Chapter 12 Chinese sports marketing event

With the approaching of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the upcoming 2007 Women's Football World Cup and the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, according to industry insiders' forecast, China's sports industry will usher in a golden age of development in the next ten years and will create a world-class sports industry. With a market value of 100 billion yuan, as one of the most concerned industries in the world, the sports industry is brewing huge business opportunities in the Chinese market. Therefore, how to take the express train of sports marketing has become the focus of many domestic enterprises.

However, if Jianlibao used the Los Angeles Olympic Games to sponsor the Chinese sports delegation for the first time in 1984 and created the first year of China's sports marketing, China's sports marketing has a history of more than 20 years. The enterprise has achieved significant development. Chinese enterprises use sports events to carry out marketing. There are both successes and failures. The overall performance is not very good. Compared with foreign well-known enterprises who are proficient in using sports marketing, Chinese enterprises still have a lot to learn. .In order to be able to clearly see the development of Chinese sports marketing for more than 20 years, we have made a simple review of Chinese corporate sports marketing. Zhang Xian, through some important events, may be able to give our companies Bring some thought.

In 1984, Li Jingwei, then director of Guangdong Sanshui Distillery, was selling rice wine door-to-door from Foshan to Guangzhou, and found a sports drink formula lying in the folder of Guangdong Provincial Institute of Sports Science. After asking, Li Jingwei brought back the formula, and Jianlibao was born. In this year, the 23rd Olympic Games was held in Los Angeles. Jianlibao keenly saw a good opportunity for China to participate in the Olympic Games for the first time, and spent more than 400,000 yuan to sponsor Chinese athletes. The newborn Jianlibao Together with Chinese athletes, he walked into the Olympic Games and went abroad to the international market. Amidst the cries of "Oriental Magic Water" from Western journalists, Li Jingwei completed the first real global "sports marketing" of Chinese products, creating It marked the first year of Chinese sports marketing, and since then "China Magic Water" has become famous in one fell swoop.

Since then, Jianlibao has gradually increased its investment in China's sports industry, and has been designated as the beverage of choice for the Chinese sports delegation in the 23rd and 26th Olympic Games, and has been designated as the beverage of choice for the Chinese sports delegation in the 11th Asian Games, 6th and 7th National Games. Special sports drink, the special drink designated by the National Football League A from 1996 to 1998.Jianlibao's advertisements have always been themed on sports, taking advantage of Chinese people's expectations and excitement for sports, and closely linking Jianlibao, sports and consumers' hearts. The performance has been soaring all the way, and it has become the most famous "national beverage brand" in China.This kind of publicity based on sports has enabled Jianlibao to appear frequently in various competitions at home and abroad, and through the dissemination of news media, it has greatly increased its popularity.This made Jianlibao the No. 1 drink in China for ten consecutive years. In 1984, when China participated in the Olympic Games for the first time, Jianlibao's sports marketing history and its brilliance were achieved.

In 1990, Li Ning, known as the "Prince of Gymnastics" by the world, founded a company named after himself after retiring. Li Ning Co., Ltd. started in Sanshui, Guangdong.This year, the 11th Asian Games was held in Beijing. Taking this opportunity, Li Ning sponsored the Chinese delegation of the Asian Games before the products were released on the market, and started its own business. the first of its kind. Subsequently, in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, Li Ning was selected as the supplier of special award-winning equipment for the Chinese sports delegation, thus ending the embarrassing history of Chinese athletes wearing foreign sports brand clothing in the Olympic Games.Since then, Li Ning has been a sponsor of the Chinese sports delegation in every Olympic Games.At the same time, Li Ning also became the exclusive sponsor of four Chinese national teams including gymnastics, diving, table tennis and shooting.These 4 sports teams have performed quite well, and they are also major players in Olympic gold medals.Li Ning brand became a sponsor, showing itself with their brilliant achievements, and left a place in the hearts of consumers.

Since then, Li Ning Company has started sponsoring foreign teams and started its own internationalization process.The most impressive thing is that at the World Women's Basketball Championship in September 2002, when the Spanish women's basketball team and the Chinese women's basketball team competed for the fifth place, the Spanish women's basketball team wore 'Li Ning', while the Chinese women's basketball team wore Nike. The Spanish women's basketball team won.This dramatic scene was repeated in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In the men's basketball arena, the Spanish team wearing China's Lining professional basketball equipment and the Chinese team wearing Nike jerseys fought hand-to-hand, and the Spanish team also won.The unexpected meeting of two sports apparel brands in the world competition became a classic scene of Chinese and foreign sports brands competing in the same field at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

The sponsorship of sports events has given Li Ning the qualifications to compete with international brands in the market. In January 2005, Li Ning Company became a strategic partner of the American Professional Basketball Association (NBA), which greatly enhanced the professional image of Li Ning basketball brand and gradually expanded its international influence. Nongfu Spring was established in September 1996, and began to be listed in key cities in Shanghai and Zhejiang in June 1997; Nongfu Spring was promoted nationwide in 1998. However, the competition for "water" in 1998 was already very fierce. At that time, Wahaha, Lebai Shi and many other drinking water brand wars are already in full swing.

