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2008Olympics > Olympic Economy
Lenovo logs into advertising campaign
By Liu Baijia
Updated: 2007-01-12 10:14
Lenovo Group the only Chinese firm in the 11-member The Olympic Partner
(TOP) club of the International Olympic Committee will sign a number of
top athletes and formulate a blueprint for its global Olympic advertising
campaign this year.
Li Lan, vice president of global Olympic marketing with China's largest
computer maker, said in an interview that with the Games fewer than 600
days away, 2007 will be a key time for sponsors to flex their muscles.
"In China, we were quite special because Lenovo was the only active TOP
partner to use the rights related to the Turin Winter Games in 2006,"
said Li in an interview at the Lenovo headquarters in the northwestern
suburb of Beijing.
"But for the 2008 Games, there are many sponsors and everyone wants to
stand out, so it is a big challenge for us as the first-time TOP
sponsor," she added.
Lenovo is the only Chinese firm in the 11-member TOP club with rights to
use the Olympic logos and other rights globally, but there are 32 firms
which have different rights related to the 2008 Games, which will open on
August 8, 2008.
After sponsoring an Olympics countdown program on national broadcaster
China Central TV for 162 million yuan ($20.51 million), Lenovo has
kickstarted its Olympic marketing campaigns for this year.
Li said her company is in contact with global advertising agencies and
will decide a media purchase plan centered around its Olympic
sponsorship, but added Lenovo may not necessarily broadcast TV
commercials in foreign markets this year.
"The enthusiasm of people in the host country and other countries is
usually quite different, so we do not have to start Olympic advertising
campaigns this year in markets outside China," said Li, who holds an EMBA
degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University
in Evanton, Illinois.
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