Olympic Marketers Seek To Avoid Politics

Madison Avenue has some strategies to help shield Olympic marketers from the controversy swirling around China's positions on Darfur and Tibet.

The Beijing Summer Games are less than five months away, but ad executives are busy shooting the scores of commercials that will be broadcast on prime-time TV and show up in magazines and newspapers across the U.S.

Treading carefully around politics at the Olympics isn't new. The Games have long been plagued by political firestorms, whether over aboriginal rights at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney or Berlin's hosting the Games during the Nazi regime in 1936. But marketing experts say U.S. companies are likely to face increased scrutiny this year because in some parts of the world, China is a magnet for criticism over everything from its environmental record to the long-running discussion about human rights.

Generally, the solution for marketers is to concentrate on simple and noncontroversial themes, such as pure athletics or the idea that the Olympics transcends current events.

'The smartest thing is to . . . not attach themselves to any issues,' says Allen Adamson, managing director at WPP Group's branding consultancy Landor Associates.

Successful Olympic campaigns from companies such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's have focused on 'iconic Americana,' says Kevin Adler, president of Engage Marketing. Mr. Adler points to spots like a McDonald's advertisement that showed a young boy running, morphing into a high-school athlete and eventually becoming an Olympian.

Highlighting popular and even less-well-known Olympic athletes also has been a staple. Home Depot, for example, won kudos for promoting its employees who were also Olympians -- such as speed skater Derek Parra -- during the Turin Games in 2006. Visa's Olympic ads this year will once again use a bevy of Olympic athletes, including swimmer Michael Phelps, winner of multiple gold medals.

Still, the financial-services giant, which recently went public, is concerned about how its ad messages may be interpreted in this heated political atmosphere, says a person familiar with the matter. 'Our Olympic advertising strategy is unchanged. However, our creative process is fluid and we're testing creative executions with consumers,' says a spokesman.

Endorsing athletes isn't always a surefire strategy. One worry is that a marketer could back an athlete who later decides to take a political stand on a controversial topic. That will be a very real risk this summer. Activists who argue that China is complicit in the attacks in Darfur because of Beijing's ties to the Sudan government have been trying to recruit Olympians to the cause. More recently, the deadly violence in Tibet has created another hot-button issue that athletes could weigh in on.

'It's risky because of the positions athletes might take' during the Olympics, says David Carter, executive director of the University of Southern California Sports Business Institute in Los Angeles.

In the face of these politically divisive issues, at least one marketer is trying to strike a feel-good note. An animated commercial from Coca-Cola, which is almost finished, is expected to use an 'East-versus-West theme,' according to a person familiar with the matter. The spot features basketball giants and potential Olympics rivals LeBron James and Yao Ming, who come together with the help of a Coke. (Messrs. James and Yao are the faces of the U.S. and China Olympic basketball teams.)

'Our spot . . . is about two people with different cultural backgrounds coming together in the spirit of friendship,' says a spokesman for Coca-Cola. 'That concept is completely consistent with the values of the Games.'

Of course, if any Olympic marketer's ads get caught up in the political debate, they can always tweak and rerelease the ad, or alternatively, pull it altogether, since many marketers have more than one ad lined up for the Games. But some advertisers are choosing themes that are tried and true, reducing the risk factor and the likelihood that they would have to do any major editing midstream.

Allstate Insurance, a sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Committee, is looking 'for things that celebrate the purpose of the Olympics, such as bringing together the people of the world,' says Lisa Cochrane, vice president of integrated marketing communications.

