If anyone ever doubted the power of branding, here’s an Olympic tale.
McDonald’s is the official Olympic sponsor and purveyor of food and beverages within the Olympic village. That means anyone seeking a hot cup of java or a specialty coffee or tea drink has to patronize the village McDonald’s.
The NBC broadcast crew, some 2500 of them, have access to a private, covert Starbucks courtesy of NBC corporate for the sole benefit of its onsite crew. The beverages are free to all crew members, so there is no selling going on here. The Starbucks is located within the NBC broadcast center and without the proper credentials, no one can access this equally well-known purveyor of coffee and tea beverages. According to the IOC, no sponsorship rules are being violated here.
Here’s the power of branding part. Starbucks certainly has its fans and devotees, and given a choice, they would always purchase Starbucks over any other brand. So, when they can’t find a Starbucks within the Olympic village, but they see Starbucks cups walking around in the hands of individuals, their coffee brand sense is put on high alert. They start following the cups to find the coffee. To their frustration, they can’t cross the threshold into the NBC broadcast center to access their favorite coffee brand…Starbucks.
While Starbucks can’t profit directly from this brand tale, they have certainly confirmed the power of their brand and justified the investment they have made in branding. To be clear, this post in no way suggests that McDonald’s does not enjoy an equally enormous brand loyalty itself, nor that they don’t serve a good cup of joe too.
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