London 2012 Fans Double Football Following
New research shared last night at Hill + Knowlton Strategies’ ‘Keeping the Flame Alive’ panel event showed that at its height this summer the London 2012 Olympics mobilised more than double the support that football regularly enjoys in the country.
84% of the population said that during August this year they had followed the Games, compared with the 40% who regularly follow football, ordinarily Great Britain’s most followed sport. This included as many as two-thirds of non-sports fans in the country (non-sports fans represent 16% of the UK population as a whole) saying they had followed the Games.
Speaking at the event, WPP chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell, said he personally thought the moment the British public’s imagination caught fire was when Bradley Wiggins became the first British winner of the Tour de France on Sunday 22nd July, a week before the Games began.
Looking ahead to Sochi and the Winter Olympics in 2014, Sorrell called out ‘consistency’ and ‘relevance’ as two of the key ingredients for success that sponsors should aim for when activating their Olympic partnerships.
Sorrell was joined on the panel by Team GB’s first London 2012 gold medallist, Helen Glover, who won the women’s rowing coxless pairs, Ben Clissitt, head of sport at the Daily Telegraph, and BBC News presenter Sue Thearle.
Andy Sutherden, H+K’s global practice director, sports marketing and sponsorship, commented: ‘As the sports industry sets its sights on Sochi, it’s worth taking a moment to look back at what’s been a phenomenal year for UK sport. Britain has truly felt like the capital of the world and, as KantarSport’s new research shows, the nationwide reach of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 is unprecedented.’
