Advertisers not keyed up on Olympics  ( July '23,2008, Hindu Business Line)

The biggest-ever Olympic Games is finding lukewarm interest amongst marketers and advertisers with the exception of a few.

Samsung the official sponsor of the Indian team may be launching a touch screen phone on the occasion, but another global partner, Coca Cola has no games-associated plans yet. Lenovo has set aside a Rs 80 lakh-1 crore television spend for the coming two weeks, but it will not be relying on broadcast rights owner, Doordarshan’s coverage.

It is an opportunity for companies to leverage their association and bring a global feel to their brand image, but they are not jumping at it, said Mr Mahesh Ranka, GM, Relay Worldwide.

“Audience numbers may not be as large as those for cricket, but given that the slate is clean even the smallest of activity would have created an impact,” he said.

And there is a growing interest in other sports, outside of cricket — take Wimbledon for example, he points out. Hockey has always been a draw but with the Indian team failing to qualify this year, there might be just a little less national excitement to look forward to.

“We will still have shooters, wrestlers and boxers to root for and the Indian relay team, for whatever chances it has. However, there isn’t much advertising interest for the Olympics,” said Mr Gowthaman Ragothaman, MD, Mindshare.

DD has already started a daily half-hour programme special on the Indian Olympians this year. Apart from live telecast of the opening and closing ceremonies, every event that India participates in will be prioritised on DD Sports. While the games last it’ll be the Olympic channel, said a DD official.

DD — Olympic channel

The Games highlights and other programming will also be visible on DD National and its regional channels. “It’s not fair to compare the Olympics to an international cricket match. Samsung, BSNL, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and Maruti are committed to investing in our packages,” said a DD official.

“We are waiting for confirmation for onscreen scrollers, sets and selective events, as well as for our daily special ‘India at Beijing’, he added.

Samsung, the global wireless communication sponsor of the games will not be using current brand ambassador Aamir Khan for any of its activities.

“We are convinced that this campaign is about the Olympic spirit and that we should leverage our Olympic heroes for it. Manavjit Singh Sandhu, our brand ambassador, had been front ending many of the events and will continue to do so for Olympic related announcements,” said Ms Ruchika Batra, GM, Corporate Communications, Samsung. It is counting on its six ‘Olympic Ratnas’ who it awarded scholarships too, last October to bring in a medal or two. They will star in a special campaign that will be aired end of this month.

Also on the agenda is an incentive award and an Olympic quiz conducted across a thousand schools to be aired on CNN IBN. Lenovo, the Chinese computer maker, will also be launching its international Olympic campaign soon. Its sponsoring Olympic news and branding medal tally on news channels CNN IBN and NDTV 24x7. “It’s a conscious decision not to buy advertising spots on DD, because its reach is fairly low in our target group. And, in any case we, will be on ground and that takes care of our subtle visibility,” said a Lenovo spokesperson.