Mengniu links with NBA for healthy living slam-dunk

As a long-term marketing partner of NBA China, Inner Mongolia Mengniu Dairy Industry (Group) Co Ltd, the country’s leading dairy producer, plans to continue promoting a healthy lifestyle to consumers.

Since announcing its partnership with the NBA 10 years ago, Mengniu’s has demonstrated its commitment to healthy living with numerous fan-friendly activities.

The promotion of a billion NBA-themed milk packages in 2015 was a particular highlight for China’s huge army of NBA fans, with the image of nutritious milk and worldclass NBA action proving a winning combination.

The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors will contest the NBA China Games 2017 on Oct 5 in Shenzhen, followed by a rematch in Shanghai on Oct 8, with Mengniu planning some special promotions to coincide with the extravaganza.

“During the NBA Global Games China 2017, Mengniu will launch a series of brandengagement activities, and will also launch online promotions on our e-commerce platforms,” said Zhang Yan, brand director of Mengniu Dairy.

Zhang said that Mengniu’s long-term partnership with the NBA has helped promote basketball among young people, thereby improving the health of Chinese teenagers.

“As a partner of the NBA, Mengniu has been promoting campus basketball activities in recent years,” said Zhang. “In 2016, Mengniu held a 3-on-3 campus basketball competition nationwide, and we helped the champion of the tournament visit the Cleveland Cavaliers, providing China’s basketball-playing teenagers with a broader platform.

“In the future, we will continue to support the promotion of basketball among teenagers and ensure that high-quality nutrition will benefit the growth of our children.”

Another goal of Mengniu’s is to encourage Chinese NBA fans to become more engaged with the league’s fan culture. The company plans to do this by harnessing its own “sports gene”.

“According to statistics, about 80 billion consumers choose Mengniu’s products every day, and about 10 billion consumers choose Mengniu annually,” said Zhang.

“Mengniu and the NBA both have huge consumer communities. The goal of our deep cooperation is to build a mutual fan club, which means turning the partner’s fans into our own fans.

“Mengniu is also a company with a powerful ‘sports gene’. From the first day we entered the field of sports, we have insisted on the spirit of serving the people. For us, the purpose of getting involved in sports is to promote the idea of fitness. From a broader perspective, it’s about healthy living nationwide.

“Once we successfully connect our brand culture and entrepreneurship to NBA fan culture, we will be naturally accepted by NBA fans, becoming a part of their culture.”