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Tag: Beijing Olympics

  • BBC to conduct marketing campaign around the Olympics

    BBC to conduct marketing campaign around the Olympics

    MUMBAI: BBC has announced that BBC Sport’s marketing campaign for the forthcoming Olympic Games in China will be based upon the traditional Chinese folklore Journey To The West.

    The campaign, which will air in late July, will include animations and music especially produced by Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn.

    BBC Sport Executive Producer, Jonathan Bramley, and the Head of Marketing and Communications, Louisa Fyans, decided to produce an integrated titles and marketing campaign based on the folklore Journey To The West for the Beijing Olympics.

    BBC Sport executive producer Jonathan Bramley said, “This has been a really exciting collaboration – to work with such renowned artists as Jamie and Damon is a real plus for BBC Sport. Their treatment of the trail and titles will kick start our Olympic coverage in a really different, energetic way.”

    Hewlett and Albarn worked alongside the BBC to adapt Journey To The West, an epic quest for enlightenment, into the Olympic trail and titles. The London-based pair developed the animation and music especially for the BBC.

    The campaign will feature the characters of Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy using Olympic sports on their journey to Beijing and the Bird’s Nest stadium. The sports represented include gymnastics, hammer, sprinting and diving.

    Artist/designer Jamie Hewlett said, “The idea is that you tell the entire story of Journey To The West in a two-minute opening sequence, which is basically them on their way to the Olympic stadium, the Birds’ Nest stadium.”

    The Beijing Olympics marketing campaign will feature promotional activity across TV, radio, online, mobile and interactive. It will also play throughout the Beijing Olympics programming via title sequences, in programme graphics and set design.

    A two-minute sequence is being created that will be played out in full as well as 60, 50, 30, 20 and 10 second versions, which will be used for trails and titles.

    BBC Sport Marketing worked with retained agency RKCR to develop the strategic direction and creative realisation of the idea. Red Bee Media produced the trails and title sequence with Zombie Flesheaters and Passion Pictures.

    The aim is to target younger audiences through high profile websites such as Facebook, Bebo, MSN and social networking sites as well as mobile activity.

    The folklore is based on characters taken from the story of Monkey King, one of the four classic novels written by Wu Chen-en during the Ming Dynasty (1500–1584).

    The story has many layers of meaning and may be read on many different levels such as a quest, fantasy, personal search for self-cultivation, or a political/social satire.

    The story is an account of a monk, Xuan Zang (602-664), who went to India in the 7th Century to seek Buddhist scriptures to bring back to China.

  • China to have over 32 million mobile video users in 2008

    China to have over 32 million mobile video users in 2008

    MUMBAI: The mobile video market in China will take off in 2008, driven by interest in the Beijing Olympics.

    A new study from ABI Research published out of Singapore forecasts total mobile video users at more than 32 million in 2008. About 27 per cent of these consumers will use broadcasting technology, and 73 per cent will use unicast streaming technology, while a number of viewers are likely to use both.

    In 2006, SARFT, the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, announced two handset-related standards. DAB is likely to be the first phase of mobile multimedia broadcasting standards development in China. DAB paves the way for upgrading to China’s proposed mobile multimedia broadcasting standard, T-DMB, a terrestrial implementation of SK Telecom’s mobile video format.

    Because both standards are voluntary, there are questions surrounding their effect in the market. “It is likely that local media groups and TV stations will deploy DAB initially, and implement T-DMB at a later date,” 3g.co.uk quotes ABI research director Jake Saunders as saying. “The Chinese government will give preference to a standard that will be used in the 2008 Olympics, and DAB has been listed as one of the broadcast services that will be available at the Beijing Games.”

    “Although lack of content is still deemed to be a bottleneck for mobile video in mainland China, the problem will be solved in the next two years,” adds Saunders. “The current content shortage is caused by the limited number of handset TV SP licenses. When more companies obtain licenses, competition will become the lubricant to drive up the market.”

    Meanwhile in Hong Kong, mobile operators are active in mobile video streaming. Their international operations backgrounds allow them to provide diversified content to users.

