Source: Visual China
Text/Shi Dong Editor/Shi Dong
Editor's Note
With Gu Ailing winning the championship and the Winter Olympics gradually entering a better situation, signing one or more sports stars to endorse enterprises has become the choice of many Chinese companies.
There are reports that the current hot Gu Ailing, before 2021, only 7 brand endorsements, and mostly related to skiing, in 2021 the word soared, becoming 14 brand spokespersons. Endorsement fees also soared, doubling to more than 16 million yuan.
Signing a first-line sports star to endorse a company, is the company really cost-effective? Zhou Jinying, vice president of Xinfengxiang Group and vice president of Fengxiang Shares, believes that in the current market, there are some misunderstandings that enterprises are easy to enter. Stepping into these big pits means that enterprises are spending money in vain, and the actual effect is limited. Therefore, enterprises signing sports star endorsements need to do more complex and refined systematic and strategic considerations.
Zhou Jinying single-handedly operated the cooperation between Fengxiang Food and "Diving Empress" Wu Mingxia. As a former vice president of Yili Group, she was the direct head of public relations activities of the Yili brand. Yili Group is one of the earliest and most effective enterprises in China to cooperate with sports stars on a large scale.
The following is the text of the interview with the Atomic Think Tank.
Atomic Think Tank: You used to be in charge of brand public relations work in Yili, which is one of the earliest and most effective enterprises in China to cooperate with sports stars on a large scale. Now you are in Xinfengxiang and cooperate with sports stars like Wu Mingxia. The first question I want to ask is how do companies choose sports star spokespersons, and how do they calculate the cost benefits of enterprises?
Zhou Jinying: The end point and starting point of marketing are consumers. Communicating with consumers requires a very important medium. The Olympic Games and sports are a medium, and athletes and sports teams are also very important communication elements. Many years ago, companies preferred to choose entertainment stars because the entertainment star market reached more. The 2008 Beijing Olympics were a turning point in the endorsement of businesses by sports stars. Because at this time, the attention of consumers in our country to sports has reached a new level, so many local companies have begun to make strong associations between brands and sports from strategic choices.
Yili sponsored the Chinese sports delegation at the time and was the only sponsor of dairy products for the Beijing Olympic Games. After that, the "seeded players" in some "seed teams" were selected, so that both sports teams and athletes were screened. On this basis, looking at the degree of attention of the players by the majority of consumers, this is another dimension. In the end, Yili selected well-known and well-accepted athletes and sports teams, such as table tennis teams and badminton teams.
The leading athlete at that time, of course, was Liu Xiang, and at that time it can be said that he was the representative of Chinese athletes. From the perspective that the Asian yellow race can break through the encirclement of European and American athletes and break the world record, he is a very eye-catching spokesman. So Yili also signed him, and finally formed an Olympic athlete endorsement team to build the company's Olympic marketing through this.
As for the costs and benefits of enterprises, consumer preferences and cognition are the origin of calculating all gains and losses. Generally, it depends on the company's own strategic goals for consumer communication, and it is not necessarily judged solely by sales volume or market share.
Companies that are strategically tied to sports, such as Nike and ANTA, often need long-term, perennial sponsorship of sports athletes and sports teams. For the FMCG industry, the Olympic Games and the Winter Olympics are relatively phased, and within the scope of consideration of such companies, the revenue is ranked second.
For example, during the Beijing Olympic Games, the price of signing Liu Xiang was almost sky-high. If the cost of signing entertainment stars in the past is considered, the direct income is certainly not appropriate. But he was the commanding heights that had to be won at that time, and at this time it was more important to consider the benefits of the stars and the impact of the future. For enterprises like Yili, the so-called endorsement fees and investment returns are considered in the second step.
