Why Are Kobe, Li Na And Jeremy Lin More And More Sports Stars Crossing The Border To Attract Gold?

In the summer of 2016, the three place.

Almost simultaneously with China's online foreign teachers one to one business linked.

If you go to Li Na's endorsement of 51Talk, the online brand of English teachers who are most concerned about the Chinese market will maintain a cooperative relationship with sports stars.

Some people say that this is a tacit coincidence of several companies.

But perhaps there is also the inevitability of industry development.

Star arrives, playing the horn of online education "making money"?

Even without the popularity of star auras, online foreign teachers' English is now the most capital concern track.

Whether at the end of last year, VIPABC raised the Unicorn C round of $200 million financing, 51Talk Dragon Boat Festival in the New York Stock Exchange IPO bell, or a few days ago VIPKID announced that it was invested in the C round of $one hundred million, each piece of news, people have a moment of doubt: is it really "capital cold winter"?

In fact, capital has always been there, but compared to the frenzied venture capital boom in the first half of 2015, "revenue" has become a more important yardstick than user volume and traffic volume.

Hematopoietic enterprises are more likely to spend the winter. Unlike many Internet models that wool comes out on pigs, the mode of collecting tuition fees by B2C live broadcast is more direct and effective. It is not surprising that harvesting capital is favored.

Because of this, liquidity has become the direction of many online education companies.

Questions library and search tools began to broadcast live and answer questions online. O2O's pformation of 2B and operation line is all about finding a business closer to money.

The "permanent free" English learning tool into thousands of public schools box fish English is a better example. On the day of announcing Jeremy Lin's endorsement, the box fish on the cash issue has announced its profit making way: online one to one English course.

The world-class sports stars can enter the educational circle in a short time, which can be regarded as a token of this trend.

The positive market brand strategy reflects the judgement of enterprises on the online education market.

The harvest season may be coming.

Why do educational enterprises need sports stars?

Star + enterprise is a mature industry chain, but the "entertainment road" is actually wider entertainment stars.

For sports stars, endorsement sports related products are routine routines.

Apart from being regarded as a negative textbook, Ronaldo's golden throat lark advertisement is rarely impressive.

In this regard, enterprises are often relatively cautious.

But with an international background.

There is indeed a story that fits well with "learning English".

As the most successful Chinese player in the overseas sports league, Yao Ming's significance has already surpassed basketball and has become an excellent story of cultural blending.

From the hard work before going abroad and the inconvenience of plation from the us to the United States, the language of the locker room of the US team is quite different.

In the recent 51Talk conference, Li Na's sentence "to learn English well, to go out to compete and quarrel with the referee" has also become a widely circulated piece.

From the practical point of view, the benefits of sports stars for online education enterprises can be divided into three aspects.

The first thing to bear is the education market.

A survey of young white-collar workers shows that many people have vague ideas about online classes for the first time, starting with Yao Ming's huge outdoor wall advertisements.

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At the same time, a single payment of 5000 to tens of thousands of foreign teachers courses, also need the endorsement of big stars.

Trust is the foundation of all pactions, and offline organizations can display their strength to consumers with the shops and exquisite decoration of prosperous sections.

And on the line, please make an expensive star, and also an effective way of gaining confidence.

The best result is to link the image of a star to an enterprise brand.

Compared with actors and singers, sports stars can cover a wider age range, taking into account the preferences of parents and children.

Yao Ming, Li Na, Jeremy Lin and Kobe have different inspirational stories, struggling, upward and struggling sports spirit, which correspondingly correspond to the spiritual core that education should give.

In an interview with mustard heap, Jeremy Lin, founder of box fish, has said that the key to celebrity endorsement is whether his image can convey what the product wants to express. His American identity (native English speaker), Harvard graduate (learning tyrant) and inspirational stories in NBA (positive energy) are all labels needed by box fish.

According to Baidu index, the announcement of Kobe investment and Jeremy Lin endorsement has attracted a wave of concern for VIPKID and box fish.

The long-term effect depends on the operation ability of the enterprise.

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Why do sports stars choose online education?

Endorsement is also an important part of sports star's income.

According to the data released by Forbes magazine, Li Na earned $23 million 600 thousand in 2014, of which the sponsors earn as much as $18 million.

The choice of endorsement companies is actually a management of their own image.

Successful endorsements can make enterprises and their own image appreciation at the same time, and a few years ago, Ding Junhui, Liu Guoliang and others signed a contract with Sanlu milk, which became a sad story.

In the field of online education such as technology and education, we can achieve the goal of killing two birds with one stone.

Fashion and cutting-edge technology companies are conducive to improving the popularity of young people. Education undoubtedly has a positive attribute.

For NBA stars, visiting community schools to make contributions to education is a common rule in the annual break period, and the endorsement of educational technology enterprises is not surprising.

As a business alliance, NBA has valued the value of the Chinese market since twenty-first Century.

Even if Yao Ming's strength and status are not up to the mark, every Chinese player who has entered the NBA has received the attention of the super standard.

Even Chinese Americans such as Jeremy Lin are often referred to by the media as "the value of the Chinese market".

In such an environment, the players naturally have more attention and recognition of the Chinese market.

Kobe's investment and Jeremy Lin's signing may also have something to do with this "China Complex".

Whether endorsement or investment, the recognition of enterprises is also an important factor.

Chinese Yao Ming (English), Li Na (English), American Kobe (Italian, Spanish), Jeremy Lin (Chinese) have long time of language learning experience.

Compared to Haagen Dazs, Rolex, Mercedes Benz and other stars will usually sign the big.

Online education companies have obvious gaps in popularity and scale.

The experience of language learning and the recognition of new learning mode are also one of the reasons why celebrities are linked to online education.

Celebrity endorsement does not necessarily mean real gold or silver.

It is not easy to take the budget of celebrity endorsements for technology start-ups who need to spend money wisely.

In many cases, star investors themselves become "part-time" spokesmen of enterprises.

In the early days, Xu Xiaoping and Li Kaifu, who were angels investors, were put on the publicity page by 51Talk and VIPKID respectively.

The other way is to let stars become investors and share the popularity and reputation of celebrities with equity instead of cash.

As can be seen from the above picture, VIPKID announced that Kobe was one of the investors in August 23rd. The heat was even higher than the C round of financing and Liu Tao endorsed at the same time.

In NBA, the story of stars investing in technology companies is no longer new.

Jordan and Mark Cuban, the owner of the Mavericks, jointly invested in Sportradar, a sports big data company in Switzerland, and helped them enter the US market. Little emperor James bought a share of high-end Beats by Dre, making a net profit of 30 million dollars after Apple bought the latter.

In Kobe's fund Bryant Stibel announced projects, including sports, health, media, retail, data and other fields, involving stages including seed wheel to C wheel.

Among sports stars who do not lack capital, fame and connections, it is becoming a norm to make asset management through investment.

It also opens a new path for startups who want to take advantage of stars.

The frequent "close contact" between online language training companies and sports stars is the result of matching their development stages with star demands.

The mass participation of sports stars has also made online education more and more exposed to the public eye.

On the way to profitability, educational start-ups are still racing all the way.