Li Ning picks up Evan Turner and USA Diving
Wednesday, 1st September 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
When Turner takes the court this fall, he'll be wearing Li Ning shoes.
USA Diving has also inked a contract with Li Ning, making it the team's official apparel sponsor through 2012. The brand's other non-Chinese national team sponsorships include Spain and Argentina's basketball teams, and USA Table Tennis.
Although these signings and Li Ning's opening of an Oregon concept store and R&D center have all lead to speculation that this could be China's first brand to become an international powerhouse, I've always said that these moves are more about creating an appearance for Chinese customers than about seriously competing with Nike and Adidas globally. Quoted in People's Daily, Ben Cavender of China Market Research Group puts it pretty clearly: ""What they don't admit to and what they are being slightly cagey about is that their strategy is to firm their position in China as a domestic brand. They can appeal to a certain Chinese nationalism by playing on being able to compete head-to-head with the major international brands because they have these big-time athletes."
Related: Can China's hottest sportswear brand go global?
Evan Turner image: Hi.baidu.com
Tags: Baron Davis, diving, Evan Turner, Li Ning, Shaq, sports apparel, sports marketing
Can China's hottest sportswear brand go global?
Tuesday, 26th January 2010 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (2)
Yelena Isinbayeva with Li Ning, Olympic gold medallist (1984) and founder/CEO of China's top sportswear company.
Li Ning may have surpassed Adidas to become the number two sportswear brand in China, AdAge says, on the strength of 32.4 percent revenue growth in the first half of 2009. In 2008, it opened a design center in Portland. In 2009, it opened a concept store there as well. Along with new stores in Hong Kong and Singapore, and the hiring of more foreign staff in the Beijing headquarters, the Portland activity seems to indicate more interest in international business, and business practices.
If you have spent the last several months in Beijing, it's evident that Li Ning has recently put more into advertising than Adidas or Nike have, with decidedly more ads on television and in public places like subway stations.
Madden's piece highlights some interesting numbers: Li Ning cut ad spending 37 percent in 2009, compared to 75 percent and 65 percent for Nike and Adidas; Li Ning cornered 14.2 percent of the Chinese sportswear market in 2009, to Nike's 16.7 percent and Adidas's 13.9 percent.
One of Li Ning's most visible smart moves has been its work with Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva (伊辛巴耶娃). With a lack of great Chinese track and field athletes to cheer for in the Beijing Olympics, local fans gravitated toward her, and won't soon forget that her remarkable performance took place in the Bird's Nest, with China as host. She was with Adidas during the games, but Li Ning picked her up a year ago in a 5-year, $7.5-million deal. Ads currently airing on Chinese television show her alongside an otherwise unknown Chinese dancer, Zhao Kexin (赵可忻). While Isinbayeva shows off her pole-vaulting skills and incredible physique, Zhao does things that middle class Chinese women are more likely to identify with—jogging, dancing, stretching. She's essentially a stand-in for the target audience in an ad that promotes the beauty of athletic women.
Li Ning has invested more in research and development lately as well, and it shows in the quality and uniqueness of some of its products. And the brand's Olympic sponsorship strategy looked pretty smart to this non-expert, as does the way they use their biggest NBA pitchman, Baron Davis.
For all of its efforts, in my opinion, Li Ning's chances at success as a global brand are slim. Between its logo's resemblance to Nike's swoosh, and the "Anything is Possible" tagline that is often derided for its resemblance to Adidas's more clever "Impossible is Nothing," Li Ning looks, at first glance, like one big knockoff. The explanation that the logo is meant to call to mind the Chinese flag and the letter "L" aren't likely to win over consumers outside of Asia. Nor is the brand's history. It was founded by a 1984 Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast—a distinguished background, for sure, but not one that's going to move sneakers in New York and Los Angeles. I am skeptical as to whether Li Ning truly has its sights set on the U.S. market, or if it just wants to appear to be an international brand, for the sake of the growing domestic consumer market.
A Chinese sportswear brand will go global someday. It won't be Li Ning, but it will owe some of its success to Li Ning's trailblazing ways.
Isinbayeva/Li Ning image: Ce.cn
Tags: Adidas, Baron Davis, Li Ning, Nike, sports marketing, Yelena Isinbayeva
China's 60th: Where was Yao?
