On December 11, the central media 2022 marketing resource tasting meeting was held in Xiamen International Convention and Exhibition Center.
Hu Yong, deputy general manager of Zhongshi Zhiyang Sports Culture Industry (Beijing) Co., Ltd., shared. Here's what to share:
Editor's note: In 2021 and 2022, as the two super competition years are staged in turn, wave after wave of blockbuster events help sports marketing become one of the hottest marketing methods at present, and many brands have begun to focus on this. In this complex "small era" of the entertainment industry, sports marketing will play a more important role in the market in the future due to its advantages of "low risk, high value, and strong top star effect". Whether it is Tesla that "makes big things" or ANTA that "borrows the big trend", first-class brands need the brand content of the grand narrative as a strong endorsement support.
First of all, I would like to share two cases with you, the first is Tesla.
Elon Musk's Tesla has a market capitalization of more than a trillion DOLLARs, surpassing Toyota and becoming the world's most valuable car company. However, what frustrates us advertisers is that this brand never does advertising in the general sense; without advertising, it has made Tesla the coolest and most desirable brand in the past decade.
Let's look at what Elon Musk has been doing all these years — X-space Space Exploration takes over NASA's business, recyclable rockets (there are now four spacecraft in the world that can recover: the United States, Russia, China, and Elon Musk), sends humans to Mars to immigrate, and finally promotes the spread of sustainable energy in the world (that is, Tesla). This boss is so capable of getting things done! Much like Apple Jobs at that time, most of the fans who bought Tesla "like Musk first, and then own Tesla." "Does the consumer just own a car at this time?" NO!
Fans who own Tesla seem to have a rebellious pioneering spirit of "turning the impossible into possible", and have a kind of pride in setting out for the sea of stars with all mankind, and they are willing to pay for it! You could say Musk is a madman, but he just has the ability to have a genius-like "grand narrative" and incorporate this "grand narrative" into his brand.
The second case, now many brands are willing to label themselves as "national tide", some of the effect is average, some are very successful, why? The two words of national tide, my understanding: "country" is China's big country, "tide" is the great tide of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. There are many brands that ignore the need for content support behind these two words - the brand content of "grand narrative".
Let's take a look at how ANTA has done it – it has been sponsoring the Chinese Olympic delegation for 16 years, sponsoring 28 Chinese sports teams, and signing a total of 78 Chinese athletes as spokespersons. What a persistent one! However, it is this insistence that makes the five-star red flag on the chest of ANTA clothing become the background of the brand's grand narrative content, and this sentence "love sports China has ANTA" has become the real "national tide brand".
At the level of communication, ANTA named the Olympic live broadcast, in addition to the standard board and hard wide, from the host costume to the studio product implantation, and even the screen advertisement in the live broadcast of the event, ANTA dominated the sports channel. The phrase "Love Sports, China has Anta" also gradually infected the minds of consumers along with the Chinese pride of raising the national flag and singing the national anthem.
With the brand content of the grand narrative + the strong dissemination of the CCTV sports channel, what kind of return can the brand get? On Singles' Day, the sales of sports shoes and apparel rose from 11th last year to 4th, which shows that the enthusiasm of the whole people for sports and sports is heating up. Anta, on the other hand, ranked first in the category of sports shoes and clothing, increased by 61% year-on-year, with sales of more than 4.6 billion. That's the reward!
Whether it is doing big things like Tesla or taking advantage of the big trend like ANTA, first-class brands need brand content with "grand narrative". But for most brands, if you don't have a boss like Musk who can do things, then you need to take advantage of the momentum. But where is the trend?
Let's look back at the Tokyo Olympics, China won the second place with 38 gold medals, 16 days of competition, China topped the gold medal list for 15 days, until the closing day, which not only let China see the hope of becoming the first place in the gold medal list again, but also let the world realize that the long-term dominance of the United States in the Olympic Games is being rewritten. China has officially entered the era of "two for one" from "guaranteeing two for one". From fighting to fighting, the change of one word, mentality and strength have changed qualitatively. Especially in the context of the Sino-US game, such a performance is of great significance. There are always people who say that the Olympic Games are a war in peacetime, and the gold medal list is indeed a manifestation of comprehensive national strength. It can be said that the Tokyo Olympic Games is a big test at the historical intersection of Chinese sports in the "two hundred years" goal, a gorgeous beginning to the goal of building a sports power in 2035, and a small symbol of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, but it can become a big content for first-class brands to take advantage of the momentum! And such a grand narrative of brand content, in 2022 will continue to be staged.
Let's look around the media environment again, it's very difficult for brands to make communications. In addition to CCTV and video platforms, new platforms such as social media, Douyin Kuaishou, and even Xiaohongshu are grabbing everyone's attention; users are more vertical and more subdivided, dividing everyone into various circles - before it was the post-80s and post-90s, now what Z era, straight men, independent women, etc.; the content is divided into short, news entertainment, sports, and so on. The resources of brand communication are cut to pieces.
This is why, before the Tokyo Olympics, a considerable number of advertisers were looking down on the Olympic Games, believing that it was impossible to have a unified national content and national idol in the era of fragmentation. However, we have seen that in just two weeks, the CCTV media led by sports channels in the Tokyo Olympic Games has aroused high-frequency attention from 70% of the entire Chinese population, covering men, women and children, breaking through all circles. The great thing about super competitions like the Olympic Games and the Asian Games is that it surpasses all other IP, sports itself is the language of the world, and super competitions are not limited to sports, it also has the light of humanity and the feelings of home and country. Individuals cannot live in the "world of segmentation" forever, and everyone needs a universal platform. In the era of fragmentation, first-class brands increasingly need a "grand narrative" carrier, gluing all media, content and even users together to convey universal values that transcend the circle.
