At 0:00 on November 21, Beijing time, the opening match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will begin.
As the largest sports event in the world, the World Cup held every four years also ushered in a sports marketing event with the greatest commercial value.
Participating Chinese companies not only include well-known brands such as Wanda Group, Hisense Group, Mengniu, and vivo, but 60% of their peripheral products come from "Made in Yiwu".
From the perspective of the industry, international sports events such as the World Cup enjoy extensive influence and audience base on a global scale, which plays an important role in the global expansion of Chinese enterprises.
get together to participate
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar is just around the corner. Before witnessing players from all over the world on the green grass, companies outside the stadium are already undercurrents.
The figure of Chinese enterprises also appeared on and off the court.
GlobalData (GlobalData) shows that the sponsorship amount of Chinese enterprises in this World Cup in Qatar reached 1.395 billion US dollars, surpassing the 1.1 billion US dollars of the United States, and the total sponsorship amount ranked first in the world.
On an annual basis, the sponsorship value of Chinese companies is 207 million US dollars per year, ranking first, surpassing Qatari companies with 134 million US dollars and US companies with 128 million US dollars.
In this World Cup, there are a total of four official Chinese sponsors designated by FIFA, namely Wanda Group, Hisense Group, vivo and Mengniu.
Among them, Wanda Group, together with Coca-Cola, Adidas, Hyundai Kia, Qatar Airways, Qatar Energy, and VISA, is listed as one of the seven official partners of FIFA.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently 19 mainland Chinese companies participating in the World Cup in Qatar through event sponsorship, signing football teams and football stars, and media cooperation.
In addition to large enterprises, "Made in Yiwu" is also popular in Qatar.
It is reported that 60% of the surrounding products of this World Cup come from "Made in Yiwu": from footballs, national flags, Hercules Cup ornaments to horns and whistles, there are figures in Yiwu, China.
This is not the first time that Yiwu has participated in world sports events. Many souvenirs from Rio Olympics, European Cup, America's Cup and other events come from Yiwu.
The rich experience in the past also makes Yiwu handle such orders with ease, and some merchants have completed the required output 3 months or even a year in advance.
"As far as the supply chain of the global industrial product chain is concerned, Made in Yiwu has become a global commercial symbol originating from China. At present, Made in Yiwu has formed a psychological hint of trustworthiness and purchase in the world market, allowing global consumers to form consumption Trust and purchase dependence, so manufacturing in Yiwu is the eyes through which the world sees China, and it is also the window through which China sees the world." Song Xiangqing, an economist and vice president of the China Business Economics Association, said.
In addition to small commodity manufacturing, China Railway Construction International Group undertook the construction of the Lusail Stadium. This stadium, which cost 770 million US dollars, also left a strong mark for the World Cup in Qatar.
In addition, the "Free Zone Fan Village" available for accommodation is also made by China.
According to Qatar, Chinese companies have provided more than 10,000 sets of container houses for the Qatar World Cup, mainly from Guangdong and Zhejiang.
"A large number of Chinese companies sponsoring the World Cup is a demonstration of China's economic power, allowing fans around the world to see Chinese brands and appreciate Chinese culture." Song Xiangqing said.
sports marketing
Spending a lot of money and throwing the World Cup, various companies have also started sports marketing fancy games.
As an official sponsor, Mengniu has launched a series of brand activities related to the World Cup.
On October 10, Mengniu released 12 World Cup history series packaging and launched themed TVC commercials.
This year's "Double 11" coincides with the 10-day countdown to the World Cup in Qatar. As the global sponsor of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Mengniu launched the customized packaging products for the top 32 World Cup players online, and simultaneously launched the World Cup-themed promotional film "Go Strong".
Mengniu also launched a new World Cup customized product "Suibian" series of ice cream in Qatar, the host country.
Becoming the global official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup for two consecutive years, in Mengniu's view, this is FIFA's high recognition of Mengniu's brand and product quality, and it is also an important opportunity for Mengniu to go global and showcase China's dairy industry to the world.
Adidas also opened a new round of sports marketing with the help of the World Cup.
