Sponsors gear up for Beijing Olympiad

TURIN -- No bright new face for the Wheaties box?

Maybe the lowest television ratings ever?

Not much else for corporate sponsors to kick up their heels about as the 2006 Winter Olympics wheeze to a close?

No problem, according to sports marketing specialists and the corporate sponsors themselves.

Next stop, Beijing.

With fewer than 900 shopping days left before the first-ever Olympiad in the world's largest country -- and fastest growing economy -- corporate titans and Olympic officials are all but salivating over the prospect of lighting the flame for the 2008 Summer Games in the Chinese capital and raking in the revenue.

''There are going to be over 4.5 billion [viewers] looking at Beijing and China with amazement," Brian Perkins, vice president of corporate affairs for Johnson & Johnson, said after signing a global sponsorship deal that runs through the 2008 Games.

The agreement allows the company an exclusive right to market its products in connection with Olympic images, symbols, and names on a worldwide basis.

''It's going to go beyond a sporting event," Perkins said. ''I think it will be a cultural, social, and economic event, the likes of which we won't see in another generation."

With an eye toward Beijing, companies such as Adidas, Volkswagen, and UPS -- anticipating reaching a huge market with their advertising campaigns -- have invested nearly $1 billion in Olympic sponsorships since the Athens Games in 2004. NBC has agreed to pay nearly $900 million for the US television rights to the Beijing Games (the network paid $613 million for the Turin rights). And China has launched a $160 billion project to build or refurbish venues for every sport from basketball to badminton.

''This could be the biggest Olympic Games ever," said Wally Hayward, CEO of Chicago-based Relay Sports and Event Marketing, which last year opened two offices in China, one in Beijing.

''Let's be honest, it's China," Hayward said. ''It's a huge growth market for a lot of corporations. I think China, the sponsors, NBC, everyone is really going to showcase these Games."

When the Olympic movement launched its worldwide sponsors program in 1988, selling companies the right to use Olympic images globally, nine firms paid a total of $98 million. Now, there are 12 worldwide sponsors -- Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Atos Origin, General Electric, Kodak, Lenovo, Manulife, McDonalds, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung, and Visa -- that collectively have invested $866 million.

The money is divided between the International Olympic Committee, the national Olympic committees, and international sports federations. The US Olympic Committee also receives a large cut of the television revenues.

''It's everybody's dream to capitalize on such an extraordinary opportunity in Beijing," said Jason Maltby, president of national broadcasts for New York-based Mindshare, one of the top broadcast buying firms.

But Maltby cautioned that the Beijing Games may generate considerably less interest in the United States than they would if they were hosted by an American city. The Turin Games, for example, have failed to spark the excitement the Salt Lake City Games did.

''It's great to be associated with such a great event, particularly in China," Maltby said. ''But will the Beijing Olympics turn out to be a ratings bonanza or what we're seeing right now, which is not breaking any records?"

The time difference is crucial, several sports marketing specialists said. With NBC already challenged in Turin by stiffer prime-time competition than previous Games, the network has also faced the problem of many Olympic events ending before prime time in America. Turin is six hours ahead of Boston, while Beijing will be 12 hours ahead.

''It gets harder to generate huge ratings when the buzz just doesn't seem to be there," said Maltby, acknowledging problems given the time differences and lack of interest when the Games are held outside the United States. ''When you hold the Games in Atlanta or Salt Lake City, you get buzz."

IOC officials downplayed the declining US ratings, maintaining a global view.

''We have many great hopes and expectations for the Beijing Olympics," said Gerhard Heiberg, chairman of the IOC's marketing commission. ''We feel the Games will be a very important part of Olympic history."

So does China. With a population of 1.3 billion, including 15.3 million in Beijing alone, the nation is preparing venues from the boxing ring at Workers' Indoor Arena near Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing to equestrian sites in Hong Kong (a 3 1/2-hour flight from Beijing).

China already has coined a ''One World, One Dream" logo for the Games and launched a proliferation of cartoon-like toy mascots called ''Friendlies." The Games are expected to draw 800,000 foreign visitors and 1 million domestic visitors to Beijing.

''The prospects look very, very good," said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing organizing committee. ''The progress we have made in our marketing programs has laid a very solid foundation for the success of the Games."

GE already has launched an Olympic-themed billboard campaign in China for the Games. McDonalds aims to expand its chain of restaurants there by 2008 to 1,000 from 750. And several other corporations have rolled out promotional campaigns in China much earlier than they normally would for a Summer Games, Hayward said.

Even Olympic sponsors whose products generally are not geared for the Chinese market have joined the trend. Bank of America, for example, has completed a major deal with China Construction Bank and is planning other ways to leverage the Games, such as a client hospitality program, according to Boston-based spokesman Joe Goode.

All things considered, some US sponsors indicated, they may cash in on Beijing even if NBC again loses ratings gold to ''American Idol" and ''Desperate Housewives."