Sohu selected ICS sponsor for Beijing Olympics
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-11-08 10:57

The organizing committee for the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 announced Monday, November 7, that Sohu has been selected as the official sponsor of Internet Content Service (ICS) for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

A sponsorship agreement was signed by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and Sohu.com, China's leading Internet content service company.

Under the agreement, Sohu will provide exclusive services to BOCOG to construct, operate and host the official BOCOG website, www.beijing2008.com, for this historic event. The contract will be effective through December 2008.

BOCOG Executive Vice-President and Secretary-General Wang Wei and BOCOG Executive Vice-President Jiang Xiaoyu were present at the signing ceremony, witnessed by some prominent government officials and widely recognized Chinese athletes.

"We believe that, with Sohu's extensive social impact, reliable and secure Internet technology as well as high-quality and efficient contents, BOCOG will be able to meet, more effectively and in a more timely manner, the expectations and demands of the general public to understand, participate in and support the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games," Wang Wei said at the signing ceremony.

"We feel privileged to be working closely with BOCOG and are very pleased to have been selected for this strategic sponsorship role," said Charles Zhang, chairman and CEO of Sohu.com. "To be awarded this prestigious honour and to be so closely aligned with the highly anticipated Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is a testament to Sohu's brand dominance in China, superior technology and commitment to providing the most valuable services and information to the online community."

The Beijing 2008 Sponsorship Programme consists of three tiers of support, including the Beijing 2008 Partner, the Beijing 2008 Sponsor, and the Beijing 2008 Supplier. Since the Beijing 2008 Olympic Marketing Plan was launched on September 1, 2003, 10 enterprises, namely Bank of China, China Netcom, SINOPEC, CNPC, China Mobile, Volkswagen Group (China), adidas, Johnson & Johnson, Air China and PICC P&C, have been selected as the Beijing 2008 Partners; five enterprises have been selected as the Beijing 2008 Sponsors, namely UPS, Haier Group, SOHU, Tsingtao Beer and Yanjing Beer.