New research has claimed that the Zika virus is having a significant impact on certain Olympic sponsors ahead of Rio 2016.
The findings, which have been released to insidethegames, come from The Global Language Monitor (GLM), which says the impact on some individual partners is greater than the impact on the Games themselves.
GLM analyses and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular focus on English.
The internet and the top 350,000 print and electronic news media outlets are analysed, as well as social media sources such as Twitter.
Words, phrases and concepts are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media.
For non-branded entities such as the Zika virus, GLM uses a system called the Entity Tracking Index (EAI).
Individual sponsors have not been named, but one company scores 163.48 on the EAI scale when measured with Zika, with the higher numbers meaning a closer relationship.
Another is measured at 103.46 while a third tallies 48.50.
This is in comparison with how Zika measures against the Olympics itself, which is down at 18.64.
That figure has slowly risen, however, and was just 14.06 six weeks ago.
This proves that there is a “significant and growing” impact on Rio 2016 and cause for concern, the GLM claims.
They maintain, however, there is a “greater impact” on individual sponsors due to the higher numbers.
“Of particular interest is the wide variation found in the EAIs between major sponsors,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and chief world analyst of GLM.
“When tracking brand equity, the early numbers provide strong indicators of actual performance during the Games, providing a snapshot of the intense battle already being waged between the official Olympic sponsors and the non-affiliated marketers, also called ambush marketers or ambushers.”
The GLM is hiding the names of the companies at present but they are available to see if you subscribe.
The analysis is part of a study stretching back to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, which will conclude with the 2022 Winter Games which will also be in the Chinese capital.
A Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) is also used to track how often brand names are linked to the Olympics in global print, electronic media and social networks.
Fast food giants McDonalds, one of the The Olympic Programme (TOP) partners, would normally score in the hundreds when measured against Rio 2016.
Zika has become one of the main issues discussed ahead of August’s Olympics in the Brazilian city.
- By Dan Palmer
- Republished with permission insidethegames.biz