NBA Star Kevin Garnett KG Turned To Anta'S Embrace

In August 3, 2010, Anta sports science laboratory measured the foot data for the newly signed NBA star Garnett.

In August 3rd, Anta headquarters in Jinjiang, Fujian, everyone was waiting for the arrival of a big man, NBA star Kevin Garnett KG. More than two months ago, Garnett terminated the Adidas sponsorship contract for many years and switched to Anta's embrace.

When the news was announced, many people were surprised. Garnett and Adidas It is a lifelong contract. In basketball, Jordan and Nike signed a lifelong contract before. Anta did not disclose the amount of Garnett's money, but there was no doubt that it was expensive.

Before the arrival of KG, Anta headquarters had become a display show of brand LOGO. The employees wore dark yellow, the public relations departments were white, and the departments responsible for athletes were light yellow. Even Garnett's bodyguards and the media came to wear Anta T-shirts. Anta employees say that this is a company practice, which must be done in every big activity.

40 minutes later than the scheduled time, Garnett, who slowly came down from the special car, was surrounded by a Anta logo. Zheng Jie, executive vice president of Anta, smiled and waited before the elevator on the first floor. He wanted to take KG to the conference room on the 10 floor and meet Ding Shi, the leader of the company.

Entering the conference room, KG did not sit down first. Instead, he went to the window and looked at the scenery outside the building - all kinds of buildings, factories and billboards. "Well, yes, yes, that's good. Anta is very impressive."

After chatting for a few minutes, Ding Shizhong began to visit the company's historical exhibition hall, sports science laboratory, image shop and shoemaking workshop with KG. In the exhibition hall at the first stop, Ding Shizhong pointed to Kong Linghui's portrait and said to Garnett, "this is the first sports athlete sponsored by Anta, the winner of table tennis Grand Slam." {page_break}

Kong Linghui's marriage with Anta is worth a book. In 1999, Ding Shizhong took the bull by the hat and hired Kong Linghui as the brand spokesperson of Anta for $800 thousand, and invested 6 million yuan in all the profits he earned in the year to the advertising campaign during the Olympic Games, half of which contributed to CCTV5.

At the Olympic Games in Sydney, Kong Linghui won the gold medal, "I choose, I like" slogan, and Anta, an obscure small business, is famous throughout the country. This case was later regarded as a classic, so that Jinjiang's sports brands have always adopted the mode of "star +CCTV5" as the first choice for brand promotion.

After Kong Linghui, Ding Zhizhong continued to introduce Garnett to Anta, including NBA players Scola, Francis and Wells, as well as tennis stars Zheng Jie and Zheng Jie. Of course, Garnett's portrait will soon enter the exhibition hall, and it will surely occupy an extremely important position.

"KG is the biggest player ever sponsored by Anta in the past 16 years, and it is of great significance. It directly improves the credibility of Anta brand in the eyes of consumers." Zheng Jie values Garnett's influence very much, but he also stresses that this is not a simple signing. It means that Anta, like Adidas and Nike, will expand its market around stars.

On the same day, Zheng wore an orange T-shirt like his boss Ding Shizhong, standing beside Garnett, translating every sentence that Ding said to the latter.

After the listing of Anta in Hongkong in 2007, it gradually became different from the past. New departments and new institutions were constantly emerging, and the old departments were also expanding. In 2008, when Zheng Jie came to Anta, his identity was Adidas's general manager of Reebok China. Another executive Zhang Tao joined in the same year. He used to be the assistant of Lenovo's founder Liu Chuanzhi.

Ding Shizhong hoped that the joining of these professional managers could bring more advanced management practices and experience and resources to Anta. He told Zheng Jie his own ideas, and hoped that Anta brand could continue to move forward from its existing position, while Nike, Adidas and Lining would be the only ones in front of Anta.

This vision turned out to be a clear goal: in 2013, Anta will become the number one seller and brand in the Chinese market. Of course, to achieve this goal, the company needs new impetus. The first motive is to cooperate with the Chinese Olympic Committee. It was Adidas, Nike and Lining who competed with Anta at the time, and the 3 companies had a history of cooperating with the Chinese Olympic Committee. Before bidding, Ding Shizhong led Zhang Tao's team to visit a large number of officials and experts, and patiently introduced Anta's brand and marketing plan. In June 2008, Anta won the bid to win the three events of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, Guangzhou Asian Games and London Olympic Games, representing 11 International Olympic competitions.

This is a super sponsorship because no enterprise has been able to have such a close relationship with the Chinese Olympic Committee and the Chinese sports delegation during such a complete Olympic cycle. Super sponsorship is also a super cost. According to Anta insiders, "no less than the sponsorship threshold for the 2008 TOP Olympic Games", one can refer to the sponsorship Association of TOP at the 2008 Olympic Games, at a cost of $65 million.

