By Jonathan Landreth
Protesters from London to Paris to San Francisco dogged the
Coca-Cola-sponsored Olympic torch relay to shout down China's
rule of Tibet. Mia Farrow lambasted China's trade with Sudan,
and Steven Spielberg quit his advisory role to the Olympic
Games' opening ceremony in Beijing on August 8.
Shortly after that, African marathoners griped about
pollution in Beijing and a train on the route to the Olympic
sailing venue in Tianjin flew off the tracks, killing 71
people.
But they all paled against the calamity that was to come
May 12, when an earthquake struck China's Sichuan province,
killing more than 68,500 people to date.
The tragedy has presented a unique challenge to advertisers
in the region. Marketing messages are requiring adjustments in
tone at a time when brands should be plotting a very different
strategy.
Chinese Web sites such as TuDou and YouKu dropped most
non-quake footage. Karaoke parlors and online gaming halls went
quiet; cinemas went dark.
All corporate brands faded from the airwaves in unison with
Chinese companies. Procter & Gamble pulled its "Keep China
Smiling" campaign for Crest toothpaste, and Coke scaled back
all its marketing activities.
"It was not appropriate to run celebratory advertisements,"
says Petro Kacur, a senior manager for communications at
Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta.
The company quickly donated $2.9 million and 5.7 million
bottles of product, including water. Further donations flooded
in from around the world; state media reported $2.2 billion was
amassed in 10 days.
Companies began outdoing one another: P&G gave $145,000 in
the first 24 hours, followed by $2.2 million in products
donated to the millions left homeless. Disney pledged $1
million, and Hong Kong media mogul Run Run Shaw gave $15
million.
Emotions ran high, reviving a nationalist fervor that in
April pushed some Chinese to boycott a French film festival and
retail giant Carrefour in retaliation for the assault on a
wheelchair-bound Chinese athlete bearing the Olympic torch
through Paris.
Bao Shuming, research director of the China Data Center at
the University of Michigan, says that on the Internet in China,
a small number of people can make a lot of noise.
"Companies must now be very low key," Bao says, adding
that, if handled right, the quake presents "an excellent
advertising opportunity."
The Shanghai office of U.S. ad giant JWT might be among the
first to see its creative handiwork strike the right post-quake
chord.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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