Marketing Activities - Beijing 2008 - Part II
Corporations compete for Olympic marketing gold (part 2)
Trend description
A survey recently released by Lingdian Research Network Co. shows that nearly 80 percent of Chinese have a favorable opinion towards the enterprises that sponsor the Olympic Games, and 75.1 percent are more inclined to buy products or services branded with the Olympic emblem. Among the 79.9 percent of people who are more favorable of the Olympic sponsoring companies, 87.7 percent are between 18 and 25 years old. The survey found that Chinese people regard IT and consumables as the most suitable industries to sponsor the Olympic Games, followed by the telecommunications and automobile industries.
Cases
McDonald’s
McDonald’s has been slow to move beyond the planning stages, although the fast-food chain recently started to connect its overall children’s well-being program with Olympic mascots. McDonald’s already has more than 760 restaurants in China and aims to reach at least 1,000 outlets by the start of the Games.
So far, the company’s focus has been on opening stores and boosting burger sales. McDonald’s developed a live online chat series with the popular Chinese portals Sina and Askme.com.cn, a health and nutrition web site launched by McDonald’s in the mainland last March. Consumers can interact with leading sport, entertainment and business figures. Next spring, McDonald’s will hold its first Olympic Day Run in China in several years.
Visa
Visa, is the exclusive payment card and official payment service of the Olympic Games until 2012. The credit card company is yet another marketer in China that has jumped on the Liu Xiang (China’s superstar hurdler) bandwagon, along with Coca-Cola, Nike, China Mobile and China’s leading dairy producer Yili.
In May 2006, Visa launched its first marketing effort highlighting its sponsorship of the 2008 Games in Beijing with a campaign by BBDO, Shanghai, that showed Liu racing a kangaroo in Australia. In addition to sponsoring Liu, Visa, like many advertisers in China, is eagerly attaching its brand to different teams. Visa is now the official partner of the China National Short Track Speed Skating Team, the China National Figure Skating Team and the China National Free Style Skiing Team.
The Chinese card-payment industry has experienced rapid growth over the past five years. There were less than 10 million cards in use five years ago - today there are more than 100 million, including 30 million Visa cards, 20 million other international payment cards, and 50 million local brand cards. Ninety percent of the credit cards belong to the most affluent consumers in China; mostly residents of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen with annual incomes above US$4,000 (30,975 RMB).
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is promoting its sponsorship of the Games with a major branding effort in one of its fastest-growing markets. Although J&J has operated in China for more than 20 years through its various operating companies, few Chinese know the parent company.
In July 2005, J&J became the ninth national sponsor of the 2008 Olympics. As the official health care partner for the Games, it will provide funding and services for the Chinese Olympic Committee and for Chinese teams competing in the Games. The agreement, which included the 2006 Winter Games in Turin a year ago, covers everything from basic products like Band-Aid bandages to high-tech diagnostics tools. Since China represents enormous growth potential for J&J, the company hopes the campaign will cement its brand image and diverse line of products with local consumers.
Volkswagen
Volkswagen became the official automobile sponsor of the Games in 2004, beating Hyundai and several other competitors. Volkswagen will provide financial, automotive and other types of support for 2008 Olympics Paralympics, BOCOG, the China Olympic Committee, and the Chinese Olympic teams.
Volkswagen is the largest vehicle manufacturer in the Chinese auto industry, and China is VW’s biggest market outside of Germany. Sales in China jumped 24 percent to 711,000 vehicles in 2006, and 2007 first quarter sales rose a further 23 percent to a record 202,600 units. It was the first time that quarterly sales of Volkswagen vehicles exceeded 200,000 units in the country.
VW has formed a Beijing Olympic Forum to promote its association with the Olympics, holding various events and promotional activities such as art exhibitions and fashion shows. Volkswagen is also the title sponsor for Beijing Television Six’s (BTV-6) Olympic talk show series called “Tong Xiang 2008 - Dazhong Tan Aoyun” (“To 2008 - People Talk Olympics”). Starting in March 2006, the show will be aired every Thursday until the Olympics.
Links
www.volkswagen.com.cn/publish/en/experience/experience_vw_f_b_event2006.html
www.en.ce.cn/Industries/Auto/200704/09/t20070409_10978379.shtml