Zheng Qinwen won the championship, and the winners are not only Nike and Bawangchaji｜Marketing Observation

Before winning the championship, Zheng Qinwen had already endorsed brands such as Nike, Bawang Cha Ji, Lancome, Yili, and Ant Group.

The Roland Garros clay court once again witnessed history, this time created by Zheng Qinwen.

On the evening of August 3, in the women's singles final of the Paris Olympics, Zheng Qinwen defeated Croatian player Vikic to win the championship, becoming China's first Olympic tennis singles champion and achieving a historic breakthrough for Chinese players in this event.

Back to the 2011 French Open, Chinese tennis player Li Na made history on the Roland Garros clay court, winning Asia's first Grand Slam title and bringing home the prestigious Grand Slam trophy for China. 13 years later, still on this red land, still a Hubei girl, Zheng Qinwen made new history.

Zheng Qinwen's victory shocked the entire sports world in China and also brought another moment of national attention to the Paris Olympics after the opening ceremony. Everyone knew Zheng Qinwen and everyone was discussing Zheng Qinwen.

As one of the most watched sports, tennis has always had a high commercial value in the sports world. According to the ranking of the highest-paid female athletes in 2023 released by Forbes at the end of last year, the top ten highest-paid female athletes, except for Gu Ailing, who ranked second with $22.1 million, who is a freestyle skier, all others are tennis players.

At that time, Zheng Qinwen ranked 15th with $7.2 million, becoming the first Chinese female tennis player to appear on the Forbes list after Li Na. Before winning the championship, Zheng Qinwen had endorsed brands such as Nike, Bawang Tea Princess, Lancome, Yili, and Ant Group.

It is reported that after Li Na won the French Open, her advertising and endorsement income increased by about 30 times, reaching 138 million yuan that year. Zheng Qinwen's performance in the Olympic tennis arena has surpassed Li Na.

There is no doubt that the weight of the historic first gold medal will bring Zheng Qinwen even more unpredictable commercial value, and the next Gu Ailing is slowly growing up.

Before this, the brand that bet on the "Rocket Girls" also became the biggest winner.

1. Winner of the 9-year race

After Zheng Qinwen won the championship, what was widely circulated was not only the picture of her lying on the red clay of the Philippe Chatrier Stadium to celebrate her victory, but also a sentence - the only souvenir from Paris she wanted to take away was the medal.

This is the Olympic copy that Nike wrote for Zheng Qinwen. As Zheng Qinwen won the gold medal, the copy was evaluated by the public as "daring to say" and "a divine prophecy". A T-shirt with the words "The only souvenir I want to take away from Paris is the gold medal" was also quickly put online and sold for 299 yuan.

In fact, this is also part of Nike's Olympic copywriting with the theme of "Not Everyone Can Be a Winner". On July 19, Nike launched the "Not Everyone Can Be a Winner" brand plan and released an Olympic-themed promotional video. Famous athletes such as Zheng Qinwen, James, Ronaldo, and Kobe all appeared in the video. At the same time, copywriting posters corresponding to each athlete were also released in many cities.

On the day before the opening ceremony, Nike also released a solo short film of Zheng Qinwen, with the narration "Should I be happy? Should I smile after losing the game? If I am content to be second, I will never be first", highlighting the attitude of wanting to win.

According to Nike's Chief Marketing Officer Nicole Graham, through this project, Nike wants to convey to this generation of young people that it is not shameful to be competitive, and it is crucial both in and out of the sports arena.

At a time when brands are increasingly playing it safe in marketing, Nike's highly "aggressive" copywriting has the potential to become a hot topic in itself, and facing the desire to win and saying loudly that they want to win also echoes its brand concept of Just Do IT.

But after the release of the promotional video and copy, Nike has also been questioned by some people, such as whether the slogan "Winner is King" is outdated today? Facts have proved that the answer is no.

Of course, this is inseparable from Nike's bet on Zheng Qinwen's success.

To be more precise, Nike had already started betting on Zheng Qinwen nine years ago. When Zheng Qinwen was 13 years old, he was spotted by Nike at the National Youth Tennis Tournament held by Nike, and Nike won his jersey sponsorship contract, and the cooperation has continued to this day.

Nike's emphasis on Zheng Qinwen can be seen not only from the time, but also from some special treatments. For example, the Nike and Alipay logos stood one above the other on Zheng Qinwen's jersey at this year's Australian Open. Previously, Li Na and Naomi Osaka enjoyed such treatment.

It is worth mentioning that tennis is an important battlefield for Nike's sports marketing, and its cooperation with tennis has spanned more than 40 years. Its cooperation with tennis players such as McEnroe, Agassi, Serena, Nadal, Sharapova, and Federer once made Nike almost synonymous with tennis.

It can be seen as a Nike practice to run long distances with tennis players before they become famous, whether it was signing 15-year-old Li Na, 17-year-old Federer, or later signing 13-year-old Zheng Qinwen.

However, in recent years, not only has Nike's influence in the field of tennis gradually weakened, but it has also faced the challenge of poor performance. Its full-year revenue in fiscal 2024 only increased slightly by 0.3%, which shows a decline in revenue growth compared with last year's 16% growth rate.