The more fragmented it is, the cohesion of super IP and super competitions such as the Olympic Games and the Asian Games will become stronger and stronger. So for first-class brands, the Super Contest is a real circle-breaking heavy weapon!
As a marketing element, when it comes to IP, we have to mention celebrities, let's first look at entertainment stars.
In the past year, many entertainment stars have overturned their cars, including drug addicts, tax evaders, sexual assaults, and photos taken at the Yasukuni Shrine, etc. The incident of artists violating the law and losing morality has brought risks to the corresponding brand marketing; in addition, the Central Propaganda Department, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the State Administration of Taxation, and the Performance Association have issued various forms of "entertainment ban orders." Ban illegal and immoral artists, do not allow idol cultivation, put an end to female cannons, resist vulgar Internet celebrities, oppose traffic theory, and entertainment has entered a small era of high risk!
Sports marketing because of low risk, high topic, and sports competitions can create a national range of top stars in a short period of time, so many brands are signing sports stars, recently Gu Ailing, Su Bingtian to get endorsements to get soft, this is the trend.
Su Bingtian, Asian flyer, 18 brand endorsements. It is worth noting that The Newly Signed China Merchants Bank, we all know the bank's aversion to risk, marketing is very cautious, and signing spokespersons is even rarer. This also confirms that the risk of sports marketing is relatively low. Su Bingtian will continue to appear at the World Championships in Athletics, the Diamond League and the Hangzhou Asian Games next year, and will also appear on the big screen of the sports channel.
Gu Ailing, an 18-year-old girl and the little goddess of freestyle skiing, has begun to appear more and more in the story of brand marketing and media communication, with nearly 20 brand endorsements. In fact, Gu Ailing's "breaking point" has not yet arrived, and two months later in the Winter Olympics, she may really complete the evolution to a sports superstar.
Wu Dajing, the dominant male god of Short Track Speed Skating in China, is endorsed by 9 brands and will compete for the title at the Winter Olympics and the Short Track Speed Skating World Championships next year.
Sun Yiwen, a Chinese epee woman, won the championship with one sword in the final sword of the Olympic Games. 9 endorsements, next year will be in the Hangzhou Asian Games again out of the sword.
Yang Qian, the first gold in the Olympic Games, her beloved little yellow duck sold out in an instant, and her signboard on the podium will become a common collective memory of a generation. 6 brand endorsements, her most important competition next year is the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Wu Lei, who scored 12 goals in the World Cup qualifiers, ranked second in the top scorer list, and although the Chinese men's football team was almost interesting, it never lacked attention. Wu Lei has 6 endorsements and will continue to play in World Cup qualifiers and the Spanish First Division next year.
The world's most expensive motorsport has finally ushered in the first Chinese driver, Zhou Guanyu, who has officially joined the Alfa Romeo team as a driver, and will appear on the field of F1 and on the big screen of the sports channel in 2022. It has been 17 years since F1 first came to China. The entire racing industry, and even the sports business world, is looking forward to the emergence of "China's F1 first man". Please remember this young and handsome face, please remember his name - Zhou Guanyu, he may become a symbol of the public's collective memory and become a spokesperson for brand pursuit like Yao Mingzhi to basketball and Li Na to tennis.
The Chinese women's volleyball team, more than 20 endorsement brands, will participate in the World Women's Volleyball League, the Women's Volleyball World Championships and the Hangzhou Asian Games next year.
The Chinese table tennis team, the champion gold medal harvester, not only won 4 championships at the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston, USA at the end of November, but also once again represented China and the United States to carry out table tennis diplomacy, collectively adding a total of 18 endorsements. Next year, it will continue to win gold and silver in a series of Grand Slam events such as the World Table Tennis Championships and the Asian Games.
Gymnastics teams, swimming teams and weightlifting teams, which are also champions of gold medal harvesters and star-made machines, will appear on sports channels frequently next year, especially in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Just kidding, if you want to rank MCN institutions, the Chinese sports delegation will definitely be at the top of the list, and the top stars will be steadily produced every year. And the stars just introduced, and so on, will shine on the sports channel in 2022, and the sports channel is their first stage. This first has two meanings: the core values of these athletes and stars are created on the field, and the sports channel will present their gorgeous performance on the field for the first time; moreover, the sports channel is also the sports media with the first traffic and the first coverage. The brand was on the same screen with the champion in the first media for the first time, which was to walk with their glory on the field!
This is the event that these top stars will shine next year, and it is impossible to list them all, and more than two dozen events will be broadcast on the sports channel.
It is particularly worth noting that at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September next year, most of the star athletes and star sports teams in the Olympic Games will participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games, the meritorious veterans will end the performance, and the young new forces will appear on the scene. Not only athletes, intelligent venues, intelligent spectators, intelligent transportation, 5G, VR will fully display the strength of China empowered by science and technology, "telling The Chinese story well, spreading the voice of China" will become the mission of the Hangzhou Asian Games, it can be said that the Hangzhou Asian Games is a grand event carrying the dream of national strength and national rejuvenation, and will also be a big platform for brands to tell the theme of "grand narrative" after the Tokyo Olympic Games and the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The special event of the epidemic has connected the two super competition years from 2021 to 2022, the European Cup, the Olympic Games, the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the Chengdu Universiade, the Hangzhou Asian Games, and the World Cup, becoming an unprecedented super sports cycle. Now that this super sports cycle has passed the halfway point, 2022, the second half of the super sports cycle is even more exciting, I hope that the brands and partners here, don't miss it again!