2008 Summer Olympics marketing has been a long running campaign that began since Beijing won its bid to host the games in 2001.

Symbols

Emblem

The 2008 Summer Olympics emblem is known as Dancing Beijing () designed by

Guo Chunning Guo Chunning (born 1958) is a Chinese graphic designer and the vice president of the Beijing Armstrong International Corporate Identity (AICI). He is internationally known for designing Dancing Beijing, the official emblem of the 2008 Summer Oly ...

. The emblem combines a traditional Chinese red seal and a representation of the calligraphic

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

''jīng'' (

京京 is the Han character meaning "capital (city)," and the simplified form of the older way of writing the character, 亰. The character is predominantly used in the names of current and former capital cities within the East Asian cultural spher ...

, "national capital", also the second character of Beijing's Chinese name) with athletic features. The open arms of the calligraphic word symbolizes the invitation of China to the world to share in its culture. IOC president Jacques Rogge was very happy with the emblem, saying, "Your new emblem immediately conveys the awesome beauty and power of China which are embodied in your heritage and your people."

Slogan

The slogan for the 2008 Olympics is "''One World, One Dream''" (.) The slogan calls upon the whole world to join in the Olympic spirit and build a better future for humanity. It was chosen from over 210,000 entries submitted from around the world.

Look of the Games

Four primary colours were used in the branding of the games. China Red, Yellow, Lime Green, and Sky Blue. These colours were used to represent China, sun, land, and water, respectively. The graphic elements of the Look of the Games for the Beijing 2008 Olympics was centered on the "Lucky Cloud," a motif found throughout Chinese art. Consistent with past Olympic Games, the Look of the Games was most prominently used on decorations found throughout Beijing 2008 host cities and official venues. Additionally, the Beijing 2008 Look of the Games was applied to the official invitation from the IOC to all National Olympic Committees to participate in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, on official Beijing 2008 merchandise and tickets, on the official Beijing 2008 Volunteer and Staff uniforms, and on various other official and/or promotional material. The Look of the Games was edited for the International Torch Relay of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The graphic identify of the "Lucky Cloud" motif remained, and an ancient Chinese phoenix motif was added to further represent the themes of the Torch Relay.

Mascots

The official 2008 Olympic Mascots are the five Fuwa (, literally "good luck dolls"). The Fuwa consist of five members that incorporate fish,

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes us ...

, fire, Tibetan antelope, and swallow designs. The Fuwa each have as their primary color one of the colors of the five Olympic Rings that stand for the five continents. The five Fuwa are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. When the first syllable of each of the five names are said together, the result is the phrase (Běijīng huānyíng nĭ) which means "''Beijing welcomes you''".

Tickets

In April 2007, over seven million tickets for sporting events and ceremonies went on sale. Approximately 75% of tickets went on sale through the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, which set low ticket prices for domestic tickets, to encourage the Chinese people to attend the Games. International tickets are available through each nation's

NOC A network on a chip or network-on-chip (NoC or )This article uses the convention that "NoC" is pronounced . Therefore, it uses the convention "a" for the indefinite article corresponding to NoC ("a NoC"). Other sources may pronounce it as an ...

. By June 2007, 2.2 million tickets had already been sold. The last round of some 250,000 tickets were on sale in Beijing on 25 July 2008. Long lines were formed the day before at the ticket office including many who slept overnight.Channelnewsasia.com.
Channelnewsasia.com
" ''Police struggle to control Beijing Olympic ticket chaos.'' Retrieved on 2008-07-21. Another 570,000 tickets for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

matches are up for grabs in co-host cities just weeks before the opening.

Merchandising

Since early 2007, licensed Olympics merchandise stores have been in business throughout China. More than 800 official stores were in operation at the end of July 2007. Since August 2007, Olympic merchandise has been made available online, with more than 5000 products available via the official merchandising website, which include apparel, mascot dolls, key-chains and commemorative chopsticks. In November 2007, the overseas Olympic

E-shop Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the ...

provided online access to customers all over the world to Licensed Products of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, excluding the USA, Japan, UK, Canada and China.

Banknotes

The People's Bank of China issued a new 10- yuan note without the picture of Mao Zedong featuring a Greek discus thrower and the Bird's Nest. A total of 6 million notes were released at 10 yuan (

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1.46). Another 4 million notes were released in Hong Kong as a special-edition note at

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cents or 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and ...

