The marketing marathon

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: Massive marketing campaigns for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing have been in place for several years, but it’s only recently that companies have begun splashing their logos on billboards and products across China. The countdown to the most anticipated Olympics in recent memory is now on.

Sponsors are hoping to leverage their high profile in Beijing and the six other host cities to build their brands, using China’s coming-out party as a way to solidify their position in that vast consumer market. According to most experts, they are likely to succeed as long as they exploit the unique characteristics of the Chinese market.

The fervour behind the Olympic marketing effort is not surprising. China is the world’s fastest growing economy. By 2025 it is expected to be home to a large middle class with significant spending power. The nation’s rapid growth in recent years has led to changing spending habits as consumers enjoy their new wealth. And although marketers understand that the Games will not provide an economic boost to the nation, its consumer market will be affected in other ways.

“For China, the Olympics are a watershed moment. It is the relaunch of China as a world power,” explains Michael Ip, president of Greater China and Southeast Asia at Landor Associates, a brand consultancy firm. “Chinese authorities will use the Games to demonstrate to the world how far China has come in the last 20 years.”

“If you look at the host countries of past Olympic Games, there is an uncanny linkage between their hosting the Games and their emergence on the global stage,” explains Ann Wool, SVP, director of Ketchum Sports Network. The linkage is a sensitive one for China. “The Chinese... feel they have not been getting the respect due their country, and they feel this is one of the things that will bring them that respect,” Haley explains.

For marketers, the appeal of the 2008 Olympic Games is the long-term potential. Once the Chinese market gets a taste of foreign brands, the appetite for those brands could be insatiable, and some of the biggest brands are banking on that promise and paying top dollar for it. Among the 11 brands that are official Beijing 2008 partners are Johnson & Johnson, Volkswagen and Adidas.