At the same time, non-sponsors have not been slow to get in on the act, incorporating sports-related themes or athletes in their advertising, designed to establish a connection between their brands and the Games.

Non-sponsor Nike - competitor to official sponsor Adidas - has taken advantage of arguably the most famous Chinese athlete, hurdler Liu Xiang, for its advertising, while Liu Xiang appears concurrently in advertising for sponsors Coca-Cola, Visa, Lenovo, Haier and Yili.

"The Nielsen survey found that non-sponsor activity is succeeding in creating some confusion in the minds of consumers, and while Yili, with 57 percent awareness, appears to be heading off non-sponsor Mengniu, at 37 percent awareness. Adidas faces a significant challenge from non-sponsor Li Ning, with identifying rates of the two at 34 percent and 29 percent respectively," said Basil-Jones.

Besides Li Ning, competitor brands receiving the most incorrect Olympic associations were China Unicom and Pepsi, with 25 percent and 18 percent awareness respectively, although levels of association were far below that of the sponsors in their respective product categories.

Worldwide Olympic partnerships are also no guarantee of consumer recognition in the Chinese market, with awareness for Visa, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's and Samsung all registering at around the quarter to one-third marks.

China Mobile's Olympic campaign has been so strong that just over half of consumers thought - incorrectly -that China Mobile was a sponsor of the Torch Relay.

China Mobile beat Coca-Cola, 51 percent, with fellow Torch Relay sponsor Lenovo, 48 percent, not far behind. Samsung, the remaining torch sponsor, lagged somewhat, cited by only three out of 10 consumers.

Consumer confusion is further highlighted by incorrect associations between the creative campaigns and the celebrities appearing in them.

Nielsen asked respondents to identify which celebrities had appeared in which brand advertisements. The highest recall was for movie star Ge You's appearance for China Mobile, with eight out of 10 respondents making the connection.

Liu Xiang's appearance for Coca-Cola ranked second as 62 percent. However, only two in 10 recalled his appearance in Lenovo's advertising, not much more than the 15 percent who wrongly associated Liu Xiang with Pepsi.