Friday, 2nd October 2009 ~ Maggie ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Liu Xiang (L) and Li Ning (R)
When the sports float paraded past, China's biggest sports star was conspicuously missing. Waving bouquets of yellow and red flowers atop a replica of Beijing's Olympic cauldron were Liu Xiang (China's first gold medalist in track and field), Li Ning (gymnast and triple gold medalist in the 1984 Olympics) and Xu Haifeng (pistol shooter and China's first ever gold medalist). Several other athletes—gymnasts, divers, cyclists, basketball player Wang Zhizhi—also joined in the show. But where was China's one true international sports star, Yao Ming?
The Houston Rockets center is rehabbing a foot fracture and will sit out the 2009-2010 NBA season. He skipped the team's media day, but was spotted on crutches at the Toyota Center. He went under the knife in July, to repair an injury that got the best of him during the playoffs last spring.
It's entirely possible that Yao's doctors advised against him making the trip. Sure, he could be propped up on a parade float for an hour, but he'd also probably have to make a dozen other appearances at state dinners and galas during Golden Week. And if Yao can't stand on his own two feet for more than a few minutes right now, then forget about the parade. China's most recognized face worldwide, sitting in an easy chair on the big day? Not exactly the look the country was going for on a day that tanks rolled past the Forbidden City and jet fighters flew overhead.
But here's another possible reason that's interesting to think about: The big man was getting out of everyone's way. Yao Ming was getting out of the way of Liu Xiang, the 110-meter hurdler who shattered Chinese stereotypes with his Olympic gold medal in 2004, and just launched a legit comeback from last year's very public and painful downfall. Yao Ming was getting out of the way of Li Ning, China's "prince of gymnastics" and the CEO of the leading Chinese sportswear brand (named, what else, Li Ning), which is scrambling to compete with Nike and Adidas for its share of the growing domestic sports apparel market. Yao Ming was getting out of the way of Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin and the rest of the Communist Party leadership, who were lauded yesterday for overseeing China's recent economic rise. Yao—one of the most famous people in the world, who would certainly have appeared in most Western media reports of the parade—was getting out of the way of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, the late leaders whose legacies were unquestioningly celebrated, at least in official events and reports.
Yes, it's possible that Yao was getting out of the way in Beijing, just as he got out of the way in Houston last week, when the guys who will actually play for Houston this year answered the questions and mugged for the cameras. But then again, it's possible he really can't let go of those crutches yet and appearing on national TV all banged up is just as bad for Brand Yao as for Brand China.
Liu Xiang, Li Ning parade image: Sports.scol.com.cn
Tags: Houston Rockets, Li Ning, Liu Xiang, NBA, sports marketing, Xu Haifeng, Yao Ming
China leads with 41 golds, second in total medals
Tuesday, 19th August 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
As of 8:15 pm Beijing time on Tuesday, China had won two more golds, both in men's gymnastics, to bring their total number of gold medals to 41, or 16 more than Team USA's 25 golds. Great Britain was in third in the gold count with 15.In terms of overall medals, China trails the US, 77 to 72, with silver- and bronze-heavy Russia in third with 40 total medals.
Li Xiaopeng enters Chinese gymnastics pantheon
Li Xiaopeng (李小鹏) beat out Yoo Won-chul of South Korea and Anton Fokin of Uzbekistan to claim his fourth gold in men's gymnastics – this time in the parallel bars. This Olympics Li has surpassed Chinese gymnastics legend – and the star of these Olympics' opening ceremony – Li Ning as the winningest Chinese gymnast ever, with a total of 18 international first-place finishes to Li Ning's 14.
Zou Kai wins men's horizontal bar
Li's teammate Zou Kai (邹凯) beat out Jonathan Horton of the US and Fabian Hambuechen of Germany to win gold on the last day of artistic gymnastics competition. The medal is Zou's third gold medal in his first Olympics – earlier in the Beijing games he won gold in the men's team competition and also in the individual floor competition.
Li Xiaopeng image: news.cctv.com
Zou Kai image: english.people.com.cn
Tags: gymnastics, Li Ning, Li Xiaopeng, Zou Kai