Author|Not empty
The much-anticipated Paris Olympics are getting closer.
Hearty sports events have always been the focus of the streets, and they are also the best springboard for brand building.
The perfect jump at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics made Gu Ailing directly jump to the hottest sports star in the Chinese market.
In Forbes magazine's latest list of female athletes' income in 2023, Gu Ailing ranked second with $22.1 million, and $22 million in her income came from off-court endorsements.
Gu Ailing not only holds the endorsement of a number of sports, food and home furnishing brands, but also is favored by high-end luxury brands such as IWC, Tiffany & Co., and LV Louis Vuitton. On January 26, Porsche announced Gu Ailing as the global spokesperson.
There are talented people from generation to generation, and this sentence is also applicable in the sports circle. As the summer comes and goes, the memories of the Beijing Winter Olympics fade away, and the summer atmosphere in Paris grows stronger. The focus on sports is changing, and in addition to Gu Ailing, China's emerging sports stars are also attracting the attention of brands.
On April 26, the tea brand Bawang Chaji officially announced that tennis star Zheng Qinwen was appointed as the "Health Ambassador", creating the first sports marketing case in the tea track. According to the statistics of Chop Pepper, since 2022, Zheng Qinwen has successively won many brand cooperation such as Ant Group, Yili, Gatorade, and Rolex.
The 2002 youngster also enjoys the nickname "Talented Girl". At this year's Australian Open, Zheng Qinwen entered the Grand Slam final as a dark horse, becoming the second Chinese female player to reach the Grand Slam singles final after Li Na.
Although she lost to defending champion Sabalenka in the end, her strong athletic performance and confident and resolute image are all releasing business potential to the outside world that should not be underestimated. In an interview with China Business Daily, the relevant person in charge of Yili commented, "She (Zheng Qinwen) is occupying a more important position in the world tennis world at an immeasurable speed. ”
Not long ago, Zhou Guanyu, the first Chinese driver to appear in the world Formula One race (referred to as "F1"), also made an intensive official endorsement, including luxury brands such as Hublot, Hennessy, Dior, etc., as well as national consumer brands such as Ambrosia and McDonald's.
The Paris Olympics are just around the corner, and what awaits China's emerging sports talent is a world-class traffic and attention, which will inevitably take away the share of brand endorsements. In contrast, the ice and snow events will remain silent until 2026, will Gu Ailing be able to hold the commercial ring, and who will be the next sports star?
In the sports circle, the birth of a superstar is mostly inseparable from the three elements of "time, place, and people". In the case of Gu Ailing, the choice of individuals at key nodes played a crucial role.
Gu Ailing, a Chinese-American mixed-race who has lived in the United States since childhood, made an important decision before the Beijing Winter Olympics: she chose to give up her identity as an American athlete and represent the Chinese team. At the height of nationalism, this choice not only greatly increased Gu Ailing's impression points, but also became the cognitive basis for subsequent word-of-mouth fermentation and out of the circle.
One of the most obvious comparisons is the athlete of the same period, Su Yiming, a talented teenager who is one year younger than her. Even though the two of them have achieved good results in the Olympic arena, whether it is the degree of national topic or the amount of brand cooperation, Gu Ailing is obviously at the top.
Gu Ailing's slender, healthy figure and delicate face are deeply loved by the fashion circle, and her confidence and positive temperament in her words and deeds are in line with the spiritual pursuit of the younger generation, becoming an excellent way for the brand to leverage the young market. In addition, skiing, a middle-class project, and Gu Ailing's educational background in world-class universities also make her quite appealing in the high-end market.
谷爱凌参加GQ Men of the Year Party｜图源：微博@青蛙公主爱凌
Before a sporting event, brands often adopt a "betting" strategy. During the Beijing Winter Olympics cycle, whether it is the results on the field or personal conditions, Gu Ailing is a popular player for brand "betting", and has won more than 30 brand endorsements before and after.
