Over the past decade, Xtep has sponsored more than 1,000 marathon events and events, making it the sports brand that sponsors the most marathons in China.
Chu Xiaoqiang丨Text
The Beijing Marathon, known as the "national marathon", has always been a feast of high hopes for the majority of runners and spectators.
However, the 2024 Beijing Half Marathon (hereinafter referred to as the "Beijing Half Marathon"), which started on April 14, was criticized by netizens because He Jie, the national marathon record holder and Xtep contracted athlete, was suspected of being "escorted" as the champion by three foreign athletes who also wore Xtep shoes and uniforms.
After the matter fermented, Xtep, as a sponsor of the Beijing Half Marathon, was questioned by netizens as "suspected of manipulating the event". Many netizens also called this event "disappointed", and asked rhetorically, "Is the marathon spirit like this?"
Some netizens couldn't help but sigh: "Xtep's wave of reverse publicity, not only did it disqualify competing players before the game, but the three actors invited in the competition had too poor acting skills, so they properly recruited the brand." ”
All of a sudden, the Beijing Half Marathon was also jokingly called the "Beijing Xtep Half Marathon Exhibition Race" by netizens.
01
Multiple agencies have been involved in the investigation
No one thought that what was originally a grand event that the audience was looking forward to and the athletes sweated to prove themselves eventually evolved into a storm of public opinion. Champion He Jie, Beijing Half Marathon, and sponsor Xtep have all been pushed to the forefront.
Regarding the outside world's doubts about the "fake" or suspected of being "manipulated" of the event, Xtep, as a sponsor, responded to the media, saying, "At present, the situation is still being confirmed and verified with multiple investigations, and we will communicate as soon as there is progress in the future." ”
Seeing that public opinion is intensifying, at 10 p.m. on April 15, the Beijing International Long-distance Running Festival - Beijing Half Marathon Organizing Committee released a statement to the public, saying that the organizing committee attaches great importance to the results of the men's group reflected by netizens, and has set up a special investigation team to carry out an investigation.
It is worth mentioning that just before the start of the Beijing Half Marathon, the news that Jia Orenga, sponsored by Xtep competitor Zhongqiao Sports, was temporarily banned also attracted widespread attention.
The Beijing Half Marathon Organizing Committee also issued an explanation announcement the day before the event to explain, saying that Jia Orenga registered through the sponsor channel, but the participation quota provided by the Organizing Committee to the sponsoring company is limited to the sponsor's individual brand activities or the sponsor's own running group.
The organizing committee said that through screening, it was found that Jia Orenga was a contracted player of competing brands by the organizing committee of the event, which exceeded the scope of the use of sponsors. The two sides communicated on April 9 and canceled the quota with the consent of Jia Orirenga himself.
Jia Orenga is regarded as a potential competitor of He Jie, and the sudden cancellation of his qualification has also caused many speculations and associations among netizens. After all, behind the "frenzy" of the marathon, the competition between various sports brands is also extremely fierce, and they all hope that athletes will wear their own sports shoes and uniforms to win the championship.
According to the official website of the 2024 Beijing Half Marathon, Xtep is the second largest event partner after Mengniu. At the same time, there is also an advertisement for Xtep's new generation of champion running shoes on the homepage of the official website of the event, and clicking on it can directly jump to the "Xtep Official Flagship Store" on the Tmall platform.
In response to whether the Beijing Half Marathon is "fake" and whether the sponsor Xtep is suspected of "manipulating" the game, Shanhai New Finance called the office of the Beijing Sports Bureau to understand the situation, and the relevant staff also said, "Our bureau has attached great importance to this matter and is carrying out an investigation, and will announce it in a timely manner after the results of the investigation and processing." ”
02
Champion by 1 second
Why was a marathon that originally showed sportsmanship evaluated by netizens as a dramatic "exhibition race"? Everything has to start with He Jie's "winning the championship".
Judging from the live video of the event at that time, in the sprint stage, the three foreign runners who were originally running in front of He Jie kept looking back at He Jie behind him, and frequently waved their hands, as if signaling him to run forward. One of the foreign players even appeared to have reached out to block the other foreign player.
Seeing this, the host and commentator in the live broadcast room of the event were also stunned, and asked with confusion: "Do we see that this foreign player has been communicating with He Jie? It seems that they are also cheering for He Jie." ”
Subsequently, the host said, "The four people have a very tacit understanding, and the four people have been together throughout the whole day, and there is communication and exchange, is this a kind of communication between the players? I mean a positive promotion?"
When He Jie overtook the three foreign runners and crossed the finish line, the narrator did not seem to show the excitement and joy of the Chinese people after winning the championship, but said for a while: "Congratulations to He Jie for winning our (pause for a second) championship." ”
At this time, in the live video of the event, He Jie, who had just crossed the finish line, was bending down, leaning on his knees with his hands and gasping for breath, which was in stark contrast to the three foreign runners who crossed the finish line with their front and back feet next to him. One of the foreign players also patted He Jie, who was bent over and panting, on the back to help him soothe his breath.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that in this "fierce competition" competition, He Jie performed extremely hard, and the three foreign players clearly still had "spare strength", and even the host of the live broadcast of the event mentioned many times in the sprint stage that "He Jie looked a little difficult".
