Lenovo brings computers to kids in Tibet.

Lenovo certainly has encouraged this view. It made its global brand debut at the Olympic Winter Games in Turin last February, just one year after it first made international headlines by acquiring IBM Corp.´s personal computing division.

But the world´s third-largest computer manufacturer is also leveraging its Olympic sponsorship at home, and not just in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where Olympic mania is already passé. Through an ambitious roadshow program, Lenovo is visiting 1,000 tier five and tier six cities and towns, ranging from the outlying Lhasa in Tibet to small cities such as Sanya in Hainan province.

The average population of the towns is 250,000, and "none are larger than one million," said Alice Li, Lenovo´s vice president, Olympic marketing. "We´ve provided many young Chinese with their first experience using a PC, and their first close-up view of China´s sponsorship of the Olympics, brought right to their door."

Since computers are not common in China´s smaller cities, and they are rarely found in schools and homes, Lenovo´s technology would probably be enough to stir up interest on its own. But the roadshow´s real draw for many rural residents is the Olympic theme. The full-day events offer information and photographs about the history of the games, Olympic sports, traditions like the torch relay and a lucky draw in which participants win prizes for answering trivia questions about the games.

With help from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), Lenovo has recruited about 40 former Olympic athletes like gold medalist Wang Yifu to give lectures and pose for photos.

As part of the promotion, Lenovo has donated about 1,000 computers, mostly to country schools.

Growth in China´s small but fast-growing cities is welcome, because Lenovo has faced a bumpy ride outside its home country. While Lenovo´s PC sales on the mainland grew 25 percent in the third quarter last year, according to a Lenovo financial statement released in late 2006, sales fell 9 percent in the U.S., where the company has lost market share. Overall sales were stronger in the fourth quarter of last year, but Lenovo´s worldwide market share is still flat at 7.3 percent, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based global research company IDC.

The tier five and six cities on Lenovo´s itinerary account for much of the company´s market growth within China, despite relatively low income levels there as well as price wars with rivals like Founder Technology Group Corp. and Tsinghua Tongfang Co., China´s second- and third-largest PC manufacturers, respectively.

While Lenovo products are pricey for consumers who earn less than $500 per month, local values come into play. Chinese spend a disproportionate amount of their disposable income on education. Computers -- plus the internet connections they make possible -- are seen as a valuable resource.

Normandy Madden is the Hong Kong-based Asia editor for Advertising Age, and editor/managing director of its AdAgeChina e-newsletter, both of which are sister publications of Plastics News and PlasticsNews.com/China.