The approaching of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games has triggered strong international and domestic commercial institutions and used the Olympic shuttle to obtain higher profits. However, it is difficult to plant cherries in the trees. Searching for bills that have participated in Olympic companies over the years has resulted in both successful winners and losers. The editorial department of the periodical specially planned the report on the marketing show of the sporting goods business organization. The reporter conducted in-depth investigations in Shanghai and Beijing, interviewed dozens of industry insiders who had had more than ten years of sports marketing experience, and interpreted the international company Nike. The achievements and successes of the local Li-Ning company in sports marketing provide sports marketing methods and experience for “come-up†business establishments.
Nike just defeated veteran competitor Adidas to sit in the top of the world in just 30 years. Nike China has also been widely praised by the industry for its successful planning of the Liu Xiang series of events. Nike's success is not to sell shoes, only emotional marketing.
Very little behind the sponsorship of sporting events
Since winning the first prize at the Athens Olympics, Liu Xiang has become an object of innumerable pursuits. At this time, Nike employees and Liu Xiang are regarded by their brothers and brothers, saying that because Nike had been with him in 2002 when Liu Xiang was the media's freezing point. Signed an appointment.
Twelve of the 32 gold medallists from the Chinese delegation at the Athens Olympics are sponsored by Nike, including breakthrough items such as kayaking and tennis. Why can only Nike have insights? Nike, with its own experience, told companies that want to leverage on the sports industry. Sports marketing is not a sponsorship, but it requires continuous innovation.
Corporate sponsorships often require huge amounts of money. Li Ning, Shanghai GM, General Motors (China), Nongfu Springs, Jinliufu, and Qingdao Red-collar costumes are partners of the Olympic Games. Each company must pay cash or products worth 10 million yuan to the Chinese Olympic Committee. At 90%. In contrast, Nike rarely sponsors sports events, but its brand exposure has never been less than others.
At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 12 companies that paid $46.5 million were named official sponsors, including Adidas. Nike quietly bought all the prominent billboards in Atlanta and made Nike’s exclusive advertisement. According to a senior executive who once worked at Nike, during the Olympic Games, Nike sponsored the swimsuit of the national diving team. In fact, Nike did not produce swimwear, but temporarily bought a factory for this purpose. It is true that the award-winning clothes sponsored by Li Ning won the eye on the championship podium, but many media have fixed the picture in the beautiful moment that the athlete jumps into the water from the air. There is no doubt that Nike has gained the upper hand.
When it comes to brand exposure, it may be that Liu Xiang is more deeply impressed. On the third day of winning the second day of the gold medal, the major media kept replaying Liu Xiang’s gold medal, and the magic shoes on his feet were carefully prepared by Nike. The exposure of the brand is only a small part of Nike's work. It is even more important to maintain long-term contact with the athlete.
Perfect athlete planning
Wen Liyuan, the public relations manager of Nike, originally worked at Nike headquarters. According to her, the 16 buildings at the headquarters are named after the world's top athletes. The lobby of the office building displays photographs and trophies of famous sports stars; bronze statues of Nike athletes from various countries are linked to the four walls of the promenade connecting each building, and a biography of the life of the athlete... “Every visitor feels that these sports are their lives. Part of you. You often see stars moving around in an office building. They are in the same restaurant as their employees. The same gym is like a family. No one asks them to sign.†She laughed.
Nike Sports Marketing employees rushed to the various training grounds and wished they could live with athletes. This is also an important reason for Nike to be able to recognize talents. Li Yu was a Nike contract athlete. Because he was the brother of Liu Xiang, he had been in touch with Liu Xiang long ago. Li Yong's recommendation, coupled with Nike's actual investigation, made Liu Xiang's vision into Nike.
In late May 2004, Nike invited Michael Johnson to China. At the time, Johnson felt that Liu Xiang was in a good state. Nike then boldly drafted a plan based on this fact. The entire event began planning in June and began full promotion in late July. Through public relations and networking, the Chinese team began advertising 10 days before Athens. In addition to advertising, Nike also designed Liu Xiang's news center on Sina. Liu Xiang got 30 million people after the gold medal and went to browse Liu Xiang's every move. When other companies are planning to invite Liu Xiang to speak for them, Nike has already provided the national audience with a comprehensive understanding of Liu Xiang's platform for the first time. Pan Jianhua, director of marketing for Nike Greater China, said that this is just the beginning of the relationship with Liu Xiang. “Our long-term goal is to allow Liu Xiang to deliver a voice on behalf of Nike in 2008. We are planning when Liu Xiang will appear in the past four years. He is not a professional player and professional players can play leagues for several months. Nike must use appropriate The time point made him appear, and each time there is a different story."
