A Beijing Experiment: How To Feature Olympic Content On Your Blog
I just landed in Beijing and will be spending the next two weeks here as part of the promotional efforts for what I have previously called my dream project, helping Lenovo to promote its Voices of the Summer Games site that features 100 Olympic athletes blogging their journies to Beijing and experiences at the Olympics. Armed with my Nikon and a brand new super light Lenovo U110 Red Ideapad (PRODUCT PLUG/DISCLAIMER - I already love this machine, but it's standard issue for Lenovo team members during the Olympics and I will be returning it after the Games).
As myself and my colleague Kaitlyn (aka - CatchupLady) get ready to create a flood of content from the Games, we had an idea for how this could also be the chance to conduct a little social experiment by offering some custom and exclusive Olympic content to ANY blogger who would like to take part. Think of us as your resident bloggers on the ground at the Olympics. We want to build out a core group of at least 25 bloggers who are interested in grabbing content that we will create (either blog posts or photos) and feature it on your own blog (either with or without your own commentary added). There are only two conditions to be part of this group:
- You must include the standard line that will be at the bottom of each of our posts about how this is part of the Lenovo Voices Of The Summer Games Campaign and include the link back to http://summergames.lenovo.com.
- You must provide separate attribution and link back to the original source of the content (either our Flickr gallery or one of our blogs - Rohit's or Kaitlyn's)
If you are willing to do both those things, leave a comment here or on Kaitlyn's blog or send me a personal email at rohitaustralia [at] gmail [dot] com to be added to the list. In return, you will not only have our full permission to repurpose and use any of this content, but you will also be added to a list of people that we will be emailing first with links to exclusive content, new blog posts and anything else we manage to create. The main topics of this content will be stories about Olympic marketing and PR, real stories of athletes, discussions with Olympic athletes, sponsors, fans, training personnel or family members, and anything else we can think of. I will be doing this full time over the next two weeks, as opposed to my usual struggle to blog while still doing my day job. For the next two weeks, blogging will be my day job (and in case you are wondering, yes, that was as satisfying to write as it sounded).
Both Kaitlyn and I will also be seeking our your suggestions about any ideas that you might have for interesting blog posts or content to come out of the Games that you would love to see me focus on. If we take on your idea, you will have EXCLUSIVE rights to publish that piece of content first on your blog before anyone else gets it (we will share ahead of publishing it) and we will credit you with the idea and link back to your site. Finally, all bloggers that want to take part will be added to a list on this blog post, hopefully driving even more traffic in your direction as a participating blogger.
Easy enough? Let me know what you think or if you are willing to be part of this experiment. If it works, everyone will win ... our client (Lenovo) will get more attention to their site and marketing efforts, you will have exclusive and interesting content about a topic that is relevant and heavily searched (Google linkbait, anyone?) and we will have a chance for our content to reach a wider audience. So, will you join the experiment?
Note: Please help spread the word about this through your social networks - here is a shareable link to this post: http://www.tinyurl.com/beijingexperiment
List of Blogger Participants (a work in progress - email me to get added!):
- http://www.HoipolloiReport.com - Angelo Fernando
- http://BestSellerAuthors.com - Warren Whitlock
- http://thegreatmixexperiment.blogspot.com/ - Paul Peters
- http://champlainprofessor.blogspot.com - Elaine Young
- http://interactivemarketingtrends.blogspot.com/ - Giles Rhys Jones
- http://www.whirledgital.com - Tim Whirledge
- http://www.moneymanagement.wordpress.com - Shalini Amarnani
- http://www.conceptbakery.com/blog - Klaus Holzapfel
- http://www.liveperson.com/gypcywoman/ - Preeti Poojara
Rohit:
I would love to be part of the experiment. It would be a great example for my classes adn it would be interesting to see how the different blogs change or grow depending on the audience they normally receive.