Accompanied by the overwhelming attention, there is also an all-round trial of Gu Ailing by public opinion. Among them, the one that has attracted the most attention from public opinion is the nationality of Gu Ailing.
In the current international public opinion environment, the tide of nationalism and patriotism is constantly surging, and Gu Ailing's nationality issues, interviews and speeches will often cause heated discussions on social media. It is not only Gu Ailing's national favorability that is affected, but also the brand's consideration of the safety of athlete endorsements. When it comes to sensitive topics, it's tantamount to stepping into a brand minefield.
In order to calm the storm of public opinion, Gu Ailing also made it clear in the interview that she plans to continue to represent China in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
However, her daily life, social interactions, and entertainment are still mainly in the United States, and she usually only returns to China when events and brand cooperation are needed. On the one hand, the geographical gap has always kept a distance between Gu Ailing and Chinese users, and on the other hand, the landing rights and interests of the brand are likely to be damaged due to Gu Ailing's round-trip, which will also affect the final achievement of Gu Ailing's brand cooperation.
In addition, Gu Ailing's astonishing number of brand endorsements has greatly increased her business income, but it has diluted the marketing value of a single brand. After all, Gu Ailing's energy is limited, and it is difficult to ensure the frequency of interaction with all cooperative brands, and she is limited in terms of in-depth brand participation.
Chop pepper statistics found that on Gu Ailing's personal Weibo account, Gu Ailing interacted with brands such as Midea and Vegetable and Fruit Garden only once during the official announcement video.
Extending Gu Ailing's brand endorsement vertically on the timeline, it can be found that compared with the intensive official announcement of the first-line brands before and after the Winter Olympics, as the popularity of the Winter Olympics gradually fades, Gu Ailing's ability to expand luxury brands has declined. In 2023, Gu Ailing will even have to lower the brand threshold and cooperate with the lifestyle and home furnishing brands represented by Vegetable and Fruit Garden.
Gu Ailing also needs to face the practical problem of limited commercial value of the project itself.
Ice and snow sports belong to the field of extreme sports, which is limited by its own nature, and there are few extreme sports-related events and insufficient influence. In January this year, Gu Ailing participated in the X Games World X Games with an injury, which can be called the top event in the field of extreme sports, but in terms of its maturity and dissemination, it is far from enough to support Gu Ailing to span the four-year Olympic cycle.
With the continuous development of China's sports scene and the rapid growth of young new forces, the stories of talented girls and talented teenagers are no longer uncommon.
Zheng Qinwen, who also has a healthy complexion and is confident and high-spirited, turned to professional tennis in 2022 and his results have been climbing. In 2022, Zheng Qinwen advanced to the round of 16 of the French Open and won the WTA Rookie of the Year, becoming the first Chinese to win this honor. In just two years, Zheng Qinwen has broken into the top 8 of the US Open and the Australian Open, and is known as the "Rocket Girl". Off the field, Zheng Qinwen spoke decently, full of fighting spirit, and was able to export to the world with fluent English expression, showing the potential of the international market.
In terms of the brand, Zheng Qinwen's greater attraction is that the tennis she is deeply involved in is one of the mainstream international sports, and it is second to none in terms of exposure and national popularity.
For brands, whether it is choosing a spokesperson or sponsoring an event, the main purpose is exposure. The more intensive and concerned the event, the higher the enthusiasm of brand sponsorship, and the easier it is for the commercial value of athletes to climb.
Taking tennis as an example, as one of the world's three major commercial ball sports, tennis-related events are spread almost throughout the year, and the popularity of the tournament has maintained a high level of popularity around the world. Naturally, brands are eager to do this.
In this year's Australian Open, many consumer brands are jumping into the game. Luckin Coffee has become the official and exclusive coffee partner of the Australian Open in China and Southeast Asia, and Luzhou Laojiao has been exposed as a co-sponsor and official partner of the Australian Open for many years.
Because of this, tennis is also the most paid sport for women, and it has been the top earner of Forbes female athletes all year round. Among the top 10 female athletes in 2023, except for Gu Ailing, the remaining nine are tennis players.
