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Panasonic: Sharing the Olympic Passion

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will become the first “high-definition” Games, and that will be made possible by Panasonic, a member of The Olympic Partner (TOP) programme of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  

As early as 2006, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial Company, Limited) had signed agreement with Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Corporation Limited (BOB), which is responsible for providing broadcasting signals of the Games, to provide high-definition broadcasting equipments as well as technical support such as digital videos, editing machines, monitors and memory cards.

In addition, Panasonic is also the audio and video equipment provider for Olympic facilities, including large screens, stereos, video cameras, and TV sets.

To make sure the high-definition signals can be received by audiences, Panasonic developed and brought to the market “high-definition set-top boxes” in early 2008 and will provide 2,300 of them for use in Olympic venues, at the Olympic village and other places so that the Games’ athletes, journalists and officials from around the world can enjoy the clearest and most vivid Games action in Beijing. 

Panasonic has been cooperating with the IOC as a TOP since the first session of TOP plan in 1985. It has provided audio and video (AV) equipment and technologies to every summer and winter Olympic Games since. In 2002, Panasonic renewed its TOP contract with IOC to provide AV facilities to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games and to the 2008 Olympic Games.

Stepping into its Beijing office, you could feel the Olympic spirit everywhere, as it is festooned with Olympic logos and emblems, which can even be found on the staff’s badges, computers, note pads and even cups.

Panasonic views the TOP role as a perfect opportunity to build its brand image and to cultivate brand loyalty in the huge and prosperous China market. In 2003, Panasonic set up its Beijing Olympic Project Office to oversee the Olympic sponsorship programme and its promotional campaigns.

“Seizing the Olympic opportunity to introduce more products into China is what we have been doing,” said Jacky Hayashi, director of the Beijing Olympic Project Office.

Promoting its flat panel TVs in Japan by sponsoring the 2004 Athens Olympics, Panasonic raised its share of the Japanese market to 40 percent. Now the opportunity in the much broader Chinese market has presented itself. Statistics suggest that demand for flat panel TVs in China is around 9 million sets, and for 2008, it is expected to reach 13 million.

“In 2006, we kicked off a ‘three-year Olympic marketing plan,’ and we have promoted our products over the National Day holidays by giving out Olympic-themed gifts, which received warm responses from the market, yielding a 11 percent of increase in sales,” said Jacky Hayashi.

 The huge cost of Olympic sponsorships is a constant topic of debate among enterprises, which fear not getting an adequate return on their Olympic advertising investment.

However, the global influence of the Games and uniqueness of its frontline sponsors seems to make taking the risks worthwhile. Market analysis indicates that every US$100 million of promotional input can generate a 1 percent brand-awareness increase; however, spending US$100 million in sponsoring the Olympic Games can heighten brand awareness by as much as 3 percent. According to a survey conducted by Panasonic, people’s willingness to buy its products rises by as much as 20 percent after they relate the company and its products to its Olympic sponsorships.

Addressing the issue, Jacky Hayashi said: “Olympic sponsorship is a marketing campaign, but it is also a programme in the public interest. The Panasonic brand is already famous, but we still enjoy supporting the Games.”

Still, the Olympic project team has worked out ways to minimize the costs of sponsorship. “Since 2003, we have been making efforts to sell our products to Olympic venues,” said Hayashi. “We have sold large screens to five Olympic venues, while we provide rented large screens in 16 of them.”

Panasonic equipment can be found at nearly every Olympic venue, including 25 large screens, 265 sound systems, 22 projectors, more than 10,000 TV sets, and about 2,000 security video cameras. That’s 1.7 times more than it supplied to the Athens Games. 

Paying so much and getting more in return by sponsoring the Olympic Games, Panasonic has decided to continue its Olympic journey after the 2008 Beijing Games. It has renewed its TOP contract with IOC to sponsor the next Games.

松下：高科技打造“激情”奥运

文/薛京晶

与奥运会的不解之缘

松下创建于1918年，并以实现与地球环境共存为理想，为不断提高世界人民的文化生活水平做出贡献，而这个理想恰好与奥林匹克运动的理念不谋而合——通过体育运动增强人类相互之间的理解和友谊，共同构建一个充满和平与相互理解的和谐世界。

1984年以来，松下电器在设备和技术等方面为奥运会的顺利运营提供了不间断的支持。通过赞助奥运会，松下电器将自身的品牌和价值理念与奥运会这个级别最高、影响范围最广的体育赛事结合了起来。   

