year old Brit Billy Joe Saunders started in some style and he looks set to become one of the incredible stories of Beijing 2008. My ‘red button’ on the Beeb has just become the best thing since sliced bread and by the end of August I’m sure it will be toasted!

The start for me has been so refreshing. After months, if not years, of media debate surrounding the political issues of staging the Games in China, the focus has finally moved to the passion drivers – the sports, the heroes, the winners and the losers. Don’t get me wrong, I have full understanding for the political agenda and I’m hopeful the 2008 Olympics marks the start of new beginnings for China and its people. But, for me the Olympics is about the special moments, and they can only really begin when the flame is lit and burning bright.

Of course, focus will occasionally move to the important issues of humanity and the environment, but now the main event is the actual event itself. It’s impossible to put into words the impact of a Games. The impacts will be officially measured but to millions of people the Games will mean something different and unique. Each of us will remember the magic moments that touch our emotions and that for me is the true measure of the event. The moments may only last a fraction of a second but the memories they create will last a lifetime.

This Olympics is extra special, for we are privileged to know that next time it will be our Games in London. If I can be this excited when it’s over 5,000 miles away, just imagine how it will be with the Games on our doorstep.

When these Games finish I for once will not feel empty. I will feel the anticipation begin for our journey. The London 2012 Games will be the ultimate. An Olympics in which we can all play our part. Join the journey and I promise the memories will last for ever.

By Ben Wilkinson on August 11th, 2008

Tags: Beijing 2008 ,China ,London 2012 ,Olympic sponsorship ,Olympics ,Television

No commentsTweet

It has been speculated that BBC Breakfast pulled out of broadcasting live from Cowes this week due to a bombardment of PRs selling in their client ahead of the world’s largest sailing regatta, Skandia Cowes Week.

As a minority sport, sailing can struggle for column inches, so communications professionals have to fight hard to promote their clients involvement with the sport. The majority of broadsheets maintain a sailing correspondent but even The Times has decided against filling the position left by Ed Gorman after he moved to cover Formula 1 in 2006.

This year, there are over 15 brands involved with Cowes Week as race sponsors, boat sponsors, individual skippers and team partners try to maximise on the sport’s high profile created by the event.

Frankly, I think it’s a travesty that PR overkill led to BBC Breakfast withdrawing from Cowes Week altogether. We have to respect the media we are working with after all it’s all about getting an interesting and exciting story out there. It’s no use flooding the media space and bashing editors’ ears till they’re blue in the face if it’s going to blur the story and deter the media from covering it at all.

Working in the communications industry I believe PRs are providers of stories and news, sources of information, ‘make it happen’ people. We should not be selling so hard that the world’s most respected broadcaster decides to withdraw from an event it first merited as a strong story.

The solution is not easy. It’s a competitive world we PRs live in, but communication is what we do so perhaps on specific occasions we need to communicate with each other. No one wins by scaring off our beloved and much sought after media.

This November, seven British skippers will take on the gruelling round-the-world yacht race the Vendée Globe. Never before have we as a nation had so many contenders taking part (Dee Caffari onboard Aviva, Samanatha Davies onboard Roxy, Mike Golding onboard Ecover 3, Jonny Malbon onboard Artemis Ocean Racing II, Alex Thomson onboard Hugo Boss, Brian Thompson onboard Pindar and Steve White onboard Spirit of Weymouth). Since early this year the British skippers’ communication teams have been meeting to ensure we don’t reach media overkill. Each team has their individual story to tell but we appreciate we have to work together on certain occasions to provide the media with what they want not what we want.

If sailing is your bag, log on to www.avivaoceanracing.com to find out more about Dee Caffari and her inspirational adventure to make history by becoming the only woman to sail solo, non-stop around the world in both directions.

By Caroline Ayling on August 7th, 2008

Tags: Media ,Public relations ,Sponsorship ,Television

No commentsTweet

Apart from the competitors’ heroics, what will we remember Beijing 2008 for? And how, with London 2012 in mind, will UK consumers feel about the Olympics after Beijing?

Previous Olympics in the modern era have all strongly impacted the Olympic brand – in general negatively – and left a single-issue legacy. Montreal 1976 invented the Olympics as a debt monster. Moscow 1980 was the Cold War, Soviet Games. LA 1984 showcased the American entrepreneurial Dream – and in Atlanta 1996 the Dream became an over-commercialised Nightmare. Seoul 1988 will forever be remembered for Ben Johnson and doping. Barcelona 1992 was a triumphant spectacle for Spain, as Sydney 2000 was for Australia. Athens 2004 was the Games that could never follow Sydney and only just got built.