    PCCW’s experience in operating its IPTV business will boost its performance in the 3G market. ABI Research forecasts approximately 715,000 mobile video users in Hong Kong in 2008, of which 99 per cent will be streaming users. In Taiwan, ABI Research forecasts that there will be over 1.5 million mobile video users in 2008, with 97 per cent receiving content via streaming.

    “Mobile Video in China” analyzes the mobile video market in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It lists the streaming mobile services offered by mobile operators in the three areas, discusses the regulatory environment in mainland China, and charts the directions that will be taken by mobile video development based on different technologies.

  • Mobile video to boost sports services market: Juniper report

    Mobile video to boost sports services market: Juniper report

    MUMBAI: The increasing influence of mobile video enabled on 3G networks will drive the uptake of many mobile sports, leisure and information services over the next five years, says Juniper Research.

    The global market for sports, leisure and information content (infotainment) is set to grow from its 2006 value of just under $4.2 billion to $9.5 billion by 2011. The largest geographic market is forecast to be in Europe, which is expected to account for 40 per cent of revenues over the 2006 to 2011 period, with Asia Pacific contributing 33 per cent and the rapidly growing US market 18 per cent.

    The Asia Pacific region, according to the Juniper Research report, would generate the most infotainment traffic over the period, but higher price levels would make Europe the largest revenue generator.

    The report’s author Bruce Gibson said, “video has the potential to transform the user experience of many infotainment services, provided the video quality is good enough. The continued roll-out of 3G services globally will provide the platform for the development of high quality video content based services.”

    Types of services that will particularly benefit from enhanced video capability will include sports services, services based around TV shows and celebrities, traffic update services, news services and community applications with user generated content. Growth in sports services and services with user generated content should be particularly strong.

    Gibson adds, “Sports services are getting repeated boosts by high profile global and regional sporting events. 2008 will be a significant year in market growth with Uefa Euro 2008 and the Beijing Olympics. However the need to acquire mobile sports rights is keeping sports service prices high and these services require high quality and timely content.

    “On the other hand community applications with user generated content have relatively low cost content acquisition and minimise much of the complexity of content acquisition and updating. We see growth opportunities in both market sectors for very different reasons.”

  • China to have over 32 mn mobile video users in 2008

    China to have over 32 mn mobile video users in 2008

    MUMBAI: The mobile video market in China will take off in 2008, driven by interest in the Beijing Olympics. A new study from ABI Research forecasts total mobile video users at more than 32 million in 2008.

    About 27 per cent of these consumers will use broadcasting technology, and 73 per cent will use unicast streaming technology, while a number of viewers are likely to use both.

    This year the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (Sarft) had announced two handset-related standards. DAB is likely to be the first phase of mobile multimedia broadcasting standards development in China. DAB paves the way for upgrading to China’s proposed mobile multimedia broadcasting standard, T-DMB, a terrestrial implementation of SK Telecom’s mobile video format.

    ABI research director Jake Saunders says, “Because both standards are voluntary, there are questions surrounding their effect in the market. “It is likely that local media groups and TV stations will deploy DAB initially, and implement T-DMB at a later date. The Chinese government will give preference to a standard that will be used in the 2008 Olympics, and DAB has been listed as one of the broadcast services that will be available at the Beijing Games.

    “Although lack of content is still deemed to be a bottleneck for mobile video in mainland China, the problem will be solved in the next two years. The current content shortage is caused by the limited number of handset TV SP licenses. When more companies obtain licenses, competition will become the lubricant to drive up the market.”

    Meanwhile in Hong Kong, mobile operators are active in mobile video streaming. Their international operations backgrounds allow them to provide diversified content to users. PCCW’s experience in operating its IPTV business will boost its performance in the 3G market.

    ABI Research forecasts approximately 715,000 mobile video users in Hong Kong in 2008, of which 99 per cent will be streaming users. In Taiwan, ABI Research forecasts that there will be over 1.5 million mobile video users in 2008, with 97 per cent receiving content via streaming.