Beijing takes Olympics big sell to US
Licensing deals likely to be more lucrative than other Games
The big pitch is on. With fewer than 800 days left before the Olympic Games in Beijing, the event's top promoter launches a marketing campaign in the United States this week, looking to clinch licensing deals.
Yuan Bin, director of marketing for the Beijing Olympics Organising Committee, will address representatives and agents of more than 525 brands in New York tomorrow.
'The sports marketing industry has taken notice of the overwhelming amount of opportunities that have developed as a result of the upcoming 2008 Beijing Games,' said Jennifer Karpf, founder and director of American trade group National Sports Marketing Network.
'Leading sports agencies are rushing to open satellite offices to take advantage of all that will happen leading up to the Games and the tremendous legacy that the Games will leave for years to come,' she said.
The US$175 billion worldwide licensing industry comprises retailers, manufacturers and marketing professionals across all consumer product categories. That includes sports brand endorsements on apparel, stationery, food and beverage, video games and wireless media.
Ms Yuan said the Beijing Games licensing programme was being expanded to open more merchandise opportunities across China and overseas.
'We are looking forward to hosting Yuan Bin at the Sports Licensing Summit for her first speaking engagement in the United States,' said Georgiann DeCenzo, vice-president of licensing at Advanstar Communications, producers of Licensing 2006 International.
The Beijing Games are expected to win more sponsorship deals than previous Olympics.
Already, organisers have landed 10 partners authorised to use the Olympic logo in their marketing inside China. These are Bank of China, China Network Communications Group, China Petrochemical Corp, China National Petroleum Corp, China Mobile Communications, Volkswagen Group China, Adidas, Johnson & Johnson China Investment, Air China and PICC Property & Casualty.
'We have worked closely with these companies to ensure they can maximise their brands' exposure,' Ms Yuan said.
She said the Beijing organising committee ensured protection of the sponsors' investment 'by developing detailed anti-ambush programmes and tightly guarding their intellectual property rights'.
'The Beijing Olympics are being studied like no other Summer Olympics ever,' Ms Karpf said.
In addition, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has signed up 11 global partners called top sponsors - Coca-Cola, Omega, Samsung Electronics, Visa, General Electric, Kodak, Manulife, McDonald's, Panasonic, information technology systems integrator Atos Origin and mainland computer giant Lenovo.
The top sponsors programme is worth US$866 million and covers both the recent Winter Olympic Games in Turin and the Beijing Games. Revenue is shared among the IOC, the host nation and the national Olympic committees.
The IOC estimates Beijing will ultimately raise an additional US$1 billion in local agreements - considerably more than the US$685 million the Athens Games made.
