After all the handwringing in advance of the Olympics about corporate sponsorships, the Winter Games in Vancouver are turning out to be golden — and not just for Canada’s athletes.
Whether it’s record TV audiences, shortages of Olympic mittens, or an online torch relay contest that attracted hundreds of thousands of entrants, the Games have clearly been a winner for the companies that paid hundreds of millions to be involved.
While it’s too early to say who’s bringing home the most corporate medals, we asked a few marketing experts to give us their best guesses.
Here’s what they said:
At roughly the mid-point, the clear winner among corporate sponsors is the Olympic Media Consortium led by CTV Inc. and Rogers Media Inc., according to all three marketing experts consulted.
Having paid a record fee of $90 million for the broadcast rights amid a recession that promised no sure payoff, the consortium is attracting massive audiences both on TV and online.
On Monday, the Canada-U.S. men’s hockey game became the most watched sports program in Canadian history, drawing 10.6 million viewers.
By Tuesday, some 25.2 million Canadians had tuned in to the Olympics over the course of the broadcast day. That represents three-quarters of Canada’s population. That’s good news for all Olympic advertisers, marketing experts added, even those whose commercials may irk or seem a bit bland.
“I’m assuming they’re all doing well in terms of delivering value,” said Alan Middleton, a marketing professor with York University’s Schulich School of Business. “At a minimum it means any deals they signed aren’t going to require CTV to pay any rebates.”
Apart from the media consortium, it’s harder to measure how other Olympic sponsors are faring. The results of Olympic campaigns are often not visible for months.
“Certainly the biggest winner right now is the Bay with the mittens,” said Ken Wong, a marketing professor with Queen’s University’s School of Business.
The distinctive red woolen mittens worn by the Olympic Torch bearers quickly flew off Hudson’s Bay Company shelves. Indeed, they were out of stock until a last shipment arrived just before the start of the Games.
