Lining'S "Professional Sports" Is The Real Strength Of The Company.

Ten years ago, Lining pointed out that the main reason for the company's problems is the constant swing between professional sports and sports and fashion.

Today, while Lining has achieved great success in business, he still faces this confusion, or more accurately, embarrassment: this success still has little to do with sports. The tide seems to bring new opportunities for the brand to move in the direction of the trend, to lead the brand into fashion, or to stick to sports and physical education and strengthen professional attributes? Or is it to be China's ADI or Nike?

In the eyes of founder Lining, the answer to this question is consistent: "professional sports" is the real strength of the company. "Doing the tide is not easy and dangerous. The tide itself is a wave. Making several explosions does not solve the problem of brand sustainable development.

Compared with the sports fashion brand for middle school students and small and medium-sized cities, it seems a more difficult way to become a real sports brand. First, the brand must be truly professional; secondly, it needs the endorsement and interaction of top athletes; third, it needs to resonate with the public.

So, is Lining right on the "professional sports" road?

1, sustainable innovation

In July 1980, Nike founder Phil Nate came to China for the first time and wrote in his autobiography, "dog and dog": "I looked around and found that hundreds of people were wearing Chinese tunic suits and rugged black cloth shoes, which were made of building paper. But some children are wearing canvas sports shoes, which gives me hope.

The 30 years after China's behavior in Nike laid the foundation for the great harvest in the Chinese market. When he left, Nike signed a processing contract with two Chinese shoe factories, and got the sponsorship of the Chinese track and field team's warm-up shoes and clothing 4 years later in Losangeles.

It was also in this year that Lining was selected to the national gymnastics team and arrived in Beijing from Guangxi. 2 years later, Lining won six gold medals in the Gymnastics World Cup in Zagreb. After 4 years, Lining won 3 gold medals in the Losangeles Olympic Games, accounting for 1/5 of the 15 gold medals of the Chinese team. On the champion podium, Lining had such an idea: when can he wear the Chinese brand award dress to watch the national flag rise? After retiring, Li Jingwei, the head of Jianlibao, the sponsor of the Losangeles Olympic Games, inspired Lining to join Jianlibao and produce his name as a brand of sportswear.

The reason why Nate founded Nike was much simpler. As a member of University of Oregon's long-distance runner, knight and his coach took several hundred dollars together to form a company to sell their running shoes from Japanese to teammates and other runners. Although compared with Lining, Nike has a much lower starting point, but the gene that starts is running itself. There is also a more timely background -- the high economic prosperity of the United States in 60s brought the rise of the national running. Although China's marathon events are surging, it is still a trend in the middle class. The real popular sports craze is still in its embryonic stage in China.

The difference between the gene and the starting background determines the difficulty for Lining and other Chinese brands including the Jinjiang department to take the road of sports brand.

Compared with Nike and Andrea, who are known for their professional sports, Lining seems not to be enough "hard core". Nike launched its first shot, relying on running shoes with cushioned cushioning technology. The core product of Andrew's success was derived from the aspirations of the founder Kevin Plank from the athlete's identity - breathable and fast drying professional tights, allowing athletes to keep their body relaxed and light during strenuous exercise. And the product that Lining started up is that he doesn't need any technical content of the award dress.

Over the past few years, Lining has made considerable investments in technology research and development. It is the first domestic manufacturer to recruit international experts and set up a "Sports Science Research Center". Lining's "cloud" and Lining's "bow" series have made their own technical characteristics in material shock absorption and structural damping. The Wade Road, created for star Wade, also has bright spots in the allocation of science and technology. But for a brand that wants to take the "professional sports" brand, these are far from enough.

Nike can launch classics one by one, and has more than 60 patents in terms of footwear design. Every innovation is enough to trigger a technological change. In the 20 years since its birth, andmar, which locks the market segments, has been upgraded more than 60 times. It has produced many products and won 75% of the high performance tights market in the United States.

This all-around and continuous upgrading capability is very rare and requires huge capital investment. Andrew spent 150 million dollars on sports training tracking application Map My Fitness, Nike accounts for more than 5% of annual R & D investment (sometimes as high as 10%). In 2018, Lining accounted for 1.3% of research and development, and increased to 2.1% in 2019, even the four largest sports brands in the country (Anta, XTEP, 361).

More importantly, companies such as Nike and Andrew have innovative capabilities based on sports. Through repeated research on different sports modes and technical details, the products can become the equipment that really improves athletes' abilities. Nike's ultra light running shoes help runners improve their performance. T90 allows soccer players to shoot accurately at very high speeds. Andrew's uniform for Canadian football team can reduce body temperature. This kind of product development based on sports demand rather than market is the key to distinguish them from mass sports brand.

