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TOTAL LICENSING
SPORTS
The 2008 Beijing Olympics and the East
Asian Games in 2009 are creating a wave
of interest in sports licensing in China.
Asia
Sports licensing in Asia is, without Kodak, Bank of China, China Mobile, Each of the Fuwa characters has a
doubt, a fast growing business. The VW, Adidas, Coca-Cola, GE, Johnson & rhyming two-syllable name, which is a
FIFA 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by Johnson and Air China. traditional way of expressing affection
Japan and South Korea, created a mar- The plans for the games are highly for children in China. Beibei is the Fish,
ket of around US$320m for licensed impressive. Beijing itself has a popula- Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the
products in Japan alone. Outside Ja- tion of over 1.25m people and enjoys Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibet-
pan, sports licensing is estimated to be 17% annual economic growth. The city an Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.
worth around $80 million each year is spending in the region of $40 bil- When you put their names together -
with around 5% of the licensed prod- lion to modernize for the Olympics, in Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni - they say “Wel-
uct marketplace. contrast to the legal minimum wage in come to Beijing.”
However, this is all about to change. southern China of just $90 a month. In terms of products, the program is
With the Beijing Olympics in 2008, The budget for the games exceeds already well advanced with a variety
the East Asian Games in 2009 and the $1.6 billion which includes the con- of traditional merchandise on offer, to-
2010 World Expo in Shanghai on the struction of 37 competition venues gether with items specifically aimed at
horizon, these can only add to the and 59 training venues where 28 dif- the Chinese market.
fervour that has seen expanding pro- ferent sporting events will take place. Naturally, the program has a large
grams for domestic sports as well as A major licensing program forms a number of ‘souvenir’ items such as
key cornerstone within the Olympic badges, pins, magnets, caps, T-shirts for
marketing program designed not only adults and children, housewares such
to promote China and Beijing through as towels, ceramics, bags and glass-
traditional product lines but also to ware. In addition, there are ranges of
raise funds for the games. In fact, ac- products that would not have been
cording to Yuan Bin, Director General licensed at previous Olympics and
of the Marketing Department for the are specifically targeted at Chinese
Beijing Organizing Committee, they consumers. These include ranges of
are targeting an income of US$70 mil- chopsticks, fans, pendants and bamboo
lion for Olympic merchandise. products.
The program, largely, falls into two ar- In early August, marking the one-year
eas. A national program was launched countdown to the games, the Beijing
international brands such as some of in late 2003 with products in China Organising Committee for the Games
the biggest European soccer brands and an international program debuted (BOCOG) announced the release of
and players. after the close of the Athens Olympic a number of new officially licensed
Of course, the biggest sporting event Games in 2004. products. The new ranges, which in-
on the horizon is the Beijing Olympics The program is split between the clude pins and badges have been
next Summer and the first wave of Beijing 2008 emblem and the games’ released in limited quantities with
licensed products launched recently mascot, entitled Fuwa. The emblem is numbers ranging from 2008 pieces to
through ten dedicated retail stores in subtitled ‘Dancing Beijing’ and takes its 10000 pieces. The pins were inspired
Beijing. The Olympics will take place inspiration from Chinese calligraphic by architecture in Beijing including the
in seven Chinese cities including Bei- arts and the Jing character. Temple of Heaven, courtyard houses
jing, Hong Kong and Shanghai and, as The mascot – Fuwa – comprises five and the Forbidden City.
one would expect, have already at- children’s characters. One is based on Aside from pins, numerous precious
tracted a significant number of both the Olympic flame whilst four have metal products were released, includ-
national and global sponsors and part- the characteristics of China’s most ing five pure gold Fuwa, a Ruyi piece of
ners. These now include McDonald’s, popular animals – the fish, the panda, gold and silver, and good luck charms.
Omega, Panasonic, Samsung, VISA, the Tibetan antelope and the swallow. Of course, there are concerns regard-
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