How Did Clay Thompson'S Basketball Shoes Join Anta?

To do well in basketball is an important consideration for Anta to play a leading role in the country.

"Clay Thompson went to Guangzhou for a crazy journey. The entrance fee was 200 yuan, close to 400 yuan." at the end of June, a refund message appeared on the Taobao platform, which was a cheaper pfer ticket, and the paction price of the VIP seat was even more than 1000 yuan.

The cattle seem to be very optimistic about this movie.

In fact, this is the last stop for Jinzhou warrior star Clay Thompson in China this summer.

In the evening of June 30th, under the arrangement of its Chinese footwear sponsor, the three star champion appeared in Guangzhou Sports University with the 2018 Anta mad basketball finals.

In the first round of the first draft of the draft in 2011, Clay Thompson, who entered NBA in the eleventh place, was the son of the champion center. At first, his nickname in Chinese basketball fans was "Buddha". Later, he became the spokesman of Anta. He came to China many times, because he was too popular to be called "Chinese soup".

The trip to China in 2018 is the same as in the past several times, where the Chinese soup is located, laughing and laughing, the fans continue to expand, and even attract countless female fans.

Thompson and fans self timer

Obviously, Anta's endorser is worth it.

Xu Yang, assistant general manager of Anta and general manager of basketball department, revealed to the interface news that with the popularity of Clay Thompson, the marketing fever of "Crazy" basketball will rise with the core of its Chinese behavior. In 2018, the flow of Anta basketball "Crazy" products will reach 500 million.

In 2014, Anta became an official NBA market partner and signed Clay Thompson. The local brand basketball business continued to improve.

Anta official data: "KT1 (Thompson generation boots) sold 100 thousand pairs, KT2 sold 20 tens of thousands of pairs, close to 300 thousand pairs, KT3 is expected to achieve 500 thousand pairs."

In the 2017 fiscal year, Anta's annual business income increased by 25.1% to 16 billion 700 million yuan, ranking first in the domestic sports brand.

Among them, regardless of sales contribution or brand image, basketball business is playing an important role in Anta, which is the only sport category established by the company.

Ding Shizhong, chairman of Anta's board of directors, called basketball a decisive factor in the "market position" of the Chinese market.

In other words, doing basketball well is an important consideration for Anta to play a leading role in the country.

Jinzhou warrior coach Steve Kerr has revealed that during the process of recruiting Durant, "Armour is a good thing for Nike (Durant endorsement). If we join hands, it is also a good thing for Under."

One side of Thompson interposed, "Anta is also a good thing!"

This is the norm of Thompson - Li Ling, the vice president of Anta group, is really a spokesman for conscience.

At the beginning of the cooperation, Anta did not anticipate the return of the deal: in 2014, the local brand signed the first contract with Thompson, who is still in the rookie contract.

But he joined the all star and League best team in the first season of cooperation and won the final championship. Now Thompson has been promoted to star level.

More importantly, looking at the whole NBA, it is hard to find such a match star.

Thompson admitted that when he first signed a contract with Anta, he did not have an in-depth understanding of the company from the other side of the ocean, and was mainly touched by his sincerity and the treatment of signature shoes.

After all, in Anta, Thompson is entitled to "head card" treatment.

In the interview with Forbes, the warrior star mentioned that during the design of the KT3 product, he would discuss with the designers the material and color matching of the shoes, hoping to use his sneakers to convey his ideas.

Thompson participates in sneakers design

It is expected that in August this year, Anta will issue KT4 boots. One important link of Thompson's trip to China is to try on new shoes.

In March this year, Anta discussed the KT5 products launched next year in the us with Thompson, and provided 500 design drawings for reference.

In the end, Thompson elected several models that he liked, and Anta will develop future products based on them.

In fact, just like Jordan in Nike and Currie in Under Armour, it is Thompson's hope and Thompson's future vision to train Michael Jordan into his own "Michael Jordan" and launch his personal brand.

In 2017, the two sides renewed the 10 year long agreement, and the duration of cooperation was extended to 2026.

If Thompson can meet the award clause, he will get a maximum of 80 million dollars, which is a handsome shoe contract.

In Anta's view, this enough "dedicated" star not only helps to enhance brand image and fame, but also brings obvious fans economy, so that it can get a batch of new consumers.

Xu Yang said: "in the past few years, consumers first enter your shop to pick products. Now consumers are directly searching for certain commodities, such as KT series shoes, and then enter Anta store."

In the just concluded "618" Shopping Festival, Anta electric business helped the warriors to win the championship, limiting the introduction of 300 pairs of KT3 "champion three armed forces" special shoes, products sold out in 1 second.