2008年是松下赞助奥运会的整整第20个年头，作为奥运会的顶级赞助商，松下电器一直致力于为每届奥运会的正常运营提供音视频方面的产品赞助和技术支持，赞助范围涉及音频、视频的全面产品，具体包括竞赛场馆中使用的大屏幕显示系统，专业音响系统，广播电视设备，电视机等家电产品，以汽车导航系统为代表的汽车多媒体系统，以安防监控系统代表的音视频有关的安防系统等非常广泛的领域。

松下希望通过其出色的音视频产品和技术支持北京2008年奥运会的运营，将运动员的激情与活力传递给全世界；为实现奥运会的主旨与理念，致力于构筑和谐社会而贡献力量。这也是松下电器作为奥运会全球正式合作伙伴赞助奥运会活动的主题：“激情共享”。

响应高清奥运精神

早在2004年，松下便提出了自己赞助奥运会的口号“激情共享”，即通过高清广播设备将场馆现场的情景和家庭看到的电视画面连接起来，将比赛的激情传递给千家万户。在奥运会倒计时一周年之际，松下电器又提出了针对倒计时一周年活动的全新的宣传口号，即：“松下电器以高清技术支持北京奥运”以及“中国健儿加油！”。这三个主打口号都很好的将自身的品牌特质与奥运精神和体育运动结合在了一起。

2007年，松下推出了“Z”系列全高清电视，从处理器，驱动器到屏幕都是专为全高清产品开发的技术，G10全高清显示屏，除了其像素已经达到1920*1080外，此次全新开发的1080P数字处理芯片可以在输入信号为1080P时忠实的还原1080P的图像。全新的Vreal全高清驱动器提升了等离子动态图形降噪的功能，可以将每一帧画面细分成很多个部分，然后检测每一个部分中所包含的动态内容并根据需要自动进行降噪处理。等离子天生具有的卓越的动态表现力配合动态图形降噪功能让动态画面清晰不留痕，展现完美奥运。

另外，松下独有的Viera Link功能实现了只需用一个电视机遥控器就可以简单操控家庭影院，摄像机，DVD刻录机，BD蓝光播放机，而且其电视自身配备的SD卡插槽，可以浏览存储在照相机或者摄像机SD卡中的图片或者影像，让全家人一起分享“用电视”的愉快。

GPS便携式汽车导航仪登陆中国市场

2008年4月19日，借北京车展举办之机，松下在北京召开新闻发布会，正式推出包括便携式汽车导航仪在内的6种新产品，同时推出车载地面数字电视接收器，以应对中国市场需求的扩大。

此次松下电器机电（中国）推出的最新便携式汽车导航仪，融合了最新尖端技术、流行性和娱乐性，通过4.3英寸单触屏和便捷GUI(图解用户界面)的完美组合，实现了任何人都能轻松操作的导航系统。并可应用SD记忆卡，播放视频(WMV)、照片(静像)(BMP/GIF/JPG/PNG)及音乐(MP3/WMA)。造型设计精美，还有6种机壳颜色供车主随意选择。

另外，在喜迎北京奥运之际，松下还同时推出了车载地面数字电视接收器、115万像素8英寸WV、鄄GA液晶彩色显示屏、内置式7英寸宽屏幕彩色LCD显示屏和DVD收音机，以及后视摄像头、扬声器等。

全球奥运营销期待“飞跃性的业绩”

相比起三星、联想等北京奥运TOP赞助商展开轰轰烈烈的奥运商战营销，作为音频、视频设备(包括电视，摄像传输等AV设备)领域的奥运全球正式合作伙伴，松下为北京2008年奥运会提供的设备赞助规模及市场活动将是其历届赞助规模最大的一次。

与往届奥运会把工作重心放在后台技术和服务保障层面不同，北京奥运会为松下提供了一个不同寻常的机会。2008北京奥运转播有限公司（BOB）将首次全部采用高清技术全程制作北京奥运会，而松下将为BOB提供高清影音技术的支持。

“一个筹备团队在奥运举办国驻扎5年，以前没有，以后也不会有。”松下北京奥运推进室室长林卓一说，在过去的5年中，他和他的团队正试图颠覆松下20年的奥运战略。“2003年很多产品还没有进入中国市场，但是现在情况已经不同”。松下首次提出了全球奥运营销的概念。“除了中国市场、日本市场以外，松下第一次在举办国和日本市场以外的其他的市场上利用奥运会进行推广”，林卓一表示。

目前，清晰转播奥运盛事已经成为松下肩负的责任，为此，松下将为北京奥运会提供300多人的技术团队。从专业技术提供者到家用消费市场的开拓，从北京市场到全球奥运营销概念的提出，松下正在北京奥运的平台上勾勒出一个更加宽广的蓝图。