How does a new brand make a "bloody road" in the "flames of war"?Nongfu Spring is keenly aware that the 1998 FIFA World Cup is the most important sporting event that can focus consumers' attention. If the opportunity of this World Cup is used for advertising, it is possible to attract hundreds of millions of people in just one month. Chinese fans know Nongfu Spring, which is much more effective than usual advertisements.Therefore, Nongfu Spring launched its own advertisement in combination with CCTV World Cup program, and broadcast it on the sports channel with high frequency. Many football fans and sports enthusiasts were deeply impressed by Nongfu Spring.

At the same time, Nongfu Spring also invested heavily in sponsoring the five studios of CCTV for the World Cup football match, so that the brand can be better publicized.As a result, Nongfu Spring became a well-known drinking water brand in just one month. The slogan "Nongfu Spring is a bit sweet" resounded throughout the land of China, and its market share quickly jumped from the original dozen to the third place. Known as a "dark horse" in the drinking water industry.Since then, Nongfu Spring has established its position in China's water market. Although as early as 1995, Anta was ahead of other domestic brands, sponsoring the 67th Men's and Women's World Weightlifting Championships and other events, and started its own sports marketing road, but for Anta, the significance of 1999 was extraordinary. This year, Anta hired Kong Linghui, a famous table tennis player, as the spokesperson of Anta's brand image, becoming the first domestic company to invite a sports star to be its spokesperson. Forged an indissoluble bond in table tennis.

After Anta signed Kong Linghui, the company's terminal image, advertisement placement, and terminal activity promotion centered around the newly signed spokesperson Kong Linghui. With the achievement of Kong Linghui's achievements, his personal charm has also reached the height of the sky, and Anta's brand image has naturally grown rapidly. Attracted by domestic sports fans.The phrase "I choose, I like" resounded all over the country. At the same time, with the help of CCTV's powerful media advertising, Anta's popularity has been rapidly improved. In the subsequent 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, Chinese table tennis achieved a grand slam, and Kong Linghui also won the most important gold medal in table tennis by defeating Swedish star Waldner.Anta's brand image has been significantly improved again, and the brand promotion has received immediate results in the product sales market. Anta's sports shoes market share also ranks first among domestic counterparts.

It can be said that Anta invited Kong Linghui to be its spokesperson in 1999 was a landmark event. It was from this year that Anta's market share took the first leap, from an unknown company to a company with sales reaching 300 million Yuan's famous brand. On the night of July 13, 2001, after eight years of hard work, Beijing finally won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. In August 2001, Lenovo Group formed a special group to study and discuss various possibilities of Lenovo and the Olympic Games, which became the prelude to Lenovo's entry into the TOP plan.Because at that time there were still 7 years before Beijing hosted the Olympic Games.Out of the company's need for confidentiality, the team established the code name "007". In December 2002, at the "Lenovo Technology Innovation Conference", Yang Yuanqing implicitly asked the IOC officials present about the possibility of Lenovo Group becoming TOP. On February 17, 2003, Lenovo Group, led by Senior Vice President Ma Xuezheng, went to the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne for a three-day meeting. On June 23, Lenovo's Olympic TOP decision-making meeting was held. Liu Chuanzhi, Yang Yuanqing and other company decision-making and management leaders approved the Olympic TOP plan. In early July, Lenovo sent a brief letter to the International Olympic Committee, the subject of which was Lenovo's willingness to become TOP. On July 14, officials from the Technical Department of the International Olympic Committee and the Technical Department of the Turin Olympic Organizing Committee officially visited Lenovo and decided to accept Lenovo's desktop computers, notebook computers, servers and other products to be sent to Barcelona for testing.The test results of the International Olympic Committee show that Lenovo's products and technologies have passed successfully. In September, the Marketing Department of the International Olympic Committee came to Lenovo to discuss cooperation details with Lenovo. On January 17, 2004, the two parties reached a preliminary consensus on the details of the cooperation. Lenovo became the 11th global partner of the sixth phase of the International Olympic Committee, namely the TOP sponsor, at a price of 65 million US dollars. The Beijing Olympic Games provided computer equipment, technology and related support services.Lenovo became the first company in China to obtain this qualification, but it was also questioned from