McPartners

Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games, McDonald's can be found on many major social media Web sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace working to enhance their relationship with consumers. They have partnered with the Games for over 40 years and have developed and adapted their approach to reach consumers that are increasingly spending time on social media Web sites.

While a press release from McDonald's Web site said global activities for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games officially launched Feb. 11, 2010, I was surprised to see that their first tweet of the day did not mention the Games. Around midday their Twitter Team finally tweeted about the McDonald's Champion Kids for 2010. I noticed they tweet directly with followers which is great because some companies simply tweet their activities and do not respond to their followers! Kudos McDonald's.

As I browsed McDonald's Facebook fan page, I noticed more mention of the Olympics and links to promotions and information regarding their involvement in the Games. There they post a link to their main Web site, but why not a link to their Twitter or MySpace? Also there is a link from their Web site to Twitter, but not to their other accounts. Hmmm...

Ice-cold and Responsible

The 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games opening ceremony was very entertaining and I truly appreciated the amount of dance involved. (I have been dancing since elementary school.) While the cultural storyline and insane projector effects were something I highly recommend you see if you missed it, the commercial breaks entertained my attention as well. One commercial in particular was Coca-Cola's snowball ad  featuring an all-out snowball fight between Olympic team members from several countries in which an icicle initiates said fight.

Coca-Cola's Twitter account named MyCocaCola tweets news about the company, keeping followers updated in real-time. Posts include links to Web articles for further information. Their account named CocaCola tweeted that Coca-Cola staff at the games is wearing uniforms made from recycled plastic bottles. An article from packagingnews.co.uk covers the story.

This is part of Coca-Cola's zero-waste approach to becoming a more sustainable business. What a way to promote your company as well as an environmentally responsible message.

The Olympics are here!

Besides the fact that the Olympics are being shown on NBC, I have noticed the signs that the winter Olympics in Vancouver are upon us. As I was cooking up dinner last week, I noticed the Tyson frozen chicken I was using officially sponsors USA's Olympics. This is just one example of the way a business has chosen to communicate to the public of their sponsorship in the Olympic games. I checked up on the Tyson Foods, Inc. Web site and found this in a press release:

"As the official chicken, beef and pork Sponsor for the U.S. Olympic Team, Tyson will serve as a vital protein source for America's Olympic hopefuls in Beijing and Vancouver. In addition to supplying product to all three U.S. Olympic Training Centers, Tyson protein will help fuel the athletes during the 30 days when the U.S. Olympic Team is in Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games, including the 16 days of competition.

Their Web site features promotions such as "Eat to Compete" which lists recipes that promote healthy food choices as well as tips and recipes created by U.S. Olympic team chefs:

It's interesting to see how businesses contact their publics and make known what they support and how they go about promoting their interests!