Restrictions on Ad Space To Give Preference To Olympic Sponsors
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Chinese Government Offering Olympic Sponsors
Preference In Ad Space Around Beijing |
The Chinese government beginning Friday “will begin restricting advertising space in Beijing, giving preference to the official sponsors of the Olympic Games,” according to Stephanie Clifford of the N.Y. TIMES. The restrictions are “meant to clamp down on so-called ambush marketers,” and one of the advertisers that is “likely to suffer the most is Nike, which has broad marketing ambitions in China but no qualifying sponsorship deal.” BOCOG “has asked advertising agencies to avoid using Olympic symbols without authorization and is asking media companies to carry ads of Olympic sponsors on their channels featuring Olympic content.” BOCOG Deputy Dir of Marketing Chen Feng said starting Friday, “all prominent advertising space in Beijing, including at the airport and on subway lines, will be controlled, giving official sponsors priority.” And it is “possible that unauthorized ads will be removed forcefully and immediately.” Also, in part to “eliminate clutter, advertisements on the front, back and doors of buses in Beijing were banned beginning this month” (N.Y. TIMES, 7/11).
SNEAKER Supremacy: adidas indicated that the number of places its shoes are sold in China is “increasing by two or three a day.” And the WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Mei Fong noted Nike is “matching that.” These gains “explain in part why Chinese sportswear retailers” Pour Sheng Int’l Holdings and Xtep Int’l Holdings “got a cool response when their shares debuted in Hong Kong last month.” After the Olympics, China’s “increasingly competitive sportswear market will still grow, but the pace is expected to slow” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/10).
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