Dr. Elaine Young
Champlain College
Burlington, VT
Posted by: Elaine Young | Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 07:53 AM
a very interesting approach. would love to be involved and more than happy to fly out and join you. slightly less happy but keen to have exclusive content. regards. g
Posted by: giles rhys jones | Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 07:57 AM
Echoing Giles, I too will be available for the trip over Rohit... only joshing, exclusive content will have to suffice! What a lovely idea, count me in. Tim
Posted by: Tim Whirledge | Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 08:22 AM
How are you guys licencing your content? Creative Commons?
When you say, "full permission to repurpose and use any of this content", do you mean commercially?
Posted by: zeroinfluencer | Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 09:26 AM
Would love to be a part of this. Great idea. Do let me know how I can be a part of the Olympic Marketing and PR list.
Posted by: Ishwar S | Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Rohit, I'm intrigued by your idea. I have a background in journalism and only recently landed the PR/corp comm sphere, so I'm interested in the breaking down of the distinctions among professional journalism, "amateur" content, and other forms of professional reporting and editorializing. Experiments like these demonstrate how communities can come together ad hoc and provide common services to everyone to cover a social phenomena.
My new role is Director of Customer Insights at Peppercom, and one of our founders, Ed Moed, just wrote a post about how the PR Week list of 32 of the best industry blogs you're both part of provides a good opportunity for the PR blogosphere to create more community about pressing issues the profession faces. He writes about how the Chinese government's actions regarding the Olympics raises questions about the rising importance of ethical behavior in a transparent digital world. I don't know if your experiences on the ground in China will lend itself to any unique perspective on the issue, but I'd love to know what you think.
Posted by: Sam Ford | Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Rohit loves the Olympics like a fat kid loves cake.
Posted by: Adam Metz | Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 12:04 PM
My wife Jill and I would be very interested. We will be writing using the blog linked to my name above, although if there are marketing stories I might be interested in posting those on an internet marketing blog of mine.
All the best,
George Manty
Posted by: George | Thursday, August 07, 2008 at 01:00 AM
Oops, apparently the link is below and not above... didn't notice that when I was reading the other comments.
Posted by: George | Thursday, August 07, 2008 at 01:01 AM
Dear Rohit,
this sound so exciting and I would love to keep contributing to the Lenovo Summer Games ! Given my great interest in PR and big tourism events (as the Beijing Games surely are...) it would be extremely valuable to me!
Please let me know if I can still be in =)
Have a great day,
Sara
Posted by: Sara Borghi | Thursday, August 07, 2008 at 06:13 AM
Hi Rohit
I am a Chinese blogger living and working in London. I have been closely looking at this event and other related marketing activities. Happy to come on board. Actually I just wrote a blog about Lenovo's Voice of the Olympics Games, although it is in Chinese.
Cheers
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I have been closely looking at this event and other related marketing activities.
Posted by: Extenze | Thursday, October 23, 2008 at 11:08 AM
He writes about how the Chinese government's actions regarding the Olympics raises questions about the rising importance of ethical behavior in a transparent digital world.
Posted by: Mesothelio | Tuesday, November 04, 2008 at 11:34 PM
Great list. I don't know if your experiences on the ground in China will lend itself to any unique perspective on the issue, but I'd love to know what you think.
Posted by: Monavie | Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 02:15 PM
Useful info, slightly less happy but keen to have exclusive content. Think of us as your resident bloggers on the ground at the Olympics.
Posted by: detox body | Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 04:54 AM
Nice BLOG. I have a background in journalism and only recently landed the PR/corp comm sphere, so I'm interested in the breaking down of the distinctions among professional journalism, "amateur" content, and other forms of professional reporting and editorializing.
Posted by: bath and body | Friday, November 28, 2008 at 12:28 PM
Great Blog. The main topics of this content will be stories about Olympic marketing and PR, real stories of athletes, discussions with Olympic athletes, sponsors, fans, training personnel or family members, and anything else we can think of.
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