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Written by Team JConnelly
on August 18, 2016

 Video_storytelling_and_digital_strategy_can_put_a_spring_back_in_your_brand_management_step.jpgThe reviews are in! NBC’s Olympic coverage is more belly flop, less graceful dive. A troubling lack of social media, on-demand video and viewer engagement have all led to disappointing ratings.

Why do we love the Olympics? Because you never know what’s going to happen—whether good, bad or downright ugly (I am not linking to that French gymnast’s broken leg).

But NBC’s primetime-driven coverage has made suspense obsolete. Events happen hours before they air, but results are immediately broadcast on social channels and competing news outlets (but without video).

Viewers have no control over what they see and when—so while there’s history-making gymnastics happening, NBC viewers are looking at an empty pool, or forced to watch track semifinals when all the field medal events are happening.

Don’t like it? Too bad! Join the millions complaining via #nbcfail on Twitter.

But there are gold, silver and bronze linings to this coverage cloud: 3 brand management lessons to help keep your image and marketing efforts firmly rooted in the digital age.

1. On Demand is De Rigueur

Like Veruca Salt, we don’t care how. We want it now.

What do we want? Women’s soccer qualifying games! When do we want it? Not in the middle of a workday and only available to stream online with a cable subscription!

The BBC hailed its coverage of the 2012 Olympics as the first truly digital modern games—every event, sport and venue was available on live streams and on demand.  NBC couldn’t make that profitable, to many cord cutters’ chagrin, so we’re stuck with broadcast limitations.

In these days of Netflix streaming and same-day Amazon delivery, no one wants to jump through hoops to get to what you got. For brands, that means making your value proposition crystal clear and showing how it stacks up against competitors, in every way imaginable.

Have an amazing media clip you want prospects to see? Don’t count on them catching it when it airs. Buy the rights and put the clip on your homepage. Promote it on social. Send it out via email.

Likewise, if you want the media to get your brand image right, make it easy. Put logo standards, executive headshots and bios and other collateral in a digital press kit, and be clear with your brand standards. You’ll be in great company.

2. Get Out Front on Social Media.

Strict rules around who gets to post Olympic video severely limited the ability of social media users to gif and share their favorite moments. Truly, a modern tragedy.

While there are good reasons for it, NBC’s hashtag strategy showed more of what they wanted people to see, and largely ignored how Olympic viewers wanted to engage. Though they did have a late-breaking win by adding the hilarious (and excited!) Leslie Jones to their coverage.

Not thinking about digital engagement first is a major misstep in the modern age. Facebook is now the largest media company in the world. Snapchat has 150 million average daily users.

It’s not enough to just broadcast on social channels—you have to be willing to engage across audiences, and do the work to measure the success of your campaign.

3. Respect Your Audience

The strategy of “glamming up” the games with more human interest seemed to stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of what viewers want.

Speaking before the games began, NBC Olympics CMO John Miller told reporters, in a now oft-repeated quote, “The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans. More women watch the Games than men, and for the women, they’re less interested in the result and more interested in the journey.”

With all due respect Mr. Miller, that’s more than a little condescending. Everyone likes a feel-good, triumphant story. But most good sports tales put the big win at the end, not sandwiched in between narratives of personal drama.

Don’t presume to know what your audience wants. Ask them. And when they tell you’re not delivering, change your strategy (or face their ire).

 

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