Beijing Olympic sponsorship is a waste - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

I already praised Shaun Rein, first on our April top-10 speakers list, last night for knowing how to play the traditional media, and today he does it again in Forbes. The Beijing Olympic sponsorship is a waste of money, he says in another attention-grabbing contribution.
There is a lot of money going around, he writes:

Companies like Adidas and Internet portal Sohu have coughed up serious money to sponsor the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Estimates have computer maker Lenovo paying $80 million to $100 million to be the official sponsor of the games. Eleven global sponsors--including Coca-Cola and McDonald's--spent a combined $850 million to sponsor the Turin and Beijing Olympics.

Shaun Rein Market Research Group decided to figure out how effective this money is being used and helps to increase the brand awareness of those sponsors and they conducted hundreds of interview in ten different Chinese cities.
Result: most consumers had no clue who the Olympic sponsors where. In the case of sponsor Adidas, non-sponsor Nike ran actually away with the honor:

Ultimately, 40% of respondents felt that Nike was the official Olympic sponsor, vs. 50% for the actual sponsor, Adidas, and 10% for Chinese brand Li Ning. Despite a great marketing campaign featuring the Chinese people carrying China's Olympic stars on their shoulders and an emphasis not only on the events but on China's entrance onto the global stage, Adidas has not made their sponsorship stand out.

Brands are better off when they target for the long-term, not short term hits to convince the Chinese consumers, Rein writes.
Shaun Rein is a speaker at Chinabiz Speakers. Are you interesting in having him as a speaker? Do drop me a line.
Update: Meanwhile I have joined the China Speakers Bureau as a principal partner. You will find our celebrity speakers now at their new home.