The Road Of Strong Rise Of Domestic Sports Brands

Once upon a time, when we talked about the brand of sports shoes, the most frequently used words were "Adidas", "Nike" and some other international brands, but now the situation is changing. Local brands are known to us, such as Anta, PEAK, and Lining. They rush into our vision in a fashion like posture. With the improvement of sales volume and strength, these local sports brands already have the strength and capital to challenge transnational sports brands.

Xu Zhihua, PEAK CEO, said in an interview with "China made news" reporter: "I hope that PEAK will be able to challenge Nike and Adidas as an international brand one day." From this, we can also see the dream of internationalization of PEAK. Today, domestic sports brands are moving in this direction.

Wrestling world giants

As a famous brand in the world, whether it is "Nike" or "Adidas", it has spared no effort in brand promotion. China's sports brand manufacturers have gradually understood this point, and began to wrestle with the world giants of these two sports brands on this battlefield. For example, with the influence of NBA in China, China has almost become a stage for NBA stars in the past two months. Starting from Nike's opening of NBA Star China in June, Adidas, PEAK, Anta and other sports brands have brought their own signing stars to China, including nearly 20 NBA superstars such as Kobe, Howard, Garnett, Kidd and Durant. The lineup is strong enough to compete with the American basketball dream team.

Although they are their masters, such as Kobe and Durant, who represent Nike, Howard wears Adidas's LOGO, Garnett and Anta have released their own brand KG, Kidd also has her own exclusive combat boots, but their purpose of this trip is very consistent -- publicizing their endorsement brand, signing new shoes, pleasing fans and consumers.

Obviously, PEAK, Anta And so on, domestic brands no longer want to play a role of reading with Prince Edward. With the improvement of sales volume and strength, these Chinese brands already have the strength to challenge transnational sports brands.

However, although the number and level of domestic brands have been close to that of multinational brands, there are still many gaps between domestic brands and Nike originating in the United States, as well as Adidas as sponsors of NBA sponsors, in promoting the integration of brand culture and NBA temperament.

Li Xiangru, a professor at Capital Institute of Physical Education, told China Daily News reporters that the gap between Chinese local brands and world famous sports brands lies in two aspects. One is the independent property right and time accumulation of the brand, the other is the cultural connotation of the brand.

Li Xiangru believes that some domestic sports brands at home were born at the beginning of the year. It is only driven by interests, but it ignores the establishment of long-term goals. This is a comparison.

Fortunately, some domestic brands have begun to realize this problem. In the view of PEAK CEO Xu Zhihua, brand marketing is like a basketball game. Only when a team makes 5 different players play their greatest potential, can a huge "chemical reaction" occur. In the same way, only by mobilizing as many marketing resources as possible is it possible to win in a more and more intense marketing campaign.

Facts have proved that. Peak The correctness of this strategy. According to data from ZOUmarketing, a third party research firm, PEAK has surpassed Nike and Lining as the top sports brand of Chinese basketball.

Li Xiangru said, this data also reflects the brand's initiative. A good world brand should first be recognized by its own country, so that people can love and accept it. At this point, both Lining and PEAK did a good job. {page_break}

Competition is a long distance race.

Brand building is not an overnight effort. Similarly, the competition in the sports market is doomed to be a long-distance race, and a temporary lead can not guarantee the final victory.

In the international market, Adidas was once the king of the market, but now Nike has started to lead. In the Chinese market, Lining has been an outstanding talent, but now, with the rise of Anta, PEAK, China Trends and XTEP sports brands, the situation has been formed.

Former China market leader Lining After losing the first place in the market after losing labor, it began to rise vigorously. In 2009, the largest sports brand in China, with more than 8 billion yuan of sales, surpassed Adidas in the Chinese market and became the sports brand after Nike. This year, Lining abandoned the old LOGO, launched the brand new logo, and the new slogan "make the change", began to impact on Nike.

PEAK, who is temporarily behind, has not given up the pace of catching up. The Chinese sports brand, which has been professionalized and internationalized from the beginning, has grown stronger and stronger. From simple NBA advertising to team cooperation and then to the star endorsement, the official partnership was finally established, and an international NBA star "TEAM" was formed. PEAK's brand awareness, sales and profit margins have been rapidly upgraded, and have entered the second camp.

Then, how should a sports brand go to the world? The answer given by Li Xiangru is: "focus on national culture and maintain broad mind." Only with the cultural output, let the culture of the brand be embodied in the product, let the integration of the international perspective and the local culture, let the strength of the brand be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

This point has been confirmed in the choice of PEAK star endorsement: among the 12 stars who signed NBA stars, Kidd, Battier and others are Americans, targeting the US market; Petrus is French, focusing on the Western European market; Vujacic is from Serbia, watching the Eastern European market; Mutombo is Africans, and the mysterious continent will also be an important strategic fulcrum for PEAK internationalization. Today, PEAK's products have been sold to dozens of countries and regions in Japan, Korea, Europe and the Middle East through distributors.

Internationalization is more than just selling products abroad. Internationalization must be based on Professionalization, and should have international R & D strength, internationalized talents, international marketing resources and international sales channels.

Chinese brands have opened the design and research center to Nike, the world's largest sports brand. Recently, Anta plans to enter the overseas market with the help of signing Garnett's machine. While PEAK is preparing to set up an American branch and R & D center in Losangeles, and is negotiating with several large retailers in the US, it is expected to open in the US in the second half of this year. All this indicates that China's local sports brands are catching up with the pace of transnational brands and going global.