It’s been a full week since Li Ning, China’s original Olympic superstar-turned-businessman traversed the upper enclosure of the Bird’s Nest in a stunning merger of inspired ideation and breathtaking execution. Those I’ve talked to who carry a more jaded view of image manipulation and advertising trickery were nevertheless impressed by two main things about the event: the impressive use of LED and Li Ning’s pwnage (clapping myself on the back for using that term for the first time in my 30 years of existance) of Adidas.
A friend who is a creative director here at Wieden Kennedy’s Shanghai office put it this way: “Total checkmate.” Just goes to show how much egg in the face $80M in sponsorship money can buy you. Response from Adidas? From Businessweek.com:
Playing second fiddle to a local rival at the opening ceremony wasn’t part of the plan. Now, with Li Ning having scored a publicity coup in front of an audience of 4 billion, the German company is looking for silver linings. A company spokesman points out that Li actually wasn’t wearing Li Ning clothes on Friday night. “Li Ning was in a torchbearer uniform which is from Adidas,” says Jan Runau, chief corporate communications officer.
Yup, that’ll do the trick.