Last year, Anta launched the "three day doomed" T-shirt is even more difficult.

Driven by Thompson, the flow of Anta basketball "Crazy" basketball products reached 500 million in 2018.

However, the brand has made it clear that it will not consider signing more players on a large scale.

From CBA and NBA to "Crazy"

Before signing Clay Thompson, the main battlefield of Anta basketball has been placed in China for a long time.

In the 2004 season, Anta signed the CBA tournament of the top basketball tournament in China and became the only designated equipment sponsor.

At that time, the local company hoped to enhance the brand awareness of the domestic market. However, there was also a voice rating: at that time, the early CBA influence was weak, and Anta was the "save field" for the league.

Since then, with the gradual influx of foreign aid and the increasing popularity of CBA, Anta has made remarkable returns.

In the first year of cooperation with CBA, Anta's annual turnover was only 310 million, doubled to 670 million next year, and its performance increased year by year, reaching 8 billion 900 million in 2011.

To a large extent, CBA plays an important role in enhancing brand recognition and helping Anta shape professional sports image.

Li Yuanwei, director of the front basket management center, talked about the cooperation between Anta and CBA. "From Anta, cooperation with CBA has promoted the management level of the company, accumulated rich experience in sports marketing, and finally successfully listed, from private enterprises to international companies."

The 2012 season is Anta's last season as a CBA sponsor, including Nike and Lining, who have joined the competition for new contracts. Nike's offer is 80 million in a single season, while Anta and Lining offer billions of dollars.

After fierce competition, Lining finally won the contract with a 5 year high 2 billion contract, which means Lining invested at least 400 million annually.

By contrast, Anta's early signing of CBA is relatively low, with an annual investment of only $20 million.

In the past 8 years, the cost of Lining's new contract has increased 20 times.

Anta's apparent return from the old contract has become an important factor in sponsoring the price rise.

Lining snatched the official identity of CBA, and Anta basketball met Waterloo for the first time in 8 consecutive years of triumph.

From another point of view, grabbing CBA also means a heavy economic account. After the news of the 2 billion major contracts, Li Ning Co's stock price has fallen for three consecutive days. Even if CBA is a high-quality sports resource in China, it is still a question for investors whether the effect can be equated with the expenditure.

In 2012, Lining also signed NBA star Wade for $100 million. PEAK gradually gained more than 10 star players including Tony Parker, and Anta left behind in the fierce competition in the domestic basketball market.

In the face of fierce competition from local brands, Anta basketball that lost CBA has to rearrange its layout.

In 2014, NBA and China announced a long-term partnership with Anta, which became an official NBA market partner and NBA authorized dealer.

Ding Shizhong said after signing the contract: "because basketball is a very important category of Anta, if Anta can make a breakthrough in the basketball market, it will not only stabilize Anta's current status, but also make the whole Anta group go to a higher level."

To put it simply, Anta's cooperation with NBA enables it to launch joint sports shoes and accessories with team and alliance logo, and sell it online and offline. This is the first time NBA has authorized Chinese companies to use joint brands.

In addition to licensed products, Anta also launched numerous basketball activities with NBA in the Chinese market.

Because NBA has huge fans and huge influence in China, Anta hopes to feed the domestic market by international top sports resources and compete with local brands such as PEAK.

At that time, Anta also started the "priceless" basketball strategy, combined with the brand's public market positioning, and launched a high price ratio basketball shoes of 399 yuan.

In 2014, Anta handed over 8 billion 920 million yuan and 1 billion 700 million yuan net profit report card, the contribution of basketball can not be ignored - selling more than 3 million pairs of basketball shoes, sales growth nearly 40%, sales promotion nearly 30%, of which NBA category accounted for 26%.

After that, Clay Thompson officially appeared and had the story of "Chinese soup" and Anta.

In fact, in 2017, Anta also launched a basketball marketing campaign called "going crazy" with the core of Thompson's Chinese behavior.

Xu Yang, general manager of basketball department (left one) Clay Thompson (left two)

Xu Yang said Anta basketball has two IP to make money, one is Clay Thompson, the other is "going crazy".

In 2017, "Crazy" was launched for the first time. It was mainly a street basketball event. Anta started the tour on the street in 12 cities across the country. The climax of the final event was that the group of basketball maniac joined Thompson in Chengdu.

In Anta's view, the goal of this competition is to show the madness of ordinary basketball fans, thereby triggering the resonance of consumers.

A year later, "Crazy" made many changes.