Netizens who watched the game also ridiculed that the three black runners almost carried He Jie across the finish line in a sedan chair.
Another host of the live broadcast of the event also asked in confusion after witnessing the whole process of the four people sprinting and crossing the finish line: "Should the foreign runners be our official (paused) pace?"
As soon as this remark came out, the live broadcast room of the event was "speechless and choked" for a while, and no one from the other hosts and commentators answered the host's questions.
At this time, the live broadcast screen switched to another Chinese player Li Chunhui who ran to the finish line, and at this time, a host broke the embarrassment and tranquility of the live broadcast room and began to explain to the player Li Chunhui.
Some people may ask, what is the "official pace"? It is the official recruitment of the leader who is mainly responsible for helping the runners control their running speed to ensure that they complete the race according to the established plan, also known as the "rabbit". These people tend to have a lot of experience in marathons and are able to control a steady pace during the race. They are generally dressed uniformly and have a clear pace sign on their body.
And He Jie won the championship, because the three foreign runners next to him were questioned as the pacemakers in the lead, He Jie was also accused of being the "guaranteed champion".
However, official pacemakers are generally not allowed to have awards or rankings in the race, and can only be allowed to obtain a valid certificate of completion. However, according to the results released after the race, He Jie won the championship with a time of 1 hour 03 minutes and 44 seconds, while three foreign competitors - Ethiopia's Dejene Hailu Bikila, Kenya's Robert Keter and WILLY MNANGAT all tied for second place with a time of 1 hour 03 minutes and 45 seconds.
He Jie and the three foreign competitors were only 1 second apart. From this point of view, the three foreign players who won the ranking do not seem to be the "official pace", which is also the key to this outbreak of public opinion - why is it not the "pace" but it looks like the "pace"?
These questions are waiting to be answered by the relevant parties for the audience.
03
Xtep is "enthusiastic" about sponsoring marathons
After the "fake-related" turmoil fermented, the reason why people focused on Xtep for the first time was because in this event, whether it was He Jie, who won the championship, or the three foreign runners who tied for the runner-up, they were wearing the running shoes of the sponsor Xtep.
A senior horse runner revealed to the media that with the intensification of competition in domestic marathon events, "buying feet" has become very common in the event, and brands are very concerned about the wearing rate of running shoes in large-scale events.
As the sponsor of the Beijing Half Marathon, Xtep is undoubtedly one of the most influential domestic sports brands in the domestic marathon in recent years. In some star events, the Xtep brand wearing rate of elite athletes with a performance of less than 3 hours in Malaysia is very high, even surpassing international brands such as Nike, ASICS, and Adidas. This can be seen from Xtep's advertising costs.
In 2023, Xtep's sales and distribution expenses will be RMB3.369 billion, an increase of 25.24% from RMB2.69 billion in the same period of the previous year, and its proportion in total revenue will increase from 20.8% in the previous year to 23.5%, an increase of 2.7 percentage points.
The increase in sales and distribution expenses was mainly attributable to the investment in advertising and promotion expenses. In 2023, Xtep's advertising and promotion expenses will be 1.962 billion yuan, an increase of 425 million yuan or nearly 28% over the previous year, and the proportion of total revenue will increase by 1.8 percentage points from the previous year to 13.7%.
Behind the "rising tide" of advertising and promotion expenses, it is precisely due to the increase in Xtep's advertising activities and event sponsorship.
According to Xtep's latest ESG report, Xtep has sponsored more than 1,000 marathons and events over the past decade, making it the sports brand that sponsors the most marathons in China. In 2023 alone, Xtep will sponsor 24 offline marathons and running races in Chinese mainland, with an average of 2 marathons a month.
If you look at the timeline extended, the proportion of Xtep's advertising promotion expenses has increased almost year after year in recent years. From 2020 to 2023, advertising and promotion expenses accounted for 11.2%, 10.2%, 11.9%, and 13.7% respectively.
According to the annual report disclosed a few days ago, Xtep will achieve operating income of 14.346 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%, and net profit attributable to the parent company of 1.03 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.8%.
The performance seems to be impressive, but footwear products, which account for the majority of revenue, have actually shown signs of sluggish growth. In 2023, the revenue of Xtep's footwear products will be 8.172 billion yuan, an increase of 5.3% over the previous year, which is far from its growth rate of 30.9% in the same period last year. At the same time, the proportion of Xtep's footwear product revenue also fell from 60% in the previous year to 57%, a decrease of 3 percentage points.
If compared with Xtep's 10.9% operating income growth rate, the revenue growth rate of footwear products has lagged behind. If it weren't for the 20.6% year-on-year increase in apparel revenue, which accounts for 40% of revenue, it would be difficult for Xtep's operating income to achieve double-digit growth in 2023.
Seeing the slowdown in core product revenue growth, it is not difficult to understand why Xtep is so "enthusiastic" about marathon sponsorship.
As for whether Xtep is suspected of "manipulating" the event in this Beijing Half Marathon race, it is believed that it will soon be "revealed" after the relevant agencies intervene in the investigation.