Behind Zheng Qinwen's gold medal at the Paris Olympics: some of the cooperating brands made a lot of money, while others fell silent
On the evening of August 3rd, Beijing time, in the much-anticipated Paris Olympic Games women's singles tennis final, Chinese player Zheng Qinwen showed extraordinary strength, defeating Croatia's Vikic in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-3, and won the gold medal. This feat has added a strong and colorful chapter to the history of Chinese tennis - the first time to win the women's singles gold medal at the Olympics, and it has set off an uproar on domestic social networks, comparable to Li Na's glorious moment at the Australian Open. Behind the wave of popularity created by Zheng Qinwen, the brands he cooperated with have also attracted much attention from all parties. However, after observation, the author found that some brands’ marketing cooperation with Zheng Qinwen had super good results and they were really making crazy money, while some brands performed mediocrely and the overall marketing effect was unsatisfactory. McDonald’s, Gatorade and Rolex were even silent, acting as if Zheng Qinwen’s victory had nothing to do with them at all. Let’s take stock of the cooperation and marketing performance of these brands with Zheng Qinwen, and evaluate their cooperation (purely subjective opinion). Finally, let’s make some suggestions on how to optimize the marketing effect of brand spokesperson cooperation. 1. Inventory of cooperation between various brands and Zheng QinwenFirst, here is an overview chart for everyone to quickly understand the relevant situation. Please continue reading the following text for details on cooperation with each brand. Image source: Brand Market Relativity 1. Nike
Zheng Qinwen got a Nike jersey sponsorship contract when she was a teenager at the age of 13 (2015), which shows that Nike had a good vision and saw her potential early on and decided to invest in this young tennis player. Along the way, Zheng Qinwen has had a very close cooperative relationship with Nike. Nike even made an exception and allowed her to display the logos of other sponsors on her jersey, which is extremely rare in the brand industry and fully reflects Nike's special trust and preference for Zheng Qinwen. (However, since the official sponsor of the Tennis Management Center (the national tennis team) is Adidas, Zheng Qinwen wore Adidas jerseys and Nike shoes in this Olympics.) The cooperation with Nike has brought great help to Zheng Qinwen's career development, not only providing him with professional sports equipment and financial income, but also bringing him important media exposure. After the start of the Olympics, Nike tracked Zheng Qinwen's game dynamics on various communication channels, and cooperated with his endorsement advertising to achieve the best brand marketing effect. It also started communication as soon as Zheng Qinwen won the championship. The preparations were quite sufficient and now it has received huge rewards. After Zheng Qinwen won the championship, Nike released news on various platforms, but for some reason there was no release on the WeChat official account (it seems that the company is not very active in promoting news on the WeChat official account). Image source: Promotional image released by Nike Image source: Nike Weibo's simultaneous communication of Zheng Qinwen on his way to victory Image source: Nike Xiaohongshu official account Zheng Qinwen’s post after winning the championship Image source: Nike Douyin official account Zheng Qinwen’s post after winning the championship Overall, Nike has maintained its consistent marketing standards, fully exploring and amplifying Zheng Qinwen's brand value from multiple levels including advertising, social media communication, and event marketing. 2. Wilson
Tennis fans are no strangers to Wilson, an American sports brand founded in 1914 that provides professional sports equipment, sportswear and sports accessories. Its core series covers basketball, tennis, golf, baseball, rugby, etc. The author did not find any news about Zheng Qinwen's signing with Wilson, but Wilson's official Weibo account began to publish relevant content about Zheng Qinwen as early as May 1, 2020, and continued to follow her game dynamics in the future, and witnessed her milestone events such as entering the French Open top 16 for the first time, winning her first tour championship, and winning the Hangzhou Asian Games championship step by step. At the same time, its official WeChat public account also published Zheng's relevant dynamics and conducted an exclusive interview with Zheng Qinwen (it is estimated that the second interview will be released soon.) Image source: Wilson official Weibo Image source: Wilson official WeChat public account In addition to tracking and exposing Zheng Qinwen's