The company has also consolidated media with Initiative, and named Burson-Marsteller to handle public relations. Rinaldi also confirmed that Haier had appointed a “hybrid combination” of UK company Sportsworld and China’s Star Group to oversee Olympic hospitality management and to design its pavilion.
The appointment of DDB marks the second agency that Haier has enlisted to handle its Olympics marketing.
Haier initially opened a pitch for its Olympics brief in mid-2006, a process that was restarted a year later and led to Y&R being appointed. The WPP agency bowed out late last year, due to conflict with its globally aligned LG business.
“The challenge for Haier is to get this going and to be able to deliver a message that’s powerful and compelling not just for Chinese but for people visiting from overseas. They need something really creative, really fast,” said a source. “I don’t think its an issue of Haier leaving things late. When I look around at some other national sponsors that don’t have Haier’s footprint - these are guys that are going to have a problem. ”
