BEIJING, June 22 -- The selection of the sponsoring companies for the 2008 Beijing Games is about to conclude and the income of the Olympic marketing plan has surpassed expectations, a senior marketing official said on Wednesday at the third Beijing 2008 Sponsor Workshop.

    "The rapid development of the Chinese economy laid a solid foundation for the marketing program of the 2008 Olympic Games," said Yuan Bin, director of the Marketing Department at the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

    "The income of the Beijing 2008 marketing plan has already surpassed our budget and this is the result of the rapid development of the Chinese economy," she added.

    In addition to the 12 worldwide Olympic partners, BOCOG has signed sponsorship contracts with 11 partners, 10 sponsors, 15 exclusive suppliers and 14 regular suppliers.

    It has also selected 13 sports equipment suppliers covering 18 Olympic sports.

    "The sponsorship program will be concluded by the end of this year," Yuan said

    "The focus for the marketing department in the next stage is to provide better services and to better protect the rights of sponsors. We will also help sponsoring companies to hold Olympic marketing activities through the Olympic platform."

    As for the Beijing 2008 licensing program, Yuan said more licensed stores would open.

    "By the end of May 2007, BOCOG has selected 59 licensed manufacturers and more than 800 licensed stores have opened across China," Yuan said. "There are over 4,000 kinds of licensed products and, by the time of the Games in 2008, about 10,000 licensed stores and sales areas will have opened."

    During the two-day workshop, BOCOG introduced its preparatory work in areas as wide-ranging as marketing, sport competitions, venue construction, venue operation, the Olympic Village and the protection of Olympic brands.

    The workshop attracted over 400 people from the sponsoring companies and officials from the International Olympic Committee. It also drew the organizing committees of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and London 2012, as well as the Chinese Olympic Committee and the six co-host cities.

    The first and second workshops were held in 2005 and 2006, respectively. According to officials, more will be added to the schedule in the lead-up to 2008.

    (Source: China Daily)