However, Ding Shizhong believes that these efforts are worthwhile. Anta has gained the official status of Chinese sports, just like Adidas is the official sponsor of the Olympic Games. Everyone is trying to master excellent sports resources. To catch up with the leader, we must start from the excellent resources that we have enjoyed.

Garnett is another superior resource or power brought by another executive, Zheng Jie. Inside Adidas and Nike, there is a team serving athletes. Some of them are even retired athletes in the sports field. They can understand the needs and personal conditions of athletes.

There are two examples circulating in the industry. As long as tiger Woods has a little dissatisfaction with the clubs, Nike will spend a lot of money to build them again and again. As long as the feet of Liu Xiang are slightly uncomfortable, the design drawings of nearly one meter high shoes may be worthless instantly.

When Zheng Jie came to Anta, he split Anta's only public relations department into two brands, namely, the market center and the sports market center. The latter is a team that specializes in athletes. The key work of this team is to cultivate feelings with athletes. Pei Long, Commissioner of basketball department, is a member of the sports market center. At the end of last year, they had a close communication with Garnett's brokers. KG China bank, they have special people to take care of KG's friends and relatives, the purpose is to make them feel at home in China.

Most importantly, they have to explain Garnett's design boots for Anta and listen to his own suggestions. This is crucial not only to the feelings of the stars, but also to the marketing of the relevant products. When Garnett endorsed Adidas, he had expressed his views on the control, technology, color and appearance of his own war shoes.

Garnett's opinions have been emphasized several times. Finally, he was brought back to the company by Pei long at the beginning of this year. A 34 year old basketball player demanded that his ankle should not be injured because a pain could lead to retirement. In order to protect Jean Garnett again, Anta reassured him that Anta had arranged his feet for his trip to Hong Kong.

Garnett took off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs, and scanned the foot models at the expensive plantar pressure test system that Anta bought. Then the staff took a series of data such as the length and width of the feet with tape and string, so that his new shoes could be officially started.

When Garnett measured his feet, pan Chun and his colleagues were waiting for the data in another room of the lab. They were the staff of Anta commodity management center, who was responsible for designing the style of KG basketball shoes for the new season. Pan Chun's last job was Nike, and his colleagues, including Anta sports lab, were mostly from Nike or Adidas.

"ADI or Nike can be designed for any pair of shoes in China because they used to be our jobs." Although they are different now for consumers, they no longer design shoes for the first tier cities, but for consumers in the two or three tier cities, but the methods and principles are the same. {page_break}

According to Pei Long's feedback, Garnett's new war shoes are made of Anta's newly developed rebound and anti shock materials. Under the tongue, the back of the tongue is made of special material mesh, which keeps the shoes comfortable while providing tight protection for the ankles.

These materials, together with the size of Garnett's feet, get all the data. Pan Chun must design the final version as soon as possible. According to the company's plan, this shoe has been listed as Anta's heavy product this year and will be on the shelves in the fourth quarter.

This is the second step after acquiring star resources, and developing products around resources. When Zheng Jiegang arrived at Anta, brand, merchandise and sales were divided into three parts. Zheng Jie tried to push Anta to establish a complete sales path. "I don't want Anta to simply sell a pair of shoes or sell a piece of clothing to consumers. We should provide a concept or lifestyle." Now, the complete sales system has been initially formed in Anta. Zheng Jie's goal is to become a storytelling expert like Anta or Nike.

Therefore, Pan Chun's work plays a connecting role in the process of Anta. According to his needs, the company decides the theme of celebrity endorsement. Pan Chun designs according to the theme, and the brand department passes the theme through activities to the media. Finally, the store sells and displays the goods according to the theme.

Sun Xian's work is the third step. He is the Commissioner of Anta brand market center. His team has participated in all the planning of Garnett China bank. How to make this pair of shoes have a loud promotion opportunity in China? Expo is a good platform.

They did not want Garnett to be a simple star tourist, but only a little lace on the news of the Expo. What Anta wants most is to organize an event at the expo news center to get the air of the scene and full attention. However, the expo news center has a stipulation that it is not possible to publish corporate activities here, and how much money it can not pay.

Ideas must be adapted.

In order to knock on World Expo, Sun Xianxiao and his colleagues gathered a lot of information in the early days. They knew that Zhou Hanmin, the deputy director of the Expo Bureau, liked basketball very much and knew Garnett and Celtics, which led them to find a breakthrough. Sun Xianxiao and his colleagues thought of giving gifts. Some friends came from far away to give a gift to the Expo. This courtesy, the host always refused to be a thousand miles away. As a result, Anta executives contacted Zhou Hanmin, explaining the intention of turning a commercial show into a cultural blending tour.

