Is Garnett the spokesperson of Anta?

KG's trip to China in August proved that his new owner, Anta, can be as professional as Nike and Adidas in many aspects, and even better than these two teachers in some aspects, but there is still a long way to go to achieve real similarity.

20 10 On August 3rd, the staff of Anta Sports Science Laboratory measured the foot data of newly signed NBA star Garnett. Photography: Sun Jiong

On August 3, at Anta headquarters in Jinjiang, Fujian, everyone was waiting for the arrival of a big man, NBA star Kevin Garnett KG. More than two months ago, Garnett terminated his Adidas sponsorship contract with him for many years and switched to Anta.

When the news was announced, many people were surprised because Garnett signed a lifetime contract with Adidas. In the field of basketball, only Michael Jordan has signed a lifetime contract with Nike before. Anta did not disclose Garnett's amount, but it is undoubtedly expensive.

Before the arrival of KG, Anta headquarters had already become the show of brand LOGO. General employees wear dark yellow, the public relations department is white, and the department responsible for contacting athletes is light yellow. Even Garnett's bodyguards and the media who came were wearing Anta T-shirts. Anta employees said that this is a company practice and should be done at every big event.

40 minutes later than the scheduled time, Garnett, who got off slowly, was immediately surrounded by an Anta sign. Jie Zheng, executive vice president of Anta, smiled and waited in front of the elevator on the first floor. He wants to take KG to the meeting room on 10 floor to meet Ding Shizhong, the top leader of the company.

Walking into the conference room, KG did not sit down first, but went to the window and looked at the scenery outside the building-all kinds of buildings, factories and billboards. "Well, yes, yes, this place is quite good, and Anta Company is quite imposing."

After chatting for a few minutes, Ding Shizhong began to show KG around the company's history exhibition hall, sports science laboratory, image shop and shoemaking workshop. In the exhibition hall of the first stop, pointing to the portrait of Kong, he said to Garnett, "This is the first sports player sponsored by Anta and a table tennis grand slam winner."

The marriage between Kong and Anta is worth a book. 1999, pushing crowdfunding, hired Kong as the brand spokesperson of Anta with a huge sum of 800,000 yuan, and all the profits earned in that year were 6 million, all of which were invested in advertisements during the Olympic Games, half of which were contributed to CCTV5.

At the Sydney Olympic Games, Kong won the gold medal, and the slogan "I choose, I like it" became famous all over the country together with Anta, a little-known small enterprise. This case was later regarded as a classic, so that sports brands in Jinjiang have adopted the "star +CCTV5" model as the first choice for brand promotion.

After Kong, he continued to introduce Garnett to the spokesmen of Anta, including NBA players Scola, Francis and Wells, as well as tennis stars Zheng Jie and jankovic. Of course, Garnett's portrait will soon enter this exhibition hall, and it will definitely occupy an extremely important position.

"KG is the largest athlete sponsored by Anta 16 since its birth, which is of great significance. Directly improved the credibility of Anta brand in the eyes of consumers. " Zheng Jie attaches great importance to Garnett's influence, but he also emphasizes that this is not a simple signing, but represents that Anta will explore the market around the stars like Adidas and Nike.

On the same day, Zheng, wearing the same orange T-shirt as the head coach, stood beside Garnett and translated everything Ding said to Garnett.

After Anta was listed in Hong Kong in 2007, it gradually became different from the past. New departments and institutions are constantly being born, and old departments are also expanding. In 2008, Zheng Jie came to Anta. Before that, he was the general manager of Reebok China, a subsidiary of Adidas. At that time, another executive, Zhang Tao, joined us. He used to be an assistant to Lenovo founder Liu Chuanzhi.

Ding Shizhong hopes that the participation of these professional managers will bring more advanced management norms, experience and various resources to Anta. He told Jie Zheng his thoughts, hoping that Anta's brand would continue to develop from its present position, but there were only Nike, Adidas and Li Ning in front of Anta.

This vision later became a clear goal: in 20 13 years, Anta will become the first in sales volume and brand in China market. Of course, to achieve this goal, the company needs new impetus. The first motivation is to cooperate with the Chinese Olympic Committee. At that time, Adidas, Nike and Li Ning competed with Anta at the same time. All three companies have a history of cooperation with the Chinese Olympic Committee, and only Anta is zero. Before bidding, Ding Shizhong led Zhang Tao's team, visited a large number of officials and experts, and took pains to introduce Anta's brand and marketing plan. In June 2008, Anta won the bid as scheduled, and won the rights and interests of winning clothes in three international Olympic events: Vancouver Winter Olympics, Guangzhou Asian Games and London Olympic Games.

This is a super sponsorship, because no enterprise has ever been so closely associated with the Chinese Olympic Committee and the China Sports Delegation in such a complete Olympic cycle. Super sponsorship is also super expense. According to Anta insiders, "it is not lower than the top sponsorship threshold of the 2008 Olympic Games". One reference is Lenovo, the top sponsor of the 2008 Olympic Games, which cost 65 million dollars.

