Sports branding in China

XIAMEN, China – The biggest market in the world has been the target of American sports brand manufacturers for decades, ever since it loosened its policy against everything Western after Mao Xedong ruled. With a growing population of 1.3 billion, China looms as the biggest conquest for foreign business for the next many years. In many ways, young people are being exposed to foreign advertising and marketing for the first time, and top brands like Adidas and Nike have jumped in with both feet, making inroads into the government entities that control commerce in the last quarter of a century

In fact, Nike, which was originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports, started manufacturing its shoes in China from generic products there, as many other manufacturers do today. Of course, gradually, quality and tastes have improved, and thanks to the marketing clout of the NBA in particular and other entities like the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Chinese consumers are now more savvy, especially since some of their own athletes are dominating sports once ruled exclusively by Americans or Westerners in general.

But what about China’s marketing itself to the world? How is China doing in terms of creating sports brands?

Perhaps, the best way to describe the situation where China’s sports brands are now is a crossroads. On one hand, they have an incomparably large domestic market where, in large numbers, their brands own the largest share of the market. On the other hand, they also see the potential for profit around the globe, more so as foreign brands from other countries pour into the mainland.

A stroll down the bustling Zhong Shan Road’s endless row of stalls, and high-end shops provides a microcosm of the market. Here, you have all the giants in the more cosmopolitan outlets – Nike, Adidas, Converse, and so on – both in actuality and in cheap knock-offs along the street. Hawkers will even approach you selling shoes, watches, jackets and other copies along some dusty side street. You’ll get a bargain, but there are still many other places in China where prices are merely a fraction of the cost here.

Trying to buy at a branded store is another story. I asked one salesman if he had a particular style of jacket with another professional basketballl team’s name and logo on it, and he had to hurriedly call in a manager to interpret for me. And, in the end, they only carried one color, one name of one style. I gave up.

But you also have Chinese brands like Anta, Li-Ning, Yi Le and Erke, whose styles are a blend of fresh, youthful ideas and some obvious copying of their American competitors. They have familiar slogans like “Anything is Possible”, an obvious take of Adidas’ “Impossible is Nothing”, and “Just Go Ahead”, which sounds just like Nike’s “Just Do It”. One brand even says “To Be No.1” and another proclaims “One Team”.

Even the logos are amalgamation of other brands. Li-Ning’s logo looks like a mutation of Reebok, intended or not, while Erke’s could be a brother of Mizuno. The problem is the symbols and slogans often appear transliterated, meaning they probably sound good in Mandarin, but lose the flavor when translated into English. Brands like Dancing Wolves and Clio Coddle (sounds like “crocodile”, a Lacoste copycat) don’t have the same impact.

But some brands are fighting fire with fire. As far back as the early 1970’s, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong have been hiring international celebrities (mostly Hollywood actors or American singers and athletes) to endorse their products through a geographically-limited contract. Patrick Ewing once endorsed Japanese beer, joining the likes of Eddie Murphy and Sylvester Stallone in strengthening their market pull in Asia.

Now, China is drawing world-renowned athletes to their side of the globe, and not just their own. Of course, Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi are expected to be hawking Anta basketball shoes, but Li-Ning also has Shaquille O’Neal and Baron Davis plugging their products. O’Neal has a complete line of track outfits, jackets and shirts listing his accomplishments, and bearing his board-shattering dunking silhouette on them. Some apparel even has terms he coined, like “Black Tornado” and “Dunkman”. Baron Davis has stylish poses wearing all-white outfits with the logo. The ATP even has a local line here.

China is on the cusp of truly competing with American sports brands, if only it learns to master the nuances of the language, particularly the connotations of slang English. At the end of the day, we may all be buying Chinese products because they don’t seem so regional, but are endorsed by our favorite athletes, look good, and make us feel that we’re hip. If China makes that breakthrough, then big American brands will be given a run for their money, wherever they are.