Chinese companies win the World Cup marketing war

The 2022 World Cup is over, Argentina won the championship, and the noisy Lusail Stadium has returned to calm, but the marketing competition outside the stadium continues.

The World Cup, held every four years, is a big stage for corporate marketing. Many Chinese companies have entered the World Cup in the form of sponsorship. From pre-match warm-up to in-match competition and post-match communication, their presence can be seen all the time. The dominance of Chinese elements on the screen is a highlight of this World Cup.

Whether it is Hisense’s “Second in the World, First in China” or Yadea’s “Crown for the World Cup”, BOSS Direct’s super eye-catching billboards have left a deep impression on the audience.

On the football field, flowers and applause belong to the champion team; outside the field, Chinese companies are undoubtedly the biggest winners.

1. Seize the "Second Arena" of the World Cup

This World Cup is held in Qatar, and there is a "second arena" outside the football field - World Cup marketing.

This is a marketing competition that Chinese companies are heavily involved in. Chinese companies have won six FIFA sponsorships, including Wanda, Hisense, Mengniu, Vivo, Yadi, and BOSS Zhipin. Statistics show that Chinese companies have become the top sponsors of this World Cup.

FIFA sponsors are divided into three levels, and Chinese companies have seats in each level. Sponsors have the right to use the FIFA World Cup logo, display LED advertisements on the sidelines of the World Cup, etc. Among them, the latter is the form with the highest audience perception, such as the Yadi World Cup advertisement in the figure below:

This was originally a very ordinary stadium advertisement, but it sparked heated discussions among the audience and produced unexpected communication effects.

During the game, someone started a topic on the social platform: "Is Yadea's World Cup advertisement photoshopped?" The reason turned out to be that the Chinese brand was too conspicuous on the field.

Yadea is the only two-wheeled electric vehicle brand that appeared in the World Cup. Its product selling point is its ultra-long battery life and super power. The players on the field need to compete in speed and physical fitness, and the two happen to have similarities. Some netizens combined the exaggerated movements of the players on the field with Yadea electric vehicles and made a funny picture.

This style is very popular among young people and has a good communication effect.

Sponsorship is only the ticket to World Cup marketing, and subsequent marketing activities are also crucial. Looking back at this World Cup, Chinese companies have used a variety of marketing methods.

First, there are a lot of offline activities. Many companies hold offline activities with the World Cup theme, so that users who cannot go to the site to watch the game can also have an immersive and multi-dimensional experience, and at the same time can deeply perceive the brand power.

Yadi held World Cup viewing parties in seven cities including Shanghai, Changzhou and Xiamen, inviting users and fans from all over the country to participate; Wanda launched a World Cup theme hotel, allowing users to watch the game in the hotel; Mengniu held a youth football charity tour event, leading Chinese young players to go to Qatar.

Secondly, offline activities are diverse. Yadea added electric bike fancy riding, fun games, street dance performances and other activities during the competition, and set up guessing and lucky draw interactions, which made the users who participated in the experience feel very excited.

In addition, companies tend to offer tangible benefits. Wanda said that guests staying at Wanda hotels on the 16th of each month in November and December can go to the hotel front desk to receive exclusive membership gifts. Yadi launched a "Draw a Golden Ball, Win a Free Meal" lottery event, where users can participate by simply entering the store and scanning the code. The grand prize is a customized World Cup golden ball worth 10,000 yuan.

Before the finals, Yadi held a super welfare event called "Guess the Champion, Find Yadi" to give out fan day benefits in advance. In addition to official World Cup souvenirs, Cavalry 01 and other prizes, three limited edition tanks with themes of Argentina, France and Brazil were arranged as grand prizes. Many netizens actively participated in the event, and the atmosphere was very lively.

Compared with single advertising output, interesting, innovative and sincere interactive marketing leaves a deeper impression. And the real money benefits, with the help of the World Cup's popularity, may be converted into orders and stimulate a wave of consumption. The company not only earns publicity, but also wins the market.

2. What are companies fighting for?

In recent years, Chinese companies have shown great enthusiasm in participating in World Cup marketing and are increasingly becoming the protagonists of the "second arena."

On the one hand, this is because there are a large number of Chinese football fans. There were 660 million Chinese viewers at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the largest number in the world. On the other hand, Chinese brands are international and need to use the World Cup stage for marketing.

However, it was not until the 2010 World Cup in South Africa that Chinese companies made it onto FIFA's list of official sponsors for the first time. Including this World Cup in Qatar, they have sponsored a total of four tournaments.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia was a small climax, with 7 official sponsors from China. This year's World Cup is a continuation of the previous climax. Hisense, vivo, and Yadi have sponsored two consecutive World Cups since the last one.

In addition to the growth brought by World Cup marketing, the World Cup itself is more like a business card that can help companies enter the international stage, enhance brand power, and gain an advantageous position in market competition.