In addition to the competition, it goes deeper into grass-roots youth, and enters more than 100 schools in 12 cities.

The most important thing is that "going crazy" is more closely integrated with the retail level.

To cater to the domestic youth's street basketball craze, Anta has launched a more systematic "mad" product line, which is the main street game practical function.

On the contrary, the Thompson series represents infield, high-end and limited.

The Chinese line, Thompson almost wearing the "Crazy" products debut.

"Last year's madness is more than a competition, and this year it becomes a IP in real sense." Xu Yang said, "the word IP has been rotten, and I think IP is the only way to produce economic benefits."

He said, "to be crazy" this year's product flow is expected to reach 500 million, its sales can continue to the fourth quarter, and sales lead the other commodities of the basketball line.

At the same time, Anta also launched products related to red bull's war horse drink, and launched cooperation with Tmall to enhance the influence of "going crazy" in the retail sector in the form of partners.

A basketball player wins the world.

In the field of sports goods, no enterprise will easily give up this huge cake of basketball.

This is especially true in the Chinese market.

Zheng Jie, President of Anta group, said: "basketball is the most popular team sport in China. 300 million people in China are concerned about basketball and 80% of them like NBA."

The two groups of football and basketball are almost the highest degree of global attention and participation.

However, football equipment has its particularity, and footwear products are hard to wear everyday.

In comparison, basketball shoes can be competent in sports, daily outings or casual fashion, making the market especially broad and a must for sports brand.

Basketball does not lead the major sports brands to achieve outstanding achievements.

In 1984, Nike signed Michael Jordan, which is an important step for us brands to become global giants in the future.

Even in recent years, Under Armour has also gained rapid growth in basketball and even the whole market by virtue of Stephen Currie's influence.

Anta is no exception. Ding Shizhong once said that basketball represents the status of a sports brand in the Chinese market, so as to show Anta's determination to play basketball well.

Basketball business is the only sport category established independently within Anta.

In recent years, Anta's performance has been growing rapidly, and basketball business has played an important role.

Besides performance contribution, basketball also needs to help the brand reach the domestic high-end market and lead Anta's international business.

In the public impression, the overall keynote of Anta is to cater to mainstream consumer groups, with a top price performance of 300 yuan.

The price of high-end basketball products such as Thompson's boots has reached nearly 1000 yuan and is helping Anta win some high-end consumer groups.

"Anta is still a popular brand, but it will not reject high-end consumers. Anta has always emphasized high quality and brand upgrading, which will attract more high-end consumers. Basketball is one of the representative categories," explains Xu Yang.

In addition, in March this year, there were nearly 1000 people in a corner of San Francisco. Their goal was to snap up Anta's KT3-Rocco limited basketball shoes at a price of $159.99 per pair.

Until then, no Americans had been queuing up overnight to rush to buy Chinese brands.

This is the first time this scene, and even Ding Shizhong doubted whether he had found it.

Xu Yang said, "in fact, if you sell 1000 pairs of shoes in the United States that day, you can also sell them."

In fact, before the sale, Anta just announced in its performance conference that it started the strategy of globalization in 2018 and sought overseas growth opportunities.

Immediately, the new shoes were swept away in San Francisco and made a good start for Anta to go abroad.

In China's basketball market, Nike and other international brands still occupy a dominant position.

Nike's latest 2018 financial year results show that the Greater China region continues to lead the global business at a rate of 18%, and the region's revenue has exceeded $5 billion for the first time, and basketball has been an important contribution to Nike's performance.

In the face of the strong international brand, Anta has the advantage of differential competition.

The era of Chinese consumers blindly pursuing foreign brands has passed, but Chinese brands need to give consumers enough high value and brand attitude.

Thompson once talked about the same question in the interview with Forbes. The spokesman for Anta said: "on the market, some basketball shoes will sell for 220 dollars, which is really too expensive. You can buy three pairs of Anta, or different colors, if you have a lot of children, that's a lot of money."

In 2014, at the scene of signing ceremony with NBA, Ding Shizhong had released "three years of Chinese basketball products".

The comprehensive occupancy rate is the top priority.

In this subdivision

At present, there is no accurate data to reflect the latest share of major brands, but the basketball business is clearly the long-term goal of Anta.

This summer, Anta's Chinese star came to China very early. When the championship parade ended, Thompson came to China and became the first champion player to come to China.

In June 30th, China's last stop came to Guangzhou. At the end of its activities, Thompson repeated, "next year, I will return here with fourth championship rings."

There is no doubt that this is also the wish of Anta.