Chapter 19 Chapter 8 The world is flat (3)

After signing "Li Ning", Damon Jones' style has also become more "Chinese". "Since then, I never wear wild style basketball shoes again." Damon Jones said, "But now I still keep a pair of St. Lawrence sneakers with tiger stripes." Damon Jones is signing "Li Ning" In the following season, he won the "Mr. Best Dressed Award" for a week. He happily and cooperatively told the media that it was because Li Ning Company supported him behind him that he attracted more people's attention.Shortly after signing Jones, a specially made basketball shoe, the "Flying Armor," was airlifted to Jones.The enthusiastic young man also reciprocated. In the Cavaliers, Jones often gave the "Flying Armor" as a gift to his teammates. The "Li Ning wind" blew into the NBA locker room.More NBA players are beginning to feel the presence of this Chinese company, and their not bad sports equipment.Zhang Zhiyong is satisfied with such "infiltration".

With this first step that worked, the deeply encouraged "Li Ning" then started negotiations with O'Neill, and finally recruited O'Neill to his banner.And the Rockets' Chuck Hayes was that "third". In December 2006, "Li Ning" signed a contract with Hayes.Hayes' height of 1.98 meters is not outstanding in the NBA, but this power forward is a "rebound expert" on the field, effectively relieving Yao Ming's pressure inside the Rockets.Because of this, some NBA experts pointed out that Hayes is the "catalyst" for the full-scale explosion of the entire team for the Rockets that are on the rise. "Li Ning" is also optimistic about this.Prior to this, the young Hayes did not have a fixed commercial contract, and his wardrobe was a mess of various shoes.But now, there is such a pair of shoes with white as the main color and red Li Ning logo printed on the upper appearing in his wardrobe.In the 2006~2007 season, Hayes will wear this pair of eye-catching Li-Ning brand professional basketball shoes to play.

However, Hayes, who was very optimistic about his future, signed for the first time and only signed for one year.In order to renew the contract, "Li Ning" will make a lot of efforts.Chuck Hayes decided to spend about a week in unfamiliar China in his first summer after signing. "I hope Chinese fans will like me." He told the media full of longing.In fact, Li Ning Company arranged a lot of marketing activities for his China trip. The young striker felt that in this strange country, he had the familiar crazy fans, and even more.Soon, Chuck Hayes and "Li Ning" renewed their contract.

So far, "Li Ning" already has three NBA stars, which is really a good harvest. The unexpected victory was just when "Li Ning" frequently signed NBA stars, and when the spring breeze was proud, in September 2006, "Li Ning" won another unexpected victory.Before, most people did not expect that the Spanish men's basketball team, wearing the "Li Ning" jersey, reached the final of the Men's Basketball World Championship for the first time and faced off against the European champion Greece.But the joy doesn't end there. "70:47", when this disparity of score appeared in the final of the Men's Basketball World Championships, the dark horse of the Spanish national basketball team became the world champion.Logically, the sponsor "Li Ning" also became the biggest commercial winner in the Men's Basketball World Championships, and also became the first Chinese company to sponsor the basketball world championship.TV commentators even used "Li Ning" to "bring good luck" to Spain to evaluate this successful sponsorship.

On the day of winning the championship, some Chinese fans in Spain happily posted their spontaneous celebrations for "Li Ning" on the Internet, and the Chinese in Spain burst into proud smiles.And in China, fans on the Internet followed the post one after another, feeling excited for the successful sponsorship of the Chinese company.Except for Yao Ming, China's men's basketball has always had nothing to do with the world's top competitions.This time, in a roundabout way, there is a welcome Chinese twist in international business. This accident also made Zhang Zhiyong very excited. "They're late bloomers," he remarked.When he signed the Spanish men's basketball team in 2004, Zhang Zhiyong already felt that the Spanish team had the temperament of a champion.Zhang Zhiyong explained: "In the Athens Olympics held in 2004, they lost one game, to the US team, and finished seventh. A champion needs experience. He has the ability to be a champion, but he does not necessarily have the temperament of a champion. It takes experience. One click, let him lose or lose, and win the championship in the end." Now, sure enough, the championship has come.

Immediately afterwards, Li Ning Company started a publicity campaign for this victory.It began to celebrate the victory on various websites, providing game highlights and live pictures, and also opened interviews to TV and print media.While the media reported on the event, they never forgot to mention "the Spanish team in Li Ning's jersey".More media came to interview Li Ning's international publicity strategy.Some visually impactful pictures were also released on the media and the Internet. One of them was a picture of Gasol raising his arms for Spain to win the championship in the Spanish men's basketball team because of injury. Li Ning on Gasol's chest The logo is very conspicuous.