Sports

With the upcoming Olympics and explosion in buzz around sports in China, brands should be keeping an eye on blogs, BBSs and other forms of online social media to better position themselves. Any brand playing in this area in China would do well to read through CIC’s newest, free white paper: “Tuning into Sports IWOM“. The report analyzed over 4 million messages from China’s online message boards to come up with key findings about sports in China, including:

• Nike led Q4 buzz among the 14 tracked brands with over 42% share of voice. New product and campaign launches had a noticeable impact on buzz volume for several brands including Nike, Adidas and Reebok. For example, the launch of Nike’s new basketball sneakers and the launch of Adidas’ and Reebok’s campaigns in Q4 drove the high buzz volumes around these three brands.

• Basketball and football dominate the sports category buzz. Yao Ming and Houston Rockets topped the basketball player and team buzz, with 7.7% and 13% share of voice respectively. Football star Kaka and football team AC Milan occupied the top positions for football players and teams.

• Compared to those on larger portals or sports vertical communities, online fan club community members are over 2 times more active in creating content. Administrators of these fan clubs are not only among the most active content creators, but also possess rich knowledge of the forum discussions and utilize a number of tactics to influence others’ messages.

• Sports net culture is filled with a number of unique elements and serves as both media and communication platforms. E-zines (e-magazines) are created and/or supported by brands, websites and fans, rivaling traditional magazines in terms of content and overall quality. “Group reporting” of live matches on BBS is similar to recent development of Twitter “sports groups” (i.e. “Twitter Super Bowl”) in the West (though predates Twitter by many years). Cartoon blogs are finding new ways to communicate and represent fans’ passion and love of sports.

The full report can be downloaded here for free.

Could it be that Nike is looking to the ‘fridge for innovation? To be introduced for the Beijing Olympics, their PreCool vest helps lower the body’s core temperature, conserving energy by keeping the body from attempting to keep cool itself. Constructed with triangular cavities of differing sizes, the vest is filled with water, then frozen before wearing. It’s claimed that when worn for one hour before competing, the athlete lasts 21% longer than without the vest.

[via trendsnow]

When a publisher and brand consultant came by to the PSFK offices the other day, he compared the Olympics in China with the 1936 ‘Nazi’ Olympics in Berlin and that brands that associate themselves with the Olympics may get seriously stung.

It’s a theme we explored when we criticized a blog’s coverage of Nike Olympic footwear and it’s one that the Economist looks at in details in its April 26 issue. In the article, the magazine wonders if the development of the image of the event as the “genocide Olympics” by human-rights activists threatens to lay waste to the $1 billion of sponsorship:

By branding the Beijing games the “genocide Olympics”, after the Chinese government turned a blind eye to the Sudanese government’s atrocities in Darfur, human-rights activists are threatening to lay waste to the $1 billion or so that sponsors have paid—and turn what they hoped would be an association with a joyous celebration of sport into a tricky exercise in reputational damage limitation…

To be fair, Coca-Cola is doing some good things in Darfur, from providing immediate relief on the ground to meeting other “stakeholders” to try to figure out solutions to the crisis. But is this enough to buy Coca-Cola the right to remain silent in public about China?… According to Arvind Ganesan, director of HRW’s business and human rights programme, the Olympic sponsors’ “silence on abuses in the run-up to the Beijing games makes their claims to support human rights especially disingenuous.”

It is tempting to dismiss this as yet another example of the old divide between political activists who favour protest and business realists who favour “constructive engagement”, which has cropped up dozens of times—not least during the debate over sanctions against apartheid South Africa…

Yet in many ways the battle over the Olympics paints a false picture of the current relationship between business and human-rights activists. What is striking today is how often activists, big firms and governments are now in agreement about the importance of human rights, and are working together to advance them.

Economist

AdAge runs an account of a Coke shareholder meeting where certain shareholders present launched an attack on the Board for Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of both the torch relay and its overall involvement as sponsor of the Olympic Games in Beijing. AdAge says:

“We’re not asking Coke to solve Tibet’s problems. We’re not asking you to make a political stand. … We’re not calling for the torch to be stopped, we’re saying it should not go to Tibet right now. … It will bring about bloodshed,” one shareholder said. “Taking the torch to Tibet right now is the height of irresponsibility. You’ll have blood on your hands.”

Mr. Isdell responded by noting that the IOC does not have control over the torch route. “Still, I believe it’s a torch of hope,” he said. “I don’t think stopping the torch run is the right thing to do in the long run.”

A representative of Amnesty International also called on the company to wield its power as a major sponsor to improve human rights in China. “China is using this Olympics as an excuse to go after peaceful opponents and dissidents,” that representative said. At that point, Mr. Isdell responded by saying simply, “We are not a political organization.”

