From Marketing To Cultural Output, Domestic Sports Brands Have Entered The "2.0 Era"?

Almost visible to the naked eye, the co branding strategy of domestic sports brands is changing in 2020. Whether it is the cooperation between Li Ning and Jackie Chan, or the cooperation between Special Step and Shaolin Temple, it is no longer a simple "trend" product.

2019 is definitely the year of co branding of sports brands. Almost all the popular film and television IP in the year can find the co branding funds of sports brands. If you are an avid fan of Marvel, you may buy a pair of Adidas co branded sneakers or Anta co branded T-shirts after watching Avengers League 4: Final Battle; If you are a fan of Alita: Battle Angel, you can buy a pair of PEAK co branded sneakers; If none of the above is your dish, you like Ice and Snow 2. It doesn't matter. Converse's co branded products are waiting for you.

Under the guidance of the spirit of "everything can be co branded", many sports brands are trying to create a wave of influence and win attention and sales for themselves with the hottest IP. In addition to the above examples, there are Adidas x Star War, Peak x The Climber, and so on.

At the same time, some enduring classics have become the hot spots for sports brands, such as Converse x Batman PUMA x Hello Kitty、 Anta x Coca Cola, 361 ° x Kodak, etc.

However, in general, the sports brand co branding in 2019 mostly stayed in the so-called "1.0 era", and the selection of products was somewhat simple and crude. The intuitive purpose of co branding was to "sell" with the help of big IP, in contrast, it did not pay much attention to the "chemical reaction" between the brand itself and the co branded IP.

However, after a series of co branding bombardment, there were few customers who finally entered the hearts of consumers except for temporary sales. It seems that the co branding of products solely relying on big IP can only be "popular", and its marketing model lacks sustainability.

As more and more domestic sports brands are co branded and experienced, they are constantly changing their strategies.

At the end of 2019, Nike and Adidas went hand in hand to carry out a wave of influential joint branding attempts. First, Adidas announced that it was co branded with Prada, and then Nike's Jordan Brand launched shoes co branded with Dior. These two "power alliances" have attracted extensive discussion and attention on social media.

"How many people will buy Dior this year" is a question that began to be discussed before the outbreak of the global epidemic. According to Fashion Headlines, some industry insiders believe that after the sharp rise in recent years, the novelty of luxury brands has gradually declined, or they have begun to touch the ceiling. In the field of sports brands, the leading positions of Adidas and Nike have been constantly impacted by other sports brands, and their products have also been criticized as being lack of novelty, especially the lack of popular products of Adidas in recent two years.

However, the two winners have had different impacts on both sides of the brand. For Adidas and Nike, they may not rely on the high price of products to bring actual profits, but hope to improve the brand's potential taste through joint branding. Consumers' feelings of high-end luxury goods will be more or less reflected in Adidas and Nike. For Prada and Dior, luxury goods can also enter the sports field and enter the high-end fashion market, which provides a possibility of change while maintaining the brand image.

This is a win-win situation. This more topical way of co branding also affects domestic sports brands. With more and more experience in co branding, domestic sports brands have also begun to strengthen their attempts to improve the depth of co branding - from simply selling goods to trying to tell a story, from one-way borrowing to two-way output. The two sides have conducted in-depth cooperation to jointly build IP and absorb cultural and spiritual connotations for their own use, which is to gradually enter the "2.0 era".

Li Ning is still ahead among domestic brands. At the Paris Fashion Week show at the beginning of this year, Li Ning launched the "Li Ning x Jackie Chan co branded kung fu series", which caused quite a stir. Both Olympic champion Li Ning and kung fu superstar Jackie Chan are very representative ICON in the world. This cooperation can be said to be mutual endorsement.

This is not the only joint name launched by Li Ning brand so far this year. After the joint name of the cultural creation of the Forbidden City last year, Li Ning also co named Dunhuang Museum this year and launched a series of products. Each style has a unique name, "Qianxingce", "Qinbian Platform", etc., which reminds people of the Silk Road.

In fact, from the above two products, we can see the transformation of Li Ning's co branding strategy. From product integration to "cultural integration", Li Ning is constantly shaping its brand image through co branding, giving a new definition to "Guochao". Young consumers often buy co branded products to express an attitude, which Li Ning is trying to make more Chinese style.

Similar cooperation also includes the special step of co naming Shaolin Temple, which seems to express an attitude, because the special step has not yet launched any products related to "Shaolin". Yang Hong, the category leader of Tebu, said in the joint promotional video that he hoped to "combine the Zen martial arts Zen culture of Shaolin Temple with our modern products through cooperation with Shaolin Temple."

Although there is no "Shaolin co branded model" for the time being, Tebu subsequently launched a new product, focusing on the concept of "Tai Chi", and invited Yang Dezhan, the taijiquan champion of the 2019 World Kung Fu Championships, to shoot a series of advertising films to deepen Tebu's "martial arts" gene.

In addition to culture, "Chinese style" co branding also includes enterprises. At the end of last year, PEAK cooperated with Haier to launch "PEAK x Haier Brothers" co branding. "Haier Brothers" is a popular science cartoon. The animation image of the two brothers is linked with "wisdom" and "learning", which can highlight the "sense of technology" of PEAK's "attitude" products; Haier Group has always attached great importance to the operation of Haier Brothers' IP. In 2018, it also restarted the production of animated films to reshape the image of Haier Group.

After the "chaos of co branding" last year, sports brands began to adjust their co branding positioning from the era of 1.0 to the era of 2.0. After all, good looking bags are the same. Consumers want interesting souls and good looking bags.