all sides. According to the agreement reached by the two parties, from 2005 to 2008, Lenovo will exclusively provide desktop computers and notebook computers for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, as well as Olympic committees and Olympic delegations from more than 200 countries and regions. , servers, printers and other computer technical equipment as well as technical and financial support.Lenovo will be rewarded with worldwide use of Olympic intellectual property rights. In December 1998, the first bottle of Jinliufu Baijiu, which was completely OEM Wuliangye, was born.Through the investigation of the market and Chinese wine culture, Jinliufu decided to take the "blessing" culture as the brand appeal of Jinliufu, but how to find a breakthrough so that the "blessing" culture of Jinliufu can be conveyed to the most people at the fastest speed , has become an important issue for Jinliufu executives to think about. The 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea provided an excellent opportunity for Jin Liufu. Since Jinliufu defines itself as "the lucky wine of the Chinese people", and the lucky wine is "luck is so good", then who has the best luck?Jin Liufu naturally thought of Milu, who was regarded by the world as a "lucky star".Milu fulfilled the World Cup dream for the Chinese.Milu has almost become a hero to save Chinese football. Everyone says that Milu is the lucky star of Chinese football, and some people attribute this to good luck.After feeling that Milu's potential value was completely in line with Jinliufu's Fu culture, Jinliufu made a decisive decision and signed Milu as Jinliufu's image spokesperson at a price of 400,000 US dollars, and produced related promotional videos. The investment of US$400,000 has brought Jinliufu a generous return.As the first Jin Liufu to invite Milu to do image advertising, although the commercial was released in a hurry, the effect was surprisingly good.Afterwards data showed that within one month of the broadcast of the Milu commercial, Jinliufu sold more than 100 million yuan, and the market reacted strongly.However, the 400,000 US dollars not only bought Milu’s face and a Tang suit, the most important thing is that Jin Liufu was the first to buy the landing spot of the Chinese team’s World Cup qualifying in the hearts of Chinese people, and this became To a certain extent, Chinese people are spending points to express their excitement about qualifying. In this historic sports event, through sports marketing, Jinliufu has achieved unexpected results, and the blessing culture of Jinliufu has also been widely spread.According to a survey, in 2002 Jinliufu firmly occupied the No. 1 position of liquor in the festive market. In 2004, BenQ spent a lot of money to form an alliance with UEFA, and as the only "official data provider" for the European Cup, it became the first Chinese brand to sponsor top international sports events. The European Cup mainly meets the strategic needs of BenQ from two aspects: on the one hand, the main consumer group of BenQ is young people aged 18-30, who are the main audience of the European Cup, and the influence of the European Cup is enough to mobilize the enthusiasm of the BenQ consumer group. attention; on the other hand, this move is in line with the strategic layout of the company to explore the European market, and is an important part of BenQ's global brand strategy.BenQ has been developing the European market before, and the network construction has achieved results. It only needs brand marketing to enhance the purchasing desire of local consumers.It is the right time to use the influence of the European Cup to enhance the brand's awareness in the local area. Before the game, BenQ’s major electronic stores in ten central cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou held a large-scale roadshow with the theme of “BenQ Takes Me to Europe—Lucky Recruitment, Dream European Tour”.With the assistance of games such as "Kick the Door to the European Cup", "Table Football", and online computer football competitions, it has attracted many consumers.BenQ also throws out a very attractive promotional plan: consumers who purchase a certain amount of single product of the BenQ brand at a designated place can get a special gift for the European Cup from BenQ, and many of the lucky ones will also get The biggest "gift" - to watch the European Cup live.The information that BenQ is the IT sponsoring partner of the European Cup is quickly transmitted to the terminal market, forming a connection and synergy between the brand and the product.This marketing project not only rapidly improves BenQ's popularity and reputation, strengthens consumers' brand recognition, but also pushes the brand's internationalization strategy to a new level. In the 2004 Euro Cup marketing campaign, both the brand and sales of BenQ increased, and sales in the European market alone increased by nearly 300%. In important markets such as the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, BenQ has also established itself as a world-class brand of consumer electronics. In April 2004, Haier Group signed an agreement with the