Let’s talk about how sports brands can tell good mass narratives

In the field of sports brand marketing, how to tell fascinating stories and establish deep emotional connections with consumers is a topic worth exploring. Especially during the Olympic Games, which attracts global attention, brand marketing strategy and execution are particularly critical. This article analyzes the marketing case of Li Ning during the Olympic Games and explores how sports brands can create influential marketing activities by combining mass narratives with individual emotions.

As a top-level event held every four years and attracting worldwide attention, the Olympics is a must-watch event for brand marketing. In this Olympics marketing, I saw two different types of approaches, one is "focused" and the other is "penetrating". How do you understand this?

Focus, as the name implies, means putting the marketing focus and hot spots on certain "superhero" scenes under the spotlight. The most exciting moments in the Olympics are the decisive battles, the players standing on the podium, and the "win" under the spotlight.

The latter type of "permeation" is to pass the meaning of the grand narrative to everyone. Take the Olympics for example, what is mainly conveyed is not only the glory of winning the award, but also the value and meaning that sports and exercise give to people, making everyone feel "related to me".

The first category is the usual tricks of brands. For example, Nike's statement "The only souvenir I want to take away from Paris is the medal" successfully stimulated my adrenaline and made me resonate with Queen Wen. By grasping a certain kind of highly energetic common emotion to stimulate instant resonance, brands can make the public's emotional concentration burst out in a certain moment or scene.

Compared with the first category, the second category focuses more on individual feelings and relevance. It is closer to what I call content marketing under new groups and new media forms.

Although the intensity of the immediate emotional outburst is not as strong as the first type, it is better in terms of emotional depth and continuity. However, there are two difficulties in achieving this effect. First, it is necessary to find the connection point between the grand narrative and the brand and the individual; second, it is necessary to find the appropriate language system and media channels to effectively convey the brand content.

The best case I saw in this Olympics was Li Ning's "In My Name" Olympic campaign. In this article, I will focus on how it solves these two points.

01 Named after me, let every "me" have meaning

In the article "Let me tell you frankly, China's marketing has changed a lot", I put forward a point of view: from center to decentralization, it is a people-oriented equal rights dividend.

The fundamental reason for changes in consumption is changes in people. In the era of equal rights, consumers have sovereignty, and whether they choose you or not is the key. Only those who really capture people's hearts can own the market. The new generation of consumers tend to spontaneously look for brands that can represent their values ​​and provide them with emotional value.

When I first saw the phrase "In my name" in Li Ning's TVC, I thought it was brilliant. It not only captures the differentiated value of the brand, but also makes users feel that it is "related to me". The "I" here refers to both the brand and every ordinary person.

As the first and only sports brand named after an athlete, the "Li Ning" brand name is its most differentiated and unique brand asset.

In 1984, Mr. Li Ning won three gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics, becoming the first Chinese athlete to win multiple gold medals in a single Olympic Games. Gymnastics moves named after him, such as the Li Ning Crossover, Li Ning Swing, Li Ning Hang, and Li Ning Giant Swing, are still regarded as classics by gymnasts around the world.

The success on the international stage has not only enhanced the national pride of the Chinese people, but also endowed the name Li Ning with symbolic significance for China's sports strength and spirit, making it a social symbol with common recognition.

This determines that the "Li Ning" brand, named after Li Ning, has a cognitive advantage since its inception. Mr. Li Ning's own qualities of daring to imagine, unremitting pursuit, and winning breakthroughs will become the natural genes of the brand. This is also the spiritual support behind the theme of "Named After Me".

In addition to the symbolic meaning of the brand name "Li Ning", more importantly, the act of "taking oneself as a name" itself is also an encouragement for everyone to realize themselves.

As the longest-lasting exclusive identifier besides DNA, a name plays an important role in an individual's growth process. In social interactions, a name is often an important source of information for others' first impression of an individual. For oneself, a name is part of one's identity, affecting one's self-identity and inspiring society's specific expectations of the individual.