However, Ding Shizhong believes that these efforts are worthwhile. Anta gained the official status of China Sports, just as Adidas is the official sponsor of the Olympic Games. Everyone is trying to master excellent competitive resources. To catch up with the leader, we must start with exclusive excellent resources.

Garnett is another superior resource or motivation brought by another executive, Jie Zheng. Within Adidas and Nike, there are teams for athletes. Some staff members are even retired athletes in sports. They can understand the needs and personal situation of athletes.

There are two examples circulating in the industry. As long as tiger woods is slightly dissatisfied with the club, Nike will spend a lot of money to repair it again and again. As long as Liu Xiang's feet are slightly uncomfortable, the design of nearly one meter high sneakers may be worthless in an instant.

After Jie Zheng came to Anta, he split Anta's only public relations department into a brand market center and a sports market center, which is a team dedicated to serving athletes. The key work of this team is to cultivate feelings with athletes. Pei Long, Commissioner of the Basketball Department, is a member of the Sports Market Center. At the end of last year, they had a close communication with Garnett's agent During KG's trip to China, they had someone to take care of KG's friends and relatives, in order to make them feel at home in China.

Most importantly, they should explain to Garnett the combat boots designed by Anta for him and listen to his own suggestions. This is very important, not only related to the feelings of stars, but also related to the marketing of related products. When Garnett spoke for Adidas, he expressed his views on the manipulation, technology, color and appearance of his boots.

Garnett's opinion was emphasized several times and was finally brought back to the company by Peron at the beginning of this year. A 34-year-old basketball player's requirement for sneakers is never to hurt his ankle, because one pain may lead to retirement. Protection, in order to reassure Garnett, Anta specially arranged a foot test for his trip to Jinjiang.

Garnett took off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs and stood on the plantar pressure testing system bought by Anta at a high price to scan his foot shape. Then the staff recorded a series of data such as the length and width of his feet with a tape measure and rope, so that his new shoes could be formally made.

While Garnett was measuring his feet, Pan Chun and his colleagues were waiting for the data in another room of the laboratory. They are the staff of Anta Commodity Management Center, and are responsible for designing the styles of the new season KG basketball shoes. Pan Chun's last job was Nike, and most of his colleagues, including Anta Sports Lab, also jumped from Nike or Adidas.

"We can design any pair of Adi or Nike shoes in China, because this is our previous work." Although they no longer design shoes for first-tier cities, the methods and principles are the same for consumers in second-and third-tier cities.

According to Bellons' feedback, Garnett's new combat shoes adopt the latest rebound and shock-proof materials developed by Anta, and the back opening under the tongue of the shoes adopts special mesh cloth, which not only keeps the comfort of the shoes themselves, but also closely protects the ankles.

These data plus the size of Garnett's feet, after getting all the data, Pan Chun must design the final version as soon as possible. According to the company's plan, this shoe has been listed as the product launched by Anta this year and will be put on the shelves in the fourth quarter.

This is the second step after obtaining star resources, and developing products around resources. When Zheng Jie first arrived in Anta, brands, commodities and sales were basically divided. Jie Zheng strongly urged Anta to establish a complete sales path. "I don't want Anta to simply sell a pair of shoes or a piece of clothing to consumers. We should provide an idea or lifestyle. " Now, this complete sales system has been formed in Anta, and Jie Zheng's goal is that Anta should become a storyteller like Adi or Nike.

Therefore, Pan Chun's work plays a connecting role in the process of Anta-the company decides the theme of celebrity endorsement according to its own needs, Pan Chun designs according to the theme, the brand department transmits the theme to the media through activities, and finally the specialty store displays and places the goods according to this theme.

What Sun did was the third step. He used to be the Commissioner of Anta Brand Market Center, and his team participated in all the planning schemes of Garnett's trip to China. How to make this pair of shoes have a resounding promotion opportunity in China? The World Expo is a good platform, and the activities here will undoubtedly attract a lot of media attention.

They don't want Garnett to be a simple star tourist, but just a little lace on the news of the World Expo. What Anta wants to do most is to hold activities in the Expo Press Center, which will get a grand scene and full attention. However, the Expo Press Center has regulations that corporate activities cannot be released here, and no matter how much money is paid.

We must be as flexible as possible.

In order to knock on the door of the Expo, Sun and his colleagues collected a lot of information in the early stage, and learned that the deputy director of the Expo Bureau likes basketball very much and knows Garnett and Celtic, which made them find a breakthrough. Sun and his colleagues thought of "giving gifts", and friends from afar sent a generous gift to the Expo. This kind of polite behavior, the host can't keep people away. Therefore, Anta executives contacted Zhou Hanmin to explain their intention to turn a business show into a journey of cultural integration.