milestones in the Paris Olympics, after she won the women's singles tennis championship at the Paris Olympics, Wilson was the first to repost and comment on CCTV News' Weibo to congratulate her (the lack of original content preparation in advance undoubtedly reduced the communication effect). Image source: Wilson official Weibo Unfortunately, Wilson's other social media accounts, such as WeChat official account, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, and Douyin, did not follow up, and even had almost no content related to the Paris Olympics. This may be related to the wide variety of sports it is involved in, the importance it attaches to the Paris Olympics, and its specific social media marketing work system. Overall, Wilson's marketing arrangement for Zheng Qinwen is rather mediocre, and the effect is naturally rather mediocre, which may be related to the fact that it has many spokespeople. Next, how Wilson can maximize the benefits that Zheng Qinwen brings to its own brand is also an issue that deserves the attention of its marketing managers. 3. Ant Group (Alipay)
Zheng Qinwen's cooperation with Ant Group began on August 19, 2022, when Ant Group officially announced that it had signed a contract with Chinese women's tennis star Zheng Qinwen and hired her as a "Light Chasing Ambassador", saying that this cooperation aims to support the field of women's development. The two sides will work together to help more women bravely pursue their dreams and shine. Image source: Ant Group’s official Weibo After the cooperation began, Ant Group and Alipay continued to track Zheng Qinwen's game updates on their Weibo accounts and cooperated in the dissemination of information. It can be said that their support for Zheng Qinwen is quite firm and lasting. After the start of the Olympic Games, Ant Group and Alipay continued to spread the news of Zheng Qinwen's continuous progress on Weibo and WeChat public accounts, giving him a high degree of exposure, and were the first to congratulate him after he passed the test. Image source: Ant Group’s official Weibo Image source: Summary of content released by Ant Group’s official Weibo and official WeChat public accounts Unfortunately, although Ant Group (Alipay) also has accounts such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, and Alipay App platform, these communication channels have not released any content related to Zheng Qinwen and the Paris Olympics, and there is no synergy between the communication channels and account matrix to amplify the marketing effect. Of course, this is related to the complex organizational structure of Ant Group, cumbersome internal and external collaboration, and numerous marketing projects, but it is still a point that can be strengthened. Overall, Ant Group's strategy of creating resonance between its brand concept and Zheng Qinwen's personal IP has been successful. Although the marketing plan is relatively conventional, it has still achieved good results. In the future, how to more effectively tap the brand value of Zheng Qinwen, the "Chasing Light Ambassador", is also a new task facing Ant Group's marketers. 4. Yili
On September 24, 2022, in the semi-finals of the WTA500 Tokyo Open, Zheng Qinwen defeated the No. 4 seed Kudermetova 5-7 6-3 7-6(3) after a three-hour battle, reaching the final of a tour tournament for the first time in her career! On the same day, Yili officially announced that it had signed Zheng Qinwen as its brand spokesperson, and the cooperation between the two parties has continued to this day. Image source: Yili official Weibo Yili has continued to track and expose Zheng Qinwen's major milestones in his career and cooperated with its own brand promotion. It also invited Zheng Qinwen to participate in the filming of commercials during the Spring Festival marketing activities, which can be regarded as a sophisticated standard operation of spokesperson marketing. Image source: Yili official account on Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and Bilibili After the start of the Paris Olympics, although Yili is not an Olympic sponsor, it launched a vigorous sports marketing campaign with its status as the official dairy product of the Chinese sports delegation at the 2024 Olympics and its many athlete spokespersons. In addition to omni-channel advertising, Yili continued to disseminate Olympic-related content through its social media account matrix including Weibo, WeChat public accounts, video accounts, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, etc., and Zheng Qinwen is also an important part of it. Image source: Yili official Weibo Yili continued to follow up and spread the news of Zheng Qinwen's victory on various platforms, and sent his congratulations as soon as he won the championship. In particular, he sent three related Weibo posts in a row, and his joy was beyond words. At the same time, Yili Weibo also released a video content congratulating Zheng Qinwen on his victory in a timely manner, and the advance preparation work was done quite well. In addition, Yili also announced on Weibo that a video congratulating Zheng Qinwen on his victory would be played on the LED screen at Sanlitun Tongying Center at 19:00 on August 4. It has to be said that its marketing team's response speed was really fast. The cooperation between Yili and Zheng Qinwen has penetrated into various levels including products, content marketing, event marketing, channel promotions, etc., and is ongoing consistently. Overall, the effect is the best. 5. Gatorade
