Before the Olympics started, Olympic volunteers were newsworthy, especially ones learning to write “I love China” in traditional calligraphy.  While going through my rigorous training leading up to the Olympics at the basketball Cube, my opportunistic supervisor jumped on the chance to get her two trainees on tv and in front of who knows how many Chinese viewers.  As she’d instruct us, we would repeat in Mandarin “I love China.”  The video isn’t the best quality because I was using a Flip Cam to record a tv screen.  This aired on CCTV’s Olympic Channel.

Somewhat nauseating, mostly funny.  Here’s the clip for your viewing pleasure.

This past Wednesday, I presented with two other Emerson Integrated Marketing Communication graduate students on marketing and China.  Being a broad subject, and we’re far from experts, we focused on what we were most exposed to as Olympic volunteers and that was the Olympic sponsors.  I thought I’d share with you my portion of the presentation on Adidas.  Not only is it now part of the fabric of Beijing’s architecture gems, but also in China to stay.  Read on to learn about the brand and what I saw while in Beijing during the Olympics.

My presentation:

I want to shift gears a little bit and just focus on one of the main sponsors of the Olympics, Adidas. Both Adidas and Nike used the Olympics as a battlefield to gain a bigger slice out of the Chinese market. The evidence was plastered all over the capital city with Nike and Adidas campaigns and even store locations across from each other. The marketing nerd inside me soaked it all in with amused curiosity.

I want to give you a glimpse at Adidas’s overall strategy and then delve into my personal interaction with the brand in Beijing. Adidas poured the bulk of its money into sponsoring the Olympics in its entirety but did also sponsor several national Olympic associations and some individual athletes. Nike’s strategy put its money towards star athletes like Kobe Bryant and the famous Chinese hurdler who walked off the track injured, Liu Xiang. Unlike most American advertising that focuses on individuals, Adidas played into the collective aspect of the Chinese culture.

Here’s a commercial that aired throughout the Olympics on CCTV that you probably haven’t seen. You’ll see how it caters to the Chinese consumer.

The campaign, titled “Together in 2008, Impossible is Nothing,” does a fantastic job to invoke nationalism and capitalize on the general sentiment that pulsated throughout the city this past summer– that the Chinese couldn’t be more proud to host the Olympics and support their athletes.

The print ads shown here, won China’s first ever Cannes Lions ad award for breakthrough marketing. The copy translates on the diving ad to “Hu Jia [the athlete pictured] plus 1.3 billion Chinese, impossible is nothing.” The ads capture the entire nation supporting their athletes and the Olympics beautifully.

My personal brand interaction with Adidas was one of discovery and awe. These print ads showed up everywhere from the subway station walls to billboards adorning the city. Other elements of Adidas played its own role as part of my summer narrative. Every time I volunteered at the Main baseball field or at the Bird’s Nest during the Paralympics, I was dressed head to toe in adidas attire along with 100,000 other volunteers, including Jackie Chan. Even the pronunciation of the brand entered conversation on several occasions as a topic of international differences. I still prefer “adidas” to the phonetically pronounced “odd-e-dos” that the rest of the world uses.

Adidas spared no money as a sponsor.  The sportswear company spent $100 million dollars on the rights to use the Olympic rings. But it also invested in its largest flagship store in the world to leave a more permanent impact in the capital city. This store, a staple landmark to our frequent visits to the entertainment district of Beijing, sparked intrigue and multiple photo shoots. The meteor looking structure is a shopping heaven of athletic attire. It’s home is at The Village in Sanlitun, a booming shopping, dining and nightlife spot, and a place we found that every taxi driver understood despite how bad we butchered its name.

With over 3,000 feet of retail space, one cannot be but impressed upon discovering everything beyond the clothes the store offers. There was an entire room dedicated for their line “Made for Beijing.” These shoes were created specifically for Olympic sports and were housed in glass displays. Projected images served as wallpaper and holographic images of shoes hung mid-air in the center of the room.

The store also boasts all of the company’s concept lines, customizable shoes and shirts, interactive displays, tests of balance, athletic consultants, a smoothie café and a half-basketball court on the roof!

A less permanent adidas installation was found in the center of The Village shopping area. Beijing truly struck me as a marketer’s playground where limits don’t exist. In the center courtyard, shoppers could clock their take-off times from track starting blocks, test their targeting skills by kicking soccer balls or add to a wall of goals reinforcing the notion “impossible is nothing.” One of the pictures here shows a history hallway where upon touching the images, they stopped moving and were enlarged. I was captivated by the advanced technology. Inside the room, Olympic fans could watch whatever event was being shown on the big screen, if the atmosphere of the marketing structure and its activities weren’t enough.

I was only one customer—and fan—of Adidas in a very enormous and complex country. Adidas generates more than $800 million dollars from China with over 4,000 retail locations. It is the second largest market for Adidas after the United States. By 2010, it is projected to have over 6,000 retail locations and surpass $1.58 billion dollars in profits in China, especially as the idea and organization of sport grows in the country. As for me, I’m glad I got to witness the international brand’s efforts first-hand. While I’m Kobe’s newest fan, my brand loyalty was strengthened more with the company behind the 3 stripes rather the one behind the swoosh. Only time will tell what brand the Chinese consumer will side with.

There are some pretty scary reports and pictures of the pollution in Beijing. Just take a look at this one taken by The World by Road Expedition when the crew was travelling through China:

Who could tell that an entire city lies ahead in this picture? The World by Crew amply commented on this photo: The city skyline is out there somewhere.

