Grassroots Counterattack: Anta Sports On The NBA Become The Industry Leader

Surpassing Lining as the leader of the domestic sporting goods industry did not satisfy Ding Shizhong. He led Anta to successively win heavyweight resources such as Chinese gymnastics team and NBA.

Next, his goal is to pick Adidas and Nike off.

Ding Shizhong's eyes were red.

He has just opened a day's meeting, several large and small, tired, needless to say.

Looking from his office, the three sides are surrounded by the sea.

Ding Shizhong sat down in a position with his back to the scenery. Most of the time, the chairman of the Anta board had no intention to pay attention to the scenery.

Around the Xiamen Anta operation center, there are many PEAK, 361 degree, XTEP and so on from Jinjiang.

A little unmindful.

It may face the most brutal competition.

Now, Ding Shizhong has a long-term goal. He has focused on the international brands such as ADI, Nike and so on.

"Before, they (Nike and ADI) kept us awake, and now we have to keep them awake."

Ding Shizhong's eyes lit up when he said this.

Later, he spoke excitedly to the "financial world" weekly to talk about the future goals.

The head of Anta has led Anta to the first prize in the domestic sporting goods industry.

You know, the sporting goods company established in 1991 has been playing the role of follower and pursuer in the past. Its goal is to go beyond big brother Lining.

In order to achieve this goal, Ding Shizhong, like most business leaders, spends too much seriousness, anxiety and anxiety.

Originally, his plan was to complete this goal in 2013, but in 2012, Anta succeeded in overtaking.

This year, Lining's performance loss was nearly 2 billion yuan, while Anta's net profit was 1 billion 300 million yuan.

Since then, Anta has witnessed Lining falling into a mire step by step, and is also accelerating to become a leader in the industry.

According to the financial report, Anta's revenue was 4 billion 120 million yuan in the first half of 2014, and its net profit amounted to 803 million yuan.

Lining, who was once the leader of the industry, was worried about the current situation. His income was only 3 billion 137 million yuan, and the loss increased from 184 million yuan in the same period last year to 586 million yuan.

Anta has come to the top of the sports industry.

But Ding Shizhong and Anta did not stop.

In October 12th, Ding Shizhong arrived in Beijing and moved to JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong.

He looked very excited in a black suit and polished leather shoes. He laughed with reporters from time to time.

A day later, in the Century Hall of Renmin University of China, Ding Shizhong signed a cooperation agreement with Adam Shawwa, President of NBA, which signifies that Anta has taken the status of NBA, the official market partner representing the highest level of basketball. Ding Shizhong is very concerned about this because it may help Anta to become a new king in basketball.

Although Anta is already the first domestic brand in running shoes, in the field of basketball, the market belongs to Nike, Adidas and PEAK. Anta's basketball shoes are hard to be recognized in professional and design, and even leave the impression of grass roots.

After losing the sponsorship of the CBA (Chinese men's Basketball League) in 2012, Anta, which has a weak basketball resource, is bound to win a more influential competition, otherwise there will be no advantage in the future contest.

In the cooperation with NBA, Anta has obtained quite a lot of authorization: in terms of products, Anta can produce sneakers and accessories with NBA logo. In terms of intellectual property rights, Anta has the right to use NBA30 teams, legendary teams (teams that have disappeared in NBA), semifinals and finals.

In addition, Anta also has the right to set up shop with NBA logo.

Ding Shizhong's goal is very clear. In the next three years, every category, including basketball shoes, should be the first in domestic brands and surpass Nike and Adidas in a predictable period.

"Anta doesn't do things or needs to do it."

He said.

Near NBA

Since 2012, Li Ning Co has won the sponsorship of CBA for 5 years and 2 billion yuan. Ding Shizhong has not stopped looking for new basketball resources.

He knows more than anyone else. Anta's status and achievements today can not be separated from the sponsorship of CBA. Sponsorship of basketball resources may not help sales, but it can greatly enhance brand image.

"This cake is not only a question of market share, but also a manifestation of sports brand's professionalism."

Ding Shizhong said.

In terms of basketball resources, NBA is undoubtedly the best representative.

PEAK, also from Jinjiang, has become a well deserved boss in the field of domestic brand basketball shoes through its cooperation with NBA for 7 years. The professionalism and design of the shoes have been recognized.

Anta wants to take the place of PEAK.

Since the beginning of this year, it has been taking frequent and high-profile sports resources such as weightlifting and judo, especially the Chinese gymnastic team regarded by Li Ning Co as "spiritual pillar". It has been interpreted by the media as "stepping into Lining's restricted zone".

The company, which has a market value of more than HK $37 billion, is stepping up its strategic position step by step.

With NBA, Ding Shizhong's biggest concern is how to land.

He will not sponsor a single event. When sponsoring CBA, Anta put forward the requirement that players must wear Anta basketball shoes.

"Sponsoring a brand, the most important thing is to have something to do with the product.

