Sports Shoes Enterprises: Both Sides Of The Olympic Games Are Marketing Side By Side.

On the first day of the Olympic Games in Beijing, when Chen Xiexia lifted the first gold medal for China in this competition, Wu Rongzhao, vice president of Hongxing Erke group, who was waiting in front of the TV screen, breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Hongxing Erke, a sponsor of the Chinese women's weightlifting team, bet on the first gold on weightlifting. It was Wu Rongzhao's strategy in early 2007.

On the same day, Hongxing Erke's 3600 stores all over the country, at the same time played the "Xia, lifting China Power" billboard.

But Wu Rongzhao said: "we are not Olympic sponsors. It is not easy to use her image during the Olympics. We are more cautious at this point. We will focus on it after the Olympics."

Hongxing Erke's luck and helplessness are the true portrayal of local non Olympic sponsors.

"Hongxing Erke", "XTEP", "PEAK" and "Anta" have been launched in Jinjiang. They are known as the Jinjiang sports brand. They have taken the road of curve marketing in the face of almost harsh Olympic sponsorship rules.

"Spend more wisely".

This is Wu Rongzhao's most refined evaluation of Hongxing Erke's choice of the North Korean Olympic Organizing Committee.

According to the agreement between the two sides, Hongxing Erke has become the sponsor of all the match equipment of the 08 Olympic team.

"This kind of overall sponsorship is also the first step in China."

Wu Rongzhao said.

When the Olympic strategy was launched in 2006, Wu Rongzhao developed the idea of cooperating with other Olympic committees.

"On the one hand, international giants like Nike and Adi have sponsored a lot of Chinese athletes and sports teams. On the other hand, when we are aiming at the Chinese team, our strategy is to avoid competition at the highest level."

Wu Rongzhao said.

Hongxing Erke's team ranked the one or two countries and three lines that they could think of. The result is that most of the other Olympic committees have been Nike's and Adidas's products, except for the DPRK.

"The North Korean delegation's strength and exposure rate in the Olympic Games should be the second echelon, and their achievements in weightlifting, shooting and gymnastics are all outstanding."

Wu Rongzhao said, "compared with other international brands, Hongxing Erke will have much less political differences with North Korea in terms of communication and communication."

This huge project, from the beginning to the Korean side, to the production of products, and the most critical logistical support, made Wu Rongzhao feel the hardship of sponsorship as a national delegation. "This is a comprehensive test of the company, including technological innovation, capital and even human resources."

From the initial contact to the contract signing, Hongxing Erke invited North Korean personnel to visit the enterprises several times to understand the production capacity and technology level of the enterprises.

In order to ensure the need for competition, Hongxing Erke spent nearly 6 million yuan to introduce a set of human biomechanics equipment from Europe.

The equipment can design and produce products that meet individual needs according to the athlete's stature and exercise habits.

At the same time, a ten member brand team was set up to be responsible for the follow-up and feedback from the two sides.

"There are also many difficulties in dealing with the DPRK. The biggest cost is on the security system."

Wu Rongzhao said.

North Korea's backwardness in communications facilities has also given Wu Rongzhao a headache.

"Information feedback is too long. Hongxing Erke's support team often takes a few months for the specific design of an athlete, including design and follow up to production."

At the end of 2006, Hongxing Erke reached an agreement with DPRK.

"We have finally come smoothly. Basically, the process of cooperation is quite pleasant, and has achieved good results. It also provides a very necessary experience and motivation for our cooperation with other Olympic committees at the next stage."

Wu Rongzhao said.

Wu Rongzhao did not disclose the specific amount of sponsorship of the DPRK delegation.

He said that Hongxing Erke's total investment related to the Olympic Games is no less than 100 million yuan.

In terms of annual investment, marketing costs accounted for 14% of sales revenue last year, which may reach 16%-17% this year.

In fact, we also tried to sponsor several small African countries such as Zambia, but it was not an announcement.

Wu Rongzhao said.

Hongxing Erke's model is also imitated by other Jinjiang brand.

After Hongxing Erke, six Jinjiang enterprises, such as PEAK and Kang Tai, also began sponsoring foreign Olympic delegations.

"The strength of the enterprise is not big enough, and there is no ability to face up to the international brand positively, so we must put every cent in practice."

Wu Rongzhao said.

In contrast, XTEP group can be called a positive breakthrough.

Wei Hai, manager of brand group of XTEP group, said XTEP is neither a International Olympic Committee partner nor a partner of the Beijing Olympic Committee. There are not many Olympic marketing strategies and strategies that XTEP can really use. We emphasize more on the use of advertising channels and resources.

During the Olympic Games, XTEP won 2 CCTV Olympic advertising resources by bidding: XTEP Olympic express and Olympic live final match placement advertisements.

The former is the naming project, and the latter is the advertisement of the competition.

"Our most outstanding achievement is the effect brought by CCTV advertising to our brand.

From August 9th to August 11th, the total number of XTEP advertisements was 79 times a day, averaging 26 times a day, averaging more than 1 times per hour per day. This exposure effect is very outstanding, overshadowing many other brands in the same industry. "

Wei Hai said.

Allegedly, the investment of these two advertisements alone reached over 100 million yuan.

Wei Hai does not deny that the cost of advertising the CCTV patch is high, but he stressed: "we need to increase the driving force of the brand and set up the industry brand during the Olympic Games.

Under the premise of the Olympic Games, our advertising ratings are 20 times more than usual.

In the view of Wei Hai, Olympic marketing is actually a kind of differentiated marketing. In addition to Olympic advertising, XTEP chooses to publicize the XTEP brand and Olympic Games with the usual publicity carrier.

In his view, XTEP is known as the "Beijing Shanghai, the national youth civilization Olympic train" is a good example.

In December last year, XTEP and the Ministry of Railways and the Communist Youth League Central Committee jointly named the "XTEP" Olympic train between Beijing and Shanghai.

"On the train, passengers are closed to the outside media, and all kinds of media on the train are the only way to get information.

Through the combination of hard and soft advertising, we publicize XTEP on the train, emphasizing that the combination of XTEP and Beijing Olympic Games can not only enhance consumer's repeated memory of XTEP, but also publicize Olympic knowledge at the same time.

Wei Hai.

This naming campaign will continue until December of this year.

On this train, traces of XTEP can be seen everywhere. The pillows on the berth are printed with XTEP's trademark, windows, curtains, car aisles, etc., all have XTEP's posters.

The Anta group, which is the main force of the Jinjiang department, is not very active during the Olympic Games.

"There is no bigger action during the Olympic Games. The strategy of the Olympic Games has been drawn up 2 years ago. Now more attention is paid to how to carry out more large-scale marketing after the Olympic Games."

Anta public relations official said.

The above said, in fact, more Jinjiang enterprises have already locked their eyes on the Olympic Games.

We have specialized teams to carry out follow-up marketing.

Many companies hope to sign the most popular champions at the Olympic Games.

He said that most of the executives of the Jinjiang department are in Beijing. "They are not watching the games, they are communicating with the officials of the sports team and the General Administration of sports."

A survey by CCTV market research firm CTR showed that 37.4% of the respondents in the sports apparel industry considered Lining to be the Olympic sponsor of the Beijing Olympic Games, while the true Olympic sponsor Adidas had a cognitive rate of only 22.8%, while Nike and Anta had a cognitive rate of 18.2% and 6.3% respectively.