Chinese Game Show Offers a Big Prize: A 15-Second Ad Slot
With a flick of his flag, numbered with a red 111, Li Jia of Monarch Lubricant Oil made the top bid of $4.3 million. He won a coveted 15-second advertising slot on Chinese TV. For two months, his company's ads would run just after the weather forecast, one of the world's most popular television shows.
Cameramen swarmed around Mr. Li as a television anchor yanked the 38-year-old executive onto a podium reserved for the "Number One" bidder. Chinese Olympian Luo Xuejuan, winner of the women's 100-meter breaststroke at the Athens games, gave Mr. Li a medallion, and Tian Liang, winner of the synchronized 10-meter diving contest, crowned him with a wreath.
"All I could think was how sweaty I was under all those lights," a giddy Mr. Li, the company's general manager, said in an interview after his victory.
China finds itself in the peculiar situation of being both a centrally planned economy and a sometimes-crass capitalist juggernaut. Both faces show up at the lurid "Economic Olympics," an annual televised event designed to sell advertising on China's state-run TV network. During the event, the nation's businessmen bid to buy ad slots for 2005 in front of a studio audience and in the process sometimes become instant celebrities.
China Central Television's advertising director, Guo Zhenxi, announces the beginning of this year's "Economic Olympics" by firing a starter's pistol.
To organize the festivities, which can last three days, China Central Television employs its top game-show producers to transform the hard sell into a no-expense-spared variety program. CCTV advertising director Guo Zhenxi, who serves as the event's ringmaster, kicked off this year's bidding earlier this month by firing a starter's pistol. A professional auctioneer presided over the 13-hour bidding, taking only short breaks as TV celebrities performed comedy sketches and doled out mystery prizes, including a basketball autographed by Chinese basketball star Yao Ming.
CCTV planted staffers in the audience who cheered after each bid. Producers added drum rolls and other cartoonish noises at moments of high drama, such as when the bidding reached a peak. "Raise your hands faster and raise your price higher!" CCTV sportscaster Zhang Bin exhorted bidders.
Explains Mr. Guo: "Just like an Olympic athlete needs cheering to perform his best, these businesses need our clapping to prove they are the best."
This year's event was China's 11th annual advertising auction. It was dreamed up in the early 1990s as a way to insert a dose of market capitalism into CCTV's ad sales team. At that time, CCTV offered only one prime-time spot and all ads were sold at fixed prices. Mr. Guo, a 39-year-old former CCTV news reporter, has been responsible for refining this promotional circus for the past four years.
This year the auction generated $632 million, about half of CCTV's total annual advertising revenue. Mr. Guo, who sleeps only four hours a night during the three-day event, embodies the ambition that lies just beneath the surface of Chinese business.
"Nobody knows more CEOs in China than me," he told reporters at an impromptu news conference held in CCTV's media center, before bragging about the congratulatory text messages he'd received on his two ever-present cellphones.
Last year, marketers spent $14.5 billion advertising in China, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's a fraction of the $149 billion spent in the U.S., but enough for some in the ad industry to predict that China will become the world's second-largest ad market by the 2008 Beijing Olympics, passing Japan.
Monarch's Mr. Li spent a quarter of his ad budget on CCTV's most expensive slot: 15 seconds following the 7:30 p.m. weather report. It's a no-frills, but exquisitely timed five-day forecast that appears directly after CCTV's nightly news. That program, the official outlet for government news, must be carried by every state-supported Chinese broadcaster. With 194 million viewers, according to CCTV, the weather report stands as one of the world's most widely watched TV shows.
Mr. Li says he gained more than just a lucrative time slot. Winning bidders pose for photos and take questions from journalists. In addition to CCTV's on-air and online reporters, 60 mainstream Chinese news outlets covered the event. "The value of this is beyond just commercial. It has news effect and influences everybody," Mr. Li told reporters at one of two separate news conferences he held.
With advertisers spending 27% more at this year's auction compared with 2003, Mr. Guo says "people are crazy about China's economy." Others in China's state-run media think the bidders are just crazy. Last year, the state-run China Daily newspaper, which is operated separately from CCTV, warned in an editorial that the "rocketing costs of commercials cannot but cast doubts on whether these enterprises are acting rationally." The editorial went on to suggest that companies "should pay more attention to the quality of their products."
