A Hush in Chinatown
Friday 25th July, 2008
By Seth Holmes
With over 100,000 Chinese in London alone one might have expected the Beijing Olympics, the proudest moment in China’s modern history, to register on the radar of a very patriotic group of ex-pats. Not so. A swift visit to Chinatown yesterday uncovered no signs of Olympic life and a brief stop at the Chinese cultural centre confirmed no planned events to celebrate the games in any way.
Chinatown: The usual buzz, but not an Olympic one
This of course doesn’t stop individuals and related groups from organising their own events, but it begs the question as to whether patriotic fever spreads from a host country to its ex-pat communities? Will British communities up and down the Costa and as far away as Oz be engaging with a sense of national pride and identity in 2012? Do sponsors take this into account when targeting?
The first signs of TOP sponsors activating Olympic associations are emerging with both Coca-cola and Samsung launching campaigns this week. Coke go on pack across all core brands with a ‘Go for Gold’ on pack promotion offering unique experiences and trips through August, supported by a £2.5m spend in TV, radio and outdoor media. The promotion feels both generic and far removed from Beijing and the games, and illustrates the difficulty of creating standout from the tried and tested ‘win a trip to the games’ promotion.
We might expect more campaigns to break in the second half of the Olympics focusing on the handover, especially from Tier 1 2012 sponsors. But is this low level of marketing activity from TOPs indicative of a games in a far off region that has little relevance and traction in the UK, or is there a political and cultural desire not to associate or promote their product in relation to China and Beijing?
