Sports Sponsorship Tǐyù Zànzhù 体育赞助
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◀ Sports Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667. Sports Sponsorship Tǐyù zànzhù 体育赞助 Corporate sponsorship is an essential aspect Sports Association. Kia Motors, a secondary sponsor of of modern sports. At the 2008 Beijing Olym- the X Games Asia since 2005, renewed its sponsorship pics companies spent millions of dollars to get with a three-year primary sponsorship both to develop their names before a worldwide audience. For- the games in China and to gain product exposure. In 2005 alone, according to Kia Motors, exposure from the eign companies found that they had to weigh X Games Asia was worth $12 million. the advantages of the publicity that sponsor- Given such successes and the enormity of the Chinese ship brings against potential backlash from market, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games activists and politicians who used the Olym- of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) had little trouble find- pic spotlight as a chance to criticize the Chi- ing sponsors and partners to finance and coordinate the nese government. 2008 games. The Beijing 2008 sponsorship program consisted of three tiers of support: partners (who paid approximately $40 million), sponsors (who paid $20– 30 million), and suppliers (who provided services and hina has hosted several big sporting events re- goods). cently, including the Nanshan Open (a snow- The Johnson & Johnson company, one of the Beijing boarding event), the Shanghai Showdown Olympics’ U.S. sponsors, was glad to take advantage of (China’s first Gravity Games, an extreme-sports com- the billions of viewers who, in the words of Brian Perkins, petition), and the 720 China Surf Open. The X Games Johnson & Johnson vice president of corporate affairs, Asia, which have been hosted by South Korea, Thailand, looked at Beijing and China “with amazement.” Herbert and Malaysia, were hosted for the first time by China (in Heiner, CEO of Adidas, the German sportswear manu- Shanghai) in May 2007. facturer, whose sponsorship was reportedly $80–100 mil- 2008, though, marked the first time that China hosted lion in cash and services, was similarly enthusiastic: “The the world’s most prestigious sporting event: the Olym- Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will once again be a world- pics. Along with the sports competition came the compe- wide visible proof of our dedication to athletes, products, tition (and controversy) of sports sponsorship. innovation, and leadership. At the same time the Beijing The big sporting events leading up to the Olympics 2008 Olympic Games provides us with a unique platform provided China with practice for the main event. Kia Mo- to build the Adidas brand image and business in China, tors, the South Korean automaker, was just one sponsor as well as the whole of Asia,” Heiner said in an official of the 2007 X Games Asia, which were also sponsored by statement to the BOCOG when Adidas sponsorship was ESPN, ESPN STAR Sports, and the Chinese Extreme announced in 2005. 2083 © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC C 2084 Berkshire Encyclopedia of China 宝 库 山 中 华 全 书 Olympic Sponsors BOC, in partnership with the Visa credit card com- pany, improved the financial infrastructure necessary for The Bank of China (BOC), the most international of ticketing, automatic teller machines (ATMs), and other China’s commercial banks and the country’s second- point-of-sale services. Multinational partnerships such as largest bank, is another institution that benefited from this one also provided Chinese companies with a chance the first Olympics to be held in China. In July 2004 BOC to learn from the experience of longtime Olympic spon- became the sole banking partner of the Beijing Olympics. sors (Visa has been an Olympic sponsor for more than As such, BOC was the exclusive provider of both invest- twenty years). ment and commercial bank services and products. It was Chinese manufacturers such as Haier, which makes also a major player in the BOCOG licensure and ticket- home appliances, mobile phones, televisions, and the- ing programs. ater systems, welcomed the increased global brand Sponsors are eager to get a foothold in Chinese sports. During the Beijing Olympics in 2008 the deals signed brought multimil- lions in revenue. Photo by Tom Christensen. © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC Sports Sponsorship n Tǐyù zànzhù n 体育赞助 2085 recognition that sponsoring the Olympics brought. As with so much media, Internet, and global connectivity a sponsor, Haier provided funds, home appliances, and in 2008, the Beijing Olympics were the first Olympics for other services to the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the Bei- which grassroots activism could have as large an impact jing 2008 Paralympic Games, BOCOG, and the Chi- on the image of the games as could the sports competi- nese Olympic Committee. Haier is headquartered in tion itself. Qingdao, the sister city host of the Olympics, where the Interest groups such as Reporters Sans Frontières (Re- sailing events were held. porters without Borders), Play Fair, and OlympicWatch. The chances are good that most viewers of the Olym- org were at the forefront of efforts to persuade countries, pics did not see the home appliances that Haier provided, athletes, and sponsoring companies to boycott or at least but the advantage of Haier’s sponsorship came from the withdraw their sponsorship from the Beijing games. company’s being able to label itself an official sponsor and These groups were concerned about censorship, unfair being able to market globally on that label. working conditions, China’s role in Sudan, and other hu- “Haier becoming an official sponsor of the Beijing man rights issues. 