Especially in today's environment that emphasizes the realization of personal value, everyone wants to be seen for their uniqueness. Under this value, "Named after Me" can naturally connect the unique value of the brand with personal value.

What impressed me as much as the profound insight into the crowd psychology in terms of meaning is the visual presentation. In the "Name Me" series of TVCs, KVs and other visuals, Li Ning replaced the LI-NING under the flag in the LOGO with the Chinese pinyin of the athlete's name in each picture.

The logo is the brand's identity. Putting one's name in the logo means putting oneself on an equal footing with consumers, expressing direct recognition of personal values. At the same time, in cognitive psychology, vision is the most impactful sensory perception. Using vision to express can give consumers a more intuitive feeling and enhance motivation.

Details and truth are often the source of motivation. In every street screen, you can see that the name under the flag has been replaced with the pinyin of the protagonist's name in the movie or poster. Even if it is not deliberately described, it will subtly leave consumers with a sincere feeling. On Xiaohongshu, many netizens have posted to show off their customized T-shirts with their own names.

When I saw "Named After Me", I had a feeling that although it was based on the story of Mr. Li Ning and the Li Ning brand, it did not just express the brand itself, but was seeking to communicate with me.

In other words, "In My Name" not only reflects the original intention of the brand to "return sports to ordinary people" when it was first founded, but also inspires the deepest self-recognition in everyone's heart, allowing everyone to remember the value realization that sports bring to themselves, and encourages everyone to create their own brilliance.

Of course, good insights and good ideas will remain just castles in the air and a waste of time if they are not translated into products or conversions.

02 Penetrate horizontally and vertically layer by layer to build a full marketing chain

In the era of equal rights, the new generation no longer believes in authority. Compared with education and shouting, subtle influence is more effective for them. Compared with superstar worship, they trust people they know and who are similar to themselves more. To achieve effective communication of ideas, brands need to let different people help you translate into thousands of different stories to influence and penetrate all kinds of people.

In the case of "Name Me", Li Ning divided it into two axes to complete. One is the crowd axis, end-to-end crowd penetration; the other is the mind axis, from values ​​to product planting

In the crowd axis, starting from the founder Li Ning, along the communication path of "founder - athlete - sports expert and sports club - individual", the sports spirit represented by Li Ning is infiltrated into each "I" layer by layer.

Communication requires a high-potential starting point, and the "In My Name" brand declaration main video voiced by founder Li Ning plays this role.

In the video, brand founder Li Ning, as the storyteller, linked the growth stories of different types of athletes, including Chen Guohao, who went from street basketball to CBA, Xia Yuyu, who ran from mountain roads to the podium, Huang Xiao, who ignited street dance with "national style", fitness blogger Li Yingying, who used travel as her home for fitness, and "People's Artist" Xu Xin. Subsequently, more than 80+ athletes responded in public and private domains, extending the potential of the topic, increasing attention, and enhancing the overall impact of the event.

Although centralized voice has a wide coverage, it is difficult for people to feel a deep resonance. Therefore, next, Li Ning used athletes and KOLs to relay their own sports stories, giving a concrete interpretation of "everything is possible", allowing people who are closer to consumers to communicate directly and narrow the distance with them.

The athletes include Li Jingliang, Che Lin, Yang Kai, Wang Wenjie, Yang Hansen, etc. They belong to sports categories that are more concerned by new-age consumers, such as fighting, skateboarding, street dance, running, basketball, etc. The athletes themselves also have a certain degree of fame and topicality in their fields. For example, Li Jingliang and Yang Kai have appeared in relevant variety shows and have a certain fan base, which can generate more widespread dissemination.

At the same time, Li Ning cooperated with Xiaohongshu's Olympic-themed IP "Everyone's Sports Games" to co-create it, launched the online call for #Be the Protagonist of Sports in My Name#, and launched an offline passionate sports game at Shanghai Oriental Pearl City Plaza, linking with sports communities such as Standard Nerds Club and WeExplore, allowing consumers to directly participate in sports through experience.

