Olympic Star Economics

The Olympics is not only a global sports event, but also the birthplace of sports stars. The brilliant achievements of athletes on the field are often accompanied by a surge in commercial value off the field. With the rise of social media and digital platforms, the commercial influence and monetization methods of Olympic stars have also undergone tremendous changes.

Zheng Qinwen won the championship, Sun Yingsha lost, Pan Zhanle boasted, and Quan Hongchan showed off her gold medal. Almost all of the above events have become hot search items floating in the public opinion field.

As expected, the Olympic Games, held every four years, once again demonstrated its unique value in attracting global attention. The athletes participating in the games naturally became the focus of the whole audience. The results of the games, the stories behind the games, and the unique personalities are likely to attract a big discussion on the Internet, and then make the people being discussed become new sports stars.

Around the birth of new stars, the battle for brand endorsements and platform promotion has already begun. Betting on a potential athlete, or directly taking on an entire team, is one strategy. Inviting sports stars to join the platform, or collaborating with former Olympic champions to sell goods through live broadcasts, is also a strategy.

For the Olympic stars themselves, who are destined to have a short career, they also hope to embrace this great wealth and pursue another possibility of career. However, not everyone can become an Olympic star. In this battle of star creation, subjective will, objective conditions and many random events all affect the result of star creation.

Olympic star economics is related to the Olympics, to the “stars” themselves, and naturally to business strategies.

1. When athletes become stars

In today's world, it seems natural for athletes to become stars. The attention paid to world competitions is enough to make top players become international stars. At the same time, international stars will also have corresponding commercial returns and become commercial superstars.

But the same thing would have been almost impossible in China before the 21st century.

According to incomplete statistics from Hedgehog Commune, from the 1982 Los Angeles Olympics to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, a total of 57 Chinese delegation members won gold medals in 80 events. Among them, only six people can still be remembered by ordinary people: Deng Yaping, Li Ning, Lang Ping, Xu Haifeng, Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui.

If we only look at their influence, these six people are undoubtedly "sports stars", but unlike sports stars in a broader sense, they have not received commercial returns commensurate with their influence. Li Ning is a little special, as he founded the sports brand Li Ning and achieved great success. The other five people almost all chose to embrace the system and become part of the development of China's sports industry.

In the article "A Brief History of Media Engraved on the Back of the Olympics", Hedgehog Commune mentioned that the Olympics are deeply influenced by the changes in the media, and so are the athletes involved. In 2000, the population coverage of television in China reached 93.7%. It has become very simple and convenient to learn about the Olympics through television, and Olympic athletes have therefore received more attention than before.

At the Sydney Olympics that year, the Chinese delegation had 36 people who won 28 gold medals. Most of their names have been forgotten by the public, but there was one exception - Tian Liang.

Due to his outstanding performance and handsome appearance, Tian Liang became the "diving prince" hyped by the media in the TV era, and thus won the favor of many brands. At that time, China's economy was booming, and business opportunities nearly ten times more than before suddenly came, and Tian Liang became the lucky one who was chosen.

In 2005, Tian Liang became the first Olympic champion to be expelled from the national team for participating in too many commercial activities, but this also marked the beginning of his transformation. He has since entered the entertainment industry, participated in variety shows, founded a sports company, invested in multiple properties, and continued to accept advertising endorsements, etc., and has already embarked on the road to financial freedom.

Tian Liang is an outlier, but also a beginning. As the Beijing Olympics approached, the Olympic Games received more and more attention in China. In 2004, Liu Xiang won the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles in track and field and broke the Olympic record. This groundbreaking breakthrough and the high attention paid to track and field made him the most commercially valuable star of the same year.

According to data published by Forbes Celebrity List, Liu Xiang's income was only 1.6 million yuan before 2003. After winning the gold medal in 2004, it soared to 23 million yuan, and climbed to 58 million yuan in 2007. According to the "China Olympic Gold Medal Value Report" released by China Brand Research Institute in 2007, Liu Xiang's commercial value reached 461 million yuan in the three years after winning the gold medal, ranking first.