According to the relevant person in charge, in addition to launching the special short film "It's Still Messi", Adidas will also launch it in four major cities: Beijing Sanlitun Global Flagship Store, Shanghai Nanjing East Road Brand Center, Chengdu Mixc City MBC, and Guangzhou Tianhe City Football Flagship Store. "Football is still so good" World Cup theme event.
"Due to the epidemic, many fans were unable to arrive at the game. vivo hopes to cooperate with FIFA official #Shotonvivo# and #vivogiveitashot# on overseas social media platforms and other social media interactive activities. Offline, vivo will also be in many cities across the country Organize offline game watching activities." Vivo told the reporter of Beijing Business Daily.
This time, Hisense also gave fans who did not go to the scene a new way to play.
As the Qatar World Cup is approaching, Hisense will join hands with Haidilao to launch a Mini Watching Bar event in 300 offline stores across the country. Let's watch and play football together.
In addition, Chinese companies also participate in World Cup sports marketing by signing contracts with national teams, cooperating with rights-holding media, and signing football stars.
Wang Peng, an associate professor at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the World Cup is a football event that attracts worldwide attention. It is not only a competition between various teams, but also a venue for many global brands to show their strength.
The World Cup is a top-level sports event marketing, which means that there is greater competition among enterprises. To stand out, brands need to play tricks and come up with new ideas.
Top stream
"It is not football that rolls on the green field, but gold." From the words of the football emperor Beckenbauer, it is not difficult to see the commercial value of the World Cup.
According to the Deloitte report, football is the largest single project in the sports industry, with a global annual output value of more than 500 billion US dollars, accounting for more than 40% of the sports output value, and is "the 17th largest economy in the world".
Yingli Energy is the first Chinese company to sponsor the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
From February to July 2010, Yingli's "media attention" increased by 800%.
From June 7 to July 23 of the same year, the total market value of Yingli on the New York Stock Exchange increased by US$560 million.
Taking vivo as an example, through the sponsorship of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, vivo has entered the markets of 10 European countries. Vivo's globalization process.
Vivo said that through the World Cup and other globally popular sports events, Chinese brands will have the opportunity to enter the world with a gentle attitude, and have an emotional resonance with global users, allowing more people from all over the world to witness and recognize China's economic strength development of.
Top sports events also have top-notch "carrying" capabilities.
Kitchen and bathroom appliance company Vantage is one of the biggest winners of the 2018 World Cup.
After signing the champion French team that year, they launched the "France wins the championship, Vantage full price refund" campaign. According to the announcement, during the campaign period, Vantage achieved a total retail sales of 1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23% online and over 30% offline The outstanding results, of which less than 79 million yuan is expected to come from the designated products of "win the championship and get a full refund", earning a lot of money.
Hisense announced in 2016 to become the official sponsor of the World Cup at a cost of US$100 million.
After the start of the World Cup in Russia, the sales of Hisense TVs in Russia continued to rise. Within half a month of the start of the game, the sales volume nearly tripled, creating a record high.
Chen Hui, general manager of Overseas, said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that Hisense, as a leading TV brand in China, has continuously increased its influence in overseas markets by sponsoring sports events for many years.
In terms of products, in the context of a sharp decline in the industry scale, Hisense continued to carry out technological upgrades, high-end market expansion and product structure adjustments, which brought high premiums to the brand and gained more room for profit growth, achieving scale. A win-win situation with profitability, this is a positive demonstration effect on the domestic color TV stock market.
"However, the sponsorship of the World Cup is to take advantage of the situation and increase the brand influence of the company on a global scale, but it must not be simply regarded as a gimmick for global marketing and market hype." Song Xiangqing reminded that overseas markets have national Due to the complexity of gender, ethnic group, system, living habits and culture, etc., for Chinese companies with low international brand recognition, they must first do a good job in products, services, channels, and platforms. Well, laying a solid foundation is the first priority. Taking advantage of the world's top competitions is to take advantage of the trend under the premise of doing a good job in basic skills, and we must not put the cart before the horse.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Bai Yang