China, Consumerism, and the Red Pepsi Can
If you are inside China these days, you are seeing advertising by major brands such as McDonald's and Coke that the rest of the world doesn't see.
It makes sense, of course, that Volkswagen offers the local market its "honk for China" campaign. And Chinese can buy Pepsi, usually outfitted in blue, in a red can.
The world's top brandmeisters are turning all of their creative powers to woo China's emerging consumertariat, the second largest ad market in the world (the US is first).
So you have to wonder. Will the summer games over the next few weeks be seen by future historians as a turning point in Chinese history, tipping the country away from its still communist government rule?
Changing China
One thing is for sure, says Harvard Business School marketing professor John Quelch: China will be transformed forever by this experience. Read his Harvard Business Publishing blog post How Olympics Branding is Shaping China. His view:
"When the athletes have gone home, and the polluting power plants come back on line, what will remain beyond the memories and good impressions? The answer is brands. 2008 will not merely be the year of the Olympics. It will be the year of brands. Not only brand China being promoted on the world stage, but also the commercial brands of Olympic sponsors driving home their brand advantage in the domestic Chinese market."One interesting takeaway: While many observers believe that China's increasing economic freedoms might create pressure on the government to offer more social freedoms, Quelch wonders if government leaders will only be strengthened in the short run.
"Will the fruits of a growing economy and the passion for consumption be the distraction, the narcotic that postpones the day of political reckoning for the still dominant Communist party?"