George P. Johnson Molded Olympic Pavilions for Lenovo, Bank of China

The George P. Johnson Agency played a prominent role in designing exhibition areas for two of the most preeminent Chinese companies with pavilions in place for the Beijing Olympic Games: Lenovo and Bank of China.

The Lenovo exhibit highlights product features of the computer makers’ laptops, while emphasizing its role as a first tier Olympics sponsor. Lenovo designed the Olympic torch, which is used as a recurring motif throughout its 13,000-square-foot exhibit.

Lenovo is also providing 10,000 pieces of computing hardware and 500 engineers to help disseminate real-time results of more than 300 Olympics events to media and audiences around the world.

Visitors to the Lenovo pavilion will be able to have their photos taken holding facsimiles of the torch in front of backdrops depicting two Olympics stadiums and the Great Wall of China.

The Lenovo World section of the exhibit focuses on the company’s proprietary Veriface facial recognition technology for its computers. Visitors can have their photos taken and transmit them to e-mail addresses.

“We’re using state-of-the-art technology to tell some very interesting stories,” said Robert Albitz, George P. Johnson senior vice president of worldwide creative.

George P. Johnson [http://www.gpjco.com] devised a game to demonstrate Lenovo’s active protection system, which detects sudden motion to prevent laptops from crashing if their dropped or violently jostled. The game features runners on the computer screen; the players make them move faster by tilting the laptops.

Visitors will also be entertained with hourly musical performances. A wall of Lenovo laptops punctuates the exhibit experience.

The two-story Bank of China pavilion conceived by the agency takes visitors through a 20-minute presentation about the bank’s role as an international financial institution over the past century.

It also features an exhibit where visitors can play a virtual stock market game, and a virtual interactive experience where they can play badminton against a member of the Chinese national team using a Wii-like gaming platform. Bank of China is the badminton team’s exclusive sponsor.

“We are using interactive technologies that are engaging, and are story-based,” Albitz said.

Both the Lenovo and Bank of China pavilions feature hospitality suites for private interaction with their clients.

The bank’s pavilion was in development over the past eight months. George P. Johnson worked on the Lenovo exhibits for more than a year.

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