20 (

2.56) before the official release on 15 July 2008. Of the 4 million notes, 3.76 million of them were sold in Hong Kong, with the remainder sold to Macau and the overseas community, ranging from HK$138 to HK$1,338. Thousands of people formed long lines outside the Hong Kong Bank of China branch more than 48 hours before the notes were issued.

Multimedia

Opening ceremony

An international release of a double DVD set of the official Opening ceremony was released on 11 August 2008 in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and English.

Albums

On 5 May 2008 an official olympic soundtrack album titled ''The Official Album for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games'' was released featuring various artists including Andy Lau, Wakin Chau, A-Mei Chang,

Nicholas Tse Nicholas Tse Ting-fung (born 29 August 1980) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and chef.EEGmusic.EEGmusic." ''Nicolas Tse profile.'' Retrieved on 22 April 2008. As multi talented celebrity, he became a TV ch ...

, Coco Lee, Jackie Chan, Natasha Na (那英), Leehom Wang, Han Geng, Joey Yung,

Sun Nan Sun Nan (; born February 18, 1969) is a pop singer from Dalian in mainland China. His songs include "Be there or Be Square", "The Wind Goes to North", "Save", and his song for the 2008 Summer Olympics, "Forever Friends". Sun's album ''Crescent ...

, David Huang (黃大煒), Stefanie Sun, Jay Chou, Wang Feng (汪峰), Han Hong (韓紅), Wei Wei, Liu Huan, Dai Yu Chen (戴玉強), Yu Quan, Xu Yang (徐洋), Tan Jing, Bibi Zhou, Jane Zhang. It also included one Korean artist, Jang Nara. On 7 August 2008 Jackie Chan became the only male singer authorized to release his own version of the same album. Another album was released around 14 August 2008 titled ''The Olympics Album - One World One Dream'': featuring Krystal Meyers, Fireflight,Official 2008 Olympics Album To Feature Music From Krystal Meyers And Fireflight: Olympics 2008 - One World, One Dream - Breathecast.com
Retrieved on 2009-10-05.

Avril Lavigne Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. At age 16, she signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, ''Let Go (Avril Lavigne album), Let Go'' (2002), is the ...

Joanna Wang Joanna Wang () is a Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter, daughter of renowned music producer Wang Zhi-ping (王治平). Born in Taipei but raised in Los Angeles, California, Wang dropped out from Gabrielino High School when she was 16. Her de ...

, Coco Lee,

, David Huang (黃大煒) and Tan Jing.

Songs

Theme songs

The official song for the games' one-year countdown celebration was "''We are Ready''". The song was sung by an ensemble of 133 artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China, Singapore and Korea. The song is composed by Hong Kong songwriter Peter Kam with lyrics by

Keith Chen M. Keith Chen is a Chinese American behavioral economist. As of 2020, he is a tenured professor of economics at UCLA's Anderson School of Management. Chen holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University (2003). From 2003 to 2008 he was an as ...

. Among the participating HK singers are Alan Tam, Hacken Lee, Eason Chan, Joey Yung, Gigi Leung, Leo Ku and Jackie Chan.

Elva Hsiao Elva Hsiao (, born 24 August 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, dancer, actress and businesswoman. Since being signed to a record deal in 1998 after competing in a singing competition, Hsiao has gone on to release fourteen studio albums and has achie ...

David Huang David Huang Shih-cho (; born 14 August 1966) is a Taiwanese politician and scholar of public administration studies, who is currently running for the Mayor of Taoyuan election. He was the founding member of Taiwan Solidarity Union along with his ...

, and

Chris Yu Chris Yu (; born October 30, 1968) is a Taiwanese singer and songwriter. Known for his ballads, Yu has written for several pop music artists, including Alan Tam, Andy Lau, Stefanie Sun, Sammi Cheng, Coco Lee, and Cass Phang. His 2002 release ...

represented Taiwan. Stefanie Sun and

A-Do Du Chengyi (), known professionally as A-du (阿杜; ), is a Singaporean singer. Career Du was a construction foreman before been spotted by Singaporean producer Billy Koh in his company's talent search and was signed to Ocean Butterflies M ...

also represented Singapore. While JJ Lin represented Malaysia. Also with Jang Na Ra representing Korea. Bibi Zhou, Li Yuchun, Jane Zhang,

Pu Shu Pu Shu () (born 1973) is a Chinese singer-songwriter who was born in Nanjing and grew up in Beijing. In 1994, he quit studying at Capital Normal University and started composing songs. He became a signed singer in Taihe Rye Music's Mai Tian Music ...

