Nike may not have been an Olympic sponsor, but our CheerMeter tool revealed that Nike was top of the podium in social engagement for sports brands during the 2012 London Olympics. Nike dominated the Twittersphere, with over 16,020 tweets associating the brand with the word Olympic, beating rival Adidas by 6,725 tweets, who were mentioned in just 9,295 Olympic-themed tweets over the course of the Games.

Our CEO, Jan Rezab, commented on the trend: “There was a time when primetime slots around major sporting events were essential for maintaining position as a household name; but social media has levelled the playing field. Through its savvy social strategy, Nike demonstrated that you no longer need prime time to create brand buzz.”

CheerMeter also revealed wider social trends from the Games. Swimmers led the pack as most talked about athletes, with Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in first and second place; British diver, Tom Daley coming in 4th and Missy Franklin in 7th. It took running legend, Usain Bolt, to break that trend by coming in third place. And although swimmers may have dominated the individual Twitter race, Tennis was the winner in the sports category, with Swimming a fairly close second.

English-language speakers around the world were the loudest twitter cheerers, with 90% of Games-related tweets and the most tweeted on day was Saturday, July 28th, the first full day of the Games. You can find a graphical breakdown of the data below (Acer, Adidas and Cadbury were official sponsors of the Games).

And make sure to tune in tomorrow for the final Facebook Olympic showdown…

https://smg.adidas-group.com/