The Official Brandgeist℠ IQ Olympic Standings

As the summer Olympics in Paris kick off, I can’t help but think back to my most memorable summer Games: the 1996 Centennial Olympics in Atlanta where Andre Agassi won gold, making him the first men’s singles player to complete the Golden Slam.

Fast forward (just a few) years later, and I still love seeing these amazing athletes pour everything they have into what might be just a few moments of glory.

But given my day job, it’s hard to watch and not think about the other athletes behind the podium—the marketers executing back flips, backstrokes and back-breaking feats to bring their brands to the next level, all against the backdrop of a historic sporting event.

An Olympic-sized sponsorship requires resources to execute well beyond the price tag to just get in the game, so it’s no wonder that brand leaders have to spend time justifying the investment.

As I write this, I’m sitting in a Delta Sky Lounge, where the “official airline of Team USA” has changed the Wi-Fi password from the usual “skymiles” to “teamusa” and they’re serving a special edition “French ‘24” cocktail for 500 miles. These are just a few small touches in what I can only imagine is a behemoth strategy to squeeze every last drop out of their sponsorship dollars. But what I — and my culture-curious team at Allison — want to know is: If cultural relevance is a fair KPI to measure the success of an Olympic sponsorship against?

Olympic sponsor marketers (or those who aspire to be) — this one’s for you.

Imagine investing in an Olympic sponsorship for your brand, only to realize it did nothing for your cultural relevance? Or that you shouldn’t have put all your eggs in the proverbial Olympic basket and paused your other marketing activities?

I hate the sound of that, too. That’s why at Allison we’re using Brandgeist℠ IQ — our proprietary, AI-powered tool designed to measure the real-time cultural relevance of brands — to help uncover the impact a costly Olympic sponsorship might have on a brand’s cultural relevance.

The Olympic Sponsors Trailing Behind

Heading into the start of the Games, some brands are barely qualifying when it comes to cultural relevance — looking at the scores below Visa , Toyota Motor Corporation and Samsonite all have work to do to see significant lift.

The Olympic Sponsors with the Biggest Cultural Relevance Gains

On the flip side, OMEGA SA , Nike , Ralph Lauren , Procter & Gamble , LVMH , Delta Air Lines , Intel Corporation and AB InBev 's Michelob Ultra have all seen significant gains in multiple cultural indicators.

Sponsors Who've Tapped In

Over a third of Olympic sponsors have increased their “Plugged into Pop Culture” score with Ralph Lauren pulling ahead as a standout pop culture maven, but it's Airbnb that hold strong with the highest plugged into pop culture score across the entire time period we looked at.

Illuminating Inclusivity

Only 19% of sponsors increased their “Always Inclusive” score with Procter & Gamble , Ralph Lauren , NBC News and Deloitte among the big hitters.

Iconic Brands Seeing Iconic Lift

Outfitting Team USA Olympians and Paralympians pays off, making Ralph Lauren the only sponsor we've analyzed that saw a lift in score across all Brandgeist℠ IQ pillars.

The Official Brandgeist℠ IQ Standings

Ahead of the opening ceremony later today, here's a recap on the brands that are pulling out ahead of the pack.

Congrats to LVMH , AB InBev 's Michelob Ultra and Ralph Lauren ! Stay tuned as the Olympics unfold and we unpack real-time insights from Brandgeist℠ IQ. Curious about your brand’s own score? Drop me a DM or reach out to us at BGIQ@allisonworldwide.com . Until then...

Stay fierce,

Lisa