As Visa launched its worldwide campaign for the 2012 Olympics, the brand’s message had to be unique or risk getting lost in the crowd. The impact created by partnering with the Olympic Games can be enormous for a brand. Visa had to ensure that the campaign would resonate on a global scale, in every market of the world.

Visa met this challenge by inviting the world to join the global cheer and add their support for their favorite athletes through Visa’s global cheer platform. This social-at-the-core hub gave fans worldwide the chance to participate with athletes, the Games and the sports through personalized messaging from fans, local athlete content, and a live Facebook chat with Michael Phelps. As this first-of-its-kind initiative came to life, many legal and IOC guidelines had to be considered, especially given the emphasis on user-generated and athlete-created content during the Games.

Visa created a platform to give fans the opportunity to cheer for Olympians, rewarding them with content from the athletes. To maintain excitement, the team took advantage of Olympic moments and created real-time messaging before medal rounds and after performances featuring our sponsored athletes. Fans’ social media cheers were included in celebratory TV commercials. 36 markets from around the world took our global cheer platform and activated it locally on Facebook, Twitter, and other popular local social platforms. To extend reach and distribution of content, Visa successfully tapped into the athlete’s social following, making fans the center of the campaign.

When Visa launched its Global Cheer campaign, the response from around the world was impressive. The campaign increased Visa card usage and brand equity while exceeding all business KPIs. The platform registered 60.7 million cheers and globally claimed card usage rose by 13%. The brand’s YouTube Channel received over 50 million views and Visa’s Facebook fan base increased by 1300%.

The campaign received more positive media coverage around the world than any other sponsor or previous Visa campaign, generating more than 2,600 media stories. Overall, Visa’s Global Brand Equity increased by 13 points. Brand recall for the campaign was 45% above Visa averages.

By the end of the campaign, 36 markets had decided to leverage the online hub. Users and Visa followers engaged in social media like never before, fueling the conversation around the Games and between the fans, athletes, and Visa worldwide.