The Olympics was a huge social conversation starter in the UK during the recent London Games, according to research from Interpublic Group’s Momentum and social media monitoring outfit
Radian6.
The word "Olympics" was mentioned more than 26 million times during the games across the social media universe, including platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and numerous
other sites, blogs and message boards.
Overall sentiment was favorable -- the firms reported that just over two-thirds (68%) of Olympic-related commentary was positive, while 32% was
negative.
Among Olympic sponsors, McDonald’s was the most-talked-about brand with a 24% share of sponsor-related comments. The Momentum-Radian research didn’t break out
sentiment for the brands by percentage but noted that McDonald’s received many comments questioning the appropriateness of a fast-food chain as a major sponsor of an athletic event.
The research pointed to a typical McDonald’s-related comment: “I still don’t see why McDonalds is promoting the Olympics when it’s the worst food for you out
there.” An earlier study by MediaCom Sport that covered just the first week of Twitter comments about the games found that the food chain ranked last in sentiment among the 25 brands it
covered.
That was due largely to the “perceived contradiction” between fast food and the kind of quality nutrition that an Olympic athlete requires.
According to the
Momentum-Radian6 study, British Airways was the second-most-commented on brand in the social sphere, with Coca-Cola rounded out the top three. Coke could hardly be classified as health food, but the
brand didn’t appear to draw the ire of social commentators like McDonald’s, per the study. A typical comment about the soft-drink maker: “The Coke ‘Moments of Happiness’
commercials for the Olympics are the best.”