Li Na, who won the Asian Women's Singles Grand Slam, proved to the outside world many years ago that tennis players have a good commercial value. In 2011, Li Na won the French Open for the first time, and the Chinese sports world was full of exclamations, brand endorsements flocked to it, and that year, Li Na was selected into the top ten of Forbes magazine's list of female athletes in the world. As her career continues to climb, Li Na's peak income was even comparable to that of football superstar Lionel Messi.
At present, the sports attributes of Zheng Qinwen's cooperative brands are more obvious, such as the sports drink Gatorade and the nutrition brand Svees. The excavation of Zheng Qinwen's feminine orientation and personalization has yet to be developed, such as beauty and skin care, home furnishing and other brand cooperation.
Of course, Zheng Qinwen's commercial value also needs more solid and stable results as a foreshadowing. On the day when the official announcement of the cooperation of Bawang Chaji, Zheng Qinwen also made his debut at the WTA Madrid 1000, but unfortunately, Zheng Qinwen eventually retired due to injury.
According to industry sources, the contract of the brand sponsorship spokesperson lists the performance of the event as an important assessment factor, and once the performance is not good, it will also hit the brand's willingness to cooperate. In contrast, Gu Ailing's performance on the field is more stable, and it is also a better choice for the brand.
Not only are genius girls emerging, but genius boys are also unstoppable.
Before the Beijing Winter Olympics, Su Yiming, who was one year younger than Gu Ailing, did not show his edge. With the results of the two medals in the Winter Olympics and the continuous escalation of the difficulty of the competition, Su Yiming gradually became popular.
Similar to Gu Ailing's story, Su Yiming's image of becoming famous at a young age has attracted him to cooperate with many first-line brands. After the Winter Olympics, his agent publicly stated that he would reject a large number of brand invitations every day, but Su Yiming's commercial value still achieved a considerable increase. At that time, compared with Gu Ailing, the real winner of the Beijing Winter Olympics, Su Yiming was still significantly behind.
However, unlike Gu Ailing's sensitive nationality identity, Su Yiming is a native of China. After the Beijing Winter Olympics, he chose to study at Tsinghua University. Since last year, Su Yiming has gradually returned to the field and revealed his ambition to impact the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan. The difference in gender advantage between men and women will inevitably affect the career of athletes, and in this regard, Su Yiming has an advantage, and the industry is more optimistic about Su Yiming's performance in the 2026 Milan Olympic Games, and its commercial value has the momentum of catching up with Gu Ailing.
Zhou Guanyu in 1999 made his home debut in Shanghai in April this year as an F1 driver. Under the aura of the world's top motorsports, Zhou Guanyu's commercial value is continuing to explode. 36Kr once analyzed Zhou Guanyu's fan portrait with the help of huge calculations, and found that most of Zhou Guanyu's fans are from first-tier cities and new first-tier cities, with stronger spending power and more willing to pay for brand value.
With the home field advantage, F1-related topics have reached a new peak in the domestic market, and a large number of high-end brands have also launched a variety of cooperation aimed at Zhou Guanyu's business potential.
lululemon, a yoga pants brand dominated by female users, locked Zhou Guanyu in advance as early as last year, officially announced him as a brand ambassador, and co-planned the home debut special exhibition and limited commemorative models with Zhou Guanyu during the F1 hot topic. This move is seen by the industry as a positive sign to expand to male users.
Source: lululemon WeChat public account
Young, energetic new sports stars are still growing strongly. In addition to the arena, they will also compete in a larger commercial market.
2024 is destined to be another year of full explosion of the sports market.
World Swimming Championships, European Football Championships, Paris Olympics, BWF Tour Finals...... All kinds of events followed. With the backdrop of various events, the commercial value of sports athletes is also rising.
