Chapter 17 Chapter Eight The World Is Flat

The high-profile opening of the basketball marketing on the road to sports marketing, Li Ning Company spent a lot of money. According to outside speculation, the signing fee exceeded 10 million yuan. Betting on sports stars has always been a big bet for companies. What's more, O'Neill is a guy who is difficult to judge. In 1991, the 19-year-old O'Neal was elected the University Player of the Year while playing for the University of Louisiana in the United States.Although he hasn't officially joined the NBA, it looks like it will be sooner or later.As a result, American sporting goods companies, keeping their eyes on the turmoil of the market and being good at discovering new stars, hoped to recruit O'Neill to their banners, including of course the boss at the time: Nike.According to the book "Nike-Stars Make the Market", as early as 1992, O'Neill was photographed by Nike. "Only six or seven top college athletes are invited to Nike's campus to visit each year, meet with Knight, and listen to Nike's well-designed multimedia marketing plan for these cutting-edge." In Nike's view, the young O'Neal is a " "Prickly head": He "showed up on the Nike campus wearing Reebok swaggeringly, and also asked to be the signing star sitting in the front row and the middle position in Nike activities like Michael Jordan." This made Nike, who is used to seeing big scenes, The employees are all smacking their tongues.In the end, O'Neill defected to Reebok's banner.

At that time, Reebok was in a period of adjustment. Nike was keen on the legendary sports marketing with NBA superstar Jordan, and it urgently needed a star who could create a hero worship model for consumers. In December 1992, O'Neal joined the Orlando Magic and started his career.He participated in the slam dunk contest, dunked the most balls ever, and eventually even broke the backboard.In the following 1993, O'Neal averaged 23.4 points per game in his NBA debut season and was elected Rookie of the Year.Moreover, when his first rap album "Diesel Shaq" was released, O'Neill became famous for a while.Reebok Bet Score!Finally, there is such a popular "big guy".

Imitating Nike's practice of naming new sneakers after Jordan and other signature players, Reebok immediately launched a sneaker called "ShaqAttack" for O'Neal, which was welcomed by the market.After that, O'Neal transferred from the Orlando Magic to the Lakers, setting a record for the Zijin Dynasty to win three championships and becoming an invincible center.Since then, O'Neill has become the treasure of Reebok's market.Nike can't help but sigh. After entering the new century, O'Neal was "old and decrepit", and he had already gone downhill. As a result, Yao Ming landed in the NBA in 2001. When the first "Yao Shark" was staged, it was almost empty.After O'Neal moved to the Heat, he assisted Wade to win another championship.O'Neal, who has been lucky in the key link of catching people's attention and has been given the green light all the way, was listed on the "2005 American Sports Earners Ranking List" by the US "Sports Illustrated" with 34 million US dollars (20 million salary, 14 million sponsorship) ranked third.

Now, 15 years after Reebok signed O'Neal, Li Ning has decided to sign some big guys.They urgently need stars to cheer up the brand appeal.But the question is, is this man the ever-controversial O'Neal?When Li Ning Company signed O'Neal, "City Express" once asked doubtfully: "At such a high price, to sign a star who is nearing the end of his career, does Li Ning Company have great wisdom, or did they mess with themselves?" Big trouble?" "How many years can O Pang play? I'm afraid he can't let him say that. Once the injury strikes, the 34-year-old man will collapse at his word. From this point of view, Li Ning Company is undoubtedly carrying a bomb. We are doing business. When choosing a spokesperson for a sports brand, the most popular type is the young, vigorous, and healthy type. You are not afraid that you will be a little bad, but you are afraid that you will be old. Think about it, who is willing to give a speech when their brand is mentioned? Old and vulnerable associations? So once athletes have passed their heyday, they will receive very few advertisements." The newspaper continued to question, "Opang is a great center in the NBA era. In the world, the commercial appeal of a defender is obviously greater than that of a center forward. Especially when it comes to marketing to young people today, Ao Pang's ability is not top-notch." In fact, when the company's brand image is associated with a star, it is This precious item has been placed at high risk.These seemingly heroic guys may also take drugs, get divorced, get sick, or even take illegal drugs. There is no way to avoid such risks.

Sports marketing is a series of marketing activities. For good sports marketing, the ratio of input marketing resources to later marketing expenses should be at least 1:3.Li Ning has been working hard to get close to this level.It can be seen that Li Ning Company, which has many sports marketing resources, has the highest percentage of marketing expenses in sales among the three companies. Figure 8. Advertising and marketing expenses of Li Ning, Anta, and Dongxiang as a percentage of sales (2004~2007) (Source: According to Li Ning’s 2004~2007 annual report, Anta, Dongxiang’s 2007 annual report, drawing: Yu Liqi) However , Li Ning company does not mind taking all these risks.

"We don't regard signing a contract with an athlete as simply spending money, but as an investment, allowing him to become our resource and maximize its effectiveness." Zhang Zhiyong said.Their successful experience in sponsoring sports shows that sponsorship is not about the amount of investment, but about how much income it can generate. "O'Neal's contract with the Heat is still five years away, so don't worry about O'Neal's popularity. Even if he retires in 2009, we still have the possibility of cooperation, and it may be a lifelong cooperation." President Wu Xianyong is even more confident in the prospect of this cooperation. His reason is: "O'Neal's 34 years old does not mean anything. Many people think that he will not make a comeback after leaving the Lakers, but this year the Heat with him won the championship. Moreover, O'Neal's influence on basketball is obvious, and this will not disappear quickly with his age." To maximize the insurance factor, what "Li Ning" needs to do is to make full use of O'Neal within five years.

In Li Ning's plan, O'Neill will do a lot of things for "Li Ning" in the next five years. "The product series is of course the most important cooperation. And O'Neill will visit China every year." The problem now is that the Li-Ning brand needs a strong spokesperson. Maybe the one we have found so far is not the most suitable one, but it is already available. The best, and that's enough. More importantly, signing O'Neill is just a step in "Li Ning"'s next grand strategy. The big plan of signing NBA stars is to enter the mainstream consumer market of basketball as soon as possible.

Judgment still comes from market conditions.According to Lu Hairui, general manager of Chinese sports marketing company Qianrui (Shanghai) Business Consulting Co., Ltd., in 2006, there are 400 million young people under the age of 20 in China, which has become one of the fastest growing sports product markets in the world.He predicts that the Chinese market will grow at a rate of 20% to 40% in the next 10 years.And a dominant position in the basketball category will help determine who becomes the biggest sports brand.