Australian Melbourne Tigers Basketball Club: Haier officially named the Melbourne Tigers, and at the same time invited the team's international star Andrew Gates to be the spokesperson for Haier's computer image.The Melbourne Tigers Basketball Club has thus become the first professional basketball club with international influence and championship title established by a Chinese joint venture overseas, and it is also the first professional basketball club in Australian history to be invested by Asians. Haier, which adheres to the road of internationalization, has always taken the global market as its target market. In Haier's internationalization strategy, Australia has always been one of the important target markets for Haier's overseas expansion, and Australia has always been a world basketball powerhouse. The Melbourne Tigers basketball team It is one of the most powerful teams in Australia, and also a famous basketball team with world-class strength. The impressive record and the image of a world-class strong team achieved by the team through continuous efforts over the years coincide with Haier’s continuous efforts in recent years. Promote the strategic thinking of world-class brands.One is a world-class brand and the other is a world-class team. The cooperation between the two parties will undoubtedly have a huge market influence, thus providing effective support for Haier to enter the Australian market.It goes without saying that naming the most famous basketball team in Australia will help Haier to carry out rapid and effective marketing in Australia. In Australia, Andrew Gates is a world-class football star and a household name. Andrew Gates served as the spokesperson of Haier Computer, making Haier Computer quickly become a computer brand familiar to Australian consumers.At the same time as signing the contract to name the Melbourne Tigers basketball team, Haier Computer has already won a bulk order from the Australian Gold Star Investment Company.This means that Haier-branded computers have begun to land in Australia. At the beginning of 2004, Haier was ranked among the "World's 100 Most Influential Brands" compiled by the World Brand Laboratory, one of the world's five major brand value evaluation agencies. Haier was selected as the only Chinese brand, ranking No. 95 bits.Previously, no mainland Chinese brand had ever been included in the list of the "World's 100 Most Influential Brands". The F1 Formula Championship, the Olympic Games, and the World Cup are the three most famous sports events in the world. On March 16, 2004, Sinopec signed the largest deal in the history of F1 Chinese companies in the UK: Sinopec spent 800 million to sponsor F1 races, and won the naming rights and track advertisements of F1 China races from 2004 to 2006 right. Before that, Sinopec was very clear about the fact that in December 2004 and December 2006, the retail and wholesale markets for refined oil products will be opened respectively. If there is no brand, how can you compete with them?Sinopec is trying to promote its brand into the international market by sponsoring F1, hoping to gain a position shoulder to shoulder with international oil companies and build an overall brand image including gas stations, lubricants, asphalt and other products. In February 2004, Sinopec and FOM (FIA Management Company) started contact. At that time, the news that HSBC and other large domestic companies were interested in the naming rights of the F1 China station had been rumored for a long time. On February 29, Wang Jiming, president of Sinopec, wrote a letter to Bernie Ecclestone, the "godfather" of F1, expressing clearly in the letter that Sinopec intends to take over the naming right of the F1 China station. From March 14th, a six-member negotiating team led by Sinopec Vice President Li Chunguang flew to London. On March 16th, Sinopec announced in London, England, that it had signed a contract with APM, which was in charge of advertising for F1 events, and won the 2004-2004 In 2006, it took only two days for the naming rights of the F1 China station and track advertisement rights. The lightning-fast signing of the agreement by Sinopec surprised the world. Many people believed that Sinopec was taking a big gamble.Afterwards, Wang Jiming once expressed to the media: F1’s impact on Chinese people will be as powerful as an atomic bomb explosion because it landed in China for the first time. Sinopec will use this huge power to enhance its brand and image. If it can achieve this With the expected power, Sinopec's investment is totally worth it. Two years have passed, and the 2006 F1 China Grand Prix is ​​about to start. Whether Sinopec has achieved the level of brand promotion it expects may only be clear to itself. The term sports marketing first appeared in 1978 in the American "Advertising Age" magazine.Since then, sports marketing has been used to describe various sports-related business promotions.In a broad sense, sports marketing includes two meanings: marketing of sport and marketing through sport. Sports marketing refers to a social management process in which sports organizations realize their own needs through the