Superstars Help Local Sports Brands To Seek Gold Overseas

In 2005, China's sports Footwear The brand PEAK has just entered the Italian market, and its self expectation is not high, but it was caught off guard by an "accident". After buying PEAK products, a local athlete found a dealer to complain because the shoelaces of PEAK sports shoes on his feet suddenly broke.

According to the common rules in the western market, dealers recalled all the sold PEAK sneakers and asked PEAK to retest them.

But in 2012, if PEAK CEO Xu Zhihua occasionally recalled this experience, he would appreciate the past.

This kind of experience is common in the internationalization journey of Chinese local clothing brands. The key is how to persist and obtain commercial benefits. Frankly speaking, PEAK's performance in 2011 was not good. The sales revenue was 4.65 billion yuan, only 9.4% higher than that in 2010, and the growth rate in 2010 was 37.3%), but this financial report has a remarkable upward curve: its overseas sales accounted for about 10% of the total revenue, and the growth rate reached 30%.

In contrast, other local sports shoes and clothing brands, such as Anta, 361 The overseas market share of Tebu and other brands is only 1% to 2%. As of this year, PEAK has registered its trademark in more than 160 countries and opened nearly 200 franchised stores in more than 80 countries and regions. In the plan of PEAK CEO Xu Zhihua, PEAK's overseas sales will account for 50% of the total sales revenue in the future.

The key is that this performance was born against the background of the overall weakness of the sporting goods market. Over the years, the continuous expansion of overseas markets has become an effective way for PEAK to cope with the industry crisis and form its own differentiated competitiveness.

Compared with four years ago, the investment of Chinese sports shoes and clothing brands in the London Olympic Games has dropped significantly. The reason is simple. London marketing far away from home is of little significance to the local market. In addition, the performance of local sports brands has generally been poor since last year, so this money can be saved if it can be saved.

Only PEAK did the opposite. In 2008, it only sponsored one Iraqi team, but this year it sponsored seven national teams. According to insiders, PEAK's investment in the Olympic Games this year has increased at least 7-10 times.

Compared with many failed local brands, PEAK's achievements in the overseas market are more or less accidental: from Vujacic in 2009, Artest in 2010, Kidd in 2011, and Battier in 2012, the teams of these PEAK spokesmen won NBA championships in four years. "The law of winning the championship" seems to be the most shining halo of PEAK.

However, Xu Zhihua was extremely clear that behind various opportunities, every step of PEAK was not easy: in addition to the bewilderment of being returned, it also included the difficult trademark registration in every market, and the confusion in the mainstream market, PEAK's international trajectory was tortuous and had been adjusted repeatedly. "From name and trademark internationalization, to brand internationalization, and finally to truly realize market internationalization, what we export is not goods, but brands," said Xu Zhihua.

Borrow superstars

In 1992, on the eve of the Barcelona Olympic Games, Xu Jingnan, chairman of PEAK, was wandering in Madrid. When he saw a roadside registration agency, he went in on a whim and made PEAK's first trademark registration overseas. This accidental move became the fuse of PEAK's internationalization. Since then, PEAK has been registering trademarks in various markets. So far, in the registration process of 160 countries, there are countless stories of lawsuits and twists and turns.

Even so, trademark registration is just a pass to enter the market. What really helps PEAK knock on the door of dealers is its sponsorship of major events, especially the popularity accumulated by the NBA. To some extent, this is also one of the reasons why other local brands such as Li Ning have failed overseas - they lack the appeal of big name players, and their brand popularity has never been sulky.

Sponsoring sports is a tradition of brand building created by western sporting goods manufacturers. But for Chinese sports brands, sports habits and business atmosphere are completely unknown in unfamiliar overseas markets. Even if traditional methods are adopted, they need to learn to "borrow" ingeniously.

In 2004, PEAK became the equipment sponsor of the Greek national basketball team through agents. But PEAK took this opportunity,

Sponsor the European Basketball All Star Game the next year. During the same period, Xu Zhihua entered the NBA Rockets with $4 million. With the popularity of Yao Ming, PEAK gained a great reputation in China. Since then, PEAK has become a strategic partner of the Stankovic Intercontinental Basketball Champions League, as well as equipment sponsors such as the Australian National Team and the Iraqi National Team.

PEAK found that event sponsorship not only helps to enhance brand awareness, but also helps to expand the market of products - when a star shuttles on the field, his sports equipment will naturally attract more attention and is most likely to become a best seller. In last year's NBA All Star Dunk Contest, Javier McKillian changed three pairs of sneakers, and was named "Shoe Changer" by netizens, which made PEAK a big hit. In fact, although Intersport and Sport2000, the sports goods retailers in Europe, are sold together with other brands, Peak's NBA star basketball shoes are also popular.

