Near the Winter Olympics, the figure of athletes can often be seen on social platforms, and the most powerful is the post-00s genius girl Gu Ailing~
In the 2021-2022 World Cup, Gu Ailing won 6 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medal in three small events of freestyle skiing in 37 days, and there was a wave of harvest before the Winter Olympics
Along with the honor, there is also the huge advertising value she presents. As the "top stream" among athletes, Gu Ailing not only has online business ability, but also has super excellent appearance and figure.
Such a talented and beautiful girl has naturally received the attention of many brands, and luxury brands that have always liked to cooperate with celebrities frequently show affection to her.
Celebrities vs athletes, who is more suitable to be a brand spokesperson?
In 2021, Tiffany & Co. officially announced that Ailing was the spokesperson for a global brand, promoting that the aura in blockbusters is not lost to female stars.
Lingerie brand Victoria's Secret issued an invitation to her, and in 2021, Gu Ailing officially became a member of The VS Collective.
Subsequently, luxury watch brand IWG and skincare brand Estée Laudella also ran an olive branch to her.
Endorsing magazine covers has become commonplace for 18-year-old athlete Gu Ailing. It is not difficult to guess that after the Beijing Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing will show greater commercial value.
Coincidentally, in recent years, many athletes who have won glory for the country have successively entered the fashion circle and established contacts with luxury brands.
The fencing goddess has often attended events since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with ready-to-wear clothing from top fashion brand DIOR.
Sun Yiwen debuts in the DIOR 2021 Fall/Winter ready-to-wear collection "OK! Wonderful Ninth Anniversary Ceremony》
Sun Yiwen debuted the DIOR Prespring 2022 ready-to-wear collection at Bazaar Charity Night
As soon as the New Year of 2022 passed, Sun Yiwen filmed a commercial film as a DIOR brand friend, showing the new DIOR VIBE series, creating a new peak in the linkage between the sports circle and the fashion circle.
Athletes are not only endorsing more and more, but also the Title is getting higher and higher.
In January, the watch brand Omega officially announced the athlete Ma Long as the Omega celebrity ambassador, becoming the brand's only male celebrity ambassador in China.
This is the highest title that an athlete has won in the luxury category, and while praising "Dragon Team Cow X", we also want to know:
Why do brands love to find athletes as spokespersons more and more?
"Collapsed houses" continue, and the star effect is frequently crisis
2021 can be called the "first year of the collapse" of the entertainment industry, Wu Yifan, Huo Zun, Li Yundi, Zhang Zhehan, Meng Meiqi and other people have continuously "overturned", which is rare in the entertainment industry.
Wang Lihong, who has always been known as a "positive energy idol", was terminated at the speed of light because of the "devastating" long article released by his ex-wife Li Lianglei, becoming the spokesperson for the shortest business hours (35 hours) in history.
"Small fresh meat" is unreliable, and "positive energy" is also risky, which makes brands have to set the threshold higher and the publicity becomes more low-key when choosing a spokesperson in the entertainment industry.
DIOR's current celebrity endorsements in China are mainly makeup, skin care, fragrance series, not involving ready-to-wear, handbags and other core businesses, since May 2021 announced Wang Junkai became the spokesperson of DIOR China Wilderness Men's Perfume Series, there has been no new Chinese celebrity spokesperson.
Ying Yang DIOR China Makeup Spokesperson
Liying Zhao, DIOR China Skincare Spokesperson
Wang Junkai DIOR Spokesperson of China Wilderness Men's Perfume Series
In November 2021, Louis Vuitton and Zhou Dongyu reached an endorsement cooperation, which began quietly and was not hyped on social platforms.
If it weren't for the LV Spring/Summer Women's Show held in Shanghai, the media broke out the battle for the position, and perhaps fewer people would have noticed.
In the new environment, celebrity endorsements have changed from a win-win situation to a bet-on gamble, and risks such as "collapsing houses" and "rollovers" are full of uncertainty for brands and cannot be accurately quantified and estimated. The short-term benefits and marginal effects that celebrity spokespersons can bring to the brand are also gradually decreasing.
In order to avoid risks, brands have higher requirements for the back tune of the spokesperson, but the difficulty of the back tune will directly increase the cost, further resulting in the star endorsement not being optimistic.
Athlete endorsements are the trend of the times
Fashion brands want to cross the sports industry, and it is not an overnight thing. More and more fashion brands are using sporting events to open up their own fashion battlefield.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Ralph Lauren provided team uniforms for the United States and Kim Kardashian's lingerie brand Skims provided underwear for the national team.
In order to package their youthful image, young, energetic athletes are the number one target of the brand. In January 2021, Louis Vuitton announced Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka as the brand's global brand ambassador.
This is the first time a brand has appointed athletes as brand ambassadors, a move seen as a milestone in the luxury brand's focus on sports stars. It is not difficult to guess that such cooperation will continue to be staged in the future.
Consumption era Traffic is always king
The tone of patriotism and the accident of the star collapsing house are, in the final analysis, just the objective reasons for this marketing, for the brand, the most important thing is the heat & ability to carry goods.
According to the statistics of the Micro Hotspot Research Institute, since the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games, the attention of the Chinese people to the Olympic Games has exceeded imagination, and the highest heat index of the topic once exceeded 99.
Athletes frequently seize the hot search, Sun Yiwen, Yang Shuyu and other high-value athletes out of the circle also let the brand see:
Athletes not only have a huge fan base, but also show their strength compared with stars in terms of appearance image and national influence.
Su Bingtian endorses menswear brand Seven Wolves
Hanako Maeda, founder of Japanese luxury clothing brand Adeam, said: "Modern urban consumers are constantly looking for something that represents authenticity, not mixed with too much commercial purpose and hype, and positive and healthy sports athletes are representative of this, which is one of the best promotional points that fashion brands can leverage." ”
For brands with a long-term development vision, when choosing an image spokesperson, it is not only necessary to consider the economic effects brought by the spokesperson, but also to fully take into account the social benefits and the long-term value of the spokesperson for brand building.
Athletes who are qualified to participate in international competitions and can achieve excellent results have proved their value and excellent business ability with professional level. In contrast, athletes, whether it is the positive energy image of never giving up or the patriotic feelings they bring, can resonate with consumers and strengthen the brand's favorability.
As consumers, we prefer to see athletes who win glory for the country favored by big names and take one strength endorsement after another. After all, in addition to the show business, all sectors of society should have "stars", right?