creation and exchange of products and values ​​with other organizations.In other words, it is the self-marketing of various sports events and sports organizations using market means. Marketing "through" sports, which is what we usually understand as sports marketing, is defined as "the application of marketing principles and processes exclusively to sports products and those non-sports products that are marketed with the help of sports."That is to say, enterprises establish contact with sports organizations, events, sports stars, etc. through means such as physical and financial sponsorship, obtain corresponding rights, and then use advertising, public relations, promotion and other means to carry out integrated communication around brand positioning and establish unique brand associations , Purposefully promote the implementation of marketing strategies. With the continuous improvement of China's competitive sports level and the vigorous development of China's sports industry, the professional term "sports marketing" has gradually become familiar to people, and the commonly used means and methods of sports marketing such as sports sponsorship, athlete endorsement, and sports licensed products have also become popular. Appear by our side all the time.So, what is the difference between sports marketing and marketing in the traditional sense?What kind of special industry is the sports industry?What special issues should commercial enterprises and sports asset owners pay attention to when conducting sports marketing operations in the sports industry?Let us start with the definition of sports marketing, and analyze these issues one by one. Sports marketing refers to the special application of traditional marketing basic principles and processes in the marketing process of sports products and non-sports industries that try to be related to sports.It can be seen that sports marketing is built on the basis of traditional marketing management. Sports marketing has gradually become a new professional branch of marketing disciplines through the inheritance, improvement and innovation of the basic principles, theories and models of traditional marketing management. Another factor that promotes the rapid development of sports marketing is the rapid expansion of the scale of the global sports industry.Some people liken sports to "a global language", which enables people of different nationalities and languages ​​to have a platform to communicate and communicate.It is precisely because of this characteristic of sports that the sports industry has gradually grown in countries around the world (especially economically developed countries).Take the United States as an example. In 1999, the annual contribution value of the American sports industry reached 213 billion U.S. dollars, ranking sixth in the industry rankings in the United States. Its industrial scale is evident. Due to the particularity of sports products, sports marketing and traditional marketing have both similarities and great differences (see the table below for details).Therefore, when commercial enterprises and sports asset owners carry out sports marketing, they should not only innovate marketing activities according to the particularity of sports products, but also avoid "acclimatization" caused by applying traditional marketing models.In summary, there are roughly the following points: Comparison of sports marketing and traditional marketing: Sports marketing Traditional marketing industry situation Competition and cooperation coexist Eliminate competitors Consumers' professional knowledge Consumers think they are experts Rely on expert information and help consumers demand Consumer demand fluctuates greatly Less fluctuates and is more stable 1. Products are intangible, subjective, and highly experiential. Product features are specific, tangible, visible, and perceptible. 2. Immediately produced and sold immediately, there is no inventory but there is inventory, and there are product characteristics of storage period 3. Unpredictable product quality, inconsistent quality is the basic requirement of product characteristics 4. It is global and does not have a global consumption mode. Public consumption and personal consumption. 1. The quality of sports products is less controllable, and the risk of investing in sports products is greater The range of sports products is very wide. There are tangible products, such as sportswear, footwear and equipment, etc., while more sports products are embodied in the form of intangible products, which are service products, such as sports events, fitness guidance, sports equipment, etc. Sponsorship etc. A great feature of service products is that the controllability of product quality is small.The author has pointed out in the above table that most sports products are sold immediately after production.Taking sports events as an example, the event organizers or sponsors cannot accurately predict the product quality of the event (that is, whether the game is exciting) in advance, including the competitive status of athletes, weather conditions, operating conditions of venues and facilities, coverage of TV broadcasts