Consumers see Olympic sponsors as industry leaders, study says.

Consumers see a positive association with the Olympics and companies/brands involved in its sponsorship, a study has found.

Dynamic Logic, which conducted the survey in July, found that consumers view Olympic sponsors as “industry leaders” (46 percent), an opinion which varied only slightly among North Americans and Europeans (50 percent vs. 40 percent). Consumers also recognize and appreciate the support of companies who sponsor the Olympics.  Nearly half (49 percent) of those surveyed agree that they would not be able to view any of the Games or events on free or public access television without the advertising sponsors. North American respondents are more inclined to agree with this statement than Europeans with 58 percent attributing sponsors as helping to provide free or public access to view the games compared with 39 percent of Europeans.

“It is nice that a corporate entity contributes to the Olympic cause; though, I see it as a benefit to their product recognition and income stream not an altruistic cause,” says one respondent.

Companies and brands are trying to tap into the Summer Olympic Games from all mediums including Internet and digital. NBC holds the exclusive U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2012, which include Athens in 2004, Torino, Italy in 2006, Beijing in 2008, Vancouver 2010 and the Summer Games of 2012. (Link) MSNBC.com also launched the "Big Picture" and "How-To Interactive" features on the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, both sponsored by Hyundai Motor America. A recent study found that young people were keyed up about the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and plan to follow it through both television and the Internet. (Link)

Respondents say the Olympic tagline is significant: Half of respondents (51 percent) recall seeing any advertising using a tagline such as “official sponsors of the 2004 Olympics,” even with the promotions and publicity surrounding the upcoming 2004 Games.  Many consumers, however, are not particularly aware of advertising or packaging that uses the Olympic rings logo. About 59 percent of respondents say they think they generally notice the Olympic rings in ads or on packaging.

The study found that North Americans seem to be more aware of advertising associated with the Olympics than Europeans. North American consumers are more likely than European consumers to say that they pay attention to ads with the Olympic rings (66 percent vs. 51 percent). In addition, one in four (25 percent) North American respondents say that they pay closer attention to ads that mention or have an association with the Olympics while only 12 percent of Europeans do so.