Official sponsor Coca-Cola emerged to head the list, remaining far ahead of China Mobile and Yili in second and third place respectively, with Mengniu — the only non-sponsor in the group — surging into fourth spot and adidas rounding out the five.
Among the top five fastest movers, non-sponsors Pepsi, China Unicom, Nike and Mengniu dominated. Budweiser in third spot representing the only sponsor brand in the lead group.
According to R3 principal Greg Paull, the results show that sponsor brands are facing increasing pressure from non-sponsors, as they up the stakes in the brand battle through ambush marketing.
“I won’t say they’ll break the rules, but they’ll certainly go close. There is an increase in intensity, people are able to name more sponsors and more promotions than they were able to three months ago, and the public interest is really ramping up,” he said.
Yili, Paull noted, was facing a particularly tough battle in the months ahead, with Mengniu’s focused approach clearly beginning to pay dividends in addition to a popular national programme ‘Around the cities’, a multi-city skills contest.
“I would think Yili is probably not worried, but its main challenge seems to be focus,” he said. “Yili has done a number of campaigns in the last few months, whereas Mengniu has had a very focused approach with a huge emphasis on sport.”
According to Paull, KFC’s ‘I love Beijing’ campaign, which taps local celebrities and asks consumers to vote for the neighbourhood that best captures the spirit of 2008 without actually mentioning the Games, is one of the best examples of ambush marketing which does not cross the line.
The Olympic Performance index, in partnership with CSM, canvassed the opinions of more than 1,500 consumers across 10 cities,with the April survey being the third wave in the ongoing study.