Now that Zheng Qinwen has become famous, Nike's brand reputation has risen again. An interesting point is that during Zheng Qinwen's Olympic competition, because the national team's sponsor was Adidas, her Nike shoes were covered with tape, but this attracted more attention and discussion from the audience.

For Nike, which is in the midst of a "poor sales" crisis, more eyeballs may mean more chances of a turnaround.

2. The next Luckin Coffee?

Zheng Qinwen's victory reminded the outside world of Gu Ailing at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and Bawang Tea Princess also reminded everyone of another tea brand Luckin Coffee.

With half a year left before the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Luckin Coffee officially announced its spokesperson Gu Ailing. At that time, Gu Ailing was still an unfamiliar name in the eyes of the public.

Back to Bawang Cha Ji, when Bawang Cha Ji invited Zheng Qinwen to be the brand's first "health ambassador" on April 26 this year, Zheng Qinwen was not a familiar name to many people. But in the three months before the competition, Bawang Cha Ji had been strengthening the relationship between the brand and the tennis player through various publicity. After Zheng Qinwen entered the finals and won the championship, Bawang Cha Ji even sent out posters, distributed free drink coupons, and tweeted to express congratulations.

From the previous publicity of Bawang Cha Ji, it is not difficult to see that its choice of Zheng Qinwen is mainly based on two aspects. One is to fit in with the "healthy" brand upgrade of Bawang Cha Ji. On the other hand, Zheng Qinwen is used as a dark horse in the field of tennis to imply the explosive power of Bawang Cha Ji's rising star.

In fact, Bawang Chaji is not the only tea brand that participated in the Paris Olympic marketing and joined hands with athletes. For example, Cha Baidao signed female basketball players Yang Liwei and Yang Shuyu as its brand ambassadors; Shanghai Auntie joined hands with Chinese women's volleyball player Zhang Changning as the light fruit tea recommendation officer; Nova Coffee appointed Olympic athlete Wu Yanni as the "low-calorie" health ambassador. And Heytea also opened a pop-up store "Heytea Paris Watching Tea Room" on the banks of the Seine, inviting Chinese athletes such as Bao Chunlai, Zhao Lina, and Wei Qiuyue to check in.

What can bring more traffic and sales to the brand is the athlete's victory. After Zheng Qinwen won the competition, many people on social media said they wanted to order a cup of Bawang Chaji to celebrate.

However, competitive sports are full of uncertainty. For brands, betting on success is also a skill full of luck. Among the athletes signed to participate in the competition, Bawang Tea Princess also made multiple arrangements. In addition to Zheng Qinwen, there are also Wang Shun, Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan. In the end, Jia Yifan and Chen Qingchen won the women's doubles badminton championship, and Wang Shun won the bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley.

In February 2022, Gu Ailing won the gold medal, and Luckin enjoyed the halo of "prosperity for all". This quarter, Luckin's monthly active users hit a new high of 16 million, a year-on-year increase of 83%. In terms of the number of stores, Luckin opened 556 new stores in the first quarter, a month-on-month increase of 9.2%; more importantly, Luckin achieved its first single-quarter full profitability in five years.

As time came to 2023, Luckin's total net revenue was RMB 24.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 87.3%. It surpassed Starbucks China in annual sales for the first time and became the largest coffee chain brand in the Chinese market.

Coincidentally, this year, Zhang Junjie, the founder of Bawang Cha Ji, said that the goal for 2024 is to "exceed Starbucks China in sales in China." Will Bawang Cha Ji become the next Luckin Coffee? This may be the more exciting story of Bawang Cha Ji after Zheng Qinwen was bet on it.

3. Proud of it

Although the other brands that bet on Zheng Qinwen did not generate as much buzz as Nike and Bawang Chaji, they were also lucky winners in this national carnival. In addition to these brands on the list, the sports brands that have entered the tennis category are also honored.

The most representative example is that "tennis style outfits" are extremely popular this year. According to a data from Taobao: During the 618 shopping festival this year, the search volume for tennis skirts on Taobao increased by 256% year-on-year, and the transaction volume increased by 158% year-on-year; for some sports brands, the search volume for lululemon tennis skirts increased by 95% year-on-year, while the sales of Wilson tennis skirts, which has cooperated with Zheng Qinwen, increased by more than 80% year-on-year.

It is reported that tennis style wear has become popular on Instagram and Tik Tok since around 2022. Subsequently, high-end luxury brands such as Miu Miu, Gucci, Chanel, and Celine began to launch tennis style series products.

At the same time, lululemon, FILA, LACOSTE, adidas and others have started selling tennis skirts and other products. Taking lululemon as an example, it launched its tennis series for the first time in April 2022 and signed Canada's top-ranked female player Leylah Fernandez as an ambassador. Today, the tennis series has become one of lululemon's important product lines.

What is predictable is that just like Gu Ailing sparked a skiing craze, Zheng Qinwen will help boost tennis to a higher level of popularity, and brands that have already made arrangements will also usher in a good moment.

Author: Li Xiaoxia Editor: Qiao Qian This article is written by the author of Operation Party [Future Consumption], WeChat public account: [36氪Future Consumption], original/authorized to be published in Operation Party, and any reproduction without permission is prohibited.
The title image is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.