and Many other unpredictable factors will affect the quality of the event.Moreover, once the event starts, it cannot be stopped. Therefore, the event organizers cannot remove substandard products from the counter like the producers of other products.This further increases the risk of investing in sports products.In the previous article "Yiguan: A Depressed World Cup Marketing", the failure of Guangdong Runtian Yiguan Health Products Co., Ltd. was largely due to the failure to objectively predict such risks in the World Cup. 2. Consumers have a high degree of professional knowledge and strong subjectivity. Enterprises need to be cautious when choosing sports products for investment Since the vast majority of consumers of sports products have sports experience, compared with consumers of other products, consumers of sports products have a higher level of professional knowledge, so they have greater confidence in purchasing sports products. subjectivity.The audience cheering or scolding the performance of referees and athletes on the field is the embodiment of this subjectivity.Almost every spectator who watches the game thinks that he knows something about the sport. Therefore, when evaluating the game, the spectator will not be influenced by the salesperson or expert advice, but will rely on his own professional knowledge and subjective judgment. make a decision.Because of this, no matter how exciting a game is, it is difficult to satisfy all the audience and return with great interest. When enterprises choose such sports products for development and investment, they must take this characteristic of consumers into consideration.Therefore, many smart sponsors will choose some projects that are not very popular but the national sports team has a relatively high level of competition. For example, Visa's sponsorship of the Chinese women's softball team is a typical successful case. 3. The funds and related assets required to invest in sports products are huge Any marketing activity will consume the resources of the enterprise, and the same is true for sports marketing activities.However, sports marketing activities may consume more resources than other marketing activities.Once the sports marketing activities are successful, the benefits it brings to the enterprise will be even greater.Here, the author takes sports sponsorship as an example for further analysis. Sports sponsorship is one of the most effective sports marketing methods, and it is also one of the most commonly used marketing methods for enterprises.However, the investment in sports sponsorship - obtaining sponsorship rights requires companies to invest a large amount of money or real assets.For example, to become the TOP sponsor of the Olympic Games, you must pay more than 55 million US dollars in sponsorship money, which is an astronomical figure for most companies.But even when companies secure official sponsorship rights, it's only the beginning.There is a "1:3" theorem in sports marketing, that is to say, during the entire sponsorship period, the company needs to spend about 3 times the sponsorship money to tell the target consumers that it is the official sponsor of the event.No wonder some people liken investing in sports sponsorship to "buying a luxury sports car". After paying for the car, the buyer needs to continue to spend on maintenance and maintenance. There is a common phenomenon among Chinese companies involved in sports sponsorship, that is, after obtaining the title of sponsor, they don't care about it.As a result, not only is precious money wasted, but sports sponsorship, a marketing tool that can produce long-term marketing results, is misinterpreted.This is really a pity. Almost four years ago, I wrote a special topic on "Marketing World Cup Countries" (see Chapter 10 of "Marketing Sports·Olympics·World Cup" edited by Lu Taihong, Sichuan People's Publishing House, February 2003), and I put forward such a point of view in the article : It is of profound significance to use the World Cup (or Olympic Games) and other major events in the world to carry out "national marketing".Because there are three necessary connections between them.In fact, all three linkages apply to businesses as well.Here may wish to expand a little, it may be helpful for the majority of enterprises to develop sponsorship ideas in the traditional sense. First of all, we can regard the World Cup as a kind of market, a kind of global market that crosses national borders.It can be said that "the World Cup, everywhere is a shopping mall."There, global companies seek commercial success.According to a research report by Harvard Business School, MasterCard, the official partner of the 1994 World Cup in the United States, gained US$500 million in sales through the 12 minutes and 8 seconds of advertising exposure on the billboards in the final. The World Cup has created a short-term high-yield market.During this period, consumers have a large amount of direct or indirect consumption demand due to watching, appreciating and talking about sports events.Many companies can get a vote from it.That is to say, in addition to a few official sponsors, more companies can