Lining'S New Basketball Marketing Strategy, Accompanied By Personnel Shock

The news of the closure of the exclusive store in Hongkong was reported recently. Lining Still the action is frequent: high level is born again, sign basketball star... Recently, its shares have been suspended for the purpose of releasing sensitive information related to stock prices.

According to the insiders, Lining's new strategy is directly related to the high-level adjustment. Lining needs a new team to push forward the new strategy. And before it has been dispersed resources, basketball as an international movement has also been ignored. After the involvement of TPG, Lining began to focus on basketball business.

In response to Lining's signing of NBA heat star Wade, the reaction of the market is not only expected but also questioned. Lining pointed out that Wade's joining has made the company achieve a new breakthrough in the accumulation of sports resources.

　　 Frequent high-level personnel changes

In October 11th, the Li Ning Co announced that Zhong Yiqi, executive director and chief financial officer (CFO), has resigned as executive director and chief financial officer for pursuing other career developments, and the appropriate candidate for the new chief financial officer has not yet been decided.

The market seems to be optimistic about the news: Lining's stock price rose 6.14% on 11 days, and the stock price rose 3.43% again on the second day, a new stock price in March.

Since the first half of last year, Lining has left many senior staff members. The industry is not surprised about the personnel changes and believes that Lining may still have a continuous change next.

Lining has been facing the problem of brand and positioning in recent years. In order to turn losses into profits and rebuild the company's image, Lining actively promoted Brand remolding But little effect has been achieved, which has led to frequent changes in Lining management. Zhong Yiqi's exit may be related to TPG's disagreement over the company's strategy.

For external comments, Lining public relations company did not directly deny the reply to reporters' mail. It only said that Zhong Yi Qi had resigned purely for personal reasons, and the company executives had been working happily with Zhong Yiqi.

Zhang Qing, the founder of sports Consulting Co. Ltd., said that Lining is still in the adjustment period, including the corresponding personnel changes.

Zhong Yiqi's departure may be the main manifestation of the company's strategic change. There is also a strong correlation between personnel changes and changes in company strategy.

　　 Focus on mainstream movement

Senior personnel continued to adjust, Lining's new strategy is also constantly advancing.

Lining announced recently that he signed a contract with American NBA star Wade. According to ESPN reporter Mark Stern, the Li Ning Co has given Wade 10 year contract and the annual endorsement fee is as high as $10 million, according to the insider. It is revealed that Wade will also get a substantial share of stock from Li Ning Co.

The outside world indicated that Lining sponsored CBA and signed NBA star, indicating that after Lining returned, the basketball market was set for its development goal. Lining himself said in an interview with the media that this signing is a brand new start for Lining's basketball industry.

Want to become mainstream Sports brand We must have the right to speak in mainstream sports. For this strategy, an insider who did not want to be named said that Lining's whole leadership did not pay much attention to basketball in this international movement. Lining's personnel adjustment is directly related to his return to the sports brand itself.

"Before Lining was more focused on products and less focused on marketing, which was not even solved in the Zhang Zhiyong era." Garment independent commentator Ma Gang said.

Zhang Qing added that although the CBA was signed before, the resource structure was not complete enough. "The impact of sports on consumers depends largely on the attention and direct product gains brought by the star effect." Li Ning Co also said that both the signing of CBA and Wade are due to the need for sufficient resources to support business development.

　 Astronomical marketing effect awaits

Is the market optimistic about this signing?

It's not easy for local brands to sign Wade. "According to Wade's current physical condition, 3~5 years of basketball career is not a problem. Signing Wade is a good breakthrough for local brands."

Zhu Qinghua said that as the 30 year old Wade will enter or enter the later stage of basketball career, he may not bring long-term brand effect to Lining's basketball products.

"Lining's Wade brand is also the only basketball brand in the country, just like Nike's Jordan, but the subsequent cooperation is not easy to say." Ma Gang told reporters that Wade can not bring development to Lining is still unknown.

This is a question on the one hand. In addition, in the operation of funds, there are also people in the industry who doubt whether Lining can afford it. Recently, Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch predicted that Li Ning Co's annual loss in 2012 will be around 226 million yuan. And the market believes that the total price of one hundred million dollars plus Li Ning Co stock bonus is also an extremely high signing amount. In this regard, Ma Gang believes that Lining used to diversify funds, but now it is focused on one piece, which has little impact.

"The effect of Lining's move depends on product design, production and marketing results. The positioning of the product determines the success or failure of Lining's strategy." Zhu Qinghua said that if the strategy fails to bring about good results, it may trigger the company's high-level turbulence again.

However, Ma Gang also said that this is not the result of Lining unilaterally seeking cooperation. At present, NBA's attention in China has also dropped a lot. We need to use Lining's sports brand to promote its influence in China. "Lining's strategy and the promotion of NBA China market also have resources docking, and the follow-up effect is also worth looking forward to."