 Olympic marketing hits fever pitch
By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-23 07:47
Despite the global financial crisis, Chinese Olympic Committee's marketing campaign for the new four-year Olympic cycle has enjoyed a highly successful start. "Although the 2009-2012 marketing campaign for COC has just started and we have only signed contracts with two companies, the income from those two has already exceeded the total amount we earned from the last Olympic cycle," said Wang Jun, vice-director of the State General Administration of Sport and vice-chairman of the COC, on the sidelines of the 2009 China Sports Marketing Summit yesterday. "Although the final statistics haven't been worked out and disclosed, according to our estimation, COC could earn at least $60 million from the Olympic cycle of 2005-08," he added. The COC eyed further marketing development for the new cycle even before last August's Beijing Games, launching its new marketing campaign last May. The new Sponsorship Program includes three tiers - COC partners, sponsors and suppliers, with different sums of money earning different rights and interests. Less affected by the global financial recession, Chinese companies will play an increasingly important role in sponsoring sports in the coming four years. COC has so far signed partnership contracts for formal wear with Hengyuanxiang, China's leading woolen wear producer, while sports goods producer Anta has been engaged for ceremonial sportswear. "Following the Beijing Olympic experience, sports marketing has become a popular way for enterprises. Although the post-Olympic sports industry has been affected by the global recession, crisis and opportunity can coexist," Wang said. "The industry can reverse the crisis, as long as it makes full use of the platform and resources in line with the company's brand positioning and development strategy. "Compared with international brands, those Chinese local companies have been less affected by the global economic recession and there is a strong trend among them to increase their investment in sports industries." Wang's views were echoed by his partners. "Anta always includes such sports marketing campaigns into our marketing strategy and despite the global financial crisis, we have found that there is still much room to develop within the domestic market," said Zhang Tao, vice-president of Anta. To attract more companies to support China's sports, the COC has further extended its marketing program to offer more opportunities for sponsors. "We have brought in the concept of partners of the Olympic Movement, which will help us to build up long-sighted and win-win partnerships with companies," said Ma Jilong, director of COC Marketing Commission. "For the first time, the sponsoring companies could enjoy the marketing rights for all the international sports games that the Chinese delegation will take part in during the four-year cycle. And we also included more commonwealth activities into our cooperation, such as the Olympic education and environment protection, to provide wider platform for the companies to show themselves." The COC is also holding discussions with potential partner companies in other industries, such as banking, automobile, insurance and dairy products. "We have already felt the interests from companies from both home and abroad," said Ma. "We will select qualified companies according to strict criteria."
(China Daily 04/23/2009 page24) |
