Results tagged “Ad Watch” from 2008 Summer Olympics blog

What you're about to see is, I would assume, a first in advertising history. I'm talking about the unusual pairing of nationalism and ramen noodles.

The ad is from Uni-President, an official Olympic sponsor. Also of note: they're the sponsor of the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions, a Taiwanese baseball team that José Canó -- father of Yankees second baseman Robinson -- used to play for.

Here's your "Go China! Eat Ramen!" ad:

Yili is the official milk sponsor of the Games and the one with endorsement from Liu Xiang, Yi Jianlian and the Chinese badminton team. But China's other milk giant -- Mengniu -- is trying to keep its market share despite Yili's overwhelming presence during the Olympics.

Mengniu doesn't have the athletic sponsors, though if you believe their Wikipedia page, they are the official sponsor of the Chinese space program. (They're also, according to their own website, based in Inner Mongolia.) Without big name sponsors, they're settling for the next best thing: overwhelming amounts of nationalism.

Here's one short ad that's running during these Games. They also have a second ad that I've seen but have yet to find online featuring pandas and a milk version of the Michelin man toasting to the company. I am not making this up.



I should note: the company's CEO, Niu Gensheng, did get to carry the Olympic torch on Aug. 7. This is the same man who, according to a CCTV report, "is a cow, but has running at the speed of a rocket."

One more of their non-Olympic ads after the jump:

Less than 24 hours after Liu Xiang decided not to run in the 110m hurdles, Nike's already trying to spin the situation.

CNBC's Darren Rovell is reporting that Nike's new ad campaign will center around a print ad with this text (translated from Mandarin):

Love competition.

Love risking your pride.

Love winning it back.

Love giving it everything you've got.

Love the glory. Love the pain.

Love sport even when it breaks your heart.

Just Do It.

Sure enough, the ad's already in today's papers. The image above is taken from the Beijing Youth Daily, a Chinese-language newspaper.

Two more thoughts about Liu Xiang, after the jump:

In all the Olympics hoopla, it's easy to forget that there actually are shoe companies over here not named Adidas, Li Ning or Nike. One Chinese brand, Anta, has been left almost entirely out of the Olympics picture. They're still a factor in the market, though, with endorsers like Argentina's Luis Scola and the Houston Rockets' Steve Francis wearing their shoes.

Here's one of their ads that's gotten some airtime on Beijing TV. They've even had the courtesy to add subtitles. Well done.

Back in March, China's Heng Yuan Xiang Group, which produces wool products, released this ad for the Olympics. Within days, the backlash from it was so strong that the company was forced to pull the ad.

Luckily/unluckily, the ad still lives on today on YouTube.

To answer the question you'll be asking afterwards: no, that video's not stuck on repeater. The company actually used the "let's annoy them until they buy our product" marketing strategy. It's the "Are we there yet?" of ads. Enjoy (kind of):

When Western companies come to Asia, one of the first things they have to do is figure out exactly what to call themselves. Some -- like Adidas or Nike -- just keep their English names. Others try to reinvent their brand through the local language.

Take Coca Cola, for example. Ask for a Coke in most stores, and they'll have no idea what you're talking about. But ask for a bottle of delicious happiness, and you might have more success.

Yes, the Mandarin word for Coca Cola translates as "delicious happiness." That's marketing for you.

Moving on: here's one of Coke's many ads for the Olympics, featuring one terrifying red carpet being rolled out to the Pacific Ocean to welcome... Yao Ming? I'm not sure exactly what they're trying to say about where Yao fits on the evolutionary scale, but apparently, the big guy can breathe underwater (while staying dry and keeping a torch lit, I might add). Enjoy:

When I wrote yesterday that any kid old enough to pick up a ping pong paddle is probably better than you already, I was serious. They love their ping pong here in Beijing. All around the city, there are ping pong gyms, with dozens of tables in use at all hours.

Or, to put it another way: China Unicom is using two groups of athletes for their ads during these Games. They've got Yao Ming, and they've got the Chinese ping pong team. Guess which one they feature more of in their ads?

