Walking Beijing’s Olympic Green
Media reports have surfaced that some companies are not happy with the number of visitors being allowed to come to their pavilions on the Olympic green in Beijing. Marketing News special correspondent James Shih has a different view from the Green. Here’s his report
Beijing's Olympic Green is hardly green. It's a park all right, an amusement park - a veritable Disneyland of transnational corporations. Pavilions after pavilions stand in rows in the enormous outdoor space just north of the Bird's Nest, each equipped with interactive exhibits, visual marvels and abundant photo-ops.
At the Lenovo Showcase, you can have your picture taken with a real torch. At Omega, you learn the Official Olympic Timekeeper's secret to making watches. From homegrown enterprises like Bank of China to global giants like Coca-Cola, companies are hoping to further their brands in China and around the world by tapping into Beijing 2008's star power. Lights are everywhere, music is everywhere, and lights that play music are everywhere.
Reports have surfaced recently of sponsors griping about disappointing foot traffic because of the government's decision to only allow ticket holders of Olympics events into the area, and I expected the crowd to be sparse. Instead, I was greeted by hordes typical of any Chinese tourist site, even at 9:30 p.m.
The Lenovo Showcase was a 15-minute wait, and a representative estimated its daily visitors to be more than 4,000. Staff from other pavilions gave me similar figures. Despite speaking to reps from multiple exhibits, I heard no complaints about subpar attendance, and what I saw was consistent with those sentiments.
I'll admit that I was frustrated when I had to beg, bargain and sneak around to get onto the Green, but the measure does what it's supposed to do: keep the plaza clean, secure and fun. Thanks to the comfortable amount of people, I was able to enjoy what the Green had to offer, and I felt that my time, effort and money spent trying to get in were rewarded.
In fact, if the Green was open to the public, it risks falling victim to the fate of many other Chinese landmarks: overcrowded, vandalized and simply not pleasant. I doubt that's what the sponsors want their Chinese and international guests to experience, especially when customer experience is the one thing that these installations are meant to control.
The Kodak and Coca-Cola pavilions on the Olympic Green in Beijing.