It doesn't matter to the merchandise, it has nothing to do with the consumers. "

Ding Shizhong said.

At first, NBA rejected many of the rights raised by Anta.

This highly commercialized alliance will not readily agree to the requirements of partners.

What's more, Anta's request has never been seen before by the brand, and NBA is particularly cautious.

"I talked for about two years."

Ding Shizhong said, "we will tell them that NBA is the brand of an alliance, but if the brand of the alliance is to be done in China, there must be competent enterprises to help you cooperate with consumers."

This is where Anta moved NBA.

In terms of capital, NBA has been successful in the Chinese market.

At present, dozens of Chinese brands including Lenovo and Qingyang are cooperating with each brand. Each brand will spend 3 million to 5 million dollars a year, and this alone will earn 80 million dollars a year.

But after Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian left, the Chinese brand on NBA was not much, and a few years ago, the Chinese League plan was stranded, the store expansion was blocked, and the planning of the building was stagnant, and it needed new play.

"We have been examined and evaluated when we are choosing partners, and we think that Anta is the best.

In addition, Anta's ideas and our ideas coincide. "

Xiao Hua, the new president of NBA, said.

In order to win the weapon that can compete with Nike and Adi, Anta is said to pay 200 million yuan a year. He denied this, but he refused to disclose the amount.

He said, this is a small but reasonable price, "you can imagine."

"Ding Shizhong is very ruthless, he is holding a big move."

Zhang Qing, founder of sports information company, said that after losing the sponsorship of CBA, everyone thought that when Anta lost its basketball resources, it gained a commanding height in this way.

In October 1st, products including basketball shoes, shoulder bags, socks and other products with NBA logo began to appear in 2000 stores in Anta's 7701 stores, including basketball shoes with the main colors of 8 teams, such as the Lakers, heat and so on.

At the door of these stores, LED lights with NBA logo are particularly conspicuous.

Not only that, Anta also has the right to produce NBA single sneakers in China, and its NBA sneakers have been sold in Tmall, Jingdong and other e-commerce channels.

"For NBA brand basketball shoes, we want to focus more on the electronic business platform."

Zheng Jie, President of Anta, said.

With the success of cooperation with NBA, there were previous cases.

Three years ago, NBA signed a contract with MK Trend, a Korean clothing company, who had the right to change the color of the NBA team's clothing.

Since then, MK Trend has launched many colorful costumes, making it more fashionable, selling well in Korea, and even many stars wear such clothes.

"We have used the fashionable brand image of NBA to drive the sales growth."

MK Trend CEO Michael Kim (Michael Kim) said.

Zheng Jie hopes that Anta's basketball shoes can also become popular like MK Trend's NBA clothing.

Little brother becomes brother

It is undeniable that even before taking the NBA resources, Anta has surpassed Lining and become the most scenic brand in the domestic sports brand.

It has a cash flow of about 5 billion yuan and is a partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee, holding core resources such as the Chinese gymnastics team, judo team and weightlifting team.

In the first half of 2014, its turnover was nearly 1 billion yuan higher than that of Lining, nearly 2 billion 800 million yuan more than that of pick, and its revenues and profits ranked first in the industry.

What's interesting is that the resources of the Chinese Olympic Committee's partners, the Chinese gymnastics team and so on are Anta's grabbing from the hands of rival Lining, and the Chinese gymnastics team has long been regarded as the hinterland of Lining.

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In fact, before being overtaken by Anta, Lining has always been the absolute elder brother of the sporting goods industry in China.

Historically, the two companies are almost the same, but in the past 20 years, Anta has been playing the role of catch-up.

Compared with the Li Ning Co, which is proud of the "Prince of gymnastics", the grass roots Anta is not very popular with consumers.

Back in August 8, 2008, Lining lit the Olympic torch under the eyes of hundreds of millions of people, so that the company named after Lining really went to the world.

The company, founded in 1990, cooperated with the Chinese Olympic Committee at the beginning of its founding, and spared no effort to sponsor events.

In the eyes of many consumers, Lining's brand has even become a symbol of the country.

It was a brilliant stage.

In 2008, Li Ning Co created 6 billion 690 million yuan income.

A year later, it surpassed Adidas in an irresistible momentum. At that time, Lining's sales volume was 8 billion 387 million yuan, and ADI's sales volume was about 7 billion yuan.

This brilliant achievement is based on the horse racing enclosure.

In the year 2009 alone, Lining added 1239 stores to 8156, which is arguably the largest sports distribution channel in the country.

But there are hidden dangers.

After the Beijing Olympics, the whole Li Ning Co turned their attention to the international market. They were no longer satisfied with the domestic market, and their performance exceeded Adidas in 2009. They had every reason to run faster.

In addition, as early as in January 2008, Lining set up an overseas shoe product R & D center in Portland, which inserted the red flag into Nike's backyard, and at the same time indicated that it would carry out a positive war with Nike.

In this process, Lining's most aggressive move is to reshape the brand and issue a brand new slogan and slogan.