According to public online information, Gatorade announced on January 16, 2023 that it had signed a contract with Chinese female tennis player Zheng Qinwen, providing her with exclusive supply support and scientific training supply solutions. The two parties also cooperated to shoot a promotional video. (In fact, Gatorade's first Weibo post about Zheng Qinwen was published on December 13, 2022, and the promotional video was released on January 14, 2023.) In the following period of time, Gatorade spread content related to Zheng Qinwen through social media, mainly combining brand promotion with Zheng's competition results, which lasted until the last Weibo post on May 28 this year, after which no related content about Zheng Qinwen was revealed. Image source: The last post about Zheng Qinwen on Gatorade’s official Weibo The author boldly speculates that the reason behind this may be that the cooperation between Gatorade and Zheng Qinwen expired, so Gatorade did not release her related content. However, from the Weibo dynamics, we can see that it commented on Zheng Qinwen’s own Weibo post about winning the Olympic gold medal, which is really puzzling. What is even more surprising is that Gatorade, a sports drink brand, did not have any related content during the Olympics. The reason behind this situation is bound to make people think about it. 6. Rolex
Many articles online say that Zheng Qinwen is the brand spokesperson for Rolex, but after some research, I found that this statement is actually not quite accurate. What is clear is that Zheng Qinwen and Rolex did have a collaboration, but neither Zheng nor Rolex had any clear official news about the collaboration. The earliest relevant news that can be seen on the Internet is: Zheng reached a collaboration with Rolex on June 13, 2023, and at that time some of Zheng’s fans claimed that he had become the spokesperson for Rolex. Image source: Weibo content of third-party netizens However, some netizens who are knowledgeable about the matter also said: Rolex does not have the title of spokespeople, all of them are Testimonee. Zheng Qinwen, like other tennis stars, is signed as Testimonee. Image source: Weibo content of third-party netizens However, Rolex's exposure to Zheng Qinpei is limited, and no content about Zheng Qinwen can be found on its official Weibo account. In addition, the author also noticed that there is no Olympic-related content on Rolex's Weibo and WeChat public accounts, and Rolex has not opened corporate accounts on platforms such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu. Although Rolex wisely chose Zheng Qinwen early on, it did not take full advantage of this opportunity to continue tracking her dynamics and tap into her communication value. In addition, Rolex does not seem to attach particular importance to communication on Chinese social media, and there is little relevant content on major social media platforms. Next, if the wealthy Rolex is willing, there will definitely be ten thousand ways to tap into the commercial value of Zheng Qinwen. We are looking forward to the specific results. 7. Swisse
In August 2023, Swisse officially announced its brand ambassador Zheng Qinwen, and made a major crossover with professional tennis equipment brand Wilson, and created the "Zheng Qinwen Tennis Showdown" in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, hoping to spread product awareness among professional tennis people. Swais values Zheng Qinwen's healthy image and positive attitude towards life as a top athlete, and conveys the importance of nutritional supplements to sports and health. The brand tone and cultural concepts of both parties are very consistent. As a brand ambassador, Zheng Qinwen participated in many marketing activities of Swayze, including product promotion, social media interaction, brand event attendance, etc. Her cooperation with Swayze is not limited to traditional endorsements, but also includes health-themed activities co-planned with the brand, such as the health and fashion party created with Swayze brand ambassador Dilireba, and the cross-border cooperation with Wilson to promote the creation of a big IP