Is that corporate signage near Olympic venues?

August 4, Monday morning, Beijing, China

My first impressions in Beijing:

Get off the airplane after 16 hours. Walk off the jetway, and guess what you see?

GE signage. TOP sponsors get first dibs, I guess.

Enter the spanking new Beijing airport. Walk about 500 feet, and guess who you see? Michael Phelps, smiling, on Visa signage. Welcome, guests, to the Olympic City.

---

Get through passport control. Get on a media bus and zoom on a freeway to a hotel about four miles from the Olympic Green. It’s a Chinese hotel called the Beijing Conference Center. It has the lobby of a Westin, the rooms of a Fairfield Inn and service that most U.S. hotels should embrace.

But there’s not the wide array of TV channels I’m used to, even at previous Games.
I am in Chinese immersion class in my room.

Lenovo and CNC are both Chinese-based Olympic sponsors.

The only TV I’m receiving are about 50 different channels of CCTV (China Central Television) and BTV (Beijing TV). BTV’s Ch 6 is as close to ESPN as I can get. It’s dominated by European soccer games, as far as I can tell, and some games in Shanghai between the U.S. men’s basketball team and other Olympic-bound squads. The games are repeated. And repeated.

Throughout the TV I’ve watched during my first two days here, there are tons of Olympic themes in commercials … that is, between some pretty typical commercials for Nivea for Men and Honda cars, ads you’d just as likely see in English at home.

Right now, as I multi-task and write this, I’ve been watching a succession of ads.

An ad for TOP sponsor Omega, the official timer of the Games, features U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay crossing the finish line first and an Omega product confirming it.

Pepsi has a clear Olympic ambush ad. Coca-Cola, of course, is a TOP sponsor of the Games. In this Pepsi spot, an Olympic-like stadium is filled with cheering Chinese fans. Their thumbs are up and the Pepsi logo is superimposed over the throng.

Not surprisingly, Nike is omnipresent.

A tourist poses like Yao Ming in front of the Coca-Cola pavilion.

In one ad, a series of Chinese athletes — including track superstar Liu Xiang — is shown with their game faces on, or in action. From taekwondo to tennis to basketball, the ad goes from one athlete to the next, with the spot ending with a dunk by New Jersey Nets star Yi Jianlian of the Chinese national men’s basketball team.

At the end, in English, the words “Just Do It” are shown. Viewers are directed to www.nikegold.com.cn. If you can read Chinese, check it out.

In another, an urban Chinese teenaged boy is watching a large-screen TV that’s miraculously stationed in a schoolyard. He’s watching intently as members of the Team USA men’s basketball team easily drop shots from all over the court. He watches as Kobe Bryant performs a balletic, then powerful jam. The boy doesn’t smirk, but offers a look of purpose before he walks off to practice shooting on his own.

Flashed on the screen: “Just Do It” in English.

Adidas is an official sponsor of the Beijing Organizing Committee. Of course, Nike is a sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

A walk through downtown Beijing, not far from Tiananmen Square, reveals Adidas, Nike and Li-Ning stores everywhere. Li-Ning is the China-based brand that has knocked off Adidas’ slogan and responded to Nike.

Adidas’ slogan is “Impossible is Nothing.” Li-Ning responds on its signage: “Anything is Possible.”

Nike’s classic “Just Do It” also gets a reply from Li-Ning.

“We Do!” read Li-Ning T-shirts.