Guest Olympic Blogger Rohit Bhargava

Dinner With The Namibians
Guest Olympic Post From Rohit Bhargava

When I boarded my flight to Beijing, I didn’t have a single ticket for any Olympic events and I wasn’t worried. To understand why, I need to tell you about my best day during the Summer Olympics in Sydney in 2000. I was living there and had one night where I was heading out to see a Handball match (by far my favourite Olympic sport, by the way). I got two tickets last minute and knew nothing about the sport. When I turned up, I was surprised to learn that the sport is basically a cross between soccer with your hands and water polo without the water. It is fast, challenging, and amazingly fun to watch. I discovered a new sport that day, but that wasn’t even the most memorable part of the day. Right after, I managed to get a table at famous S-shaped bar at the one hotel which was at Homebush Bay (the main Olympic Area) outside of Sydney. At the table, we sat with several athletes from different countries including an Eastern European gymnast and an African track and field athlete. I don’t remember their names, or even what we talked about … only that it was one of the most authentic and powerful Olympic experiences I could imagine. And it wasn’t about watching an athlete break a record or win a medal. It was a quiet moment at a shared table over a bottle of wine talking to two athletes who were considered the best in their countries in their respective sports.

So when I headed to Beijing, it was not with the goal of getting tickets to lots of events. It was about finding a moment where I could share a real story and an authentic Olympic moment with an athlete. Last night we had a chance to have a moment like that as part of a blogger meetup we organized over Twitter for a few local bloggers in Beijing and some of our athletes participating in the Lenovo program. We ended up having dinner with two Namibian cyclists, both of whom were competing for their country – Mannie in Mountain Biking and Erik in Road Cycling. As we sat there and listened to their stories of making it past the trials and what it took to be the ones their country sent, it was easy to remember why the Olympics are the most powerful global event in the world.

Two-wheeled Namibians

Mannie competes on the second to last day of the Games, but talking to Erik was a great reminder of just how much every athlete trains and struggles just to be part of the Games, and how proud thousands of people none of us can see will be of them when they return home. Erik realized a personal best and finished 22 out of more than 100 of the finest road cyclers in the world after riding for over six hours. This is what the Olympics are really about. Not the hurdler who conquers personal tragedy and cancer of the kneecap to win the Gold. That’s the Hollywood version. The real life story is about the guy who beats his one biggest competitor to be the sole athlete in his sport that his country sends to Beijing. The one who misses marching in the Opening Ceremonies to rest so he can compete at 9am on the first day of the Olympics. The one who rides his bike in hot and humid weather for more than six hours among the best cyclists in the world. And the one who beats the odds to finish a personal best of 22nd so that he can go home a hero.

To read more real athlete’s stories, visit Lenovo’s Voices of the Olympic Games

Eyecube Buzz9: Sports-related topics I’m buzzing about:

1. Beijing Olympics: Check out the NY Times PLAY Magazine.

2. The NFL is back.

Julie Foudy and Kristine Lilly - US Women's Soccer Heroes

3. Let it Out: The Movie. (Disclosure1: I work for the PR firm behind this endeavor. Disclosure2: You will need a Kleenex when watching, it is emotional).

4. Pre-season tournaments mean we’re getting close to the start of the EPL season.

5. America Held Hostage Day 25: The Brett Favre Saga.

6. MLB – Post Trade Deadline: Manny being Manny.

7. Big win at the Hungarian Grand Prix for McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen.

8. X-Games gets off to a hot start.

9. U.S. Open Tennis to miss Sharapova.

 On the horizon: Madden 09. Little League World Series.

In the rearview mirror: Competitive Eating Contests.

Eyecube Buzz9 will appear on Monday.

From this weekend's NY Times PLAY supplement

The Olympics start on August 8, that’s 8-8-8, (888 is a lucky number in Chinese culture) and the New York Times Magazine’s PLAY supplement this weekend focuses on the Beijing Games. Check it out online if you can’t pick it up.

Items from the Shaun White 4 Target Collection

Eyecube Buzz9: Sports-related topics I’m buzzing about

1. Mets and Yankees on the rise: New York, Summer & Baseball
2. Carlos Sastre wins the Tour de France: Spain’s Summer of Dominance Conitnues
3. Shaun White 4 Target
4. Brett Favre: God’s gift to sports talk radio

5. Beijing Olympics: Chinese athlete controversy
6. Beijing Olympics: Showdown in the deep end
7. F1 Drivers Championship: Truly up for grabs
8. Twenty20 Champions League: A sport divided?
9. Nike Hyperdunk Ads: That ain’t right

On the horizon: European football season begins
In the rear view mirror: WNBA: Fights and 50-year olds

Eyecube Buzz9 will appear on Monday

Fourteen of the first 16 FIFA World Cup tournaments were held in either South America or Europe (with Mexico and the U.S. being the exceptions). For the 2002 event, FIFA, the world governing body of the sport, made the unprecedented move of not only awarding the tournament to Asia, but also having it hosted jointly by two countries. The decision was favorably received not just by the Asian Football Confederation and its members, but also by FIFA’s marketing partners who would be able to showcase their brands in new, emerging markets and territories.

Certainly the region had seen major events in the past, with both South Korea and Japan hosting Olympiads in the last 20 years. But this time around it was different in several ways. First, the geography of the event made traditional media channels – print and broadcast – a difficult proposition for fans in the United States, Europe and Africa. But unlike previous major sporting events in held in Asia, broadband and mobile phone technology allowed fans to have instantaneous information regardless of their location. The second critical factor coming out of the 2002 FIFA World Cup was the beneficial knock-on effect it had for “non-traditional” locales and their opportunity to host global events. Last year the West Indies hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup for the first time. In 2008 Beijing will host the Olympics for the first time and in 2010 South Africa will host the FIFA World Cup for the first time.

What does this mean for marketers? Access to new markets is only valuable if you have the distribution to service this new pool of consumers. But even then, simply throwing open your doors, whether they be of the brick and mortar or virtual variety, is only part of the solution. Considerable consumer education may be necessary, and traditional advertising may not be enough. New consumers will need to be courted through a variety of channels. Being a sponsor of an event that engages consumers through their passions is a strong proposition, made even more so by leveraging public relations. Brand ambassadors, consumer events and online engagement can all help build brand awareness and affinity, which can lead to true business building impact.

Just as important as the consumer education is the brand education. Understand the needs and limitations of a new consumer segment as well as you’ve studied the new opportunities. You may even need to adjust your product to fit local customs and economics.