There seems to be no secret to this effect. Compared with other local brands, PEAK is even more cost conscious. Its sponsorship has blossomed everywhere: Rockets, Bucks, New Jersey Nets, and NBA star spokesmen signed by the Lakers, Denver, Cavaliers and other major teams. "The main influence of each team is still local. To open the popularity, it needs to be widely distributed."

Naturally, this approach will not work in the short term. Until 2009, PEAK's NBA strategy still focused on the domestic market. With the sponsorship of teams and signing stars, its radiation gradually spread. Among PEAK's signed stars are foreign players such as Mickael Pietrus and Dikembe Mutombo, who will also have an impact on the market in their own countries. "African Jordan" Mutombo even took the initiative to find Peak, hoping to jointly develop sports brands with Peak in Africa.

In 2009, PEAK signed a contract with FIBA to become a partner in Asia and began to consciously operate the Asian market. This partnership was upgraded to a "global strategic partner" the following year.

For brands that really want to conquer the global market, sometimes there is not much "halo" for event sponsorship. PEAK once sponsored the Los Angeles Drew League, a league originated from a high school basketball stadium, which is rarely known in China. It is usually held in street parks or shabby small stadiums, and it is free to watch the games. This community league full of grassroots temperament has an irreplaceable position in the hearts of Americans.

Last year alone, more than 45 NBA stars participated in the Drew League, including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Paul Pierce. Wandering at NBA clubs and gates Peak In this way, he entered the cradle of American basketball spirit.

International "school"

Compared with the apparent achievements, the stumbling in PEAK's international journey is more worthy of being recorded. In 2005, after PEAK was returned by dealers in the Italian market, the staff had to travel from Fujian to Italy, full of anxiety: "Is it the quality problem of this pair of shoes or our technical problem?" Before that, this shoe had never seen a similar situation. Finally, the staff found that the reason was due to the special case that they did not consider: the use habits of athletes.

In the professional sports goods market, PEAK's products are still dominated by ordinary sports fans. Therefore, when designing products, the wearing standards of athletes are not taken into account. "In order to make the shoes more wrapped, athletes will take apart all the shoelaces, re string them in their way, pull the shoelaces to the highest, and then stamp on the floor for several times, tying them very tightly. They are generally more than 2 meters tall. In this way, the shoelaces bear much more tension." Wu Bingrui, director of PEAK International Sales, told our reporter.

This is a very important lesson PEAK learned in the international market. "The lifestyle and sports style of athletes are different from that of ordinary people. We need to consider their usage habits when we make professional sports products, not just follow ordinary standards." Since then, PEAK has begun to attach importance to the use of athlete standards in products.

The mature markets in Europe provide a model for PEAK to enter other markets, such as Central Asia. These regions are deeply influenced by European and American lifestyles and have higher requirements for sports professionalism. "They will wear corresponding sportswear for different sports categories, and have higher requirements for portability and comfort," Wu Bingrui said.

However, the model of this mature market is not once and for all. Cultural barriers are deeper challenges. When doing POP in Saudi Arabia (advertising that can promote sales in shopping places), the designers naturally hung photos of female models in sportswear on the wall. Considering the hot weather in the region, the products on display included sleeveless T-shirts for women. These "natural" actions almost led to the closure of the doors in most Muslim countries, Women's faces and bodies cannot be exposed (including pictures).

Attempting to pay homage to the local culture even becomes a risk: designers have thought about adding Muslim belief elements to their products, such as printing "Thank God" in Arabic on T-shirts, which is a fashion popular in Europe and America, but it is a blasphemy to the gods locally - in Muslim culture, the gods they respect cannot be placed on a commodity at random, You can't wear it on your body.

Not only that, the company also has to consider the sales seasons in different markets, which brings challenges to PEAK's production and operation. When the northern hemisphere is promoting summer clothes, the products of the southern hemisphere need to be changed in a large area. In Europe, Christmas is usually the peak sales season, but in Central Asia, the sales boom often occurs before Ramadan.

In order to cooperate with the overseas market, PEAK will collect market feedback in each region, collect information to the headquarters, and then the designers of the headquarters will cooperate. PEAK's annual international order meeting has become a bridge between the overseas market and the design center. In addition to the four annual domestic order meetings, PEAK held overseas order meetings for Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Australia, Europe, South America and other regions to communicate with dealers around the country. "In fact, the order meeting is not entirely about ordering," Wu Bingrui said.