Generally speaking, consumer brands calculate the input and output of the spokesperson, examine the development expectations of the industry and the development stage of the company itself, and then look at how much the company needs to invest in the marketing budget of the brand and product. If these products sell for 100 million and are about to touch the ceiling, sign a spokesperson to spend 10 million or 20 million, and then do the dissemination cost 20 million, then this product is bound to lose money. But if a brand is 10 billion yuan of sales revenue, generally speaking, marketing expenses, advertising costs can be mentioned 6-8%, that is, more than 600 million, even if 1% of the endorsement fee is extracted from it, there can also be more than 6 million yuan of funds, generally speaking, a spokesperson is almost enough. Now the hottest Gu Ailing, gritting his teeth, taking out about 18 million yuan is also acceptable.
But the problem is that many companies are now gambling and asking a spokesperson to "catch up with the fashion". But its overall product market share is not so large, and the share it expects to get is not so large. A total of 50 million, 100 million sales, the spokesperson spent 8 million, 10 million, that can basically be considered that the enterprise in this matter is a very failure.
Atomic Think Tank: You've seen a lot of failures in the market, right?
Zhou Jinying: There must be a lot. I know that there is a company's new products want to go public, at that time to find a sports star endorsement, the endorsement fee is 10 million yuan per year, signed for half a year 5 million yuan, I hope to be able to cooperate with the corresponding marketing means, so that sports stars can bring products up. As a result, the sales of the product did not reach 10 million yuan that year, and the next year will definitely not be able to ask the star to endorse. Then the corresponding endorsement fee of 5 million yuan is close to the net loss.
Atomic Think Tank: It may also be necessary to raise the product sometimes, wait for the market to be better, and then ask the celebrities to endorse each other, and it is better to interact with each other.
Zhou Jinying: That's the truth.
Businesses choose sports stars in several forms.
The first is short-term leverage. For example, some sponsored the World Cup, it is best to have a spokesperson like Messi; the gymnastics world championship attention is high, if you can sign Li Ning's level, it is a very good association, this is pragmatism, in order to cope with the marketing of the outlet game, you must sign.
The second is the normal layout. This is related to the nature of the enterprise. Products are pan-sports brands, such as Nike, Adi, ANTA, etc., relying on sports stars to support the image of the brand, for them, this is a normal job. For example, Nike, not only to sign the top stars, but also to catch all the future stars of hope through the star scouting model, and strive to sign early, such as the training of three years, five years of achievements when the use.
When Nike signed Liu Xiang that year, the price was very low. Because Nike has such a person, he has long found that Liu Xiang can make achievements and began to establish a relationship very early. This choice, although the enterprise has invested before, but once invested, it is very valuable.
The third is to do segmentation and recognition. That is, others do not know my brand, but may help consumers to recognize the corporate brand through sports projects by sponsoring a project that everyone knows, and quickly form a division. This is a job that companies want to build for a long time. Arowana, Vinda tissues, etc. are such that they sign a sports team or athlete all year round, and through the high popularity of sports teams or athletes to close the popularity of brands and products among consumers, this is their respective needs.
Atomic Think Tank: Sports stars are not omnipotent, and there are risks for companies here, right?
Zhou Jinying: Whether it is an entertainment star or a sports star, the spokesperson is not a "miracle drug". You can hire a celebrity at random to make the brand soar and make the product sell well, which is impossible. What role do sports celebrity spokespersons play? In fact, it is enough to accumulate the premise, the role of icing on the cake.
For example, the brand of a certain company is strong enough to sponsor the Olympic Games. If there is a sports team and several Olympic champions to endorse, then the relationship between the enterprise and the Olympic Games is a particularly smooth relationship. But some brands simply do not know, hard to install a spokesperson, the follow-up can not keep up, I think it is relatively wrong business choice.
Now some companies looking for stars, is to rub traffic, just a moment, maybe the brand someone knows, but the product can not keep up, the heat once passed, equivalent to the company and product investment everything to zero, it is nothing.
We all know that the marketing cooperation of a good sports star and a good athlete is definitely not so simple as a sponsorship contract. Like the hottest Gu Ailing now, there are twenty or thirty brands standing behind it. Gu Ailing is a person, which brand marketing is doing well, which brand can have a very good strong relationship with Gu Ailing, that is, the brand and people can be integrated, which needs specific analysis, and it is definitely not the same.
