If you can’t sponsor the Winter Olympics, please sponsor Gu Ailing
Gu Ailing, the optimal solution to “rubbing” the traffic of the Winter Olympics

Article | IQ Tax Research Center

Gu Ailing lived up to expectations and won the first gold medal in the snow event. Companies betting on Gu Ailing are excited.

The Beijing Winter Olympics is an arena for players and a traffic highland for various powerful companies to compete for. According to the official website of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the number of sponsors at the four levels of the Winter Olympics reached 45, but this is relatively rare compared to companies that hope to join the event.

How can I get the traffic of the Winter Olympics without becoming an official sponsor?

Many companies set their sights on those top athletes. In particular, the 19-year-old Chinese athlete Gu Ailing, naturalized, young, lively, beautiful and has three gold points, makes her the most eye-catching athlete in this Winter Olympics.

Looking for Gu Ailing’s endorsement may be the best solution to “sponsoring the Winter Olympics in disguise” – not only can you get the huge traffic of the Winter Olympics in addition to official sponsorship, but also avoid the seriousness of the International Olympic Committee for Olympic-related propaganda discipline.

According to the knowledge of the IQ Tax Research Center through some companies, Gu Ailing’s endorsement fee has soared to 15 million.

And there are rumors in the market that when Gu Ailing is looking for an endorsement, the real person who speaks is her mother.

Winter Olympics traffic is not easy to “rub”

Norman O’Reilly, co-author of “Global Sports Marketing” once said: “The Olympic Games is a stage, and two-thirds of the world’s population will focus on this at this time.” There is such a consensus in the foreign marketing community: Sponsoring the Olympic Games with the same funds can increase the brand’s international reputation by three times more than the usual investment.

However, companies that can cross the threshold of official sponsorship are only rare compared to companies targeting the huge traffic of the Winter Olympics. According to the official website of the Beijing Winter Olympics, in addition to the global Olympic partners, the number of sponsors at the four levels of this Winter Olympics is only 45.

How can I get the traffic of the Beijing Winter Olympics without becoming a sponsor? The Olympic Games is not the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, and this wave of traffic is not something that can be easily rubbed off. Enterprises such as Erguotou, Dalongyi Hotpot, and Super 8 Hotel have already given negative teaching materials.

Recently, Beijing Erguotou was fined more than 61,000 yuan by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation for producing commemorative wine products marked “2022 Beijing Winter Olympics”. A fine of 150,000 yuan; Super 8 Hotel was fined 20,000 yuan by the Beijing Chaoyang District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau for using signs such as “Olympics” and “Olympic Games” on its WeChat public account.

The IQ Tax Research Center inquired and learned that in addition to the use of the Olympic logo or Olympic words for marketing without permission, the relevant regulations also clearly define the “hidden marketing behavior” of “getting Olympic traffic”: without the Olympic logo or disabled The permission of the owner of the Olympic logo to use elements related to the Olympic movement to carry out activities is enough to lead people to believe that there is a sponsorship or other support relationship with the owner of the Olympic logo, which may constitute an act of unfair competition. If it constitutes an act of unfair competition, it shall be dealt with in accordance with the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People’s Republic of China.

Then, the best solution to “getting the traffic of the Winter Olympics safely” may only be to sponsor those top athletes.

“If there is no copyright, brands often can only create popularity by rubbing themselves from the perspectives of events, hot spots, spirit, culture, etc., which are relatively empty, biased, and emotional.” Jia Honghai, an expert in food industry research, believes that if athletes are allowed to personally IP becomes the official IP of the Olympic Games, and the effect may be completely different.

For athletes, after becoming a brand spokesperson, as long as they can win gold and silver at the Winter Olympics, on the one hand, the identity of the spokesperson can form a strong relationship with the brand; on the other hand, brand marketing does not allow mentioning the Winter Olympics, but celebrates It is understandable that the spokesperson won the championship.

How to get out of the circle and play the athlete card is also effective. For example, the video of Russian athlete Trusova’s “crab step” became popular, which made many young people fall in love with figure skating, and some children’s training in figure skating also took advantage of the trend.

Why choose Gu Ailing?

Which Chinese athlete in the Beijing Winter Olympics impressed you the most? Many netizens who don’t care much about sports can also name Gu Ailing.

This sweet-looking athletic girl occupied the gold C position in business on the eve of the Spring Festival. In the advertisement column on the bus stop, Gu Ailing wearing a purple cheongsam called for the Jingdong New Year’s Day; in the Mengniu product area of ​​the shopping mall, Gu Ailing’s New Year’s greetings stickers can be seen everywhere; even if you go to Ruixing to order a cup of coffee, you can also see Xiaolan in hand Gu Ailing of the cup is smiling at you.

It is understood that after Gu Ailing announced her Chinese citizenship in June 2019, she has entered the vision of international brands and local companies that plan to expand the Chinese market with the help of the Winter Olympics. Among them, the fastest mover should be the Mengniu Group, which seized the opportunity and reached an endorsement cooperation with Gu Ailing in December of the same year.

At that time, Gu Ailing’s commercial value had not yet really emerged, and Mengniu’s attention was its “born to be strong” sportsmanship, which could be in the same strain as the previous brand spokespersons such as Messi.

Facts have proved Mengniu’s vision. In February 2021, Gu Ailing won 2 golds and 1 silver at the X Games World Extreme Games, rewriting the history of Chinese players without gold in this event. It was very popular for a while, and it also made her endorsement price soar. After the Tokyo Olympics, Gu Ailing signed brands one after another, and officially announced 5 endorsements within a month, becoming the brand’s “new favorite” with the help of the Winter Olympics marketing.

