ALL TO PLAY FOR
The multimillion sports apparel industry is determined to ensure that in China fitness is not just a fad
When the Brazilian Neymar made headlines recently after becoming the world’s most expensive soccer player, in a transaction worth 222 million euros ($261 million), it highlighted once again that when all is said and done big sports are big business.
Even if Neymar’s soccer skills are beyond doubt, that huge amount essentially reflects the value put on him as a marketing tool.
In a highly popular TV drama in China recently, The First Half of My Life, Tang Jing, who played one of the show’s heroines, helped forge her on-screen persona by being portrayed following a daily fitness routine garbed in a popular brand of sportswear.
While Neymar and others in top-league competitive sports grab headlines because of the huge sums of money they command, it is the likes of Tang who are the front-line marketeers as multinational corporations fight for the huge revenues at stake in the world of sports and personal fitness.
In this campaign — which is so pervasive it is hard to escape if you read newspapers or magazines, watch films of TV or spend a lot of time on the internet — their mission is to convey the message that being fit and being trim is not only good for your health, but is also cool and is a mark of success.
At stake in China is a personal fitness market that the marketing consultancy Euromonitor reckons has almost doubled over the past five years. The value of sales of sports clothing alone was 187 billion yuan ($27.8 billion) last year, 11 percent higher than the year before, it says.
China’s national fitness plan administered by the State Council forecasts that by 2020 spending related to sports will be worth 3 trillion yuan, making it a major new driver for domestic consumption.
Indeed, China is one of the fastest growing markets for international brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma, whose profits are swelling as more and more people engage in sports. Adidas held an event called Republic of Sports in Beijing recently in which hundreds of people took part in the national fitness campaign. An indoor venue has been put up to provide sports and fitness experience for visitors.
“We have the ambition to become the number one sports brand in the world and in China,” says Marc Le Roux, VP of Sports Performance, adidas China.
“If we want to achieve this goal we need to engage people to do sports with us. It’s not only about advertising and sponsoring
As the pursuit
I see that everywhere the passion and love for sports is growing immensely. We see more people running in the streets, going to the gym, and we see an amazing interest in football.
VP of Sports Performance, adidas
the big teams; it’s also about providing opportunities for everyday people to engage in sports and exciting sporting activities.
“The sports culture is really growing in China, and as a leading sports brand we want to be at the forefront of the development of this culture. That’s why we are creating the biggest sports activation that has ever been delivered by a sports brand in China.”
More than 100,000 people took part in sports activities with the brand within six weeks across four cities Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou recently. The passion for sports has developed rapidly in the country over the past few years, Le Roux says.
“Wherever I travel, in places like Shenyang, Kunming, Chengdu, Guangzhou or Beijing, I see that everywhere the passion and love for sports is growing immensely. We see more people running in the streets, going to the gym, and we see an amazing interest in football.
“I believe this is only the start. China has great people and a great culture, which is very competitive. I believe with the right level of creativity, this nation will become a leading sporting nation. This is why we promote creativity in sports, because we think this will make a difference in the future for