The Olympics is gonna be starting next week! We’re talking about the largest sporting spectacle the world has to witness and how it has come to China this year.

China has had its fair share of controversies with regards to the Tibet issue and Carrfour and France…. It’s also shown how internet as a medium has been restricted by the government and how users have found ways to go around these restrictions. There was the earthquake which showed the China government could be transparent and wasn’t totally inflexible.  I talked more about it here in my post on Citizen Journalism and its works in China. In fact, Rebecca MacKinnon, former Beijing Bureau Chief of CNN who now teaches digital journalism at Hong Kong University. shares some journalism tips when using the internet as a medium.

Now with the background all laid out for China 2008, the Olympics will prove to be the next story board in China as a brand. Hopefully no political issues will be dragged into this sporting event to mar it as another event filled with political debates.

What i want to emphasize is the brands who are participating in the Olympics. I wouldn’t be covering China as a brand itself, I’ll have to wait for the end of the year to have a good overview of how China has fared.

What is great about this Olympics is the use of social media. Let me bring your attention to Lenovo. A China brand which owns IBM’s laptops has propelled themselves into the sports marketing scene. With sponsorships in the NBA, F1 BMW and now the Olympics, Lenovo has positioned itself to be the technology to use to capture the best in the sporting industry. Pretty slick move considering the various stigmas haunting ‘made in china’ brands. Read more about the Olympic athletes blogging here.

But what’s great about Lenovo has been its use of social media in the sporting industry. Just recently, the Olympic council has allowed the athletes to blog about their experiences. This was banned in previous Olympics, also showing how the Olympics are embracing social media and its increasing importance in today’s world. Lenovo understands this and supports the use of blogging for athletes by providing them with a laptop each to blog about their daily experiences.

What’s so great about blogging by athletes is that it allows your favorite athletes to share what goes through their minds during those critical moments. I mean, take a step back and think, sports allure is how the athletes attract people to watch them play, i mean throw in the fact that you get a personal diary note on his/her blog rather than a set up interview, doesn’t that just kick ass? Great product placment for your brand too! IIn the words of Shamus McGillicuddy,

In the world of sports, there are two things that fans obsess over: the games and the statistics that surround those games.

And what better blend than special media and sports to get this across. Kindda like eggs and bacon, salt and pepper, Mark and Remzy, ya get the idea…

I’m gonna be taking a look at other brands over the next few weeks to see what efforts are they doing as we approach closer to the Games.