According to incomplete statistics from the IQ Tax Research Center, Gu Ailing has signed nearly 30 endorsement brands, including well-known international brands such as Tiffany, Victoria’s Secret, and Louis Vuitton, as well as domestic well-known enterprises such as Mengniu, Anta, and Jingdong.

 

In addition to endorsements and sponsorships, other companies have established other partnerships with Gu Ailing. For example, in January 2022, Xiaohongshu will link up with Gu Ailing to release its brand TVC.

Gu Ailing’s surge in endorsements is not an exception. The opening of the Winter Olympics is imminent, and the few winter sports stars are even more popular. Earlier, Yili, P&G and short track speed skating “Triple Crown King” Wang Meng cooperated; Yang Yang, China’s first Winter Olympic champion, Xu Mengtao, a famous freestyle skier in aerial skills, and Wu Dajing, world champion short track speed skating, have all been in the last half of the year. Signed a new endorsement within a month.

In addition, famous short track speed skating star Liu Qiuhong, speed skater Ning Zhongyan and other outstanding athletes have also become the focus of the brand.

However, Gu Ailing is still the “first sister of ice and snow” most favored by business owners in this Winter Olympics. What is the reason?

Sura, an e-commerce marketing expert, analyzed to the IQ Tax Research Center. First of all, the skiing project Gu Ailing is engaged in is a relatively high-end leisure project, and its focus group is often people who pursue high-end leisure life. Therefore, Gu Ailing can attract people like LV and Tiffany & Co. luxury brand.

Secondly, from the age distribution of Gu Ailing’s active fans, the age group of 25 to 44 years old accounts for more than 85%, and people in this age group overlap with the main consumption force of the society, and have purchasing power, which is in line with the brand owner. matching needs.

Third, from the perspective of past performance, Gu Ailing is a veritable “gold medal harvester”. Her strong strength and stable participation status have made many brand owners full of confidence in her performance in the Winter Olympics. “Her personal IP influence is still on an excellent upward curve, which is in line with the long-term marketing strategies of most forward-looking companies.”

Finally, it is also inseparable from the promoters of famous brokerage companies. In the past two years, Gu Ailing has signed with the international brokerage company IMG. Previously, the company’s masterpieces have included car king Schumacher, tennis superstar Sharapova, Li Na and so on. It is under the operation of this company that Gu Ailing not only has the number of endorsement companies soaring, but also the endorsement fee has risen from $1 million before 2021 to $1.5 million and then $1.8 million in 2021. Soaring to $2.5 million after tax, equivalent to more than 15 million yuan.

The deeper marketing logic of betting on personal IP

The endorsement of “Gu Ailings” has become a disguised sponsorship of the Winter Olympics – this not only reflects that the brand simply wants to “get traffic” in large-scale sports events, but the deeper marketing logic is: future marketing is no longer a simple drainage, Instead, it will form a strong social relationship between the corporate brand tonality and the characteristics of the spokesperson, so that consumers can truly feel the brand image, personality and emotion and other important marketing touchpoints.

“In the past, marketing was more about driving the fan economy through the character design of celebrities and artists. But in the past two years, the risk of choosing celebrity spokespersons is too great.” A marketing insider told the IQ Tax Research Center that in recent years, celebrities The spokesperson has repeatedly “overturned” due to personal moral issues, and even a brand that has only cooperated with Wang Leehom for 2 days, after it was exposed to derailment, quickly issued a document announcing the termination of the contract with him, known as the “shortest” spokesperson in history.

But at the same time, the athlete’s personality, unyielding sportsmanship combined with the brand’s tonality has become a new marketing highlight. For example, when JD.com officially announced that Gu Ailing became the spokesperson of JD.com’s retail brand, she said: You are a “skiing genius girl” in the eyes of others. You are synonymous with learning, perseverance, and hard work. You love breakthroughs and challenges. You have always lived up to your expectations. a love…

In the eyes of the above-mentioned marketing industry insiders, this is JD.com’s hope to establish the same brand tone of JD.com in the eyes of consumers through Gu Ailing’s characteristics. The characteristics of hard work can be said to be in the same line.”

In the future of nationalization and completeness of the sports industry, athletes with both traffic and positive energy, the future personal IP value may not be weaker than the competition itself, and can leverage a larger investment than the sponsorship itself. marketing effect.

In the past, brands may sponsor movies by title, but with the rise of Douyin and Kuaishou platforms, brands will directly find movie actors to endorse, and the effect may be better. This is the same reason that brands are willing to find KOLs of Xiaohongshu to endorse and grow grass. This is the era of personal super IP awakening, and the ability of individual athletes will be infinitely magnified, which may exceed the competition itself. Therefore, the sports world will also usher in the outbreak of personal IP.

At the moment, the influence of sports IP is by no means limited to the arena, but is also interacting with the daily life of the people. For example, the cooperation between Gu Ailing and Xiaohongshu is to share life experience with other users in their own life-like scenes as ordinary users. In this way, with the change of brand endorsement marketing strategy and thinking, the function of the spokesperson is no longer simply to attract fans, but gradually become a breakthrough point in shaping the brand image, narrowing the distance between celebrities and consumers.

It can be said that premium brands and elite athletes are achieving each other. Just as Gu Ailing represents a new breakthrough in Chinese skiing, outstanding athletes, academic bullies, beautiful girls and other individuals set up labels, which are very recognizable and can also highlight the brand characteristics they endorse. It is foreseeable that in the future of nationalization and completeness of the sports industry, athletes with both traffic and positive energy are bound to release more marketing potential for the brand.

The other side of mutual achievement is: for the brands endorsed by Gu Ailings, they will also give them enough exposure and continuous popularity through their respective platforms. The commercial value brought by this popularity also motivates athletes to have a stronger source of power. , sprinting to a higher podium.