Brand sponsorship at the Shanghai Expo pays off big : Starcom

The research surveyed a total of 2,072 Chinese consumers, about half of which had visited the Expo.

It finds that almost all sponsoring brands saw a remarkable change in brand perception. For example, as much as 72 per cent of visitors to the Shanghai Expo reported that they liked Coca-Cola "a lot more."

For SAIC GM, the figure is 67 per cent. The pavilions of the two companies ended up on visitor's top ten favourites list, ranking at third and eighth respectively.

Fourteen sponsoring brands witnessed noticeably higher intention to purchase response levels when comparing Expo visitors to non-visitors.

Twenty-one sponsoring brands experienced a higher advocacy rate with Expo visitors, which means they were more willing to recommend these brands to other people.

Respondents who were aware of Coca-Cola as an Expo sponsor felt an increased "liking" toward the brand, even if they were not a fan of the brand. A total of 95 per cent of respondents who visited the Coca-Cola pavilion said they would drink Coca-Cola more.

"Starcom China's bespoke research - The Expo Experience - gained insights about trends surrounding the Expo, as well as Chinese consumers in general," said Bertilla Teo, CEO, SMG Greater China.

"These findings further deepen our understanding about the impact of world events on Chinese consumers, adding to an already robust collection of studies on past world events, including the Beijing Olympics, 2010 FIFA World Cup and Guangzhou Asian Games."