虽然中国政府在西藏以及达尔富尔问题上的立场激起了一片争议之声，但美国麦迪逊大街的广告精英们自有一套办法，能帮助那些欲借奥运东风自我宣传的商家屏蔽掉周遭的喧嚷。

特别报导

·2008年北京奥运会现在距离北京奥林匹克运动会开幕只有不到五个月的时间了，但广告业的高管还在忙乱着拍摄广告片，这样一来，奥运期间美国电视黄金时段以及报纸杂志上将满是他们的大作。

在奥运年要小心地绕开政治问题本已不是什么“新闻”。其实，长久以来奥运会一直都被重重政治迷雾所包围，近有2000年悉尼奥运会的土著人权益问题，远至1936年时柏林奥运会的纳粹色彩。但广告业专家指出，今年美国企业有可能要面临更多审视的目光。因为在某些地区，“中国”二字就像吸铁石一样“吸引”着方方面面的批评，无论是中国糟糕的环境纪录，还是老生常谈的人权问题。

一般来说，广告业拿出的解决方案是关注那些简单而不具争议性的主题，如纯粹的体育精神，或奥运不应为现实事件所左右等。

WPP Group旗下品牌形像咨询机构Landor Associates的董事总经理艾伦•亚当森(Allen Adamson)表示，最聪明的办法就是让广告和这些焦点问题离得远远的。

Engage Marketing的总裁凯文•艾德勒(Kevin Adler)表示，像可口可乐(Coca-Cola)和麦当劳(McDonald)这样成功借助奥运开展营销的企业都将着力点放在了“美国形像”上；以麦当劳为例，它的一则广告展示的是一个奔跑的小男孩变成了一个高中运动健将，再后来成了一名奥运会运动员。

突出那些体育明星、或不太知名的奥运选手也在奥运广告中占了很大一部分比重。家得宝(Home Depot)就因支持其特招的运动员员工参加奥运会而为自己赢得了加分，这些特殊员工中就包括参加了2006年都灵冬奥会的速滑运动员德里克•帕拉(Derek Parra)。今年Visa的奥运广告将再次围绕着众多奥运选手展开，其中包括多块奥运游泳金牌的得主迈克尔•菲尔普斯(Michael Phelps)。

不过知情人士透露，考虑到当前浓厚的政治气氛，这家金融巨头对其广告创意将得到怎样的解读仍感到担心。Visa的发言人表示，公司的奥运广告策略没有改变，但我们的创意过程是很灵活的，而且公司正在和用户测试广告创意的实施情况。

支持运动员并非什么时候都是万全之策。令广告商担心的问题之一是，他们支持的运动员日后可能决定对一则争议性话题亮明自己的政治立场。这种风险在今夏的奥运会上尤其突出。由于北京方面和苏丹政府关系密切，一些激进人士认定中国在达尔富尔问题上也是同谋，这样一来，奥运选手就成了他们极力拉拢的对象。近日西藏发生的流血事件成为了又一个热点，运动员们也有可能涉足其中。

洛杉矶南加州大学(University of Southern California)运动商业研究所的主任大卫•卡尔特(David Carter)指出，在奥运会期间运动员可能会坚持自己的政治观点，这就为广告业带来了风险。

面对着这些政治纷扰，至少有一家公司打算采取一团和气的做法。知情人士透露，可口可乐公司一则基本完工的动画广告就以西方与东方的碰撞为主题，讲的是在一罐可乐的帮助下，美国代表队的勒布朗•詹姆斯(LeBron James)和中国队的姚明在奥运会上聚首的情景。

可口可乐公司发言人表示，这则广告讲的是两个具有不同文化背景的人因友谊而走到一起的故事，这个主题完全符合奥运宗旨。

当然，如果哪家着眼奥运的广告商不幸被牵连进了政治议题，他们也能及时修改广告，或干脆将广告一换了之，因为许多商家都有不止一套广告方案。但一些广告企业还是会选择那些经过验证的、比较可靠的主题，这样不仅可以降低风险，还能避开中途再做重大改动的麻烦。

美国奥林匹克委员会(U.S. Olympic Committee)赞助商好事达保险公司(Allstate Insurance, Co.)负责营销的副总裁丽莎•考克瑞恩(Lisa Cochrane)表示，公司寻求的是那些能够讴歌奥运精神的主题，比如说正是奥运会使全世界人民走到了一起。

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