Li's company staged 69 Music Spectacular Water Cube concerts that finished their run on February 9, 2009.

Starting June 27, another round of Music Spectacular Water Cube shows by Beijing Artists Management has been attracting new crowds to the Olympic venue. They continue through August 23.

Li said the events have appealed to international visitors and local residents, citing the popularity of recent events like the Full-Vision Ballet Swan Lake performances, especially among children.

"Perhaps several years from now these children will become the new fans of classical music and ballet," Li said.

The Swan Lake production was specially produced for the venue and performed by ballerinas and synchronized swimmers from Russia and France. The events have attracted more than 50,000 visitors, Li said.

Li's company has submitted a plan to develop cultural and creative events for the next five to 10 years.

Popular events at the Water Cube over the past year also included a swimming competition for local children, the finals of the sixth Annual China's Swimwear Design Contest and the opening ceremony of the Sino-Russian Youth Games.

The Beijing Legend, a drama for children created by local playwrights, brought in a record 7 million yuan ($1 million) in box office receipts in June.

The pool has also been open to the public since June 20. For 50 yuan ($7.32), a visitor can swim for two hours and, after passing a proficiency test, take a dip in one of the practice pools for an extra 20 yuan ($2.93).

Turning the Water Cube into a commercially successful venue for major sports events, high-profile performances and other community functions is still seen as a main challenge, Wang said. That is why venue operators are planning to attract bigger sports events along with the performances.

"The Water Cube is still a world-class competition venue, after all. We will carefully select the events and make it a high-quality swimming and diving pool hosting high-profile national and international events," said Kang.

Brand development

"The brand of an Olympic venue is its intangible asset and has special value," said Lin.

Early in November 2007, the Water Cube signed a cooperation agreement with franchises for 15 types of products, including swimming products, precious metals, wine, stationary, cell phones and venue models, said Kang.

In April 2008, Water Cube models, Water Cube-themed cell phones, handicrafts, souvenir badges and philatelic items were put on the market.

When the venue opened to the public after the Olympics, Water Cube products climbed to their sales peak. By the end of March 2009, there were 300 different kinds of Water Cube-related products for sale, Kang said.

He said developing this product line not only realized huge business profits but also laid a solid market foundation for expanding the Water Cube brand.

"As far as I know, successful cases with regard to the influence of sports venue names have not been widely heard of," he said.

Among the long list of products, Kang takes special pride in the Water Cube-branded mineral water. He said the drinking water was collected from glaciers in north Canada.

"Following this concept, we will develop more franchised Water Cube products and spread the venue's brand wider to guarantee the long-term operation of the venue," he said.