Yadea is a good example. In 2018, Yadea sponsored the World Cup in Russia, becoming the first official Asian sponsor of the two-wheeled electric vehicle industry in the history of the World Cup. It also represented the first time that a two-wheeled electric vehicle brand entered the World Cup stage. Prior to that, Yadea had just surpassed its competitors and became the number one in sales in the Chinese market.

In the four years from Russia to Qatar, Yadea has won the sales championship for four consecutive years and has maintained the first position to this day.

China's two-wheeled electric vehicle industry is a highly competitive market with many companies and brands. However, based on sales in 2021, Yadea has already captured 28% of the market share, becoming the world's largest two-wheeled electric vehicle brand.

It is difficult to count the sales growth brought by two consecutive sponsorships of the World Cup, but judging from the fact that Yadea once again cooperated with FIFA this year and became the first Chinese brand in the two-wheeled electric vehicle industry to sponsor the World Cup twice, Yadea has already figured out the ins and outs of this.

In this World Cup, Yadea's slogan is "To be the Champion of the World Cup", and its spiritual core is to strive for breakthroughs and achieve championships. Yadea itself is the champion of the industry, and its brand growth path has many points of convergence with the value proposition of the World Cup. It was highly recognized by FIFA before the World Cup started. It is very convincing to cheer for the event as a champion.

According to Nick Brown, FIFA's commercial partnership director, "Yadi's brand connotation, product vitality and spirit of continuous breakthrough are closely related to the values ​​and fans of the World Cup." He believes that this cooperation will further promote the close connection between Chinese brands and world football.

For enterprises, World Cup marketing does not end with the end of the game. Sponsorship rights can be used until the end of the year, and there are still many commercial actions to be taken. With the potential energy of the World Cup, enterprises can transform the dividends of brand building and communication awareness into actual growth.

3. Who is the biggest winner?

Unlike general sports events, the World Cup is not only a single sports event of the highest standards, but also a competitive event that integrates national spirit and sports competitive spirit. All countries are proud to be able to participate and advance.

Besides watching the game, many Chinese fans intentionally or unintentionally look for Chinese brand billboards on the field, which is a great pleasure for them.

More and more Chinese manufacturing companies are appearing in the World Cup marketing arena. In the past, American Coca-Cola, Adidas, Chinese Mengniu and other consumer brands were representative sponsors. In recent years, Chinese manufacturing companies such as Yadea, Hisense and Vivo have begun to exert their strength and become important participants in this World Cup.

Chinese companies’ participation in the Qatar World Cup can be seen as a victory for Chinese manufacturing and Chinese brands.

China has a developed manufacturing industry and local brands have a strong demand to go overseas. When it comes to overseas marketing, sponsorship of sports events can have a multiplier effect.

From "Made in China" to "Smart Manufacturing in China", China's industrial structure has undergone a transformation towards high-end and intelligent manufacturing. In this process, a number of representative brands have emerged, and they are responsible for telling the Chinese brand story well in the international market.

Two-wheeled electric vehicles naturally have a foundation for intelligence. Yadea, known as the "King of Two-wheeled Electric Vehicles", is one of the few companies in the industry that focuses on self-developed technology. Relying on 6 major technology research and development centers, 1 provincial industrial technology design center, 2 CNAS national enterprise laboratories, and more than 1,000 R&D personnel, Yadea launched TTFAR graphene batteries and released Yadea salient pole motors, conquering two key upstream accessories.

Yadea's flagship product, the Yadea Guanneng series, has been upgraded to the third generation. The Yadea Guanneng 3 S9 MAX is equipped with the TTFAR 3.0 range-extending system and is the industry's first new national standard electric bicycle with a range of over 200 kilometers. The Yadea Guanneng 3 E9 PRO has added 5 new riding modes, supports keyless unlocking via Bluetooth, APP, and mini-programs, and is equipped with an intelligent temperature-sensing charger that supports charging at a minimum temperature of -20°C, greatly alleviating winter range anxiety.

In the international market, Yadea's influence is growing day by day. Since the establishment of the import and export company in 2007, Yadea's globalization has been going on for 15 years. Today, Yadea covers 100 countries and regions around the world, has more than 40,000 terminal stores, and more than 60 million users. Among the global electric motorcycle brands, Yadea ranks first.

In the more than 20 years since its establishment, Yadea has done many pioneering things and has the typical qualities of a champion. By bringing two-wheeled electric vehicles to the World Cup, Yadea has taken China's two-wheeled electric vehicle industry a big step forward, which can continue to expand the value of the category and also lay the foundation for more Chinese companies to compete in the international market.

From Chinese enterprises to global enterprises, from Chinese brands to global brands, the curtain has been raised on the overseas expansion of "Made in China". The World Cup is over, and the champion team has been born, but the story of "Guan Neng" for the world will not end.

Author: Liming

Source: WeChat public account "Shenran (ID: shenrancaijing)"