New customers will learn about PEAK's products and brands through the ordering meeting; In addition to looking at new products, old customers will feed back the new situation of the local market to formulate new R&D and market strategies. In these communications, the most common problem is still product localization. For example, the European market is generally large in size, and does not like heavy colors such as black, red, and green. The latter two colors are exactly what the Middle East likes. And they always want shoes and clothes to be lighter and more comfortable.

Before that, the products in the overseas market were mainly designed by the domestic design center according to the headquarters information. PEAK did not have the operation experience of independently targeting a certain overseas market, but when it finally entered the important market of the United States, its international situation would be reborn.

thoroughly to remould oneself

At the beginning of this year, when the whole sports industry was crazy about Lin Shuhao, PEAK CEO Xu Zhihua took his team to the United States to cut the ribbon for the opening of PEAK's second branch in the United States. Unlike the first basketball concept store located in Westfield Mall in Los Angeles, this store directly cuts into Hollywood, the core hinterland of American fashion and trends. Based on Li Ning's previous experience, PEAK insists on focusing on its direct stores in the United States - Li Ning cooperates with Chambers and other distributors in the American market. However, due to the lack of popularity and the serious accumulation of products, Chambers finally dumped its goods at 4.99 and 9.99 dollars.

Before entering the US market, PEAK has market experience in more than 80 countries and regions, and believes that it can handle the market with ease. "PEAK's existing products are rich in quantity and style, and have a good performance in the international market, so the company decided to directly deliver the existing products to the U.S. market," said Wu Bingrui.

However, the fact has proved that "global norms" do not work in the United States. Americans have great esteem for technology, especially the "light" feeling of sneakers; Do not like colorful flower color blocks, but prefer large areas of monochrome. As a result, about 50% of PEAK's products supplied to the US market need to be adjusted.

All kinds of problems led to the establishment of the American R&D Center, which is located in Los Angeles, close to the forefront of American fashion, and also the focus of basketball fans around the world. The establishment of the R&D center has made the communication between designers and players more smooth. "Sometimes teams will visit the R&D center and tell designers what clothes and shoes they want."

The work of the R&D Center has been fruitful. As of the third quarter of this year, 50% of PEAK's products in the United States had been customized specifically for the American market, and the other 50% were improved versions of existing products and improved versions of products suitable for the American market - these products have no problems in design, but have differences with the American market in size, color or materials. Just a few months ago, only 20% of products were designed specifically for the United States.

The establishment of the US R&D center has raised PEAK's internationalization to a new height. Today, PEAK has four R&D centers. Beijing focuses on footwear, Guangzhou focuses on clothing, and Quanzhou is relatively comprehensive. The U.S. R&D center not only designs and develops products for the U.S. market, but also needs to collect the latest global sports product trend design and the most advanced technology trends for PEAK. This information will be filtered by the US branch and fed back to PEAK headquarters.

This means that other overseas markets and domestic markets will also benefit from it. "We believe that the whole earth is a big market. Although there are different cultures, we should go the same way in the research and development of professional products and product appeals," said Wu Bingrui. The equipment of the delegation of the seven countries of PEAK for the London Olympic Games was jointly designed by the US R&D center and three domestic R&D centers.

The London Olympics clearly shows PEAK's greater ambition. In the Beijing Olympic Games, PEAK sponsored only one national team from Iraq. This time, it sponsored seven teams from New Zealand, Iraq, Jordan, Slovenia, Cyprus, Lebanon and Algeria, with nearly 1000 athletes. Although not willing to disclose the specific amount, PEAK admitted that the sponsorship was "extremely cost-effective". According to the data of PEAK International Sales Department, PEAK's sales in the local market had increased 3 to 5 times in the months before the Olympic Games.

London, the English center, is the key to PEAK's next internationalization journey. In a department store near London Olympic Park, the clerk asked Xu Zhihua curiously which country Peak belongs to, because he can see wearing Peak clothes and shoes Customers. When Xu Zhihua explained that they had sponsored seven Olympic delegations, he was surprised to say, "That must be an international brand".

However, it is not for the British market to enter London. "London is chosen to be an international market, but it has no effect at home." Xu Zhihua said, "London is an English language family, and it has a great influence on other English speaking countries." Peak has established stores in the suburbs of London, but has been unable to enter the urban area. "It's hard to sell PEAK in downtown London." In the description of this strategy, the self positioning of PEAK is also vaguely visible.

Perhaps the process of conquering the broader international market is also a process of brand self recognition.

?