2008 Olympic Games will greatly boost the prepara- Such activism was an additional challenge and dis- tions for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, especially traction for the Beijing Olympics’ international sponsors, the Olympic sailing events,” BOCOG Executive Vice which included Eastman Kodak, Adidas, Coca-Cola, President and Secretary-General Wang Wei said when General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, McDonalds, the Haier sponsorship was announced in August 2005. and Visa. These companies, despite their deep pockets “Sponsoring the world’s greatest sporting event also pro- and global clout, jealously guard their corporate im- vides Haier with an unparalleled platform to build up its age and the reputations of their brands and thus had to prestige on a global basis.” take into account opposition to Beijing’s hosting of the Other Chinese companies that were sponsors and Olympics. partners of the Beijing Olympics included the computer Such companies faced two choices, both of which manufacturer Lenovo, China Petroleum & Chemical had negative ramifications: acknowledge the activists Corporation (SINOPEC), Air China, and Tsingtao Brew- and their criticism and risk alienating the Beijing gov- ery Company. ernment or ignore the activists and risk alienating the consumers whom those activists might rally to their cause. Public relations firms and organizations such as Challenges for Future 500, a nonprofit liaison service between corpora- Foreign Sponsors tions and stakeholders, tried to walk the line. Future 500’s China initiative was designed to generate constructive With the Olympics being hosted by Beijing, foreign com- interaction between corporations and nongovernmental panies found that they had to weigh the advantages of the organizations and other activist groups. As Future 500 publicity that sponsorship brings against potential back- reminded companies in The China Stakeholder Initiative lash from protestors, activists, and politicians who used on its website, “For industries that operate on the global the spotlight of the Olympics as a chance to criticize the stage, anything said by anyone anywhere—true or not— Chinese government. can impact your brands everywhere ... That [fact] will be The 2008 Olympics were not the first Olympics to increasingly important between now and August 2008 meet with opposition—the 1980 Moscow Olympics are when three billion people tune in to television and the another example. Indeed, any country that has hosted the Internet to watch the Olympic Games in Beijing. There, Olympics in the past twenty-four years has had detrac- center stage will be not only the athletes, but corpora- tors who have protested the host country and called for tions as well.” boycotts of sponsoring companies. Longtime Olympic Future 500 reminded companies that they needed to sponsors such as Eastman Kodak, Coca-Cola, and Gen- approach the Olympics with a measured amount of sup- eral Electric, with their worldwide influence, have often port for both the activist causes and their Chinese hosts. been the targets of such protests. The difference is that One issue that was problematic for the Beijing Olympics © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC 2086 Berkshire Encyclopedia of China 宝 库 山 中 华 全 书 was genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. China’s Further Reading continuing investment in Sudan and support of Sudan’s Adidas bets on Beijing Olympics. (2006, January 30). In- government led some protestors to refer to the Beijing ternational Herald Tribune. Retrieved on February 20, Olympics as the “Genocide Olympics.” 2009, from http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/30/ When Adidas was confronted by activists about an- business/adidas.php other issue—labor conditions in China—Adidas said it Adidas announced official partner of the Beijing 2008 would pressure its suppliers in China, with whom the com- Olympic Games. (2005, January 24). Beijing 2008 pany had direct influence, but that Adidas would not try website. Retrieved on February 20, 2009, from http:// to pressure the Chinese government. To most companies en.beijing2008.cn/34/96/article212029634.shtml that approach—addressing poor labor conditions, human The China stakeholder initiative. (n.d.). Future 500 web- rights abuses, or other issues without directly challenging site. Retrieved February 20, 2009, from http://www. future500.org/china-stakeholder-initiative/ the Chinese government—was the least damaging and Fowler, G.