Beijing 2008 looks like being another single-issue Games – the issue, of course, being Chinese government policy. With the Torch Relay crisis now firmly imprinted on Beijing’s DNA, and the media even more focused on the issue as we move into Games time, I can’t see this changing.

But what I do see changing is the world’s knowledge of and attitude to China. And in this respect the Olympics is part of the solution, not – as many would have it – part of the problem. Beijing 2008 will offer an unprecedented window into China’s uniquely fascinating society and culture. And the greater knowledge, understanding and – let us hope – human empathy this engenders will perhaps be Beijing 2008’s key legacy. As Simon Barnes of The Times wrote in a characteristically brave and intelligent piece back in April, this is a key strand of what this Olympics is about. It will make few, if any headlines, but it will leave the world, and the Olympics, in a much better place.

And what of the legacies that Beijing 2008 will leave London 2012? Here in the UK of course, as the next hosts of the summer Games, we’ll be looking at Beijing very differently to the rest of the world. “It’s our turn next” will undoubtedly be a theme running throughout the Games coverage, rising to a crescendo when Beijing hand the Olympic flag to London during the Closing Ceremony on Sunday 24 August.

The big question, of course, which we’ll be looking at closely with our clients who are Olympic sponsors, will be the effect of Beijing 2008 on UK consumers’ attitudes to and behaviours around the Olympics. There are bound to be some big shifts – especially in favourability if, as we all hope, Team GB wins medals galore – but only time will tell what they’ll be, and how lasting.

By Tim Crow on August 6th, 2008

Tags: Beijing 2008 ,Brand marketing ,China ,London 2012 ,London 2012 sponsorship ,London 2012 sponsorship consultants ,Media ,Olympic sponsorship ,Olympic sponsorship consultants ,Olympic Torch Relay ,Olympics ,Sponsorship ,Sponsorship consultancy ,Sponsorship consultants ,Synergy

No commentsTweet

The Olympics are inspirational and I don’t want to miss a moment of the live action over the next two weeks.

Ever since London won the Olympics on July 6^th 2005, I’ve been thinking about how I’ll be able to see as much of the action as possible in 2012.  Having the Olympics here on my doorstep is brilliant and there is no doubt that being there will be a never-to-be-forgotten experience.

For the Beijing Olympics I shall have to make do with broadcast coverage.  So, I’ve been busily scanning the BBC’s coverage schedule.  China being 7 hours ahead of the UK and other commitments aside, I find myself planning how I’ll be able to watch as much live action as possible – the rest will have to be captured on BBC iPlayer. 

So, what is it about the Olympics that make them ‘an appointment to view’? Yes, sure, I do record the odd programme I want to watch later.  And, yes, there has been the odd football or rugby match I’ve wanted to see live – Euros, World Cups and so on.

But the Olympics are different.  Why?  Because they really do inspire.  We’ve heard Seb Coe say so often enough and I agree with him.  Perhaps it’s the stories of human endeavour; the narrow difference between winning and losing; the winning of a medal or coming fourth (can there be anything worse?); reaching the starting line at all and the heartbreak of those that work so hard for years and just don’t make it.  Just last night on ‘Olympic Dreams’ my heart went out to Jessica Ennis, a real medal contender, whose chances have been ruined by three broken bones in her foot.

I know I shall find myself ridiculously moved to tears over some of the performances and the stories behind those performances, especially those by the Paralympians.  The sheer courage and determination displayed simply puts everything else into true perspective.

Sponsorship consultants talk a lot about consumer passions.  Certainly, here at Synergy, we work with a number of companies who have realised how inspirational the Olympics can be in terms of employee engagement – British Airways, Coca-Cola and Easynet to name but three. 

For me, and others who work here, the Olympics really do it for us.  They are truly inspirational and it’s great being able to be involved through our working hours as well as outside them.

The only downside is the feeling of emptiness on the day after the closing ceremony.  No more coverage to watch.  No more passion; no more inspiration.  But then I think again and realise that those stories of personal endeavour will stay with me and although I might not be inspired to take up marathon running, I’ll certainly be inspired to do something with my life that makes a difference.

In the meantime, it’s only four years until they come to London and time will fly.  And already there’s the handing over of the Olympic flag to look forward to.

By Karen Earl on August 6th, 2008

Tags: Olympics ,Sponsorship consultants

No commentsTweet