As long as Gu Ailing appears, this brand will be mentioned, and this brand marketing and sports star endorsement talent are complementary. But there are only one or two brands that can break through and achieve such an effect. What about other businesses? Maybe the top three with the most advertisements can still be remembered, and those after the first three may not be remembered. Therefore, for many brands, if the product and brand are put in front of consumers, consumers can't remember that you have invited Gu Ailing as a spokesperson, then the enterprise and brand will absolutely fail.
Atomic Think Tank: I think brands like Gu Ailing, which signed Gu Ailing very early, may be easy to form strong associations, but it may be more difficult for people like China Mobile.
Zhou Jinying: Right. The other side of the problem may be that brands like China Mobile are too big. Its brand is so big that consumers have formed an inherent image. This can lead to some times when the spokesperson comes in, it is even difficult to add the icing on the cake.
Many times, the spokesperson can allow the brand to interact with new consumers, or let more consumers recognize the brand's new genes. But sometimes, the brand is too large, and it is difficult for the spokesperson to give the brand its own characteristics. Like China Mobile, in fact, we have moved in the past to sign the spokesperson, especially in sports, they are also top stars, but who do you remember in the end? I think the vast majority of people don't remember it.
Enterprise signed spokesperson, can not say that the spokesperson is famous I will sign, many times to see some internal things. For example, a healthy food brand, which has a good connection with sports, is health. Athletes should look sunny and healthy, in addition to the sports field, the sports field should also be a very healthy person, so that it is the most appropriate. If the performance on the field is good, but in the end it is exposed to doping, etc., it will have a great impact on the brand image, which is also a potential risk of signing a sports star for endorsement.
Like Gu Ailing's project similar to extreme sports, Red Bull signed her very appropriately.
Atomic Think Tank: When it comes to the risk of corporate signing celebrity spokespersons, the risk is on the one hand in doping, and the more conventional risk may be the risk of sports performance. For example, Liu Xiang in 2008 should be the focus of many companies before the Olympic Games. But then something went wrong in the game. How should enterprises control and deal with this risk?
Zhou Jinying: This is indeed a big problem. Spokesperson marketing should have a sufficient and sufficient awareness of risk management. At that time, Liu Xiang was too eye-catching. Sports stars have his sports status and sports cycle, companies are not professional sports sponsorship companies, under normal circumstances, there is no way to very clearly grasp whether the athlete's state is the peak, whether there is injury.
There is a lot of uncertainty in the game, and winning and losing is often between the first line. For enterprises, since they want to take the road of sports star endorsement, they must consider making corresponding plans, that is, what if he can't win? What to say if you lose? What if there is a worse doping incident, a scandal? I think that any company that asks for endorsements from sports stars should have such a plan - what should the spokesperson do if something goes wrong?
In such a large comprehensive competition as the Olympic Games, it is even more necessary to have a corresponding plan. If all the treasures are pressed on one person, something will go wrong. For example, one year in the World Cup, Mengniu suppressed Messi, and the result was that Messi performed quite badly that year, and the sponsors spent money, but they could not use it when they finally operated and promoted.
Some time ago, there were also companies that sponsored the group stage of the Top 12 of the Chinese football team, which must have taken a high risk. In the end, the group did not qualify. In this case, the input can only be quietly recognized, and even dare not mention it.
In contrast, Liu Xiang did that time, Nike did very impressive. It has plan A, plan B, plan C in all marketing plans... Some companies have filed that Liu Xiang has an accident and quickly changes the plan of a backup sports star. But Nike has the experience to be able to come up with a corresponding Plan B immediately after failure, which is the result of adequate risk management in terms of spokesperson cooperation.
Atomic Think Tank: Some like Federer and Rolex, businesses and athletes will have a long period of cooperation. But when Federer slowly can't move, in this case, will there be a smooth exit plan between the company and the athletes?
Zhou Jinying: When luxury brands like clocks and watches choose athletes, they first choose sports with long lifespans, because their user decision-making cycle is relatively long, and decision-making must take into account the user's preferences and the continuous impression of the brand.