ESPN reporter Bob Holtzman reported in his latest “Outside the Lines” on Beijing report that “had the Olympics been held last August, the air quality in Beijing would have been in violation of the World Health Organization standard every single day.” (There’s a great video accompanying his article.) And even scarier are the health risks that such polluted air causes for the Chinese. Kevin Holden Platt for National Geographic News stated that, “A World Health Organization (WHO) report estimates that diseases triggered by indoor and outdoor air pollution kill 656,000 Chinese citizens each year.” Indeed Olympic athletes have a lot to worry about when it comes to performance under such unnerving air quality.

As a person who will be more than traveling in Beijing this summer for the Olympics, but living there for 3 months, these statistics are enough to send me running back to my Tennessee hills. I genuinely care about my non-smoker lungs and prefer to preserve them from turning out like I’ve been smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day for my entire life.

(thank me later for posting an illustration instead of an actual picture)

So what precautions am I taking to protect my valuable breathing machines? I have four different “tools” to aid my lungs against the pollution in China:

1. A prescribed inhaler

My very good-looking internal medicine doctor prescribed an Albuterol inhaler after visiting him for my traveler’s doctor appointment. I’ve never had any asthma problems in my life, but I’ll have this in case I have problems breathing indicated by wheezing. The inhaler won’t actually help filter any pollution in the air since it only opens up the lungs; it will only aid in my breathing.

2. Portable oxygen: Personal Oxygen Device (POD)

While this doesn’t have any medical claims, it will offer a fresh breath of air comprised of 95% oxygen and 5% nitrogen. It’s portable, lightweight and easy to use. I can already picture days where I’m going to forget what clean air means and this little thing will provide some comfort by supplying doses of pure air. Unfortunately, this also won’t filter pollution and will only offer fresh air for my poor lungs.

3. Doctor’s masks

This highly attractive look is compliments of a doctor’s surgical mask which will provide my best defense for filtering Beijing’s polluted air. It’s not a silver-bullet answer by any means, but it will help filter the air from the larger floating particles (like debris from construction). The box does claim they’re proven effective in reducing the spread of germs and bacteria and also help provide relief from common household dust, ragweed pollen and yard dusts….extremely comforting to know!

One disappointing Google search revealed from Time Asia that:

MYTH: A surgical mask can screen out air pollution.
FACT: Absolutely untrue. Surgical masks can’t filter out the relatively tiny particles and gases like nitrogen dioxide that cause the most damage to your body. Gas masks with fine air filters can offer some protection, but the filters need to be changed often and the masks are uncomfortable, especially in warm weather.

ANOTHER FACT: Things aren’t looking good for my lungs!

4. Bandanas

I have been known to sport a bandana to help offset sweat while in S.E. Asia (see my About page picture); however, if I use this to sheild my face in China, it will offer more psychological comfort more than anything else. I’m not ashamed to admit, I’ll take a placibo pill in the form of a bandana if it will ease my mind a little…at least I’ll have my POD and inhaler in case I do need help breathing!

After putting each of these to the test, I’ll let you know how well they worked. Although it looks like there’s not much I can do to protect my lungs while over there. Until then, I’m soaking up as much clean O2 as I can hear in Cambridge!

Happy travels,

Helen

Bonus for reading my entire posting:

Check out this really interesting flash animation with startling facts on China’s pollution from E-Ranlai Magazine.

After a competitive interview process to get into the program back in October and then a grueling test administered by BOCOG officials over two weeks ago, it is official:

I’m going to the Beijing Olympics this summer!!

It has been weeks of preparation, anticipation and suspense waiting for this announcement. After reading the email, there was sigh of relief and now a gigantic smile is plastered on my face.

Here’s a glimpse of some landmarks since I first found out about the program:

Timeline:

Sept. 13 – The Beijing Olympics Program was announced

Sept. 24 – Information session on program

Sept. 28 – Deadline to apply – 143 students applied

Oct. 15 – Notified I made it to second round in application process – 58 students selected

Oct. 30 – My interview

Nov. 1 – News that I got into the program – 35 students selected

Dec. 14 – Meeting for accepted students – first time we meet

Jan. 23 – Sports Journalism and Chinese Culture class starts

Feb. 27 – Written portion of test with BOCOG officials

Feb. 28 – Debate portion of test with the BOCOG officials

Mar. 18 – Official confirmation that the whole class is going!!

Next on the timeline will be departure for the Olympics! I have to be in Beijing July 8. Between now and then I will be working on my Mandarin and preparing for the journalism tasks we’ll be doing at the Olympics.

Thanks so much for everyone’s ongoing support!

- One ecstatic Helen!

Just to give you a quick update, I won’t find out for another week whether I passed THE TEST or not. It was pretty intense. The debate aspect was conducted in the focus group room and the Beijing officials stood on the other side of the double-sided mirror to monitor and video-tape us! They took the video tapes and our written portions back to China where they’re being graded now!

Our professors have only given us positive feedback on what the officials thought about our performance so I’m staying very optimistic. I feel confident about my personal effort and team’s showing. Mr. Gao, one of the higher-ups, mentioned to Paul, one of our professors, that we did a better job presenting than some of their employees for the English portion of China’s Central Television news! I’m taking that as a very good sign!

Without a doubt, I will let everyone know the outcome as soon as I hear the results!

Thanks for everyone’s support leading up to the test! I felt all the good vibes and positive thoughts sent my direction!

Xie xie ni!

(Thank you very much!)

-Helen