Considerations on Further Development to China’s Enterprises Using Sport marketi

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Education ， Langfang Teachers’ College， Langfang ， China.）

Abstract. China is a large manufacturing country. Enterprises are needed to do enormous work on publicity in order to make the whole world understand and use our products. Sport marketing is a brand new field to enterprise marketing. All companies are facing important issues like how to make use of sport marketing means to improve their respective economic effects and to promote further development. Through the explanation to the meaning of sport marketing， this article analyses the mistakes in sport marketing and gives specific strategies for sport marketing formulation. It summarizes the author’s ideas and provides the reference frame for better china enterprise development via sport marketing.

Key words： Sport marketing； Enterprise； Products； Economic effects

Besides competition itself， modern sports events also provide a market promotion platform for enterprises – sport marketing. As a means for modern marketing dissemination， sport marketing caught people’s attention with the vigorous development of modern sports from 1980s. The development of sport marketing in China was later than that in western countries. According to the statistics， the total output value of world sports industry a year is more than 470 billion dollars. In some development countries in Europe and America， the total sports output value accounts for 2% of their gross national product. In China however， this figure was only 0.2% in 2004. With the sustained development of China’s economy， it is estimated that its total output value of sports will account for 1.5% of GNP in 2010. Domestic companies should take hold of this favorable opportunity and set up their image via sport marketing so as to promote their respective brands， actively participate in the international competition of sport marketing， and enhance their further development.

Sport marketing is a kind of marketing activity to promote a company’s products and brand by taking a sports event as a carrier. It is a marketing means. There are two levels of sport marketing. First is to take the sports itself as a product for marketing. Another one is to use marketing principles with the purpose of disseminating and spreading a non-sporting product. A sports event is just used as a carrier. The sports marking we usually mention refers to the later one. A statistical document points out that the commercial operation of sports has become a significant means for many countries to promote national consumption and to expand employment. United States， the most developed sport-consuming country in the world， has the market consumption of 60-70 billion dollars a year， accounting for 1.3% - 1.5% of its GNP. The sports sponsorship worldwide is close to 1.53 billion dollars and is still increasing at the pace of 13%. Sport marketing is to promote a brand through the sponsored event by ways of sponsorship or titling. Experts deem that such sports communications have made up the limitations of modern marketing system like promotions， advertisements， and media dissemination. Therefore， it will be the mainstream strategy in the building of strong brands.

1.Specific strategies of an enterprise in stipulating

sport marketing

In fact， sponsoring an event or naming the event with a company’s name is only a form of the event or the beginning of a project. An enterprise faces more issues such as how to effectively combine its brand positioning and the sponsored event， how to conduct integrated marketing focusing on its brand orientation with the use of advertisements， public relationship and promotions while gaining relevant fame and rights so as to build a unique brand association， make it deep in consumers’ minds and advance the implementation of its marketing strategy intentionally.

1.1Mutual collaboration & integration between sport marketing & enterprise management system

Sport marketing does not only refer to that a company prints on its brand identity the words like “a partner or a sponsor for an event” and then consumers would take such brand as an influential one. Since they never care about how much the company spent in order to get this identity or to make the advertisement， they are only interested in whether this company would bring them better products and services. So an event an enterprise is involved in should be closely linked together with its corporate culture， products， services， and abilities on the management of information， finance and crisis. Such things should never go beyond a company’s management system. Instead， they should work and integrate with each other. Focusing on the sporting marketing platform， an enterprise needs to determine its long-term market plans and marketing strategies. Then it takes advantage of the channel of sport marketing for consumers to like and buy its products. In this way， it will gradually increase its market consumption bases and finally build an enormous consumption group， achieving the purpose of improving its influence among consumers. However， in this process， there’s a reaction period for the public to be aware of and accept the brand. When the spread of the brand catches the attention of the public step by step and goes up to a certain degree， quantity will finally turn into quality and a large-scale recognition purchase reaction is generated after the impulsive chain reaction.

1.2 Good sports spread ideas to attract consumers’ attention

The key is whether the dissemination can catch the attention of the media， the public， and the consumers. A commercial spread would be aimless and fruitless if the spread fails to result in attention in an ear of attention economy. It also means that a company would not get relevant returns although it spends much on manpower， materials and money. Therefore， the critical point for brand building is to let the vast audience to have their eye focus. A company will constantly increase the degree of its brand attention and finally arouse consumers’ reaction. This requires that an enterprise to have good ideas while publicizing its products. For example， in order to meet the World Cup in German in 2006， Adidas designed a new theme advertisement. The actors in the Dream Theatre were two common boys. Under their call， football giants like Zidane and Cisse appeared on the scene. They established their respective teams for contest. When the sportsmen of the two teams were inextricably involved in the match， the boys were awakened by their mother： it was only a dream！ It is the dream of all football lovers in the world. This fresh advertisement tremendously aroused the resonance of football keeners. People not only remembered this advertisement， but also bear in mind Adidas --- a world well-known brand. According to the statistics， the net profit increase of Adidas during the German World Cup was 13% via its unique sport marketing method， which was as high as 130 million Euros.