2, mutual help

Tight binding of athletes is almost a must for every sports brand. In 1999, only 4 million of the profits of Anta signed Kong Linghui with 800 thousand. In the face of fierce opposition from shareholders, the founder Ding Shizhong asked rhetorical question: do you know that many people in Kong Linghui know more about Anta? This very simple soul answers the mystery or common sense of all brand growth.

But the implementation is obviously not so simple. The more classic case is the cooperation between Nike and basketball superstar Jordan. Many people should still remember Jordan's slow shot in Air Jordan 1 basketball shoes. The sneakers hit $130 million in sales in 1985 and Nike's name on the altar.

The bonus of sports stars is obvious, but not every brand can play this card well. Lining was the first Chinese brand to sign a contract with NBA player, but it didn't succeed in signing a series of NBA. Lining also voluntarily rejected CBA and gave the opportunity to Anta. The latter signed a contract with CBA until 2012, with an average annual growth rate of 90% during the sponsorship period. When Lining woke up and reacted to CBA, the amount of sponsorship had reached 2 billion yuan and five seasons, and the annual cost of Anta was only 40 million.

In 2012, Lining spent $100 million to sign Dewayne Wade, a 30 year old player, and launched the "Wade road" sneakers. He won good reputation and market reaction, but Wade had been able to bring more value to Lining because of his declining competitive condition and retiring last year.

How did Nike do it? They had a professional scouting team to explore tomorrow's stars like scouts. When Li Na, Liu Xiang and James were signed by Nike, they were 15, 18 and 19 respectively. This feeling of "knowing the time" makes sports stars become famous after they become famous. They also choose to continue to endorse for Nike. This is also one of the reasons why Nike's signing athletes are rarely being dug away. Andemar is also so inclined to those relatively cheap but huge potential college students, youth players, the budget is only Nike's 1/3, but must play the biggest cost-effective.

In addition to increasing the exposure rate, the brand and the athlete's binding are actually a kind of mutual aid relationship. The brand achieves athletes through technological breakthroughs, and athletes become the endless source of product innovation.

Nike is the best example. CEO Parke once said that the relationship between Nike and athletes is "relevance": Nike helps athletes understand the potential of sports and deepens their self understanding. The top basketball shoes' standard "all palm fiber carbon board" comes from the analysis of each motion of Jordan on the court by frame projection, and ultimately finds that the deformation of the soles will seriously affect the speed of movement. Hurdle spikes for Liu Xiang are also designed for their technical characteristics. When these equipment helps athletes achieve good results, they will also become the darling of the market. Such an effect is more convincing than pure advertising.

But the premise is that the product must be excellent, otherwise the brand will be turned off by the athletes' performance. Lining had encountered this embarrassing situation. In a CBA match in 2016, Yi Jianlian was taken off the basketball shoes by the other side, and he took off his Lining basketball shoes on the spot, and put on Nike shoes again in the second quarter. In another match, the 81 player Raymond's Lining boots broke down in the process of force and had to leave with broken shoes. Yi Jianlian's behavior can still be explained by commercial behavior (Yi Jianlian is a Nike signing athlete), but the Ramon incident has led Lining to face the public's doubts about the product.

3, resonating with the masses

Lining gave Lining a brand of sportsmanship, and also met the gold medal complex of the Chinese people. This is a congenital advantage of Lining brand. But from Lining's slogan to all kinds of marketing advertisements, there is a lack of consistent and strong spiritual transmission. "Everything is possible" is easy to be confused with Adidas's "no impossible", and with a result oriented approach, especially in the early advertisements, the use of Lining competition scenes has a strong Championship complex. It may be worshipped by ordinary people, but it can not be substituted -- not everyone can become a champion.

By contrast, Nike's "Just do it" can resonate with ordinary people. In fact, the first advertising hero to launch slogan is a 80 year old running runner who runs 17 miles a day and makes him feel good about Nike sports shoes on his feet. Even using sports stars, Nike will explore the inspiring side of their experience. Kobe's own story, "four in the morning, Losangeles," enables people to see the truth behind the aura and gain strength from it.

All of Nike's video ads convey a common spirit. No matter what a person or a star is, they have a strong vision. Even ordinary people need to live in a lottery. It can be said that in all sports brands, only Nike can interpret athletes' spirit from beginning to end. The reason is that Nike's mission to the brand is very clear and firmly believed. Most brands want to talk too much, but in the end they can't remember.

Lining's spiritual transmission has also experienced various disturbances and repetition. From "everything is possible" to "make the change", and then back to "everything is possible", now there is another "China Lining". How to build a continuous spiritual core in the public mind may be a question for the brand to think about.

After ten years of iteration, Lining has thrown away some heavy loads and realized the retail oriented mode. The visible leap in design and profitability has also become clearer. In the next iteration, we hope to see a clearer and more determined Lining.