Water Woes

While China is attempting to beautify Beijing to show its best face to the world. One potential problem has been identified by Probe International which highlighted that the games are adding about a five percent increase (200 million cubic meters) to normal water use as a result of the Olympics. This water usage covers everything from giant fountains to water used in sport facilities. Beijing is suffering from significant water problems, such as tapping underground water reserves, and needs to implement new and innovative water conservation strategies not just for the Olympics, but for the benefit of all its citizens.
Gil-

Ambush Marketing in Chian

In anticipation of potential ambush marketing during the Olympics, The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and the China Advertising Association jointly issued an anti ambush marketing proposals including:

• Giving priority to all prominent advertising sites between July 11th-Sept. 17th to official Olympic sponsors,
• Companies will be monitored for illegal advertising or unauthorized use of Olympic symbols and all violators will be harshly punished,
• Individual spectators will be barred from engaging in ambush marketing and tickets have a warning indicating that patrons can be removed if, for example, a group is seen wearing the same unofficial logos and sitting all together,
• Patrons will also not be able to bring in any drinks into Olympic venues and once inside the venues they only will be able to purchase Coke products, and
• From Aug 1-27 there can be no advertisements featuring participants in the Olympics and television stations are barred from showing advertisements from unofficial sponsors during any of the Olympic related programs they broadcast.

These are the first significant anti-ambush marketing laws/regulations I have seen that can be enforced. It will be interested to see if there are any attempts at ambush marketing, or if companies might shy away from the practice to avoid angering the Chinese government and possibly hurting their potential to tap the Chinese market in the future.
Gil-

New Chinese Sport Association formed

The World Eminence China Business Sports Industry Association was formed in Beijing in May. The association aims to upgrade the competitiveness of China's sport industry to be on par with the rest of the world. The group will be led by Zhang Faqiang, Vice-Chair of the Chinese Olympic Committee and former deputy sports minister. The organization will try to work with local and national organizations to increase their knowledge and competitiveness.

Change to Blog

After a recent trip to China I have modified the blog to have a greater focus on sports in China. The blog will try to help international companies understand what is going on in China and help communicate some of the strategies applied elsewhere in the world to sport executives working in China.

Some stories will be coming from Professor Houbin of Huazhong Normal University (a well regarded expert in Chinese sport business) and his students. Professor Houbin translated my Managing Sport Facilities text into Chinese and will be my partner in Ho-Fried Consulting serving various Chinese sport entities.

Gil-