Acer to team with the Chinese Olympic delegation

Acer’s (宏碁) prospects for the near future look rather rosy. In 2009, the Taiwanese company came third in units shipped worldwide for the whole year. It is successfully surfing on the cheap laptops wave, which boosted shipments in the last quarter of 2009. To emphasize its position as a global brand, Acer signed into the Olympic partnership program (TOP)  for Vancouver 2010 and London 2012. It is taking over from Lenovo (联想), which was the computer manufacturing TOP partner for Torino 2006 and Beijing 2008.

But there is one market, where Acer could do better: China. So far Acer has failed to be among the top three in China (something it has achieved in the US and worldwide).  Simply put, Acer isn’t well known as a brand in China. According to zol.com.cn’s brand awareness index, these were the most popular computer brands in China in 2009:

• laptops:                1. Lenovo 2. HP 3. Asus (华硕)
• Desktops:             1. Lenovo 2. HP 3. Dell
• Netbooks:            1. Lenovo 2. Asus 3. Hasee (神舟)
• All-in-One PCs:  1. Lenovo 2. Apple 3. Hasee

To improve its image in China, Acer planned a big publicity campaign. The company’s announcement, that it signed a partnership with the Chinese Olympic delegation for the 2010 winter games is a key part in this strategy. In Parallel to its global partnership with the Vancouver games, Acer will present itself in China as a partner of the Chinese athletes. No doubt this will get noticed.

Besides a financial agreement, Acer will supply the almost 200 members of the Chinese delegation with mobile phones and computer equipment and assistance. During the Chinese New Year festivities (mid February), Acer will start promoting this partnership through ads in printed media, online media and TV.

Lenovo being a pioneer of the Chinese computer industry and having a very good knowledge of the Chinese market, clearly is the strongest brand in China. But teaming up with the Olympic delegation is bound to attract some eyeballs.

Chinese sources: 宏碁Q4全球销量超戴尔 联想仍在三甲之外; 宏碁与冬奥会中国代表团签约 发力大陆品牌推广