1.3 Sport star as spokesperson of a brand

The so-called brand image spokesperson is one who is recruited or shaped by the brand strategists and make people have good impression of the brand through their association with his/her popularity， profession， image， personality， and behavior. We admire sports stars’ healthy， happy， persevered and never-say-die spirit. This is also the nature and connotation of what enterprise products are pursuing for. While receiving the information from the brand image spokesperson， people also get the product information sports stars are representing in their sub-consciousness. This is the commercial value produced by the brand spokesperson， which is satisfied by the enterprises. Many domestically and internationally famous companies have their own practices on selecting proper brand image spokespersons. There are also many successful cases. Let’s take an example of Tian Liang， the world diving champion， for Nutrilite as spokesperson. In 2002， the cognitive rate was 34% in 2002. After Tian became the spokesperson， this rate rose to 87% in 2004. Consumers’ acceptance ratio to the brand increased to 76%. We know it is relatively easier to make higher a brand’s popularity， but more difficult to gain their favor. Enterprises need to effectively transmit the brand connotations to consumers and get their recognition. This is a crucial indicator for the effectiveness of “a spokesperson”.

1.4 In-depth promotion of brand images by virtue of major sporting events

To improve a company’s brand popularity， its enterprise image or even the market share by utilizing large-scale events such as the Olympics or World Cup is the marketing strategy of many domestic and international corporations. Traditional marketing methods excessively seek short-term interests. Promotional ways like giving discounts or price cuts， though enhanced the short-term sales increase， are harmful to the long-term value of a brand. So some enterprises choose big sporting events to publicize their brands and get their brand values higher in order to obtain the long-term benefits. Then the matter is that how companies make use of large events particularly the quadrennial Olympics and men’s World Cup to improve the popularity of their brands. First they need to become primary sponsors of such events. In this way， they can provide their own products for an event like podium wears， official game balls and the utilization of the signboards around the play courts so as to realize the purpose of spreading their products. Second， they can buy out the broadcasting rights of an event or advertising their products through the Internet. For example， Sumsung Group has consecutively become the sponsor of communication equipment for all the Olympics beginning from 1988， when the Seoul Olympics was held. The Olympics supports and promotes the sustainable increase of Sumsung brand value. Sumsung Electronics was at the 20th position with its 14.9 billion dollars of brand value in the Globally Most Valuable Brand List. It was the first time that its ranking was higher than Sony.

1.5 Long-term， sustainable and tactful plans for brand operation & dissemination strategies needed

Long-term and sustainable international market operation requires sharper technology breakthroughs as well as sustained strategies for international operations and the adherence and the positive shaping of the fresh brand orientation. As to how to get the market and consumers finally， the point is not only for consumers to have initial understanding. The more important thing lies in the long-term and sustainable operation to maintain the trust of consumers. For example， Coca Cola is the first company in the world that realized the huge value of sport marketing. It is also one of the companies that conduct long-term and systematic sport marketing. From the sponsorship of Amsterdam Olympics in 1928 up to 2020， Coca Cola has been the most steadfast partner supporting the Olympics.

2. Mistakes in sport marketing

2.1 Sport marketing equal to sport sponsorship

Thinking that sport marketing is the sport sponsorship， more and more enterprises spend huge amount of money to sponsor sporting activities. In fact， sport sponsorship is only a kind of operational form of sport marketing. It is not the sport marketing itself. Through multiple forms like sport sponsorship， title sponsorship， inviting sport stars as product spokespersons， product design， purchase of sports wears and advertisement inside or outside the stadium， the sport marketing integrates the sport culture with the corporate brand culture and then make it higher to the level of corporate culture. This is the whole meaning of sport marketing.

2.2 Absence of a complete operation system

Enterprises do not have basic skills for sport marketing. They suddenly find a hot spot in a certain event， rushed for sponsorship， and then make a lot of mistakes. Such practice will not only cause a company failure to reach its expected purpose， but also would have negative effect. The typical case was the match between the Spain Royal Madrid and China Jianlibao Dragon Team in August of 2003. Septwolves paid RMB 4 million and became the only designated brand of garment sponsorship for the first match of the Royal Madrid in China. It placed extensive advertising in major media， its specialty stores， and websites. Then it found what on the seven sport giants were the suits of Adidas， its competitor. Septwolves took RMB 4 million of sponsorship and expensive price for media， resulting in a free advertisement for Adidas in China， which became a joke in China’s sport marketing circle.

2.3 Monotonous expression form

The cultural feature of sport marketing should be combined with the value of a brand. An all-around dissemination must be available. Advertisement is no doubt the most direct and efficient way. However， enterprises in China mostly are giving short and swift thrusts on sport marketing. Spending a lot of money for a sport marketing， they are thinking how to make full use of the marketing to bring benefits. The creational ideas for marketing were put on the second place. For example， Guangxi Golden Throat Group invited the famous football star Ronaldo for advertisement. But people don’t know what the advertisement means. The purpose of sport marketing failed and led to the opposite effect of diluting its brand value.

2.4 Lack of innovative awareness

There is a common problem in Chinese enterprises， which is to imitate or copy other company’s results. With more and more companies using sport marketing now， there are more and more cases of imitation and plagiary among enterprises. The sport marketing activities are much the same in nature. On the on hand， we do not encourage excessive unconventional behavior from enterprises. On the other hand， we should resist such effortless activities.

3. Conclusion

Modern sports integrate competition， fitness， leisure and entertainment. While becoming an industry， their market and media values are increasingly stronger and becoming a powerful means of enterprise marketing step by step. Many companies in the world are taking advantage of sports for marketing before their success in building up their enterprise brands. Enterprises in China should learn from the successful cases of international companies and change their traditional concepts. While observing the endless commercial opportunities provided by the sport industry， they should effectively lay a good foundation for brand building， combine the sport marketing with the brand， and establish a long-term sport marketing strategy focusing on the development of their own brand strategies so as to make their unique operational mechanism. By doing so enterprises will have further development.

References

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