Some participants this year consciously avoided irrational exuberance. "I don't manufacture money, so I have to make rational decisions," said Su Muqing, chairman of Guangzhou I-Stone Jewelry Co., at a news conference early in the bidding process. "I consulted an auction expert, and he asked me not to make compulsive decisions, and not to be enticed by the applause," he said.
Past winners, such as Qinchi Liquor, have fallen on hard times. According to an article in Economic Information Daily, a newspaper published by the official Xinhua News Agency, Qinchi responded to the resulting flood of orders by buying alcohol from other brewers, adding water, and slapping its own label on the bottle. In a written response to questions, Qinchi says the published report "doesn't reflect the facts at all" but didn't elaborate. The company, which was crowned the 1997 "Bid King" -- a title given to the biggest overall spender -- no longer buys advertising, said a staff member who declined to identify himself.
Big multinational advertisers have long avoided the event, which they found hard to understand. Few international companies had a Chinese distribution network sophisticated enough to make such advertising worthwhile.
But this year, Procter & Gamble Co. emerged as "Bid King" after spending $46.5 million to advertise a variety of products, including Olay, a face cream, and a shampoo called Rejoice. "It is still a communist tool, but at the same time it has embraced the commercial aspects of broadcasting," said P&G's associate director of media in China, Alfonso de Dios.
CCTV invited P&G's senior media manager, Lai Liangrui, a karaoke fan, to sing "Turning Back Once Again" with Taiwanese pop star Jiang Yuheng. Their performance, held at the Happy Moment CCTV Advertising Auction Fellowship Evening Party, was broadcast across China. It bumped the planned programming, a historical drama called "Story of the Riverside," to after midnight.
"Hundreds of millions of people were watching the show," said P&G's Mr. Lai in a later interview. "You can see that I'm a little bit excited."
中国央视年度大戏－“经济奥运会”
在统一润滑油(Monarch Lubricant Oil)的李嘉举起手中的111号牌之后，中国中央电视台(China Central Television)一个令众企业垂涎的15秒黄金广告段位被他以430万美元的竞标价收入囊中。在两个月后，统一润滑油的广告将出现在中央电视台的天气预报节目之后，这节目的收视率在全球位居前列。