for sports scenes, which is also a very good practice of sports marketing and spokesperson marketing. During the Paris Olympics, Swisse continued to report Zheng Qinwen's competition updates through Weibo and cooperated with its own brand communication, and sent congratulations to Zheng through Weibo and WeChat public accounts as soon as Zheng won the championship. Image source: Sweishi official Weibo Image source: SWISH official WeChat public account Unfortunately, although Sweishi has opened relevant accounts on platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, and Douyin, they have not released any Olympic-related content, and of course no content about Zheng Qinwen's winning the championship, which has reduced its overall marketing effect and is a little lacking compared to Yili's detailed and meticulous arrangements on accounts on various platforms. Overall, the cooperation between Sweishi and Zheng Qinwen was satisfactory and achieved good results. 8. McDonald’s
I am very sorry, I have tried my best but still cannot figure out how and when McDonald's and Zheng Qinwen cooperated. There is no official news or other online information at all, and the offline advertising content is no longer traceable. The author can only see three related contents about Zheng Qinwen released on McDonald’s official Weibo in 2023. Judging from the content on Weibo, Zheng should have shot a product advertisement for McDonald’s for a teriyaki chicken burger (including print advertisements and video advertisements), and the communication effect at that time was also very general. Image source: McDonald's official Weibo After that, McDonald's Weibo did not have any content about Zheng Qinwen, nor did it spread any information during the Olympics, nor did it release any information after Zheng won the championship. Therefore, I am skeptical about whether the two parties are still cooperating. In terms of marketing effectiveness, whether it was when the initial advertisement was released or the subsequent marketing, McDonald's gave people the feeling that it did not know what it was doing, nor how to maximize the value of Zheng Qinwen. It simply went through the standardized process of advertising communication, but the overall marketing effect was minimal. The author joked that "the two parties cooperated in vain." 9. Lancôme
On April 16 this year, Lancôme announced that Zheng Qinwen would serve as the ace pioneer of Little Black Bottle. Given Zheng Qinwen's youthful image, healthy lifestyle and her outstanding performance in the sports world, her collaboration with Lancôme can be seen as a perfect fit between the brand images of both parties. Image source: Lancome advertising Through Zheng Qinwen's influence, Lancôme can reach a wider consumer group, especially young women and sports enthusiasts, while Zheng Qinwen can take this opportunity to expand his career and further enhance his personal brand. After the start of the Olympics, Lancôme has been promoting Zheng Qinwen on Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin, but the promotion was not focused enough. After Zheng Qinwen won the championship, Lancôme's Weibo and Xiaohongshu had related promotions, but the Douyin account did not release content in the first time, and the WeChat account has not promoted any Olympic-related content. Image source: Lancome official Weibo Image source: Lancome Xiaohongshu corporate account Next, Lancôme’s marketing team may need more innovative thinking on how to maximize the commercial value of its cooperation with Zheng Qinwen. 10. CHAGEE
After Zheng Qinwen won the championship, everyone was saying that Ba Wang Cha Ji made the right bet this time! However, is this really Bawang Cha Ji's good luck? On April 26 this year, Bawang Tea officially announced that it had invited Zheng Qinwen to serve as its health ambassador, and subsequently continued to spread content related to Zheng Qinwen. After the Olympic Games, Bawang Tea even tracked and spread Zheng Qinwen's competition results through its Weibo, WeChat public account, video account, Douyin, Kuaishou, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili and other social media, and launched lucky draws and free drinks on Weibo and WeChat to boost popularity. Image source: Bawangchaji official Weibo After Zheng Qinwen won the championship, Ba Wang Cha Ji vigorously spread the news through various channels, releasing related content and launching activities many times on August 4, hoping to spread the news of the event as much as possible and strive to maximize the influence of the event. Image source: Bawangchaji official Weibo congratulates Zheng Qinwen on winning the championship Image source: The official WeChat public account of Bawangchaji congratulated Zheng Qinwen on winning the gold medal and received more than 100,000 views Bawangchaji made