Li Lan, vice president of global Olympic marketing with China's largest computer maker, said in an interview that with the Games fewer than 600 days away, 2007 will be a key time for sponsors to flex their muscles.

"In China, we were quite special because Lenovo was the only active TOP partner to use the rights related to the Turin Winter Games in 2006," said Li in an interview at the Lenovo headquarters in the northwestern suburb of Beijing.

"But for the 2008 Games, there are many sponsors and everyone wants to stand out, so it is a big challenge for us as the first-time TOP sponsor," she added.

Lenovo is the only Chinese firm in the 11-member TOP club with rights to use the Olympic logos and other rights globally, but there are 32 firms which have different rights related to the 2008 Games, which will open on August 8, 2008.

After sponsoring an Olympics countdown program on national broadcaster China Central TV for 162 million yuan ($20.51 million), Lenovo has kickstarted its Olympic marketing campaigns for this year.

Li said her company is in contact with global advertising agencies and will decide a media purchase plan centered around its Olympic sponsorship, but added Lenovo may not necessarily broadcast TV commercials in foreign markets this year.

"The enthusiasm of people in the host country and other countries is usually quite different, so we do not have to start Olympic advertising campaigns this year in markets outside China," said Li, who holds an EMBA degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanton, Illinois.