Automakers Shelled Out Millions for Olympic Ads That No One Talked About

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

It makes sense that an advertising blitz during the year’s most-watched event will boost your brand, but that wasn’t the case for automakers during the Rio Olympics.

According to a brand interest study, automakers who spent the most money saw no improvement in consumer perception, Automotive News reports.

YouGov BrandIndex looked at brand perception after the first week of Olympics coverage. Four automakers ranked among the top 10 ad spenders, to no avail. In fact, the only company to see any real boost from the coverage was the TV network carrying the coverage — NBC.

“NBC made a large enough leap in YouGov BrandIndex’s Word Of Mouth score to make it the only brand to pass a statistically significant threshold of the three metrics used to measure Olympics sponsors,” the tracking company said in a statement.

Top spender BMW dropped $28.7 million on its Olympic ad campaign, followed by General Motors with $27.3 million in ad buys. Ford ranked sixth ($16.9 million) and Toyota 10th ($14.6 million).

Only two automotive brands registered a tiny upward blip in interest — Nissan and Bridgestone. Still, the bump fell below the “threshold of statistical significance,” according to BrandIndex. This, despite Nissan’s status as official supplier of vehicles to the 2016 Olympics. (CEO Carlos Ghosn even carried the flame in the torch relay!).

The company ranks brands based on public feedback, combining the scores from three criteria: “word of mouth,” “buzz,” and “purchase consideration.”

[Image: BMW USA]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

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  • Bswanny Bswanny on Aug 18, 2016

    I disagree. I saw the BMW i3 commercial and never gave much thought to them until I saw the lease deals they were offering. Advertising worked

    • LeMansteve LeMansteve on Aug 19, 2016

      yeah, what's the deal with those i3 leases? Around here, you can get a 2016 i3 (non-REX) for about $3,000 down and $159/mo. Seems really low for an EV that probably depreciates like a rock. I think subsidies are helping keep the leases cheap.

  • LeMansteve LeMansteve on Aug 19, 2016

    GM - $27.3M I sincerely hope they paid $0.00 for the airheaded "real people" in their commercials.

  • Junebug Junebug on Aug 19, 2016

    If the interest I have in pro sports was lard, it wouldn't be enough to grease a frying pan. But, I did enjoy Michael Phelps and Katie Ladecki earn their gold. And that Usain Bolt gentleman is a class act, did you see him stop an interview to pay respect when they played our national anthem. I agree with ya'll that most car adds are stupid and do little to get you in the dealership. However, the Subie one where the dad see's his daughter as a 5-6 year old then reality hits and she's a teen driving off - well that hits me hard, I have 2 daughters and relived that scene twice now. Doesn't get any easier either. I didn't buy a Subie though, oldest has a Mazda 3 and youngest a Civic - both got the loaded to the gills versions!

  • Ricky Spanish Ricky Spanish on Aug 19, 2016

    The only people who watch commercials are currently collecting Social Security. The rest of us have figured out how a DVR works.

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