The Olympic Games... Greatest show on earth or five-ringed circus?
With the countdown clock in Tiananmen Square registering 254 days to go, the eyes of
the world are swinging towards China and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The Games are arguably one of the most important global events for marketers...
and the Beijing Games even more so, as they provide an 'in' to the world's
biggest marketplace. But have the world's consumers even registered it's
happening yet?
Synovate asked over 9,500 people in the US, Asia Pacific and Europe about
all–things Olympic Games and found some surprising results.
Where are the Olympics anyway?
Forty five percent of consumers across the world did not know that next year's
Olympic Games will be held in Beijing. But a further 45% did know, with Australians
being the most aware at 94%, followed by the French at 71% and the Singaporeans with 68%.
Synovate's Jan Hofmeyr, director of innovation for the Brand & Communications practice,
says that, in the circumstances, 45% overall awareness is something that Olympic sponsors
and marketers should be quite pleased with.
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Sponsorship and money
When asked if they noticed sponsors of the Olympic Games, 63% said yes, with the
awareness factor in post–Olympic countries reaching 42% in Australia,
51% in the US and 78% in Germany.
Respondents were evenly divided on the idealism versus cynicism scale – half agreed
the Games are all about the money and half disagreed with the statement that 'at the
end of the day, the Games are more about making money than a commitment to excellence
in sport'. Europeans were more likely to land on the cynical side, with the French
(64%), Polish (61%) and Serbians (60%) fairly sure it is all about the mighty dollar.
Malaysians also agreed at 58%.
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Challenges in Beijing
Beijing has been in the press a lot more than usual with the run up to the Games,
and of major concern is the city's pollution, so it's not a surprise that 53% of
survey respondents rated pollution as one of the main challenges.
Security is also an issue with 49% saying it would be a challenge for China
(Greece spent US$1.2 billion protecting Athens during the 2004 Summer Games, reported ABC News).
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Are there benefits to hosting the Games?
A resounding 'yes' was the answer from the world's consumers. In fact, only 3% of respondents
thought that there would be absolutely no benefits to staging the Games in their country.
Hofmeyr thinks the 82% who foresaw economic benefits for their country hosting the
Games was a striking figure.
"People seem positively disposed to hosting the Games, no matter what economists might say!"
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Who will be on the medal dais?
And it's gold to... Palau?! Without wishing to malign the small island-nation of
Palau in any way, this is not a statement you expect to hear come Olympics
time. So are the Games' winners boringly predictable?
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