According to Sohu Finance, in 2004, the Athletics Administration Center unified the management of Liu Xiang's commercial development, divided it into three levels, and clearly divided the commercial income obtained. This shows that the national team at that time also realized the huge commercial value of athletes and consciously carried out unified management and development.

After Liu Xiang, Chinese Olympic stars began to appear regularly. In 2008, there were Guo Jingjing, Zou Shiming, Chen Yibing and Lin Dan; in 2012, there were Sun Yang, Ye Shiwen and Lü Xiaojun; in 2016, there were Fu Yuanhui, Ma Long, Zhang Jike and Chen Long; in 2020, there was Yang Qian, Quan Hongchan and Su Bingtian. There has been almost no gap in the number of athletes who can be called Olympic stars.

Although the Olympics have fallen to the point where no one bids to host the event, Olympic athletes are having their best era yet.

2. How to gain commercial influence?

Olympic champions are common, but Olympic stars are rare. The difference between the former and the latter is reflected in their commercial influence.

The 2007 "China Olympic Gold Medal Value Report" conducted a commercial analysis of the Olympic champions of the 2004 Athens Olympics. The report shows that champions of weightlifting, wrestling, judo, shooting, canoeing, taekwondo, badminton and other events rarely become spokespeople, but gymnastics, diving and table tennis are highly favored by brands.

The reason may be that the latter is a strong sport in China and can win multiple gold medals, which easily attracts attention. In comparison, the former is less popular and not very entertaining, so it is ignored by both the audience and brand endorsements.

Although the difference between the popularity of these sports may not be the same every year, it is an objective fact that there are differences in popularity among different sports (of course, it is also necessary to acknowledge the difficulty of winning awards in popular sports). In extreme cases, even the Chinese football team, which has been criticized many times, often has top players with a value of more than 500,000 euros, which is much higher than the gold medalists of many unpopular sports.

This situation has been repeatedly verified over the years. For example, track and field athlete Wu Yanni, although she has never won a medal in an international competition and is unlikely to win a medal, she still got the endorsement of Adidas this year. In 2021, although Su Bingtian did not win a medal, his net worth skyrocketed due to reaching the finals and breaking the Asian record, and he also became the spokesperson for Xiaomi mobile phones.

Similarly, before Zheng Qinwen made history this year, Li Na had never won a medal in the Olympics, but this did not prevent her from becoming China's most commercially valuable star athlete. In 2012, Li Na ranked second in the world's women's tennis with an income of 18 million US dollars. Of course, Zheng Qinwen can achieve such a breakthrough in a popular event, and naturally he is expected to achieve higher commercial success.

However, even within popular sports, there are huge differences in whether or not commercial endorsements can be obtained. For example, in the 2004 Athens Olympics, Tian Liang, who was also the champion of the men's synchronized 3-meter springboard, endorsed more than 30 brands, while Yang Jinghui, Tian Liang's diving partner, had almost no brands looking for him to endorse him. Hu Jia, Luo Lishi, Peng Bo and other diving champions also got nothing like Yang Jinghui.

In the past few Olympic Games, Guo Jingjing of the diving team, Sun Yang of the swimming team, and Zhang Jike of the table tennis team have clearly possessed more commercial influence than their fellow champion teammates.

Sports competitions are cruel, and heroes are judged by victory or defeat. Business competitions are also cruel, and winning the championship is not the most important thing. What is more important is to have symbolic value that attracts the audience, such as Tian Liang's handsome face and the label of "diving prince".

In fact, good looks like Tian Liang have always been another way for Olympic athletes to get attention. Track and field athletes Wu Yanni and Xia Sining, swimmers Ning Zetao and Wang Shun, badminton player Wang Chang, etc., have all gained further attention because of their outstanding looks. After all, in the competition for attention outside the stadium, whoever has one more thing to say will get one more point.

Going one step further, it is the likable personality. In this regard, the personality can even make up for the lack of unpopular events and results. For example, this year's shooting gold medalists, Li Hao and Xie Yu, and 8 years ago, Fu Yuanhui won the bronze medal with all her strength. In addition, the reason why Sun Yingsha can get more support than Chen Meng is largely due to her likable personality.

