Brilliant... or Not: The Olympic Edition

And it's Speedo LZR Touching the Wall First...
With Michael Phelps and the rest of the US swimming team raking in the hardware, Speedo, the pre-eminent brand in swimming, had everyone saying their name and talking about their LZR swimsuit. Sure, just about 99.99% of the population has absolutely no need for an exoskeleton swimsuit made of alien (they exist) material, but if anyone asked you to name one brand associated with swimming, I'd bet Speedo would be one of the first brands to roll off your tongue.

Puma celebrates before crossing the finish line ahead of Nike and Adidas...
Nike and Adidas put (spent?) a lot of moola with (on?) major Olympic campaigns and came away relatively even on their respective investments. Nike's major star, Chinese hurdler, Liu Xiang, had to pull out last minute due to injury as did Adidas' Tyson Gay. Sure, their logos are probably ranked one and two among athletes in the Olympic village, but no one accounted for Usain Bolt being the fastest, most electric man alive. And he happened to also wear shiny Gold Puma's, which Puma did a nice marketing program around. It seems as though brands focusing efforts on one star or one athletic area did very well (registration required); now just choose the right sports and the right athletes.

Polo Ralph Lauren's Opening Ceremony Outfit for USA looked Good
...but that doesn't mean they were well made and tailored correctly. Apparently some people genuinely cared about what the athletes wore at the Opening Ceremony and cried foul because Polo had adorned the outfits with their huge "man on horse" logo (but Adidas' three stripes and Nike's swoosh weren't at all overwhelming). Anyhoo, the choice of Polo to be the outfitter for Team USA seemed to be a pretty good one, considering it is one of the preeminent American fashion brands. In the end, the Americans looked good from afar, while on TV... which is all that matters right.... right?!? Ironically, the athletes' outfits were hastily made in China and better quality replicas are on sale to the public through Polo.com... and when you think about it, what could be more American than that?

Ten years from now, everyone will remember how great the Beijing Olympics were...
This was China's Cotillion and no one, I mean NO ONE, was going to stop her from looking amazing and being known for throwing great parties. China's handling of the Olympics could go down as one of the greatest rebranding efforts to date - but it definitely didn't come easy, as many eyebrows were raised at some of the host country's actions. While they broke many branding rules Western brands adhere to, they also excelled in other areas. In the end, China has come away from the games proudly taking their seat at the Superpower table.

Among the good are:
The Chinese People
Genuine enthusiasm, not just nationalism, shown by the people of China, who came out to support all athletes. Yes, sure, in a socialist country this should be expected - whether it was a mandate or not - but by all accounts the real hosts, those on the ground working, volunteering and being fans, were gracious and welcoming.

Chinese Athletes (other than 14-year-old Gymnasts... maybe)
Boy did those Chinese athletes show up to play? They took home the most gold medals, made great strides in sports that they had never really competed in before (beach volleyball anyone?), and did so displaying world-class sportsmanship.

...and now the bad:
Censorship
Leaving room for absolutely no transparency and suppressing opposing points of view is never a good thing. The ramp up to the games with the often violent pro-Tibet protests, the censoring of specific websites and media (like iTunes), the revocation of Joey Cheek's (of Team Darfur) visa, and the so-called "protest sites" that no one could get a permit to doesn't help China improve its standing in its weakest area -- human rights. In many ways, denying or ignoring opposing voices brings more attention and only legitimizes those opinions further.

Putting on a Semi-Fake Show
Ok, ok, so with or without simulated fireworks and adorable little girls (lip)singing - you were both equally cute! - the Opening Ceremony was absolutely spectacular, setting the bar impossibly high. But it would have been just as good without any of that BS. These were small, forgettable details that turned into global news (albeit using the term "news" broadly) pieces.

Ineligible Athletes
Regardless of what you think about the actual age rule for gymnasts at the Olympics, a rule is a rule. Call us sore losers - but if those girls aren't 16 in 2008 they should not be allowed to compete. And when just a passport is an accepted form of identification and you have a Chinese government that wants Gold medals, no one is stopping them from changing a few dates. For crying out loud, last time I went to get my driver's license I needed four forms of identification (the passport only counted for four points!). It's a little disheartening to know that NYS DMV has more stringent policies than the Olympic Gymnastics Federation or whatever it's called.

What Smog? What Pollution?... oh you mean that huge cloud of black smoke?
China's record with human rights is only rivaled by its abysmal record with pollution. But Beijing's mythical smog and the efforts to control it and/or avoid it made quite the story line. One of the more embarrassing incidents were the American cyclists stepping off the plane wearing Star Wars-esque masks. Sure, this is like the pot calling the kettle black (America is only slightly better in the war against pollution) but, heck, was it me or was every day gray and gloomy in LA Beijing?

In the end, China took a big gamble and hoped that after pulling all these antics, the main card would come up ace... and for the most part, it's been true... most people won't remember anything other than the names Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt and the fact that the Beijing Olympics were... well, pretty damn good.