China is a hot market, especially considering the retail slump in the US as a result of the sub-prime crisis.
Other companies are shying away from country-specific themes and using global themes to protect their company from international backlash in case the Olympics go awry. Coke is appealing to a national color, rather than a national sentiment. They are painting Beijing red. However, studies are revealing that Chinese consumers don't really acknowledge Olympic sponsorship. Here's a quote from a WSJ op-ed:
The results of the research were disheartening for those companies that have ponied up the kind of money involved in becoming an Olympic sponsor. Nearly 80% of those Chinese consumers we polled said they "did not care" who the official sponsors were and the vast majority "did not consider official Olympic sponsorship" when buying a product. Boycotts in the Western world of official Olympic sponsors are already being called for during the Olympic Torch run in light of the Darfur and Tibet controversies. With this kind of potential backlash in their home countries, Olympic sponsors need a sales bump in China.Could Adidas be hurting itself more in the Western market, rather than helping itself in the Chinese market?