a lot of money, but was it because it bet on good luck? No. You should know that Bawang Tea Princess put a lot of effort into marketing during this Olympics. Not only did it sign Zheng Qinwen as a health ambassador, but it also signed seven world-class athletes including Liu Xiang, Wang Shun, Zheng Qinwen, Chen Qingchen, Jia Yifan, Liu Qingyi, and Wang Ruimiao to form a "Health Ambassador Group". It also went to Paris to organize offline marketing activities to cooperate with online communication, and brought brand marketing into the venue of the Olympic Games. The quality of the marketing content and the timeliness of the response are worthy of praise. Image source: "Health Ambassadors" released by Bawangchaji's official Weibo Judging from Bawang Cha Ji's performance in this Olympic marketing, I have a new understanding of why it has achieved today's results. Success cannot be achieved purely by luck. Only by constantly honing yourself and making thorough preparations can you seize and turn luck into success when it comes. 02 Brand-related content on Zheng Qinwen’s WeiboIn addition, the relevant content of various brands posted on Zheng Qinwen’s Weibo can also indirectly show the depth and closeness of the cooperation between the two parties. The author also briefly reviewed it. Image source: Brand Market Relativity It can be seen that Zheng Qinwen posted a maximum of 7 brand-related Weibo posts about Ant Group, with the last posting date being February 1, 2024. The content covered many types of content, including official announcements of cooperation, the Spring Festival Five Blessings Collection event, forwarding of the quiz event initiated by Alipay in conjunction with Yili and Wilson, Asian Games events, Alipay live broadcast events, and Alipay logo renewal and promotion. Secondly, Zheng Qinwen also posted a large number of Weibo posts related to the Nike and Yili brands, 3 and 4 respectively, and the content of the posts was also relatively diverse; and the Yili brand-related Weibo post published on July 13, 2024 was the only Weibo post related to the Paris Olympics. As of 21:00 on August 4, 2024, Zheng Qinwen has not interacted or cooperated with any brand on Weibo or other platforms after winning the championship. Overall, except for Ant Group, Nike, Yili and Zheng Qinwen, which have relatively in-depth cooperation and interaction on social media, the performance of other brands is average. 3. ConclusionZheng Qinwen's Olympic gold medal is not only the highlight of her career, but also an opportunity for her partner brands to share the glory. Nike, Ant Group, Yili, Lancome, Bawang Cha Ji and other brands have successfully transformed Zheng Qinwen's victory into the enhancement of their own brand value with their keen insight and careful marketing strategies. From this, we can see that choosing the right spokesperson is only the first step. Systematic planning, continuous attention, timely exposure and clever marketing planning are the key to the success of spokesperson marketing. On the contrary, some brands such as McDonald's, Gatorade, and Rolex, although fortunate enough to have a relationship with Zheng Qinwen, failed to seize the opportunity at the critical moment, resulting in mediocre marketing results and even missing out on the huge commercial value brought by the Olympic gold medal. This reminds us that brand cooperation is not a one-time deal, but a long-term partnership that requires careful maintenance and continuous investment. After winning the Olympic gold medal, Zheng Qinwen's influence in the international sports arena and the Chinese market has been growing, and the commercial value of his personal brand has also risen. Public opinion even regards him as a super star whose commercial value is comparable to that of Liu Xiang and Yao Ming, and he is bound to attract the favor of more brands. In the future, those brands that cooperate with Zheng Qinwen will undoubtedly reap greater rewards if they can properly carry out corresponding marketing work. For Zheng Qinwen himself, choosing which brands to work with is also one of the important decisions for him to shape his personal brand and maximize his commercial value. In the process of mutual achievement, both parties must maintain strategic determination and be flexible. Just like Zheng Qinwen's accurate shots on the court, every step of the brand's marketing layout must be accurate, powerful and creative, so that it can stand out in the fiercely competitive market and jointly write a legendary chapter in sports and business. Note: The relevant data and information in the article are collected from public information, and the relevant evaluation is a personal subjective judgment. If there are omissions, errors or other deficiencies, please correct and criticize. |
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