XTEP Olympic All-Star Team Wants To Catch Up With Puma

Ding Shuibo himself regards Puma and KAPPA as the most admired brands, as the latecomers, and has opened up the "blue ocean" in the fashion of life in the cracks between Adidas and Nike. After Lining and Anta, XTEP is also plotting the strategy of coming from behind. "This is no chance for another ten years." In the Four Seasons Hotels suite of Weihai Road, Ding Shuibo, President of XTEP (China) Limited, explained the opportunity offered by the Olympic Games with this opening statement of Shanghai. The night before, he had dinner with the stars invited by the company, and then came to meet the media on the second day. He was tired of Ding Shuibo in a suit. It can be imagined that if it were not for such a chance of "once in a blue moon" as he said, in such a warm and sunny winter morning, he might be wearing casual clothes on the sofa and leisurely drinking Fujian oolong tea. Stars who had dinner with Ding Shui Bo included Nicholas Tse, Willber Pan, Cai Yilin, TWINS and so on. These young people were specially invited by XTEP to publicize the popularity of Hong Kong and Taiwan for the Olympic Games. This is the most luxurious advertising lineage born in the entertainment industry after the Pepsi Cola all star family. Ding Shuibo declined to give specific figures, but guess that the price is high. Nevertheless, this is only part of the 200 million yuan Olympic marketing plan formulated by Ding Shui Po. 200 million gamble Ding Shuibo claimed to be from the Persian Gulf, surnamed "Aladdin", or "Ding" for short. But speaking of Fujian Mandarin Mandarin sports shoes, how can we not find the characteristics of distant desert nationalities? The only thing that brings people association is the talent and indomitable spirit of business. In the summer of 1987, Ding Shuibo, who was only 17 years old, started a business with two sworn brothers and founded Sanxing shoe making factory by 1500 yuan. At that time, the shoe factory's operation process was very simple: first, buy the needlework and other raw materials to the market, and hand it to the nearby families to do the shoes. Today, XTEP has 2 shoe factories, 1 sole factories, and embroidery, high-frequency, printing, composite, mold and other supporting factories, with more than 4000 employees, making it the third most popular sports brand in China. After the training of foundry, the president of the trade association of Quanzhou footwear industry, the Chinese shoe capital, said that many foreign brands entered China, and many felt that the comfort of foreign products was better than ours. In fact, 70% - 80% of foreign brands are produced in China. Our independent brand can enter the international market, and the quality is completely cleared. We can also develop overseas markets with our own brand. But brand building is completely different from the improvement of production capacity and technology. The former can be classified into the knowledge economy, while the latter still stays in the stage of industrial manufacturing. Ding Shuibo naturally knows the gap between the two. Therefore, it is natural that he has accumulated many years of dreams to use the Olympic Games to cross the chasm. "Our goal is, of course, to become the world's brand. Nike spent 40 years to achieve this goal. Adidas spent 80 years. I believe we can go faster." Not long ago, Huang Heshui, director of the advertising department of Xiamen University, Ding Shuibo's fellow townsman, said that domestic enterprises have claimed to enter the international market in recent years and want to become an international brand. For this reason, they have tried OEM, foreign factories, foreign sales agents, cooperation with foreign enterprises or brands, mergers and acquisitions. But in these ways, the cycle is too long and the profit is relatively low. The fastest way should be to take part in international major sports events, such as the Olympic Games. In fact, in order to achieve this goal at an early date, Ding Shuibo said he was willing to give 200 million yuan to participate in Olympic marketing. The marketing strategy of the latecomers is playing a grand sitcom in the Chinese sporting goods market under the concept of Olympic Games. Lining, Anta, XTEP, del Hui, and 360 degrees, who are close to their rivals in the past, have been running away from the field to the same runway, and have been scramble to compete for the dominant position in this field. In fact, before shooting the Olympic blockbuster, XTEP has attacked frequently. The name "XTEP Olympic train" and the exclusive title and winning bid of the "2008 Olympic final live broadcast patch advertisement" were won by XTEP. In this lively concert of Olympic marketing, Ding Shuibo hopes to attract attention by differential marketing. "In the footwear brand, we are the last to enter the brand, late arrivals always have to work harder and more colorful." Unlike other sports brands that emphasize the professionalism of sports, Ding Shuibo explains that XTEP emphasizes entertainment and life. "Our target customers are college students and middle school students, who have their own entertainment idols. Therefore, we invite such entertainment stars instead of athletes to engage in activities and issue limited edition products." After a glance at the shoes worn by all the reporters on the floor, Ding Shuibo was quick to point out that a male journalist was wearing professional skateboard shoes on his feet. "This is an example of the life of sports shoes. I believe you are not playing skateboards in it, and so are the many sports shoes we sell now. It can appear on any other occasions in your life." Ding Shuibo himself regards Puma and KAPPA as the most admired brands, as the latecomers, and has opened up the "blue ocean" in the fashion of life in the cracks between Adidas and Nike. After Lining and Anta, XTEP is also plotting the strategy of coming from behind. In addition to the advertising campaign in the air, XTEP Olympic Games will also launch a solid ground strategy in 2008. The XTEP Olympic Games will also be launched. "With the Olympic marketing, terminal construction will be an important guarantee for sales." XTEP has launched the "big store plan" recently, expanding the existing store store area and transforming its image, and plans to transfer some of the stores to the golden section. At present, the 1600 square meter Olympic concept shop has been available. "We have more than 4000 stores in all parts of the country, and we do not plan to open new stores in 2008, but we will increase the connotation of each store and expand the area." Ding Shuibo also confidently said that according to the spring and summer ordering meeting, which ended in 2007, the sales of XTEP brand in 2008 could be increased by 70% on the basis of 1 billion 300 million to 1 billion 500 million yuan this year. According to media reports, XTEP has just appointed JP Morgan and UBS as sponsors and plans to raise $300 million (about HK $2 billion 340 million) in 2008. It will be the third mainland sports Brand Company to Hongkong after Lining (2331.HK) and Anta sports. However, Ding Shuibo was cautious about the issue of listing. He said in diplomatic terms: "the idea of listing is of course, but we are not short of money." He prefers to talk about the other two brands of XTEP, the high-end brand CROIS, and the high-end high-end shoes that are authorized by Disney China. "These three brands constitute a combination of Pyramid, XTEP is the most popular one, of course, it is also the Taki of Pyramid." In Ding Shuibo's view, in the marketing competition of the Olympic Games, the brand building formula of "advertisement plus stars" used by Quanzhou enterprises has not been able to adapt to the new situation. On the one hand, consumers are becoming more and more individualized due to their maturity and diversification. On the other hand, with the entry of many international brands, the arms of marketing competition are not only displayed as advertising and stars, but also the integration of marketing resources superiority, including brand integration, terminal construction and channel upgrading.