In the afternoon of August 4th, Garnett became the first "guest" to be welcomed by the expo news center. He gave Anta's shoes for his design as a gift to Chen Zhu, Minister of the activity Department of the World Expo Bureau. As a gift, Chen Zhu gave him three "Haibao". Witnessing the process is more than 20 other media invited by Anta and 20 other media under the expo news center. The excitement of the scene was beyond Sun Xianxiao's expectation.

CCTV5 reporter Lining, during the Garnett trip to China, has been photographing all activities. He has also participated in Nike, Adidas and other business activities, and Anta's activities have become increasingly mature and mature in his view. Kobe Bryant, who came to China almost the same time as Garnett, is the spokesperson of Nike, with a slightly higher fame than Garnett. However, the exposure rate of "Kobe China trip" is far lower than that of "KG China".

Obviously, the "Chinese wisdom" behind the Expo activities is not the brand of international sports, which is the advantage of local enterprises. Anta also did not stop in World Expo's success. In August 5th, they also had to make the final show in the city's commercial zone, Hong Kong Hui square.

As the fourth stop of China's trip, Garnett was arranged to go to the Hong Kong foreign exchange store to press the hand model, then went to the hall which was hollowed out in the middle of the shopping mall and held a brief interaction with the fans. After the news spread, Hong Kong Hui's Anta store gathered a lot of KG fans who came to hear the news. They signed the pen and camera, hoping to get the idol's signature and photo.

However, the staff of Anta sports market center do not want to see any mistakes at the end. Since noon, they have been arranging the entry route for KG. One hour before entering the field, Anta has specifically urged the security of the shopping mall. "From the elevator exit, we must block the crowd on both sides of the aisle".

At 4:30, KG walked out of the elevator. In a hoarse cry, he did not notice that he had just passed past his old Adidas store.

Less than a minute in the Anta store, Garnett went to a hall, and all the floors were full of people. The enthusiasm of Chinese fans was even more pleasantly surprised by Anta than the style of World Expo. Thousands of people shouted "KG, KG". The Anta employee sighed to reporters: "our store has ushered in the most popular days in history, far more than Nike and Adidas."

KG was less than 15 minutes before and after the remittance in Hong Kong, but the sensation of the scene made Anta staff feel satisfied. Everything looks beautiful.

From gaining the advantage of sports resources, packing sports stars, launching product concepts to brand image activities, until the final product design and terminal display, Anta can be as professional as Nike or Adidas, and even even more than these two teachers in some links.

The question is, will Anta make more than $500 shoes and compete with the two in the same area?

Zheng Jie's answer is no, "the two or three line city is still the base of Anta", whether it is the product's function or price, Anta aims at the demand of the middle end market. Chen Shixin, a sports brand consultant who wrote the book "Anta never stops," also believes that Anta can't discard its own advantages in the two or three tier cities, while Anta's first China, "in fact, want to go beyond the international brand, but Lining."

Zheng Jie also said that the Italy sports brand FILA, which was acquired by Anta last year, is the complement of Anta's high-end products, and Anta brand will not go up. "Go up, do you think competition will be small?" Zheng Jie asked.

Back in August 3rd, young young writer lived in Xiamen. When he heard that Garnett was coming to Jinjiang, he came to the door of Anta company early. But security guards blocked him from more than 10 other fans. Even if Garnett visited the factory image shop, they could only wave to KG through the glass window.

"There are only 10 fans. Why don't we ask for a signature? I like KG, but I hate Anta." Xiao Wen complained. In the same way, when the host said, "let's shout for KG," the station shouted the sea whistle. But when he said, "let's shout for Anta," there was silence.

Chen Shixin said that brands should not be high above, but should provide opportunities or platforms for communication with consumers. But KG China's least action is to interact with fans. In addition to having brief greetings with fans at the Hong Kong Hui and CCTV5 shooting activities, most of KG was assigned to CCTV5, NBA and other media interviews.

Zheng Jie said that they had tried their best. There were too many people coming from the Hong Kong Hui to arrange the interaction between the superstars and fans. However, the courage of Nike is obviously greater. In the Chengdu line, Nike arranged for Kobe to train for small players in the post gate basketball park. Everyone knew that Kobe was going to leave when the weather was not ready. However, Nike did not persuade Kobe to leave. Instead, he asked the latter to pick up the microphone: "I started playing basketball from two years old, and nothing could stop me from playing basketball. Now the rain is nothing at all. I will not leave. "

Compared with the "Just do it" on TV commercials, this is a better way to publicize the cowboy culture behind the Nike brand. Compared with KG's numerous media interviews, Kobe spent more time in Changchun science and Technology University, Jinan University, West Lake gymnasium and fans. To be similar to international brands, Anta seems to have a long way to go.

In August 3rd, Xiaowen left Jinjiang with regret, but Anta employees were relieved. A fan wearing Adidas's T-shirt and sneakers unexpectedly deceived the security guard. He almost followed KG to take the elevator to see the boss. "Fortunately, it was knocked down at the elevator door, otherwise it would be tragic today."