Olympics help boost Chinese brands

Going global is the dream of many Chinese entrepreneurs. And many view the Beijing Olympics as a great opportunity to make themselves known to the rest of the world. In today's "2008 And Beyond" series, Liu Ying looks at how one Chinese company has used the Olympic platform to raise its profile.

In the next special segment of our "2008 And Beyond" series, our reporter Xu Zhaoqun takes a look at how Beijing residents are being encouraged to be on their best behavior for foreigners during the Olympics.

Aigo was the first Chinese brand to go racing with the Formula One McLaren fleet in 2007.

And one year later, the company is still playing the field. Aigo subsidiary Aifly is the official language training service supplier for the Beijing Games.

Liu Ying said, "What I'm holding is a product that Aigo especially invented for the Beijing Olympics - the AigoPen. When you roll the pen over words in a specially-printed book, the pen can "read" the text in eight different languages. Aigo Pen has been widely used in the English training of Beijing Olympic volunteers. The company hopes its product will also become a helpful tool for Chinese people to learn English."

The talking pen has won praise from the International Olympic Committee. It became the first Chinese high-tech product to be acquired by the IOC's Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

His special contributions won Aigo founder and president Feng Jun a place as torchbearer in the Athens leg of the Beijing Torch relay.

The 39-year-old entrepreneur says he's proud of the association and his company has benefited tremendously.

Feng Jun, President of Beijing Hua Qi INFO. (AIGO) Digital Tech., said "There are two things we get. One is the united in the company and partner which united everyone to focus making Olympic be successful. Another thing is using our new technologies. This is a platform for China technology to go out to the world, to let the friends of the world to know china has new technologies."

Established in 1993, Aigo is a leading home-grown brand in China's digital consumer electronics market.

Its product line ranges from MP3 players and digital cameras, to mobile storage products.

Aigo has five subsidiaries overseas and now sells its products in 17 countries.

80 percent of its net profit is invested in R&D each year.

And Aigo is counting on Olympic sponsorship to burnish its brand image internationally.

Feng Jun said, "There are many misunderstanding in the world about Chinese brands. China is changing fast, many company like us are doing R&D very well, we want to use R&D to create new value to the consumers. Olympic is a great platform for using new technologies, and to make Olympic more successful, that means it's our chance to show our technology."

Aigo is just one of over 60 Chinese companies selected as partners, sponsors and suppliers of the Beijing Olympics.

And the Games is such a big international event that they're expected to benefit even more domestic companies.

Liu Ying said, "For Chinese enterprises, the most valuable thing that the Beijing Olympics has brought to them is not the short-term economic benefits, but a substantial lift to their brand value in the long run. And the advance in their technology and management levels are also indispensable factors for Chinese enterprises that hope to go global.