, Wang Feng, Han Geng and Huang Xiaoming represented mainland China.Yesasia.com.
Yesasia.com
" ''Asian Artists Welcome Beijing Olympics news as of May 2008.'' Retrieved on 2008-07-26. "'' You and Me''", the official theme song for the games themselves, was first performed at the

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

by Liu Huan and

Sarah Brightman Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano singer, actress and dancer. Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, ...

. Containing both Mandarin and English lyrics, it was composed by Chen Qigang, a Shanghai born French Chinese.

Beijing songs

'' Beijing Welcomes You'' was the theme song for the 100-day countdown celebration. ''"I am a Star"'' and ''"Smile Beijing"'' have been selected as theme songs for the Beijing Olympic Volunteers Committee. ''

Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing "Beijing Beijing, I Love Beijing" () is a Chinese song written by Kwan Ju and performed by Guan Zhe on the official Beijing 2008 album. At the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Beijing, the song was performed by Hong Kong singer Kelly C ...

'' was performed at the closing ceremony.

Torch relay songs

The official theme for the torch relay was ''"Light the Passion, Share the Dream"'' (), performed by Wang Leehom, Stefanie Sun, Jane Zhang and Wang Feng, with the English version performed by the 106 contestants of

Miss World 2007 Miss World 2007, the 57th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 1 December 2007 at the Crown of Beauty Theatre in Sanya, China. It was hosted by Fernando Allende and Angela Chow. Zhang Zilin of China won the crown and succeeded Tať� ...

. Another song to accompany the relay is "Red around the world" composed by Wyman Wong with lyrics by

Albert Leung Albert Leung (born 7 December 1961, ) is a lyricist and writer based in Hong Kong. Education Leung attended all-boy secondary schools at Chan Sui Ki (La Salle) College and La Salle College. He received a bachelor of arts in translation from th ...

. The song also happens to be the new Coca-Cola promotional song. Individual versions are available for different artists such as Jacky Cheung, S.H.E, Will Pan.

Other songs

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

singer Coco Lee and mainland singer

performed a promotional duet ''"Forever Friends"'', and

and Joey Yung sings ''"Together On The Blue Planet"''. Twenty-eight different sports are represented by 28 mainland China singers in a promotion video and song called ''"In Magnificent Shape to Uphold the Dream"''. Members include Fan Bingbing, Eva Huang (黃聖依), and Li Bingbing. Korea artists also contributed. Rain performed ''"Any Dream"''. Jang Nara performed ''"Our Dream"'', Zhang Liyin performed ''"One More Try"'', and

Super Junior M Super Junior-M (stylized as SJ-M), an initialism for Super Junior-Mandarin, is a Chinese sub-unit of the South Korean boy band Super Junior. The sub-unit is the first international music group in the Chinese music industry to have members of bo ...

performed ''"The One"''.

Film

The film ''"One Person's Olympics"'' supported by Beijing's Olympic promotion committee shows Jackie Chan, Stefanie Sun, Leehom Wang, and Han Hong singing ''"Stand Up Together"'' in unison.

Video games

Two games were made for this event. '' Beijing 2008'' is the official game for the 2008 olympics developed by Eurocom. ''

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a crossover sports and party game developed by the Sega Sports R&D Department. It is the first installment on the '' Mario & Sonic'' series. It was published by Nintendo in Japan and by Sega in other regions, and released on the Wii in Nov ...

'' was published by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

for

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and Europe and published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

for

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Animations

A Chinese animation titled '' The Olympic Adventures of Fuwa'' was jointly produced by BTV and Kaku Cartoon.

Stamps

The United Nations postal service launched six commemorative stamps by Brazilian pop-artist Romero Britto released on 8 August. A special edition of stamps were issued by

Hong Kong Post Hongkong Post is a government department of Hong Kong responsible for postal services, though operated as a trading fund. Founded in 1841, it was known as ''Postal Department'' or ''Post Office'' () before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. ...

on 9 August with the theme of hosting the Equestrian event. Two limited edition products - Prestige Crystal Blocks Gift Set and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Limited Edition Prestige Stamp Album was on sale at 37 philatelic offices with limited stocks available. The album is issued in a limited edition of 6,000 copies with a certificate.

Corporate sponsorship and advertising

http://www.uschina.usc.edu/ShowFeature.aspx?articleID=2375

References

{{Reflist, 2 Marketing Olympic marketing