Sports such as tennis and golf, these sports stars have a long lifespan to ensure a continuous investment period and a recovery period. For example, sprinters, perhaps this Olympic Games out of the results, after four years the state will not be good, these athletes with short sports life is difficult to form a long-term, unified brand impression, certainly not the first choice for brands such as clocks and watches.
The cooperation between Federer and Rolex should first be based on a long-term strategy, while at the same time making some fine-tuning according to the status of the whole game. For example, at Federer's age, it is true that he will slowly have to consider the issue of withdrawal and succession. When they choose a successor, they must consider the previously established brand image, Federer's image, and how the new spokesperson can be smoothly connected, and even the relationship between Federer and the new spokesperson, which is a more difficult thing.
Many times, a celebrity spokesperson influences a generation. At my age, mentioning the NBA is when Jordan started and ended with Yao Ming. After Yao Ming, the NBA and even basketball have nothing to do with me, and now with Harden and the like as endorsements, it is difficult to impress the consumer group of my age.
Brands should consider who is their core consumer group? Which spokesperson is more acceptable to these people? The spokesperson is a very good bridge between the consumer and the brand product, the spokesperson holds the consumer with his left hand and the brand with the right hand, so as to make the so-called business.
Atomic Think Tank: If you start from 2008, to now more than a decade has passed, compared with before, the matter of sports star endorsement has changed a lot, what specific changes do you think are there?
Zhou Jinying: I think the biggest change is that the sports spokesperson signed that year was relatively "paper", that is to say, this person is not vivid. He (she) appears on the sports field, what is not seen outside the sports field, his (her) life is not known to everyone, we do not know outside of training... What we know is to stand there at the race site or when the flag is raised, and that's the impression that the athletes make on the public, it's all good, and then the brand comes out in the game. This is a relatively simple pattern. That is to say, for enterprises, signing a spokesperson in the past is to put him (her) into advertising and products.
Now, the media is developed. Athletes are no longer limited to exposure through competition. Athletes are alive and have their own personality. He or she shows an all-round self, showing the way he or she trains, what he or she plays, what he or she does with his teammates, what he or she looks like in life... Like Fu Yuanhui, she can show a vivid image on her own. They will show a complete person through self-media, and at this time, his influence is not limited to the achievements in sports.
When sports stars are no longer limited to achievements, they are surrounded by a wider range of people. There are also richer forms and channels to show the interaction between him or her and the enterprise. Sometimes celebrities send a microblog, and the influence is greater than the effect of enterprises spending tens of millions of yuan to push advertisements.
Atomic Think Tank: There are more means and more opportunities. On the other hand, the risks are also greater.
Zhou Jinying: Yes, the risk is also greater. We look at the private lives of well-known athletes and the contradictions with coaches in recent years, which may be released through various forms. Invisibly, it creates a negative risk to the brand side.
In general, in fact, the endorsement marketing of sports stars in the Current Chinese market is not mature enough. Like the long-term cooperation between Rolex and Federer, Tiger Woods endorses TAG Heuer Watches, and through years of cooperation, both sides have huge benefits and have done very successfully. But Chinese companies tend to be fast.
Here "fast", one is the endorsement time is short, just try to buy and sell with a hammer; the other is a swarm of bees. For example, when the Olympic year comes up, it is the Olympic sponsor who signs it, and it is not the Olympic sponsor who signs it, why? They all want to rub traffic and rub heat. If this hammer deal hits, it will be hit, and if it doesn't hit, it will be counted. Everyone wants to rub the heat, which invisibly raises the difficulty of marketing, and it is likely that the money spent in the end has no effect. After the Olympic Games, they all returned to their original state.
On the other hand, for athletes and sports teams, they need more continuous contracts than temporary scenery. Only continuous sponsorship is a benign impetus for athletes, sports, and corporate brands.
Only by looking at the brand strategy in a down-to-earth manner, growing together with athletes or sports, the company has grown, the brand has grown, and the athletes and sports have grown, this is the best.
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