Chinese advertisers less interested in London Olympics

Compared with their enthusiasm for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Chinese sponsors are showing less interest in the London Olympic Games.

Only two Chinese companies, including Acer, are in the top sponsorship list of the London event.

However, in 2008, Chinese companies were strong supporters of the Beijing event. The sponsors at the time included Lenovo, China Mobile, China National Petroleum Corp, Sinopec, State Grid Corporation of China, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group and Haier Group.

Industry insiders said that sponsors are known to show more interest in the event if the host city and region are target markets for the companies. In addition, the global economic situation is closely related to companies’decision of sponsoring the event or not.

Consumer brands dominate the London Olympic Games sponsors list. Coca Cola, General Electric, McDonald's, Omega and Panasonic are among the names in the top sponsors list.

Experts added that the Chinese companies’withdrawal is a result of a rational decision based on their short and medium-term marketing strategies, instead of being related to their current business performances.