Beverage giant full of fizz for Games

By Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-11 10:00

With under 30 days to go to the Beijing Olympic Games, Coca-Cola has started a series of campaigns to involve as many people as possible in the most anticipated international sporting event in history and help promote Chinese culture to the rest of the world.

"Our aim is to let more people far from the Beijing Games have the opportunity to join the Olympics," said David Brooks, vice--president, Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Project Group of Coca-Cola (China) Beverages Co Ltd.

The "Unity Bottle", jointly designed by Olympic basketballers Yao Ming of China and LeBron James of the US, is launched by Coca-Cola. Jiang Dong

The company has launched a series of interactive online programs that have been received with enthusiasm by Chinese netizens: More than 57 million people participated in the virtual online torch relay and 17 million photos have been collected in the photo montage program. The Coca-Cola Olympic song currently has more than 260 million online listings.

Coca-Cola has also decided to send its products with the Chinese characters "Ke Kou Ke Le", the Chinese translation of Coca-Cola, to 151 countries and regions, which is the first time the beverage giant has released products with the language of the Olympic host country in the rest of the world.

"The common theme in all these Coca-Cola initiatives is to celebrate the global connections and magic that occurs when the world comes together in friendship at the Olympic Games," said Kevin Tressler, director of worldwide sports and entertainment marketing.

To mark the start of the marketing campaign, Coca-Cola unveiled its new TV commercials on Tuesday, the one-month countdown to the Games, which celebrates the transformation of Beijing into a center of excitement.

An inspiring symbol of unity and cultural collaboration named the "Unity Bottle", jointly designed by Olympic basketballers Yao Ming of China and LeBron James of the US, was also launched that day.

"Our goal has always been to bring the unity and passion of the Games to the people of China and the world. We believe the Unity Bottle, this TV commercial, and our other Olympic initiatives will fulfill the Olympic dream for consumers as only Coca-Cola can," Brooks said.

He said the company would set up Olympic experiencing centers in the capital city as well as other major cities across China, where people can participate in Olympic related activities, such as the torch relay and Olympic pin trading.

(China Daily 07/11/2008 page5)