Olympic branding and global competition : the case of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

• Main Author: Deng, Yaping
• Published: University of Cambridge 2008
• Subjects: 381
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.598494

This study intends to find out how sponsors use the Olympic Games to build up their brand awareness and what the deep meaning of the Olympics is for these sponsors on their journey in the globalisation competition. There is a gap in academic literature on the practice of Olympic sponsors in enhancing their competitiveness. This research uses the method of case study to make in-depth inquiry into the complexity of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), sponsors, PR companies and Advertising companies. In addition, the author’s working experience closely related to Olympics has facilitated the research especially in the interview process. The study selects four sponsors of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, two multinational corporations, Adidas and Coca Cola, and two Chinese corporations, Air China and Lenovo. The study argues that the Olympics is not a simple matter of sports competition recently, but rather a sports activity that shows the comprehensive strength of the host country, and even more so it is an important platform for world famous enterprises to enlarge their share of international markets, and to raise their brand recognition and reputation. Due to economic globalisation, competition between enterprises is no longer a competition between individuals, but is rather a union of win-win corporations. In order to maximise commercial profits, each enterprise forms a centralised operation system and network according to its commercial value. Moreover, it needs a bigger platform which is sports marketing operation pattern strengthening in the long term; most importantly the Olympic Games marketing will integrate in the enterprises’ own developmental strategy. By comparing and contrasting the practices of the Chinese companies with the multinational corporations, the study presents the challenges for firms from developing countries to catch up in competitiveness through the opportunity provided by the Olympic Games.