Li-Ning will be hoping to ride the wave of publicity from Friday's Opening Ceremonies as their highest-profile team -- Argentina men's basketball -- tipped off today against Lithuania. Here's the team's Chinese ad. One thing to remember: Argentine forward Luis Scola does a conflict of interest with Li Ning, since he's endorsed by rival Chinese brand Anta. Oh, the many complications of sponsorship.



If you're wondering about that strange salute that the team is doing at the end of the ad, here's a brief explanation: it's the Chinese gesture for "honor." At Li Ning stores around Beijing, the staff is constantly greeting shoppers with it. No word yet on how the salute's effect on sales.

Let's say you're an executive at Adidas or Visa. You've spent roughly the combined GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa to advertise in China during these Games. Then you see this report from a media research firm about which advertisers are having the most success in growing their brand through Beijing-themed ads. They're predicting one company to have over 20 billion yuan ($2.92 billion) in sales by year's end here in China.

It's not your company, though. It's milk.

Specifically, Yili milk, which is riding the golden spikes of Liu Xiang to increased sales. Here's his ad for the company. Two more Yili ads, featuring the Chinese badminton team and other athletes, are after the jump:

Let's take you back to 2004, shall we? The world was in Greece, complaining about the smog and the humidity and paying for their Big Macs with Visa. Some things never change, I guess.

Speaking of which, check out these two ads from '04 campaign. One, from McDonald's, is below. Another, from Nike about soon-to-be-gold-medalist Liu Xiang, is after the jump:

Many of the ads featured here on Ad Watch have exclusively run in China, as marketers try to reach out to a market of more than a billion people. Other advertisers are simply running one international campaign and have dubbed over their ads into Mandarin for the Games.

Here's one from Omega that fits into the latter category. The Chinese version is below. The English version is after the jump.

In August, there won't be any Nike ads shown on Chinese TV, since Nike -- the official sponsor of the Chinese national team -- is not the official sponsor of the Olympic Games. Yes, it's all unnecessarily confusing.

Still, Nike's not going to stay out of the international Olympic ad market. Expect to see these new ads playing in the U.S. soon.

The ads feature seven Nike soccer players. One of note will be playing for his national team during the Games: Sergio "Kún" Agüero, an Argentinian player who's currently with Atlético Madrid. You'll see him paired up top in Argentina's lineup with Leo Messi.

Here's his ad from Nike's "Blood, Sweat & Tears" campaign:



One more thought, after the jump:

Over the last few months, the city of Beijing has been teaching residents about the Western concept we'd call "organization." They held special days teaching Beijingers how to do things like standing in a single file line for tickets or talking to foreigners. They also taught thousands of Chinese how to organize a proper cheer at a sporting event.

"Rock and Roll Part II" hasn't exactly caught on here, so a state-run group called the Beijing Etiquette Academy created an official, government-approved cheer called "the Olympic Four Step."  Then, companies like Pepsi -- which is not an official Olympic sponsor -- stepped in to spread the cheer via TV ads, like the one below. Expect to see a lot of it during these Olympics:

The scene inside a Chinese ad agency boardroom a few months ago:

PR guy: "Okay, we're looking to sell this new snack called Potepo. They're just a Chinese knockoff on Bugles, so we need a pretty convincing ad campaign to sell these things."

Ad guy #1: "Well, how about we dress our spokesmen in hollowed out Twinkie costumes."

Ad guy #2: "And we could have them threaten unsuspecting customers with bodily harm."

Ad guy #1: "And deportation to Tokyo too!"

PR guy: "Yes! A threatening, deportation-themed snack commercial starring men dressed as corn chips is exactly what we need! The guys at the office are going to love this idea."

