China: Are Olympics Sponsorships Worth It?

Business Week ^ | 07/31/08 | Frederik Balfour and Reena Jana

[TigerLikesRooster]

Are Olympics Sponsorships Worth It?

For some, not anymore. High-profile Beijing Olympics sponsors Kodak and Lenovo are pulling the plug on future Games

by Frederik Balfour and Reena Jana

With the opening ceremonies for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games just days away, corporate sponsors are getting ready to do victory laps of their own. This year's Olympics have been hyped as a blockbuster for marketers, a chance to ride the wave of Chinese national pride that may translate into billions of dollars in sales of Adidas sneakers, McDonald's (MCD) Big Macs, or General Electric (GE) wind turbines.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Olympic Sponsorship may not yield as much benefit in China as many corporations hoped. In the end, Chinese will mostly remember Chinese(or overseas Chinese) business sponsors. Chinese regime would make sure of it, by depressing visibility of non-Chinese business.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[sarasota]

Let’s see what Obama’s $5 mil buys him during the Olympics.

[Teacher317]

Companies have paid $866 million, or an average of $72 million apiece, to sponsor the Turin and Beijing Games (BusinessWeek.com, 1/30/06)... $663 million total paid to back the Salt Lake City and Athens Games in 2002 and 2004... and $579 million for the Nagano-Sydney cycle in 1998 and 2000.