JWT Lands Five Assignments For '08 Olympics Ad Campaigns

JWT "has landed five assignments to create campaigns in China" to run during the '08 Beijing Olympics, according to Stuart Elliott of the N.Y. TIMES. Three of the assignments are from Olympic sponsors -- IOC top-level partner Lenovo and two national partners, China Unicom and the Yili Group -- while the other two assignments are from Chinese non-Olympic sponsors -- athletic footwear and apparel company Anta Sports Products and men's clothing company Lilang. Lenovo, Yili and Anta were clients of JWT prior to these efforts. JWT's Anta advertising is already running in China, with ads featuring Chinese table tennis player Wang Hao, among others.  The ads "do not include the Olympic logos, because the company is not an official sponsor." JWT North Asia CEO Tom Doctoroff, based in Shanghai, said that he "had not detected 'one iota of cynicism' among the Chinese about the arrival of the Olympics." Doctoroff referenced his brother, NYC2012 Founder Daniel Doctoroff, and said he "got all New York not behind him." Tom Doctoroff said, "That type of feeling -- 'It's a waste,' 'We don't need the Olympics' -- it's not there [in China]" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/14).