Nike and the athletes are closely linked to the classic known as Jordan, signed since 1985 has been for 20 years, Jordan shoes have also been developed to the "18th generation", this year, Nike invited Jordan to China for the high school league championship award. Jordan's endorsement of Nike products conveys the concept of basketball stars to children, encouraging children and deepening their longing for basketball. In fact, many companies are sponsoring Jordan, but consumers naturally associate Jordan with Nike. Pan Jianhua said that there is an important experience in Nike's work for more than 10 years. It takes time for sports management. “The traits of sports management are emotions, people's excitement, excitement, sadness and joy. Training emotions is like accumulation of love. It needs to be accumulated. Many domestic sponsorships are short-term, and this effect is almost zero because consumers are very forgetful. If a company chooses a sport related to its own image, it should be used as a long-term investment." The "Celebrity Training Hall" like the company is now doing is to invite the world's former Olympic champions to teach in China every year to provide guidance for Chinese athletes. Not only the technical level, but also the level of psychological preparation for the contest. This maximizes the use of the company's existing resources.
5 seconds beyond
A girl bought a loaf of bread in the school cafeteria. She threw discs out of throwing discus throws, then took a bite of the rest of the bread in her hand. This is a clip from Nike's latest 5-second series of advertisements “At Any Timeâ€. This series of advertisements won the grand prize at the Chengdu Advertising Festival. Unlike Nike's many big shots, the advertising cost is very low. The story background is where students learn and live everyday. The concept that they want to convey is: Sports has been integrated into your life. What does 5 seconds of advertising mean? The average company is more inclined to do their own image advertising, shouting a slogan or even repeating three times, and Nike has told a story. Nike knows that consumers don't feel much about a slogan or a logo, and think that it has nothing to do with them.
Nike's brand manager Xu Ying worked for the company for 3 years. When talking about brand strategy, she has always stressed that Nike is creating and leading a culture. Nike is proud that she has created a shoe culture in China. Xu Ying said that there was no shoe culture in China three years ago. China is a clothing country. People have always had a pair of shoes with a variety of clothes and rarely choose shoes. The secret of Nike's creation of a shoe culture is to choose the right people to do the right thing. At that time, a group of children who returned from abroad liked to do something underground. Nike contacted them and gave them the opportunity to perform in China. The other secret of Nike's promotion of shoe culture is to make full use of network power. Sina has a shoe talk (I'm a shoe mad) forum where netizens can tell the story of shoes. Any brand of shoes can be discussed.
Consumers have accepted the culture in order to fundamentally accept your brand. Like the United States NBA or British football has far exceeded the scope of the event, a sport has become a national carnival. “The NBA is a very systematic system that perfectly presents to you the factors involved in entertainment, competition, and stars in any industry,†Pan Jianhua said. Nike is now promoting basketball culture. The American high school league is the preparatory class for the NBA, and the national high school league held by Nike in China has also reached the fourth year. This year, Nike launched the "Alliance Concept" and proposed to do Youth Culture. Xu Ying said: “There is only one champion in basketball, and there are many champions in Youth Culture. It can be the best dunk, the best comics, or the most dazzling cheering team... We started off on the platform. After the construction was completed, we decided to start promoting culture. Only by having the ability to influence culture can we get into the hearts of people. We launched the 'Warriors Alliance' this year and wanted to tell the children not only to have their own style but also to have an alliance behind you. Help you to cheer and write articles and posters for you. There is a player in Shijiazhuang, Hebei, which has organized more than 1,000 people and got 5,000 votes online. Only by agreeing to a culture can there be a very big effect."
When interviewed at the Shanghai headquarters, I happened to see Amy from the Public Relations Department reading a high school student's plan for the league activity. Although it was childish, it was serious. Nike employees said that when they interviewed the children on the streets of Beijing, they all said that Nike truly understands them. Here, we see that a brand is really affecting children, and when they are very young, they have deeply branded the brand so as to influence their lives.