At least that's how I imagine these ads for a Chinese snack named Potepo getting pitched. They're just about the strangest things I've seen on TV since I've arrived. Enjoy:



A brief translation of what these ads are about, courtesy of Google, after the jump:

Liu Xiang will make about 70 million yuan ($10.24 million) this year, making him the second highest paid athlete in China (and Forbes magazine's number two Chinese celebrity, ahead of Jet Li).  If you're wondering why a guy who only runs in one Olympic event -- the 110 meter hurdles -- can make so much money, there's an easy answer: he endorses everything.  Cadillac, Coca Cola, Lenovo, Nike, Visa -- even a Chinese milk company called Yili and an obscure Chinese clothing line: all are endorsed by Liu Xiang.  (He recently stopped endorsing Baisha, a cigarette company.)

Here's one of his ads for another sponsor, Nutrilite, in which he's paired with Jamaican 100 meter sprinter Asafa Powell, formerly the World's Fastest Man.  Starting today, the ad has been pulled from Chinese airwaves, because Nutrilite is not an official Olympic sponsor:

It might have made headlines in the States, but here, the sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev was a non-story.  But that doesn't mean Bud doesn't have any stake in the Chinese market.  While it's not quite as widespread as Chinese beers like Tsingtao or Yanjing, or the popular Asian brew Tiger, Bud is an official sponsor of the Olympic Games, which means that it's available all over the city (of note: Tsingtao and Yanjing are also official beer sponsors of the Games, though who knows why an athletic competition needs three official beers.  Also strange: Bud owns about a quarter of Tsingtao's American operations).

But the new Bud Olympic ads in China have just started running on Chinese TV.  Check out the Bud ants' takeover of the Bird's Nest below:  

With all the talk about Yao, the shoe giants and nationalism, I've left out one key Olympic sponsor in The Rocky Olympic blog's Ad Watch: Gatorade.  They'll be omnipresent at these Games, and judging by their new national ad, they're hoping to be just as big a player in China beyond these Olympics.  The campaign is called "Sports Beyond 2008."

 

And please, correct me if I'm wrong, but is that background music a Chinese cover of K.T. Tunstall's "Black Horse and The Cherry Tree"?

In 2005, Burger King opened its first Chinese store in the city of Shanghai.  That year, the company announced that it wanted to open 1,000 stores in China by as early as 2010.  But currently, the only Burger King in Beijing is at the new airport.  There are only a dozen stores in the entire country.

So when it comes to burgers in Beijing, the Golden Arches have a huge head start.  They're more ubiquitous in this town than any other brand name -- probably even more so than Michael Jordan.  As an Olympic sponsor, they've also taken over the national airwaves.

McDonald's has two new ads out.  The first is a strange one for their Heart Tickling Value Meal -- or, as you know it in the States, the Dollar Menu:



The other, featuring four Chinese athletes and the "energatic!" [sic] line of McDonalds meals, is after the jump:

It's about time here at Ad Watch to show you the guy who's still a headliner in this country, ankle injury or not: Yao Ming.

How beloved is he here?  When Yao was injured, Reebok added a feature to its Chinese website allowing people to send well wishes to Yao.  If the counter on their website is to believed, as of this posting, Yao has receieved 4.64 billion messages.  A man of the people, indeed.

His Reebok ad is titled "Fuel Yao's Unlimited Power," and it's running on a near constant loop on all of China's CCTV channels.  The ad piggybacks on the theme of unity that China's pushing hard this Olympic season.  There's not much room for interpretation here, though I must ask: what's with very un-Yao-like background music?

The ad:

"We're definitely good, but I don't think you can say we're that original," Coldplay's Chris Martin once told Rolling Stone. "I regard us as being incredibly good plagiarists."  China's Li Ning seems to have taken the same approach with their successes.  Their logo looks suspiciously like a certain famous swoosh.  Their "Anything is Possible" slogan seems to have a strangly familiar ring.  Even their business plan pulls from American origins.

But here's their new Chinese TV ad, and it seems Li Ning may have finally struck an original chord.  The question I'm thinking about after watching it is: when it's all over, what will China have to show for the billions they've spent on these Games?

Or, if you'd prefer a slightly more cynical tone: after these Games end, will China put away the patriotism and revert to everything they've always been?

Here's your ad.  It's titled "Restart".