In addition to national consumer brands such as Yili and Mengniu, a large number of high-end brands and new consumer brands are focusing on sports athletes. Before the Women's World Cup last year, the Italian luxury brand Prada officially announced that it had become the official partner of the Chinese women's football team. During the Asian Games last year, on the day Wang Shun broke the Asian record and won the gold medal in the 200-meter medley, Luckin had already begun to distribute endorsement materials. This year, LVMH is investing 150 million euros in the Paris Olympics.
With less than 100 days to go before the Paris Olympics, the brand sports marketing war has begun. Unlike previous Olympic Games, this year's Paris Olympics is significantly more "extravagant".
As a premium partner of the Paris Olympic Games, LVMH not only designed two hard-shell cases for the Games, but also a top luxury item for athletes participating in the Paris Games, as well as a luxury item at the same time, the medals were created by the jewelry brand Chaumet, the founder of which was Napoleon's jeweller, and the high-end leather goods brand Berluti "brushed its face" in the form of sponsored equipment at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
From the perspective of sports, brands still prefer sports with high national popularity and strong development or high-profile top athletes.
Table tennis, diving, swimming, weightlifting and other events are rich in champions, and the national popularity is also higher, which meets the needs of brand safety and stability. Taking table tennis as an example, the men's team Fan Zhendong and the women's team Sun Yingsha are both popular players in the singles gold medal in the Paris cycle. In addition, the popularity of the teenager Wang Chuqin is also rising, and the number of brand cooperation has increased.
In the three major events, compared with the men's team, the women's basketball, women's football, and women's volleyball are more discussed, and the winning rate of the medal is also greater. Among them, the Chinese women's basketball team has performed well in the international arena in recent years, winning the World Cup runner-up, the Asian Cup champion, and the Hangzhou Asian Games champion. Li Meng, Han Xu, Li Yueru and other athletes have become brand darlings one after another.
Source: Peak Sports WeChat public account
Judging from the longitudinal schedule of the Olympic Games, the first gold medalists are also popular positions for brand bets. Yang Qian, a shooting athlete who won the first gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics, won more than ten brand cooperation such as Estee Lauder and Xiaomi Civi 1S after the Olympic Games.
According to the schedule previously announced by the Paris Olympic Organising Committee, the first gold medal of the Paris Olympics will be awarded in the mixed team 10m air rifle in shooting or the women's double 3m springboard in diving. In the mixed team 10m air rifle event, 17-year-old Huang Yuting and 18-year-old Sheng Lihao are undoubtedly the best combination at the moment. Among them, Sheng Lihao has already shown his edge in the Tokyo Olympics, and broke the world record of men's 10-meter air rifle at the Asian Games last year.
In addition, four new sports will be added to this year's Paris Games: breakdancing, surfing, skateboarding and competitive climbing. These young sports are bound to cause heated discussions among young users, and they are worthy of the brand's early layout. At present, Chinese surfer, Yang Siqi, who is only 15 years old, has qualified for the Paris Olympics.
What is certain is that when the floodgates of commercialization are opened, more and more athletes will join the battle for brand commerce. However, the "Matthew effect" of sports athlete brand cooperation is still very obvious. In addition to several advantageous projects, archery, kayaking and other projects that are not well-known but have achieved remarkable results are still rare for brands to favor.
Even though the head athletes are frequent, however, the first brother and the first sister in Chinese sports have been absent for a long time. Behind this is actually the shortcomings of the current athlete business ecology in the mainland.
From the perspective of the athletes themselves, compared with overseas athletes, Chinese athletes lack IP awareness and are reluctant to sign a professional agent team. In fact, Gu Ailing and Zheng Qinwen are both signed under the well-known brokerage company IMG, and use the resources and operational capabilities of the brokerage company to create long-term IP. On the other hand, a large number of professional athletes in China prefer to leave the management of business cooperation to their families, such as boxer Zou Shiming, whose wife currently manages business cooperation.
The whistle of sports marketing has long been blown, which is not only a contest of athletes' commercial value, but also a test of brand insight. Who can become the next Gu Ailing? Who can bet on the next Gu Ailing? The Paris Olympics will soon be handed in.