Despite having received no negative press a year before the event, adidas notched up a total of 32 negative articles in the period during the Games. McDonalds and Visa attracted 19 and 12 respectively, having been free of unfavourable reporting in the preceding year.
But the firm’s chief marketing officer, Tony-Burgess Webb, maintained that official sponsorship was worthwhile, in light of statistics that showed all sponsors to have achieved three times more positive articles than negative over the two-year examination period.
Coca-Cola emerged as the sponsor to have received most positive international coverage over the two-week period at 54 favourable articles, although this number was somewhat offset by 14 pieces that showed the brand in a negative light.
Meanwhile Lenovo was shown as the Chinese brand to have sustained the best image in both Chinese and global English media, with 58 and 29 favourable examples in each respective medium.
According to the research, while Chinese brands accounted for a lower proportion of space in the international press, their coverage was overall 17 per cent more favourable than that of their global counterparts.
The survey, conducted on behalf of Hill & Knowlton by UK media analytics firm Commetric, covered 36 participating brands and 14,500 print media editorials over the past two years.