当一位电视新闻节目主持人把李嘉拉到专为“第一标”得主准备的讲演台上时，这位38岁的公司总经理立即被摄影记者团团围住。雅典奥运会女子100米蛙泳冠军得主罗雪娟向李嘉颁发了一枚奖章，雅典奥运会十米跳台双人冠军田亮为其戴上了花冠。
心神未定的李嘉在此后接受记者采访时说：我当时所能想的就是我在这么多闪光灯面前已经大汗淋漓了。
中国目前正处在中央计划经济和市场经济并存的特殊时期，这两张面孔会同时出现在这个每年一次的“经济奥运会”上－－中央电视台为向国内外企业出售其黄金广告段位而组织一次活动。国内企业人士在一些现场观众面前对2005年中央电视台的广告段位投标，有时候这是个一夜成名的场所。
为了组织此次为期3天的招标盛会，中央电视台找来台里最好的综艺节目制作人，将招标会变成一档内容丰富的综合节目。中央电视台广告部主任郭振玺是此次招标活动的组织者，他在本月初用发令枪的一声枪声为今年的招标活动拉开了帷幕。一位专业拍卖师主持了此次耗时13个小时的招标，在其间短暂的休息时间里，电视名人上台表现喜剧小品，并派送神秘礼物，包括一只有目前为NBA休斯顿火箭队效力的篮球明星姚明签名的篮球。
中央电视台在观众中安插了自己的员工，每当竞标者出价后，他们就会发出一阵欢呼。在出现最高出价等竞标高潮时，制作者们还不失时机地加入鼓点和其他卡通的音效。中央电视台体育评论员张斌也在不断鼓励竞标者：“举的再快点，出的价再高点！”
郭振玺对此的解释是：“就像奥运会运动员需要人鼓劲创造最好成绩一样，这些企业人士也需要我们的掌声来证明他们是最好的。”
今年是中央电视台的第11届黄金段位广告招标。90年代初期，为了在广告销售中引入市场元素，中央电视台开始组织这样的招标活动。当时中央电视台只将一个主要的广告段位拿出来招标，所有的广告都以固定价格出售。在过去4年里，39岁的郭振玺一直在负责不断完善这种招标制度，他曾是中央电视台的新闻记者。
今年的招标会共为中央电视台带来了6.32亿美元的广告收入，占其年广告总收入的约一半。在为期三天的招标会期间，郭振玺每天只睡4个小时，从他的身上可以看到中国企业所具有的雄心壮志。
郭振玺在中央电视台梅地亚中心举行的临时记者招待会上称，没有谁比我认识更多的中国企业家。之后他还骄傲地表示他收到不少表示祝贺的手机短信息。
据尼尔森媒体研究(Nielsen Media Research)的数据，去年中国广告总支出为145亿美元，虽然无法与美国的1,490亿美元相比，但也足以让部分广告业人士做出这样的预期：中国将在2008年北京奥运会前超过日本，成为全球第二大广告市场。
统一润滑油的李嘉将其广告预算的1/4花在了中央电视台最为昂贵的广告时段上：每晚7:30天气预报后的15秒。天气预报节目每晚紧接在中央电视台的新闻联播节目后准点播出，而中国每个省级电视台必须转播新闻联播，据中央电视台称，有1.94亿的观众会收看天气预报节目，使之成为全球收视率最高的节目之一。
李嘉称，他赢得的不仅是一个黄金广告时段。获胜的竞标者们摆出各种姿势让记者拍照，并回答他们提出的问题。除了中央电视台的各路记者外，中国60家主流媒体也对招标会进行了报导。李嘉在记者招待会上称：“招标会的价值已经超出了商业的范畴，它还有新闻价值，会影响到每个人。”
今年招标会的中标金额较2003年增加了27%，郭振玺称，“中国经济的发展让人们兴奋不已。”而中国其他媒体则认为，投标者们失去了理智。《中国日报》(China Daily)去年在一篇社论中警告称，广告成本的攀升使得人们不得不怀疑这些企业的行为是否理性。这篇社论还进一步暗示这些公司应该把更多的精力放在提高产品质量上。
参与今年招标会的一些企业有意识地避免非理性的高昂出价。“我又不生产钞票，因此我会做出理性的决定，”广州石头记饰品有限公司(Guangzhou I-Stone Jewelry Co.)董事长苏木卿在竞标刚开始的一次记者招待会上说，“我咨询了拍卖专家，他让我不要做出冲动的决定，不要受到那些掌声的诱惑。”
像秦池酒厂(Qinchi Liquor)等以前招标会的不少标王后来都陷入了困境。据《经济参考报》(Economic Information Daily)的一篇文章称，为了应付在广告播出后大量涌来的订单，秦池从其他酒厂买酒，兑上水，再贴上自己的标签出售。秦池在回答记者问题的一份书面文字中称，这篇报导“根本没有反映公司真实情况。”但没有就此加以详细说明。据一位员工称，在秦池1999年拿下“标王”的称号后，就不再花钱买广告了。
大型跨国广告商长期以来一直对中央电视台的招标会敬而远之，他们认为这种行为让人难以理解。跨国企业在中国也很少能有完善的销售网络，以好让这样的广告物有所值。
不过今年宝洁公司(Procter & Gamble Co., PG, 又名:宝硷公司)异军突起，以4,650万美元的总中标额成为本届招标会的“标王”，公司将在中央电视台播出玉兰油面霜(Olay)以及飘柔(Rejoice)洗发水等多种产品的广告。“中央电视台仍是政府的喉舌，但同时它也引入了市场的商业元素。”宝洁驻中国的媒体副主管阿方索?迪奥(Alfonso de Dios)说。
在后来的一台晚会上，中央电视台邀请宝洁高级媒介经理赖良锐与台湾歌星姜育恒共同演唱歌曲“再回首”，他们的表演通过电视信号传递到中国各地。
赖良锐在后来的采访中称，“上亿的观众在看这台演出，你能看出我有一些兴奋。”