take advantage of the opportunity to enter, accurately analyze various needs and behaviors of consumers, find connections with their own products and services, and attack this short-term market through innovative marketing plans. A market segment with high returns. Secondly, we can regard the World Cup as a kind of media, a global media that cannot be replaced by any media.It can be said that "the World Cup is like a home game wherever you go."There, the host country communicates its achievements and values ​​to the world and enhances its international status by improving its national image.It involves how to establish a clear country identity (Country Identity, CI) in the national competition group, which cannot be replaced by a big-name coach or travel advertisement.At this time, the role of strategic positioning is highlighted, and "national marketing" is needed. According to estimates by experts, Hyundai Motor, as the official partner of the 2002 World Cup, can obtain US$10 billion in advertising benefits through advertisements in the stadium.For many companies, their products and services have little to do with the consumer demand generated during the World Cup.However, it is also possible to use the good atmosphere of the World Cup and the high attention of the public to focus on the media during the broadcast of the event program to obtain efficient communication effects. Again, we can think of the World Cup as a major event, a global event that eclipses any PR effort.There is a saying that "World Cup, there is news everywhere".This nature determines that it can handle many issues for the country and global stakeholders, such as the recovery of economic prosperity, the adjustment of national sentiment, the alleviation of competition and confrontation, the promotion of government diplomacy, and the signal transmission of national advantages.There, all participating countries will seek understanding and cooperation in the cultural, political and diplomatic fields.This can be called "cause-related marketing" at the national level, which is based on the value analysis of stakeholders. Similarly, it is also a public relations opportunity for enterprises.In terms of marketing and promotion, look for themes related to the World Cup and "use the topic to play" to achieve the purpose of enhancing the image of the company and brand. In short, the marketing opportunities for the World Cup don't just belong to a few big-name sponsors.How to get a share of the short-term high-yield market created by the World Cup is nothing more than the above three basic ideas.But the key to the actual effect is marketing innovation. The success or failure of the theme cases in this issue is for your reference. Since sports became a kind of entertainment, the charm of sports has increased exponentially, especially a global sports event with a fanatical nature like the World Cup is sought after by hundreds of millions of fans.For all kinds of brands, the huge commercial value of the World Cup is beyond doubt, but for a shrewd businessman, the core issue that needs to be considered is how to maximize the effectiveness of the World Cup on brand growth.Several extended thinking triggered by this core issue are: (1) How to be unique in the World Cup marketing campaign of competing brands? (2) How to achieve great results with a small investment in World Cup marketing? (3) How to make the brand's World Cup effect last longer? During the World Cup, big and small brands are playing the "soccer card" to attract people's attention.A large number of sponsor brands have risen rapidly under the aura of the World Cup. For example, Hyundai's current influence in the Chinese market is largely due to the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.However, what we see more is that the lack of creativity of some non-sponsor brands' marketing efforts is submerged in the overwhelming marketing bombardment of major brands, which cannot touch the excitement of consumers.How to be unique and let consumers hear the clear voice of the brand should be the primary consideration of all brands.In the above thematic cases, we can see that Nike founded "Nike Village", held futsal matches, sponsored teams that might win, designed limited edition commemorative products, and Jinliufu launched the National Football World Cup qualifying collection commemorative wine and so on. the value of marketing innovation.In addition to conventional methods such as advertising and promotion, it is a good idea to launch some innovative products and interactive activities related to the World Cup.The idea of ​​differentiated creativity comes from extensive research by marketers on various routines of sports marketing in the past. Everyone knows that becoming a sponsor of the World Cup can greatly increase brand awareness even if it cannot generate sales immediately, but investing huge marketing expenses can only be a game for the rich.For a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, the low-cost World Cup marketing model is a feasible strategy.Expensive advertising is obviously inappropriate, and sponsorship of the World Cup or seeded teams is not a