2008 Summer Olympics marketing and advertising

2008 Summer Olympics marketing has been a long running campaign that began since Beijing won its bid to host the games in 2001.

Symbols

Emblem

The 2008 Summer Olympics emblem is known as Dancing Beijing (simplified Chinese: 舞动的北京) designed by Guo Chunning. The emblem combines a traditional Chinese red seal and a representation of the calligraphic character jīng (京, "national capital", also the second character of Beijing's Chinese name) with athletic features. The open arms of the calligraphic word symbolizes the invitation of China to the world to share in its culture. IOC president Jacques Rogge was very happy with the emblem, saying, "Your new emblem immediately conveys the awesome beauty and power of China which are embodied in your heritage and your people."

Slogan

The slogan for the 2008 Olympics is "One World, One Dream" (simplified Chinese: 同一个世界 同一个梦想; traditional Chinese: 同一個世界 同一個夢想; pinyin: Tóng Yíge Shìjiè Tóng Yíge Mèngxiǎng.) The slogan calls upon the whole world to join in the Olympic spirit and build a better future for humanity. It was chosen from over 210,000 entries submitted from around the world.

Mascot

The official 2008 Olympic Mascots are the five Fuwa (simplified Chinese: 福娃, literally "good luck dolls"). The Fuwa consist of five members that incorporate fish, giant panda, fire, Tibetan antelope, and swallow designs. The Fuwa each have as their primary color one of the colors of the five Olympic Rings that stand for the five continents. The five Fuwa are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. When the first syllable of each of the five names are said together, the result is the phrase 北京欢迎你 (Běijīng huānyíng nĭ) which means "Beijing welcomes you".

Tickets

In April 2007, over seven million tickets for sporting events and ceremonies went on sale. Approximately 75% of tickets went on sale through the Beijing Organizing Committee, which set low ticket prices for domestic tickets, to encourage the Chinese people to attend the Games. International tickets are available through each nation's NOC. By June 2007, 2.2 million tickets had already been sold. The last round of some 250,000 tickets were on sale in Beijing on July 25, 2008. Long lines were formed the day before at the ticket office including many who slept overnight. Another 570,000 tickets for football matches are up for grabs in co-host cities just weeks before the opening.

Merchandising

Stores selling merchandise

Since early 2007, licensed Olympics merchandise stores have been in business throughout China. More than 800 official stores were in operation at the end of July 2007. Since August 2007, Olympic merchandise has been made available online, with more than 5000 products available via the official merchandising website, which include apparel, mascot dolls, key-chains and commemorative chopsticks. In November 2007, the overseas Olympic E-shop provided online access to customers all over the world to Licensed Products of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, excluding the USA, Japan, UK, Canada and China.

Bank notes

The China's central bank issued a new 10-yuan note without the picture of Mao Zedong featuring a Greek discus thrower and the the Bird's Nest.[12][13] A total of 6 million notes were released at 10 yuan (US$1.46). Another 4 million notes were released in Hong Kong as a special-edition note at HK$20 (US$2.56) before the official release on July 15, 2008. Of the 4 million notes, 3.76 million of them were sold in Hong Kong, with the remainder sold to Macau and the overseas community, ranging from HK$138 to HK$1,338. Thousands of people formed long lines outside the Hong Kong Bank of China branch, more than 48 hours before the notes were issued.

Music

Theme songs

The official song for the game's one-year countdown celebration was "We Are Ready". The song was sung by an ensemble of 133 artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China. The song is composed by Hong Kong songwriter Peter Kam (金培達) with lyrics by Keith Chen (陳少琪). Among the participating HK singers are Alan Tam, Hacken Lee, Eason Chan, Joey Yung, Gigi Leung, Leo Ku and Jackie Chan. Elva Hsiao, David Huang (黃大煒), and Chris Yu (游鴻明) represented Taiwan. Bibi Zhou, Chris Lee, Jane Zhang, Pu Shu, Wang Feng, and Huang Xiaoming represented mainland China.

Beijing songs

"Beijing welcomes you" was the theme song for the 100-day countdown celebration. "I am a Star" and "Smile Beijing" have been selected as theme songs for the Beijing Olympic Volunteers Committee.

Torch relay songs

The official theme for the torch relay was "Light the Passion, Share the Dream", with the English version performed by the 106 contestants of Miss World 2007. Another song to accompany the relay is "Red around the world" composed by Wyman Wong with lyrics by Albert Leung. The song also happens to be the new Coca cola promotional song. Individual versions are available for different artists such as Jacky Cheung, S.H.E, Wilber Pan.

Other songs

Chinese American singer Coco Lee and mainland singer Sun Nan performed a promotional duet "Forever Friends", and Nicholas Tse and Joey Yung sings "Together On The Blue Planet". Twenty-eight different sports are represented by 28 mainland China singers in a promotion video and song called "In Magnificent Shape to Uphold the Dream". Members include Fan Bingbing, Eva Huang, and Li Bingbing. Korea artists also contributed. Rain performed "Any Dream". Jang Nara performed "Our Dream", Zhang Liyin performed "One More Try", and Super Junior M performed "The One".

Film

The film "One Person's Olympics" supported by Beijing's Olympic promotion committee shows Jackie Chan, Stefanie Sun, Leehom Wang, and Zhang Ziyi singing "Stand Up Together" in unison.

References

1.  "Rogge's Message for Beijing Olympics Emblem Unveiling", People's Daily Online
2.  "'One World One Dream' selected as the Theme Slogan for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games", BOCOG
3.  "The Olympic Games en route for Beijing", International Olympic Committee
4.  "The Official Mascots of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games", BOCOG.
5.  "China to sell over 7mn tickets", Gulf Times Newspaper
6.  "Beijing 2008 tickets go on sale", BOCOG
7.  "Olympic Opening ceremony tickets getting hot", BOCOG
8.  Channelnewsasia.com. "Channelnewsasia.com." Police struggle to control Beijing Olympic ticket chaos.
9.  Thestandard.com. "Thestandard.com." Ticket sales hot up.
10.  Lei, Lei (2007-07-31). "Official Olympics gear now just a click away", China Daily.
11.  "The Overseas Olympic E-shop goes on-line 29 November 2007". The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
12.  Washingtonpost.com "Washingtonpost.com." China's new 10-yuan Olympic note bumps Mao Zedong.
13.  Abcnews.go.com. "Abcnews.go.com." China's New 10-Yuan Olympic Note Bumps Mao Zedong.
14.  Lifeofguangzhou. "Life of Guangzhou." Olympic Spirit? Bank on It! .
15.  Chinadaily.com. "Chinadaily.com." Hong Kong frenzy for Olympics banknotes.
16.  "We Are Ready" - The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
17.  Yesasia.com. "Yesasia.com." Asian Artists Welcome Beijing Olympics news as of May 2008.
18.  Mingpao.com. "Mingpao.com." 陳奕迅不會補送婚戒.
19.  (Chinese) Sina.com. "Sina.com." 奧運進入倒計時 主題歌即將揭曉.
20.  Jackie Chan is ready for the Paralympics - The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
21.  Theme song for 100-day Olympic countdown released - The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
22.  Theme songs for Olympic Torch Relay, Volunteers unveiled on 100-day countdown - The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
23.  106 Misses 'light the passion' for the Olympic Games - The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.