CELEBRATE BEIJING OLYMPICS WITH MUSIC

TitleCELEBRATE BEIJING OLYMPICS WITH MUSIC
BrandCHINA MOBILE
Product / ServiceMOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROVIDER
CategoryB03. Consumer Services
EntrantZENITH MEDIA Shanghai, CHINA
Entrant Company:ZENITH MEDIA Shanghai, CHINA
Advertising Agency:ZENITH MEDIA Shanghai, CHINA
Media Agency:ZENITH MEDIA Beijing, CHINA

Credits

Credits

Name Company Position
Malcolm Hanlon Zenith Media China Chief Executive Officer
Derek Kwok Zenith Media China Managing Director
Tiffany Hu Zenith Media Beijing General Manager
Nancy Huang Zenith Media Beijing Planning Director
Tracy Zhang Zenith Media Beijing Planning Director
Sarah Zhang Zenith Media Beijing Associate Planning Director
Fora Liu Zenith Media Beijing Associate Planning Manager
Serene Liu Zenith Media Beijing Planning Supervisor

Results and Effectiveness

China Mobile was more visible than other youth focused sponsors - Adidas, McDonalds and Coke (Source: Ipsos) Preference for China Mobile increased 38.7% pre Olympics to 46.2% post - an additional 43m+ loyal youth customers (source: MB) In 3 weeks, there were 10m revenue generating mobile downloads of 'You and Me' - 240,000 in the 1st hour and 5.73m in 24 hours. This number 1 sensation was the fastest and widest distributed theme song in Olympic history 'China Mobile Cheers Beijing with Music' website had 760,000+ members who uploaded 20,000+ UGC videos. China Mobile achieved record profit results in 2008.

Creative Execution

Our integrated campaign 'Celebrate and Cheer Beijing with Music' ensured that China Mobile owned music preceding and during the Olympics. Our campaign engaged youth across multiple touchpoints - From cost efficient self owned media e.g. China Mobile shop fronts, multimedia messaging, mobile e-mail, WAP sites; to 234 on-ground city concerts, attended by half a million youth; to activities on CCTV Olympic Channel; audible outdoor, and print. We encouraged further engagement at 'Cheer for Beijing with Music.com' where youth uploaded user generated Olympic Passion music videos to win tickets. Finally the media coup of the Olympics: working with CCTV we negotiated the exclusive rights for the Olympic Theme song ‘You and Me’ sung by Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan in the opening ceremony to be promoted on-screen as a China Mobile Music download. China Mobile not only owned music for lead-up and during Olympics, but every mobile music download generated revenue.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

China Mobile's monopoly market share was threatened with 3G licenses awarded to three operators. In 2008, they needed to prove multimedia 3G leadership and avoid switching. The focus of China Mobile's Beijing 2008 sponsorship was therefore China's 226 million youth segment, who are data services users - the 3G future. Chinese youth love music, and it's the top data service in China. - Music no.1 downloaded mobile content - 34.8% use mobile music monthly, vs US 5.7% or UK 18.9% With more sponsors than ever before, the Olympics was cluttered with all brands focusing on athletes, sports, and national pride. Our big idea was different-own music. 'Celebrate and Cheer Beijing with Music'. Key was the Olympics theme song. Released at the opening ceremony, it was a guaranteed number 1 capturing hearts, bringing tears of joy and happiness to a proud people witnessing their country's greatest achievement - the Beijing Olympics.