Compared to seeing other people's stories, participating in shaping your own story can leave a better impression and connection. From the voices of well-known athletes to the interpretation of KOLs, and then to personal participation and experience, Li Ning has moved from the core sports crowd to the general sports circle, but this is only the first step.

Connecting with the crowd is to gain more opportunities for expression. Only by constantly conveying brand awareness can you truly transform them into your own crowd assets.

To gain the recognition of the new generation of consumers, it is necessary not only to satisfy them with product performance, but also to satisfy them with brand concepts and values. However, different values ​​require different media to convey. In Robert Cialdini's book "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion", six influence principles are mentioned, including the authority principle and the liking principle, that is, people tend to follow the opinions of those who are regarded as authorities or experts, and are more willing to agree to the requests of people they like.

This is reflected in the campaign's value communication strategy. In terms of brand spirit and professional strength, Li Ning's choice of communication media and channels are different.

In terms of brand spirit, Li Ning used the People's Daily's special Olympic countdown program "Creating Chinese Brilliance in My Name" to more convincingly convey the brand's support and promotion of China's sports industry, making the party's central media the main expression of the brand spirit.

The program was broadcast live on the People's Daily 4 platform on July 10, the eve of the Olympics, featuring 15 retired and active athletes including Li Ning, Xu Haifeng, Li Xiaoshuang, Sun Yingsha, Ma Long, etc., who jointly interpreted the 40-year development history of Chinese sports and the Olympics.

The spontaneous recognition of Li Ning's industry status by the central party media has quickly boosted the public's recognition and favorability of the Li Ning brand. This is exemplified by the fact that the live broadcast topped the Weibo hot search list seven times in the two-hour live broadcast, with more than 50 million people interacting and watching.

In terms of professional strength, Li Ning uses experience instead of demonstration, allowing KOLs in professional fields who are more similar to ordinary people to tell consumers. Take the technology conference as an example. At the "Technology Li Ning in My Name" conference, Li Ning did not have a mechanized or didactic output, but set up a variety of real-life sports scenes for participants to experience performance, creating a space for all participants to record their experience from a "first-person perspective".

Finally, conversion is the ultimate goal of all marketing actions. If there is no terminal to take over the early water storage in time, consumers' enthusiasm for the brand will soon dissipate.

In order to effectively release the high attention and enthusiasm of the event during the product promotion period, Li Ning took the three signed gold medal teams in table tennis, diving and shooting as the core focus and made full efforts in brand self-media, online media, social media KOL and KOC, retail terminal stores, and business district advertising to transform the brand mental rendering into sales.

For example, they quickly followed up on the popularity of table tennis events and launched a buy-one-get-one-free campaign for customized name badges for national table tennis players; they set up flash mobs to allow consumers to customize "In My Name" T-shirts, etc.

03 Conclusion

In a decentralized social media environment, the role of macro narratives is declining, and the significance of each micro individual moment is becoming stronger. Under this drastic change, many brands have found that previous marketing methods are no longer effective and advertising is useless.

I always say that marketing is a combination of science and art. Although it has a rational methodology to follow, whether it can resonate with consumers on an emotional level also affects its appeal.

Good marketing will not make people feel that it is marketing because it is embedded in the consumers' life scenarios and value systems.

Just like Li Ning's "Name Me" this time, although its logical starting point is the brand's unique founding story, the sportsmanship and self-value realization behind it are in line with everyone. On top of this deeper resonance, consumers remember not only the product and performance, but the close connection between Li Ning and the sportsmanship, which brings motivation for self-value realization.

The highlight of the Olympics belongs to the winners, but the highlight of sports belongs to everyone. If Li Ning was under the spotlight and inspired every Chinese with his name, then today, everyone who breaks through himself in sports should applaud himself.

Author | Li Zi Editor | Daojie Doris
This article is written by the author of Operation Party [刀姐doris], WeChat public account: [刀姐doris], original/authorized to be published on Operation Party, and any reproduction without permission is prohibited.

The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.