OLYMPICS: A GLOBAL PLATFORM FOR PRODUCT INNOVATION & MARKETING

Olympic viewing in India is surely gaining momentum. While Chinese Dragons put in their heart and soul for the three-and-a-half-hour opening gala at Beijing, back home, almost 27-million viewers watched the event, over three times more than the number of viewers for the opening ceremony of Athens 2004 (8.6-million viewers). The television rating figures for the opening ceremony also point out that even though the viewership is still predominantly male (62%), Olympics is gaining traction with women viewers too (38%).
Make no mistake, this has been the most talked-about Olympic Games. And it will be talked about long after it is over. Also, during the fortnight, it will be the biggest marketplace as well as a dream networking platform. From the moment Juan Antonio Samaranch, the then International Olympic President, confirmed Beijing’s successful bid for the 2008 Olympics, international sport, politics and business began preparing for it. Controversies and awe have walked side by side as the world kept a tab on the way the Chinese went about organising the Games.
Top corporates have invited thousands of guests, all high-powered and wishing to mingle with their ilk, not just from the world of sport, but also politics and business. The fact that the venue is China makes this meeting of the high-and-mighty all the more interesting, for the Games offer a unique opportunity for international leaders to grab a slice of China’s emerging domestic market. Beijing will have, among its visitors and guests, personalities like News Corporation supremo Rupert Murdoch, Wal-Mart CEO H Lee Scott Jr, Motorola CEO Greg Brown. Who’s who from companies like McDonalds, Volkswagen and General Electric will also be present . There is buzz that some of these men may even get a meeting with the Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Nike is working with athletes of more than 100 countries and have such high-profile athletes like US basketball players LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and China track and field star Liu Xiang. Nike is also said to have sold more than a billion dollars worth of goods in China during its last financial year and is making products in as many as 28 Olympic sports and provides goods to more than 20 Chinese companies.
Similarly GE have launched LOGIQi a compact Ultrasonic Machine,a 12 pound machine which can create detailed images of the tiniest of tears in ligaments of an athlete.
French Chinese tech company ASK-Tong Fang have introduced a new concept of microchip in Olympics tickets for opening ceremony.It holds all the necessary personal data of spectators along with their photographs.
Powerbar a Nestle subsidiary introduced a new VITAMIN enriched foods for athletes and cyclist.
Watchmaker OMEGA introduced new time recording methodologies with precision as small as 1/1000 secs.
Speedo introduced a full body swimsuit which assist swimmers to move through water faster and many more…………..
China is believed to have spent anything between $35 bn and $43 bn on the Olympic Games, sometimes referred to as “Beijing’s Coming Out” party. No matter which of these two figures is closer to the real expenditure, the fact of the matter is, it far exceeds whatever previous hosts may have incurred. But if one were to go by some serious analysts’ beliefs, China could land an extra gold medal sometime six months after the Games’ flame has been extinguished. Its clearly evident that Olympics are an unparalled marketing platform and companies sees innovation to grab people’s attention.