good solution. Interactive activities with high participation and focus marketing are the most suitable.The key to how to design interactive activities is to study the interests and hobbies of target consumers.For example, World Cup quiz with prizes, World Cup quiz, street N-man football match, campus football match, World Cup online game contest, etc. are all good ideas.In contrast, these low-cost events can be more effective because they attract targeted consumers and provide them with a unique brand experience. Objectively speaking, the World Cup is like a fad, and its commercial effect is rapidly magnified during the World Cup, but how long the effect will last after the World Cup is over, many brands have no idea.Therefore, the general concern of sponsors is how to make the marketing effect of the World Cup last.The brief answer to this question is that when the marketing during the World Cup is integrated into the long-term marketing plan of the enterprise, the marketing effect of the World Cup will continue.For example, Jinliufu wine has been playing the "Fu" brand since its launch. In the 2002 World Cup, it closely revolved around "Fu Culture" and joined hands with "China's Lucky Star" Milu to launch "Chinese Lucky Wine" Fuxing Wine, and launched a gold-buying六福酒获世界杯门票的福气促销活动，将其“福文化”短期内在全国范围内加速推广。值得注意的是，金六福不仅仅将“福文化”与世界杯联姻，它还在2004年奥运会期间掀起“奥运福、金六福”的大型传播活动，从而“福文化”得以传承。由此，我们得到的启示是，要用品牌的核心价值来指导赛事期间的营销推广，这样才能使得体育赞助不仅提高品牌知名度，而且深化品牌核心价值，使得赛事前后的营销与赛事期间的营销形成一个整体。再看看怡冠在世界杯期间的营销表现：品牌核心价值缺位、品牌核心价值与世界杯没能链接、营销推广毫无特色……总之，在耗费巨资提升知名度的同时却没有告诉人们怡冠究竟是什么、怡冠于消费者何干，这自然不能使其在世界杯上的商业效应持久。 四年一度的世界杯开赛在即，又是各大品牌大展拳脚的时候了，能否让世界杯为你的品牌加油呢？ 体育作为一种没有国界的人类的共同语言，不仅蕴涵着健美、竞技等因素，也包含着民族的自豪感、世界的融合与团结等等，因此，大型体育赛事也就自然成为世界上最吸引眼球、最具传播力的一个平台。 如今，体育赛事从未有过像今天一样，被商业社会所密切关注，几乎所有国际和国内体育赛事，都有众多的企业品牌参与赞助，而赛事现场，更是各种品牌的展示场，商标随处可见。通过商业和体育的结合，体育活动赢得了过去难以想象的资金支持（如本期主题语“营销世界杯”所言），通过体育赛事，企业品牌也获得了人们前所未有的关注。 在各种体育营销模型中，最为体育和非体育企业所采用、最为大众所熟知、也是体育营销最有特色的策略之一就是“体育赞助”。据有关数据显示，2004年全球赞助总额达300亿美元，与1987年相比翻了6番，其中体育占据了71%的份额。由此可见，赛事赞助项目仍然是吸引大多数资金的领域。 体育赛事作为一个最具传播力的平台，企业自然不会放过这一机会。企业通过赞助体育赛事提升品牌知名度，是企业热衷于赞助体育赛事的重要原因，比如前面讲到的广州润田怡冠的案例，尽管最后他们失败了，但他们最初想借助世界杯迅速提升自己的品牌知名度，对于一家刚成立的公司来说也是无可厚非的。 有数据表明，1994年美国主办世界杯的时候，企业要想成为赞助商，至少要拿出4000万美元，而且还不包括人事、广告与营销等额外支出。即便如此，想要成为赞助商的企业还是络绎不绝。对于这一现象，吉列公司的全球业务经理给出的答案再明白不过：“这是少数几项能吸引全球民众目光的运动赛事，我们也可以因此拓展全球市场。”美国万事达卡国际组织的相关人员也表示：“世界杯是最具经济效益的品牌营销平台，与其相比，此时的美国本土市场已经是次要的了。”由此可见，通过体育营销为品牌开拓新市场，作为企业常用的手段也就毫无疑问，对于发展壮大中，热衷于开拓国际市场，走出去的企业，借助这一手段尤其常见，即使如耐克这样的世界级品牌也同样醉心于此。 除了企业为提升品牌，开拓市场而热衷体育营销外，还有一些常见的理由也是企业热衷体育营销的原因，比如企业想在公众面前树立一个良好的企业形象，想让公众看到并记住企业的名字，以及合理利用企业现有资源(在多数情况下，赞助比其它的广告形式更便宜)。比如为了接触特定的细分市场，巩固基础市场，将企业跟体育联系在一起，为了做类似“慈善”营销等等，而这些，将自己倡导的福文化与中国在体育上的“好运气”结合在一起，从而让人们记住自己的品牌，做的相对成功的金六福无疑尝到了多次甜头。 2006世界杯即将开赛，对于这场体育盛事，中国企业的关注程度，搭乘这辆营销快车的参与性又有多少呢？ 2008年北京奥运会召开在即，广州亚运会、女足世界杯也将先后接踵而来，毫无疑问，未来十年内，中国体育产业将迎来发展的黄金时代。体育营销已经成了营销界的法宝，如何搭乘“体育营销”这辆快车也正在成为国内企业界的关注焦点。 四年一届的奥运会，世界杯及各种现代的体育赛事是商家们向世界展示企业与品牌形象的大舞台，蕴藏着无限的商机。虽然赞助赛事投入不菲，回报却十分惊人。全球知名体育品牌的成功都是借助于集中某个专业运动领域内建立自己的国际性品牌形象，实现快速腾飞的。 体育行销最集中地体现了品牌推广手段的所有优越性。首先，体育赞助是以支持体育事业、赞助公益活动为名义，商业性及功利性不明显，效果自然、易于被接受，是一种超越赤裸裸的广告和促销的方式。其次，体育赞助沟通的对象面广量大、有针对性，非常有利于企业与目标对象进行有效的沟通，达到事半功倍的效果。最后，利用体育赛事能够让企业品牌迅速传播，并带来潜在的品牌影响力，从而在短时间内就让企业和产品达到一定的认知度。 尽管体育营销给企业带来的机会是重要的，但是，体育营销对中国的企业来说毕竟是一个陌生的考场，要想考出优异的成绩，国内的企业还应该向西方发达国家虚心学习（比如本期主题案例中耐克的成熟做法），补上落后的课程。我认为，要想让体育营销真正为企业带来利益，除了激情外，还应知道以下几个方面。 国内的企业很少从战略的角度去思考体育营销的问题，体育营销在一般企业眼里不过是一种“短平快”的战术、简单的促销工具。企业总是想在进入之前就知道现实回报是什么，缺乏持久性战略指导。只有把体育营销提升到战略的高度，才能站得高，行得远，决胜于未来。 体育作为一种文化和精神的载体，受到世界各国人民的广泛喜爱和关注。就我个人认为我们国人对于体育的关注更多的是来源于爱国之心，而不是对体育本身的热爱。体育不但可以带给我们无上的荣誉感、优越感和心理满足感，更向世界展示了中华民族的崛起和腾飞，这便是国人对体育特有的“中国式情感”。所以体育营销不仅仅只是简单机械的大量资金的投入，还要深刻理解消费者的中国情怀。 不同的体育项目代表着不同的情感。企业在选择它要赞助的体育项目时，要找到和企业精神相融合的体育营销事件来打造自己的品牌。对于企业而言，没有最好的体育营销策略，只有最适合的体育营销事件。企业在运用体育营销手段时，要更多的关注企业自身的定位和发展方向。要对企业、市场和消费者有清醒的认识和准确的分析，挖掘埋藏在体育赛事背后的商业价值，让企业和体育赛事达到完美的结合，这是每一个公司都在不断追求的终极目标。 有媒体报道称，未来十年中国的体育产业将迎来发展的黄金时代。对于想要进行体育营销的中国企业，无疑是拓展市场的最佳机遇，希望中国的企业在这强手如林的市场中找准定位，有所建树。 国外的体育营销已经有了几十年的历史，经验相当丰富，运作十分有效。体育营销在他们的企业中所占据的位置很重要，并且也发挥着巨大的作用。现在中国的企业也已经逐渐认识到了体育营销的重要性，越来越多的企业都想利用体育营销来拉动企业的发展。但是中国的体育产业刚刚起步，要让中国的企业认识到体育营销是企业营销的方向，是大势所趋，如何行之有效地进行体育营销，拉近跟国外营销机构的距离，还有很长的道路要走。 如果从健力宝为能够成为“体育营销强者”所交的第一笔“学费”开始算起，到今天为止中国企业花在“体育营销”这门课程上的“学费”至少也有上百亿人民币了，而所学到的东西充其量只能算是一点皮毛而已。那么，如何才能在体育营销中不再花冤枉钱，并真正物有所的，从而获得体育营销后的结果——企业形象的提升及企业获利？我个人认为应注意以下几点： 一、体育运动、品牌、消费者，这三点一线的紧密联系是赞助商成功的关键。 三者之间能否达成契合，决定了赞助公司的整体策略——是否需要寻求运动会赞助资格、应该采取何等级别何种形式的赞助、如何充分利用奥运赞助资格所带来的权利等一系列举措。 二、企业与体育赛事的对接和定位要符合体育营销受众认同。 赞助的活动必须符合企业的品牌核心价值以及目标人群的喜好。体育营销最基本的功用就是成为企业和消费者改善或重建彼此关系的重要工具。双方藉体育运动产生共振，双方共同的对接点都放在了让人热血沸腾的运动上，把体育精神融入企业品牌文化当中，并由此形成共鸣、促进企业发展。如果仅仅是生硬地把企业、产品和赛事、运动结合起来，就只能是“强扭的瓜不甜”。 三、体育营销还必须注重持续效应，要持续投入、不断地利用。 对于刚刚兴起体育营销的中国来说，体育市场到目前为止还没有完全启动。商家们的行销策略也还很幼稚。很多企业还将营销的重点停留在电视广告、明星代言等传统的行销策略上。无论怎样变换，实际上都是在促销，或是通过降价，或是通过炒作来吸引消费者。他们实质上是将体育营销看作是一种炒作的短期行为，炒完之后，商家高兴，消费者乐一下以后，很多便再也没有了下文。但体育营销是长期的、连贯的战略。要能够持续不断地进行品牌宣传和投资，绝不是心血来潮似的盲目投资。本期的主题案例中怡冠和金六福当年都用米卢做代言人，而现在“米卢”商标已经不是那么炙手可热，米卢广告也已经风光不再。企业妄图以某一次体育活动作为借口来单纯地搞一次策划宣传，妄图以短时间铺天盖地的广告来长期赢取消费者的心，事实证明是不可能的。 体育营销的方式有很多种。体育营销可以通过体育赞助、冠名、请体育明星作产品代言人、产品设计以及购买球衣广告、体育场广告等多种形式来整合企业资源，将体育文化与企业品牌融合，上升为企业特有的企业文化，这才是体育行销的完整要求。 我们看到，如今中国体育品牌面对的是诸如阿迪达斯、耐克、锐步等洋品牌带来的竞争和冲击，中国企业没有全球的营销网路，没有纯熟的市场运作模式，更没有雄厚的资金实力，在这种不利的条件下，中国企业该如何应对这些国外品牌的竞争？对于即将到来的种种体育盛事所带来的营销“豪门盛筵”，我们的企业家们准备好了吗？