More Social Media, More Athletes for McDonald's Vancouver Effort

(ATR) Social media will play a larger role in the way McDonald’s will activate its sponsorship of the Vancouver Olympics, the company’s marketing chief tells Around the Rings.

Global Chief Marketing Officer Mary Dillon says the Champion Kids program will involve more athletes than in Beijing. Gymnastics gold medalist Shawn Johnson is serving as an ambassador for the program.

“She just brings a lot of fun and energy to the whole thing, so that’s going to be one of the things that’s new,” Dillon said.

“It’s really going to be another chance for kids to meet athletes, be a part of the Olympics and really be hometown reporters which we think will be really fun.”

Other athletes included in McDonald’s ads: speedskater Cindy Klessen, snowboarders Brad Martin and Chrispin Lipscomb and freestyle skier Alexandre Bilodeau.

Athletes will also be engaged in McDonald’s social media activities.

“What we will see is an increase use of social media. It’s natural that we continue to evolve in our choice of media to be as relevant as we can to our customers,” Dillion said. Mary Dillon tells ATR that McDonald’s will see an increase in social media use. (ATR)

In the U.S., the McDonald’s promotion, “How do you McNugget?” will allow fans on Twitter and Facebook to follow and try to find athletes in different cities across the United States on the social networks.

“While we still use more traditional media like television, which works really well for us, we’re definitely doing a lot more online in social media, and you’ll see that in Canada and the U.S. and other countries as well,” Dillon said.

Dillon tells ATR that the promotion gives McDonald’s an opportunity to learn more about how fans “McNugget.”

Participating fans will be entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip to the 2012 Games in London.

As the Vancouver Games approach, McDonald’s has ramped-up its global advertising, involving all of its markets. But Dillon says efforts will be focused on locales where interest is high in the Winter Olympics.

“Right now, what we see is some great activation that we are having in Canada, the U.S., the Nordic countries, Germany, Ukraine. We see all bringing the Olympics to life through advertising, or food promotions or packaging, and it varies a little bit around the world,” Dillon said.

“We always want to be as relevant to our customers as possible, so where our customers are really tuned in, we’ll be bringing in to life,” Dillon said.

McDonald’s will hold a press event for the media to preview its Games marketing plans.

In Vancouver, 300 restaurant employees from McDonald’s has a been TOP sponsor since the 1996 Olympics. (Getty Images)Canada will work at the Games as part of the McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew. They will work at the restaurants in the Olympic Villages in Vancouver and Whistler and a third location at the Main Media Center in Vancouver.

McDonald’s also announced its new menu items for the Games. They include the S’mores Pie, Crème Brulee Crunch McFlurry and Happy Meals with Vancouver 2010 mascot toys.

McDonald’s in the U.S. will offer Chicken McNuggets with new sauces for a limited time. Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway are offering special Chicken McNugget promotions.

McDonald’s first began supporting the Olympics in 1968 when it sent hamburgers to U.S. athletes at Grenoble.

It became an Official Sponsor in 1976 for the Montreal Summer Games and a TOP sponsor for the first time for the Atlanta Olympics.

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With reporting from Isia Reaves

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