In preparing our research for CIC’s recently released white paper Tuning into Sports IWOM Q4 2007, CIC’s analysts also took a look at the buzz surrounding the Olympic Games to experiment using some of our new analytical tools. One tool we used is the KAM (Keyword Association Mapping) which we applied to the Olympic related data that we collected in the fourth quarter of 2007 with the purpose of analyzing the relationship between Olympic related IWOM and a selected list of brands and attributes. Below is a brief overview and explanation of our results.
(Note that the analysis is for the period Q4 2007)

(How to read the map: The distance between each brand and attribute demonstrates how closely each one relates to the Olympics and to one another.)

Summary of KAM:
KAM is CIC’s latest tool for analyzing online discussions around specific topics on BBS. Not only does KAM allow us to look at the online relationship between brands and attributes and a specific topic (i.e. Olympics), but it also allows us to see where brands sit in relation to one another around this topic. It does this by using text-mining algorithms to derive the most important language, issues and themes of our topic from online conversations and maps the results.

The topic focus could be brands, products, campaigns, or other specific issues identified by the client (in this case we chose the Olympics). With this advanced text mining technology, we think such visualization makes it more convenient for brands to effectively understand consumer’s feelings towards their brand, competitors, products, campaigns, service, spokespersons,etc..

How to “make sense” of all of this:
From the above map, we can clearly see Coke, an official Olympic sponsor, is closest to the Olympics, showing that it had the highest keyword frequency in discussions related to the Olympics. This means it has the highest number of mentions online discussed in proximity to the Olympics. At the same time, we can see how each brand or attribute relate to one another. For example, we can see that Samsung and mobile phones as well as Lenovo and mascot also have close relationships with one another. As we dug deeper we found the reason for the connection was Samsung and Lenovo both launched special edition Olympic products, Samsung with its Olympic edition mobile phone and Lenovo with its Olympic mascot flash drive, thus drawing Olympic related buzz online. We found that the special edition Olympic products inspired netizens to collect, discuss and show off (晒 or “shai”) these products online.

Moreover, the close relationship between McDonald’s and its marketing activity also stemmed from its Olympic campaign, “I’m Lovin’ It When China Wins (我就喜欢中国赢)” which encouraged participants to upload photos online, linking their online and offline campaigns. In only 2 months, more than a million people participated in the campaign.

As we see from the above analysis of the test data, by understanding how brands and attributes relate to specific topics, brands can initiate more strategic marketing campaigns by connecting with target consumers and stimulating netizens’ enthusiasm and participation.

For further reading, please see below:

Tuning into Sports IWOM 2007 Q4: BBS vs. Twitter
Sports White Paper Coming Soon: Ride the Wave of Sports Online Culture