Brands protecting their Sochi investment

Mashable's T. L. Stanley reported yesterday on the social media manpower being deployed by Olympic global sponsors to protect any online attacks from critics of Russia and the local game organization.  Especially after McDonald's #CheersToSochi campaign got co-opted by civil rights activists, Olympic sponsors have geared up their monitoring and response capabilities.  Visa, to cite just one example, has teams from multiple agencies -- BBDO Worldwide, Atmosphere Proximity, Omnicom's OMD, MRY, and FleishmanHillard all on the look-out for social opportunities as well as potential problems.

The smartest branding thinkers are pausing and thinking before they hit the send key. "There's a real downside to lobbing your hat into the conversation if you don't have anything relevant to say or the credibility to say it," said David Srere, co-CEO of strategic branding firm Siegel+Gale. "Silencee can be golden."