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Time for corporate leaders to step up to World Expo plate
By John Gong |
July 17, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ASIDE from showcasing the United State's enriched cultures and venerable technologies, the US Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo is a wonderful advertising and promotion venue for corporate sponsors.
This is a historic opportunity, quoting the USA Pavilion organizer, "to provide a fully integrated series of benefits offering breakthrough brand integration and hospitality experiences to host current/prospective customers as well as on-site experiential branding initiatives to showcase to the up market audience expected to attend the Shanghai Expo in 2010."
And for that, I am wondering how can the China VPs in Shanghai of the Fortune 500 American companies miss such a simple calculation.
Even just assuming 20 corporate sponsors signing up, each will only foot a US$3 million bill. How much ads time can that US$3 million buy on CCTV to reach 60 to 70 million people, which is the expected number of visitors to the Expo? Roughly 20 minutes.
But the same amount spent on the USA Pavilion leaves you a permanent place to display your brand, your products, and a long lasting sharing experience of a historic event.
The architectural drawing of the USA Pavilion shows a beautiful structure. And this structure is supposed to tell an equally beautiful story, a story that radiates powerful core values shared by both the Chinese and American people - sustainability, teamwork, health and the fundamental belief that America is a place of opportunity where those who seek to change the world for the better will always thrive and prosper.
Well, the fundamental belief would be a travesty in front of the entire world, if the Pavilion cannot thrive and prosper.
So for the sake of the American dignity, it is time for American corporate leaders to step up.
Shanghai Daily's news report mentioned seven committed corporate sponsors, to which I take my hat off, including GE, PepsiCo, 3M, Dell, Yum! Cargill, and Golden Eagle.
And allow me to name a few American companies on which I lay a lot of hope next. Microsoft, IBM, P&G, Caterpillar, Johnson & Johnson, Disney, Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, HP, and etc - you are the companies that are synonymous with American success stories and have been wildly successful in China.
(John Gong, associate professor of economics at the University of International Business and Economics, Beijing. His email: johngong@gmail.com)
This is a historic opportunity, quoting the USA Pavilion organizer, "to provide a fully integrated series of benefits offering breakthrough brand integration and hospitality experiences to host current/prospective customers as well as on-site experiential branding initiatives to showcase to the up market audience expected to attend the Shanghai Expo in 2010."
And for that, I am wondering how can the China VPs in Shanghai of the Fortune 500 American companies miss such a simple calculation.
Even just assuming 20 corporate sponsors signing up, each will only foot a US$3 million bill. How much ads time can that US$3 million buy on CCTV to reach 60 to 70 million people, which is the expected number of visitors to the Expo? Roughly 20 minutes.
But the same amount spent on the USA Pavilion leaves you a permanent place to display your brand, your products, and a long lasting sharing experience of a historic event.
The architectural drawing of the USA Pavilion shows a beautiful structure. And this structure is supposed to tell an equally beautiful story, a story that radiates powerful core values shared by both the Chinese and American people - sustainability, teamwork, health and the fundamental belief that America is a place of opportunity where those who seek to change the world for the better will always thrive and prosper.
Well, the fundamental belief would be a travesty in front of the entire world, if the Pavilion cannot thrive and prosper.
So for the sake of the American dignity, it is time for American corporate leaders to step up.
Shanghai Daily's news report mentioned seven committed corporate sponsors, to which I take my hat off, including GE, PepsiCo, 3M, Dell, Yum! Cargill, and Golden Eagle.
And allow me to name a few American companies on which I lay a lot of hope next. Microsoft, IBM, P&G, Caterpillar, Johnson & Johnson, Disney, Apple, Intel, Qualcomm, HP, and etc - you are the companies that are synonymous with American success stories and have been wildly successful in China.
(John Gong, associate professor of economics at the University of International Business and Economics, Beijing. His email: johngong@gmail.com)
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