At the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, BP announced its long-term sponsorship with the USOC and Team USA, which would extend through the 2016 Summer Games. As BP continued to work diligently in the Gulf of Mexico, it remained committed to its sponsorship with Team USA and its athletes. For the London 2012 Summer Games, BP sponsored nine Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls. BP and Ogilvy created an integrated paid, owned and earned program centered on Facebook which provided fans unprecedented access to each athlete’s personal stories – from how they started in the sport to what drives them to greatness. Fueled by regularly updated social data, fans were given the opportunity to interact with their favorite athletes and communicate with other fans, creating an eco-system of content that spurred positive engagement. All aspects of Facebook were utilized to foster an emotional connection between fans and BP’s athlete ambassadors. Facebook tabs, the timeline, videos, infographics and other content created an engaging environment for fans to learn more about BP’s five Olympic and four Paralympic athlete ambassadors. BP featured content from various events, ranging from internal employee functions to the U.S. Olympic Trials. At the U.S Track & Field Trials, BP provided live updates of race results and showcased powerful, on-the-ground images. Additionally, a relationship was formed with Time and Sports Illustrated. A Time app gave fans the opportunity to send athletes “good luck" messages prior to the Olympics and Sports Illustrated provided fans with the chance to put their own pictures on its famed cover. During the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, fans were once again given access to exclusive, behind-the-scenes content. The athlete’s families kept and shared video diary entries to capture every emotional reaction while supporting their loved ones. Also, two-time Olympic medalist, Bryan Clay, who did not qualify for the 2012 Olympics, served as BP’s London correspondent. Throughout the campaign, one of the primary goals was to raise visibility of BP’s relationship with the USOC. By the end of the Games, BP had surpassed the initial awareness goal of 15%, with awareness of BP’s sponsorship reaching 23% among the campaign’s target audience. This surpassed other major USOC sponsors, including Citibank (14%), BMW (7%) and Dow Chemical (5%). Also, BP had the second largest increase of brand perception among all Olympic sponsors going from -5.9 to +2.6. On Facebook specifically, BP’s following grew to over 300,000 fans and as of July 2012 (during the Olympics), Facebook post comments were 74% positive in support of BP’s commitment to U.S. athletes. Also, according to a third-party source (AlchemySocial), BP was one of the most popular brands engaging on Facebook during the Olympics, receiving the most “likes" and “comments" of any single Olympic-related Facebook post with 93,000+ Likes, 2,000+ comments and 1,300+ shares. As BP has made a commitment to support Team USA through at least two more Olympic Games, the engaged and active fan base that was established for London will continue to grow and serve as a vehicle for others to learn more about BP’s commitment to America.
www.facebook.com/BPTeamUSA, www.twitter.com/BPTeamUSA, www.bpusathletes.com
