You Could Need a Visa

Since I have already posted on Coca-Cola and McDonald's as the Olympics' official soft drink and restaurant, respectively, I decided to discuss Visa's involvement as the official credit card of the Olympic Games.

The TOP ("The Olympic Partner" program) sponsors pay a boatload for exclusive use of the Olympic rings in advertising and logos. Visa's Web site states they are America's Olympic Team Partner and provide direct funding, promotional support and life skills training to athletes. Through professional events, they also provide the opportunity for Olympic hopefuls to train, compete and earn prize money.

As for Visa's social media involvement, they have an impressive looking Facebook page dedicated to Team Visa Athletes complete with videos, photos and posts packed full of updates on the Olympics as well as the Paralympic Games. With over 105,000 fans, this is a great medium where fans can easily find updates and interact with one another through discussions on posts. I'd say they aced it on the Visa Go World Facebook page.

I was unable to find Visa on Twitter, but hey, it's not for everyone. However, Twitter is such a big deal these days that someone over there in communications should consider adding it to their social media list. I was able to find a list of Twitter users that also uses Visa. It's a small list not created by Visa and I think if an official Visa Twitter page came up, people would be likely to follow. I mean, don't "more people go with Visa"?

A Panasonic View

Panasonic Corporation, the Official Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Audio and Visual Equipment category for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games as well as the last 20 years, supplied some eye-popping visuals this year. Panasonic's high-definition camcorders and equipment were used to distribute the Winter Olympics footage. This was the first time the Winter games were filmed in HD.

As I typed in 'Panasonic' into the Twitter people search, a plethora of profiles popped up. They have created accounts for different countries and areas including Russia, Australia and United Arab Emirates. Their account dedicated to their Full HD 3D lists the same post in several different languages including English, Spanish, Chinese and Polish. Very cool to combine this all into one account; however, separate language accounts may be easier for users to navigate. I found myself just skipping over the languages I didn't understand and not involving myself into the posts I was able to read.

Panasonic's Facebook page included only three posts about the Games during the event. I would have posted much more but I did like how they posted about certain athletes and not just their product.

As I browsed through Panasonic's different posts, there was much to be desired. I did not feel very included into the Panasonic lifestyle, but just an outsider watching what new products they will be talking about next. They could really work on interacting with their followers on a more personal level. How about tweeting with questions to followers about their favorite products and how their products impact their daily lives? Just a thought.

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!