Reporters Without Borders also took the opportunity to urge Coca-Cola to sign a “declaration of responsibility” that proposes that Olympic sponsors favor freedom in China, and create a fund to support families of political prisoners.

Olympic Torch Debate Flares at Coke Meeting - Advertising Age - News

Foosball isn’t usually considered the swankiest of ’sports,’ but this new table design by Gro Design and Tim modelmakers may be changing that. 11 (named after the number of players on each team) is a new take on the traditional bar room diversion, set to debut at Milan Design Week 2008 from April 16th - 21st. While the table isn’t for sale, the collaborative design team behind it are willing to lend it out on a case by case basis (you can contact them here for more info).

[via ComputerLove]

The idea of a natural terrain snow resort might seem a bit of a cliche when it’s already sat in a natural habitat but Jake Burtons doesn’t think so. His new un-bulldozed concept has now launched in Avoriaz. Labeled as Europe’s first eco-fun Park, it is a haven of soft snow and wood for the more concerned boarder. The project has also a park in Tahoe US.

The Stash

Contributed by Pete Serjeant

Beyond the traditional sports such as Tauijiquan exercises in the morning, there are many work-out parcours in parks or estates in Hong Kong and Macau. When PSFK Germany was in the region recently, it was surprising to see those areas being used and accepted by so many elderly people who were doing their work-out. Hard to imagine to see any German seniors working out in a park like this. While it seems to be possible to grow older and remain an active lifestyle in China, being elderly in western society at the same time predetermines you to be totally passive.

An article in The Globe and Mail last year reported about a Playground for seniors in Berlin that offered similar facilities as the ones seen in Hong Kong. The article states that mid-aged people were more likely to accept the playground while the older audience was rather resistant against this offer:

On a sunny morning this week, a white-haired woman with a cane sat on a park bench, watching the passing scene. The fitness park behind her was empty – but for two bunnies. Asked what she thought of the concept of a playground for seniors, she balked: “Forget it. At my age, nobody’s going to tell me what to do!”

We have collected some photos in a Flickr Set.

An article in yesterday’s New York Times discusses the growing trend of movie theaters increasingly screening nonmovie content. Promoted by stagnating attendance, advances in digital technology, and with piracy eating away $600 million annually in movie ticket sales, theaters are being forced to supplement blockbusters with alternative content. While the idea of renting out auditoriums for meetings caught on about a decade ago, theaters have only recently begun simulcasting sporting events, operas, concerts, and even marathons of “Star Trek.”

The NYT’s explains why it has taken so long for the idea to catch on:

What is different now? The economic need is greater, and the technology needed to show live broadcasts and high-definition films is now accessible enough, and reliable enough, to make this a real market, operators say.

About 5,000 movie screens in the United States are equipped with digital projectors, up from 200 just three years ago. Within the next two years, that number is expected to be 10,000. Digital projection systems, while expensive, give theaters the ability to pull off live, high-definition simulcasts — and also open the door for 3-D presentation, something that is expected to lift their core movie business.

“We can now replicate Carnegie Hall across the country,” said Matthew Kearney, the chief executive of Screenvision.

Perhaps not exactly. But a $40 ticket to hear the New York Philharmonic play at Carnegie Hall gets patrons a balcony seat. At a multiplex, for half that price, customers would get digital surround-sound and a close-up view.

NYT: At Cineplexes, Sports, Opera, Maybe a Movie

The Lost Ring is an alternate reality game sponsored by McDonald’s and the International Olympic Committee. You may be familiar with Alternate Reality Games used recently for marketing purposes, such as Audi’s Art of the Heist, or more recently, to promote the ABC hit series LOST.

While the purpose of The Lost Ring isn’t revealed just yet, it’s basic purpose is to ask the question: What are the Olympics? However, it leaves us wondering if we really know. There’s a great beginner’s guide to The Lost Ring ARG that sums it up fairly well:

“There’s a history to the Olympics that’s been hidden for centuries, even millennia - a set of events dating back to ancient Greece that were erased and long forgotten. And today, six amnesiatic strangers woke up in various places (forms of Labyrinths, no less) around the world wearing athletic garments, and tattooed with the phrase “Trovu la ringon perditan” - “Find the lost ring”. Now they’re seeking our help to find out who they are, where they’re from, what their purpose is, and just what the heck is going on around here.”

It appears that all the stops have been pulled out for this ARG, with a wealth of content and a number of notable creators with previous ARG experience. There doesn’t appear to be a real connection to McDonald’s, but that only makes the game better!

It’s imperative that you begin your exploration into this ARG by watching the YouTube trailer that’s the entry into the game. Then delve even deeper by visiting: TheLostRing.com, and find your bearings by using this great Lost Ring wiki, which tracks clues and the progress of the game.