Paying a lot of money to deny you are a sponsor?

Heineken and the Olympics

After sending away Dutch athlete Yuri van Gelder from the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 because he had a couple of beers days before his Olympic final, a discussion lighted up about the sponsorship of an alcoholic beverage brand of the Olympic Games.

As a reaction Heineken responded to this critique via Twitter. In their reaction they denied sponsoring the Olympic games even though the Olympic Committee’s website states that Heineken is one of the main sponsor. The company stated that they are just a supplier and not a sponsor. This lighted up the discussion even more.

In this interactive online social media time it is not possible anymore to get away with a reaction like that. People became even more critical and commented a lot on this Tweet. The reactions to this statement especially focused on the fact that people did not really see the difference between sponsoring and facilitating. The statement backfired and Heineken got even more critique instead of controlling the damage done by the discussion in the first place. Instead of directly responding to and controlling everything going on, they kept quiet for quite a while, which didn't do them any good either. Their final response was a statement telling people that they do not sponsor the Olympic Games but they sponsor NOC NSF (the Dutch Olympic Committee). But most harm was already done by that time. 

Sponsoring sports: A Good or a Bad Idea?

Sponsoring sports events can have a lot of benefits for organizations. According to Grohs & Reisinger one of the most important reasons to sponsor sports events is general image improvement for your organization due to the sponsoring. But another important factor in all this is the fit between the brand/organization and the event, say Koo, Quarterman & Flynn in their research. Which was exactly the problem with the Heineken Olympics case. Is a alcoholic beverage brand a good fit with a sports event like this? For the people who have to actually deliver a sports performance, probably not! On the other side, most people who watch sports actually like to enjoy this activity with a beer in their hands, for them it can be seen as a great fit. This last point would have probably been the thought when Heineken started sponsoring the Olympic games and other sports events.  

Think & Respond

So, being a great fit or not, it doesn't change the fact that Heineken should have elaborated their motives for sponsoring this event and should have thought more carefully before responding to the online critique. Especially, because this was not the first time around they were sponsoring a big sports event. You would think that they have had enough time and resources to think of a statement why they do sponsor the Olympic games in the last couple of years. But this did not seem the case when you read their reaction to the online critique. 

Y. Mathot

An individual blogger who is living in Amsterdam, being passionate about PR, Marketing, Sports and living life to the fullest.