It can be said that under the new logic of Olympic star creation, personality has become almost the most important factor in whether an Olympic athlete can become "famous". Of course, first of all, you have to be able to enter the Olympic arena.

3. Prize draw time

One theory is that every $379 spent on Olympic advertising can yield a $10,000 return. Another theory is that under normal circumstances, if you invest $1, your brand’s international visibility can increase by 1%, but if you use the same amount of money to sponsor the Olympics, your visibility can increase by 3%.

The huge input-output ratio will undoubtedly attract advertisers with large advertising budgets, and investing money in Olympic stars with great influence can further enhance brand power.

In addition, due to the special characteristics of sports stars, brands are more willing to endorse these athletes. Ding Lu, general manager of brand integrated marketing at Ctrip, told Hedgehog Community that in their opinion, sports stars are safer than entertainment stars and can better represent the positive attitude of a country or an industry.

The competition for Olympic endorsements and even betting on Olympic athletes in advance are happening. On July 11, half a month before the official opening of the Paris Olympics, Ctrip signed contracts with four Olympic athletes: Pan Zhanle, Zhang Boheng, Wang Chang and Liang Weihan.

Signing a contract in advance means "betting", which is a risky thing. In 2004, Anta chose Kong Linghui and Wang Hao as its spokespersons and set the slogan as "The Power of Winning", but Kong Linghui and Wang Hao were unexpectedly eliminated and Anta suffered a considerable loss.

But if you don't place your bets in advance, once Olympic athletes become star-level athletes, then firstly, advertising costs may increase significantly, and secondly, if brands flock to a certain athlete to endorse their products, their brand voice and marketing actions will be diluted.

Betting in advance has become something that has to be done, and judging from the current results, Pan Zhanle has already taken the lead in popularity due to his excellent performance and his personality of "can't hide things and loves to complain". It can be said that Ctrip made the right choice.

Unlike traditional brand endorsements, Ctrip mainly wanted to promote its inbound tourism business, so it chose internationally renowned swimmers, gymnasts and badminton players for the project. Pan Zhanle was selected because of the wise eye of Chairman Liang Jianzhang. "James watched Pan Zhanle's competition at the Asian Games and predicted that Pan would become the fastest swimmer in the world."

Ctrip also summarized the success patterns of past Olympic star athletes. It used characteristics such as youth, good performance, high international attention in the event, and good looks to predict whether an Olympic athlete would become popular. Based on these factors, it selected Zhang Boheng, Wang Chang, and Liang Weikeng, who also won bronze and silver medals respectively and received considerable attention in this Olympics.

Brand endorsements can sometimes go off the beaten track. In the new century, unpopular projects can sometimes find corresponding brand budgets. During the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the consumer goods brand Feiles signed a collective endorsement with the Chinese shooting team, trying to convey the idea that its brand is suitable for high-end scenarios. Feiles's operations director Chen Yongyan told Hedgehog Commune that they were attracted to the high cost-effectiveness of the Chinese shooting team to a certain extent.

The high attention paid to the Olympics also gave former Olympic athletes a chance to regain their careers. Former Olympic champion Li Xiaoxia appeared in Kuaishou's live broadcast room during the Tokyo Olympics and worked with Simba to sell goods. Men's volleyball player Zheng Liang and Paralympic athlete Li Yang have also tried live streaming to sell goods, and have achieved certain results. But the fate of former Olympic athletes and current Olympic athletes is the same, and they can only get more traffic input during the Olympics, an MCN practitioner told Hedgehog Commune.

Since athletes are destined to have a short career, the four-year Olympic Games are like a four-year prize-winning moment for them, where they can convert their training results into honors and money, which is equivalent to exchanging options.

For brands, the Olympic Games held every four years is just the beginning of their investment, and their prize-giving moment has not yet arrived.

Text｜Chen Shoucheng ‍‍‍‍‍‍Editor｜Director ‍‍‍‍‍