On the afternoon of August 4th, Garnett became the first "guest" welcomed by the Expo Press Center. He gave the sneakers designed for him by Anta as a gift to Zhu Chen, director of the activity department of the Expo Bureau. In return, Zhu Chen gave him three "sea treasures". This process was witnessed by more than 20 media invited by Anta and another 20 media affiliated to the Expo Press Center. The lively scene surprised Sun.

Li Ning, a CCTV5 reporter, has been following all the activities of Garnett's trip to China. He has also participated in business activities organized by Nike, Adidas and other enterprises, and the activities organized by Anta are becoming more and more sophisticated in his view. Kobe Bryant, who came to China almost at the same time as Garnett, is the spokesman of Nike, whose fame is slightly higher than Garnett's, but the news exposure rate of "Kobe's trip to China" is far lower than that of "KG's trip to China".

Obviously, the "China wisdom" behind the Expo activities is not available to international sports brands, which is the advantage of local enterprises. Anta did not stop at the success of the World Expo. On August 5th, they will perform for the last time in Ganghui Square, the business district of this city.

As the fourth stop of his trip to China, Garnett was arranged to have a hand model in a Hongkong store, and then went to the hollowed-out hall in the middle of the mall to have a brief interaction with fans. After the news spread, many KG fans who heard the news gathered in HKEx Anta store, holding pens and cameras, hoping to get the idol's signature and photo.

However, the staff of Anta Sports Market Center don't want to make any mistakes in the end. They have been arranging the route for KG to enter the market since noon. An hour before entering the market, Anta specially told the mall security guard, "When you get out of the elevator exit, you must stop the people on both sides of the aisle." "You must not make mistakes!"

At 4: 30, KG got out of the elevator. Amid the screams, he didn't notice that he had just passed the store of his old club Adidas.

After less than a minute in Anta store, Garnett walked to the first floor, and all the floors were crowded with people. Compared with the elegant demeanor of the World Expo, the enthusiasm of China fans surprised Anta even more. Thousands of people shouted "KG, KG", and an employee of Anta sighed to the reporter: "Our store has ushered in the hottest day in history, far exceeding Nike and Adi here."

KG stayed in Ganghui for less than 15 minutes, but the sensational atmosphere at the scene satisfied Anta staff. Everything looks beautiful.

From obtaining superior sports resources, packaging sports stars, introducing product concepts to brand image activities, and finally to product design and terminal display, Anta can be as professional as Nike or Adidas, and even better than these two teachers in some aspects.

But the question is, will Anta make shoes above 500 yuan and compete with them in the same lot?

Jie Zheng's answer is no, "Second-and third-tier cities are still the base areas of Anta", and whether it is the function or the price of products, Anta is aimed at the needs of the middle market. Chen Shixin, a sports brand consulting expert who wrote the book "Anta, Never Stop", also believes that Anta can't give up its advantages in second-and third-tier cities, and China is put forward by Anta. "In fact, what I want to surpass is not an international brand, but Li Ning."

Jie Zheng also said that FILA, an Italian sports brand acquired by Anta last year, is a supplement to Anta's high-end products, but Anta brand will not go up. "Go up, do you think the competition will be small?" Zheng Jiezhi asked.

Back on August 3rd, the young Xiaowen lived in Xiamen. He heard that Garnett was coming to Jinjiang and arrived at the gate of Anta Company early, but the security guard stopped him and other 10 fans at the door. Even if Garnett visited the factory image shop here, they could only wave to KG through the glass window.

"Fans only have 10, why not let us sign it? I like KG, but I hate Anta. " Xiaowen complained. Also at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, when the host said "Let's shout for KG", there was a tsunami in the audience, but when he said "Let's shout for Anta", the audience was silent.

Chen Shixin said that brands should not be above others, but should provide opportunities or platforms for communication with consumers. However, during his trip to China, KG should at least interact with fans. In addition to a brief greeting with the fans when filming CCTV5' s "Journey under the Peak Basket", KG was arranged to be interviewed by CCTV5, NBA Chinese Connection and other media most of the time.

Zheng Jie said that they had done their best. There are too many people from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, so it would be miserable to arrange deep interaction between superstars and fans. However, Nike is obviously more courageous. During his trip to Chengdu, Nike arranged for Kobe to attend a training class for young players in Houzimen Basketball Park. Unexpectedly, the weather was not beautiful, and suddenly it rained heavily. Everyone was worried that Kobe would leave, but Nike didn't convince Kobe to leave. Instead, he asked the latter to pick up the receiver: "I started playing basketball at the age of two, and nothing can stop me from playing." Now the rain is nothing at all, I won't leave. "

Compared with the "just do it" in TV advertisements, these words better promote the cowboy culture behind the Nike brand. Compared with KG's numerous media interviews, Kobe spends more time communicating directly with fans in changchun university of science and technology, Jinan University and West Lake Gymnasium. It seems that there is still a long way to go before Anta can be similar to an international brand.