Over the years, Baisui Mountain, an "aristocrat in the water", has gained a lot of reputation and popularity with its marketing sponsorship in many individual sports events and sports teams around the world. In contrast, how do other domestic bottled drinking water brands such as Ipoh, Nongfu Spring and Jinmailang do on the sports marketing track?
Author | Wang Shentong
Edit | Kaga
On July 18, the World Table Tennis Professional League (WTT World Table Tennis Federation) released an official announcement video and issued a document saying that Baisui Mountain, Asia's leading natural mineral water brand, officially became its top global partner. In the future, Baisui Mountain will provide drinking water guarantee for WTT Grand Slam, WTT World Cup Final, WTT Championship and ITTF World Table Tennis Championships. As the seventh global partner of WTT World Table Tennis Federation, Baisui Mountain will also work together to help WTT work hard for the goal of "redefining, conceiving and reactivating table tennis" on a global scale.
0 1.
Hand in hand WTT Baisui Mountain
It will be a win-win situation.
Baisui Mountain has always maintained the first place in the national production, sales and market share of domestic natural mineral water brands for nine consecutive years, and it is also the largest natural mineral water brand in China.
Baisui Mountain can achieve such achievements, naturally inseparable from its efforts in market segmentation and three-dimensional commercial layout. As a bottled water brand, it deeply understands the close correlation between pure water and consumers' healthy life, and the brand is also trying to let consumers perceive the quality and value of the brand in a specific atmosphere through scene marketing.
In addition, because exercise is closely related to health, and the way of exercise makes it have a supply-demand relationship with drinking water, the dietary standards of athletes and sports events often bring strict and professional impressions to consumers. Therefore, it can be said that the sports industry is perfect for Baisui Mountain, and sports events will become the main position for commercial operation of Baisui Mountain after 20 18.
In the five years from 20 18 to now, Baisuishan has conducted in-depth cooperation with FIVB and FIBA in the men's basketball World Cup and the basketball Olympic qualifiers. The World Volleyball Championship, Volleyball National League and other related events provide drinking water support. Besides, they also set foot in football and tennis tracks, including Chinese Super League, French Super Cup China, China Open and Shanghai Open, all of which were supported by Baisuishan.
But it is table tennis that really enables Baisui Mountain to realize its own commercial value and help it effectively expand its market channels.
Although table tennis originated in Britain, it has quickly become one of the sports forms suitable for the daily entertainment of the grassroots by virtue of its simple venue equipment and original gameplay. After being introduced into China, its high popularity and deep talent pool have brought a number of world-class superstars to table tennis in China. China players have won individual and team table tennis championships in the World Championships, Olympic Games and other world competitions almost all the year round.
At the same time, the outstanding achievements have also promoted the development of the commercial value of table tennis in China, and more enterprises from different industries choose to sponsor table tennis events. According to the statistics of Forward-looking Industry Research Institute, since 20 14, the market size of table tennis industry in China has shown a fluctuating upward trend, with an average compound annual growth rate of 7.77% from 20 14 to 20 19. In 20 19, the market size of table tennis industry was about 21300 million yuan, an increase of 7.03% over the previous year. With the improvement of national health awareness and favorable policies, by 2025, the market size will reach about 32.7 billion yuan.
Facts have proved that Baisuishan's choice to sponsor the China Table Tennis Open was correct, which brought high exposure to the brand. "China Sports" carried out live broadcast and media promotion of the event, with the total number of people reaching 6.5438+0.42 billion, the total video broadcast volume being 7.895 million, and the audience activity of the event was extremely high, with 3.5 million live barrage during China Open. Such a high exposure also directly helped Baisui Mountain to strengthen the overlord label of domestic bottled drinking water.
As a leading enterprise in China's drinking water industry, Baisui Mountain has sold its brand to nearly 30 countries and regions such as Australia, Italy, Germany and Serbia in the past 30 years, and has a high influence in the world. In addition, its water is rich in potassium, sodium, magnesium and other mineral elements, which has a natural fit with sports and meets the drinking water standards for sports events.
Therefore, the brand has also been favored by WTT, and all the above reasons have become the driving force for the cooperation between Baisui Mountain and WTT. The former will also take this opportunity to promote table tennis events to more countries and regions in the future to support the new development of table tennis. The latter will also help Baisui Mountain achieve the goal of Hongyuan internationalization.
02.
On the track of sports marketing
The infighting of bottled drinking water brands
In recent years, the state has vigorously promoted the development of "national fitness" and made a series of adjustments and upgrades to the sports industry structure, and the hidden commercial value in sports events is gradually being developed. With the recent resumption of domestic sports events, football, basketball, tennis, rugby, baseball and other sports have also opened offline games, and the sports market has also ushered in recovery after dark hours.
As we all know, water is an essential element for the human body to maintain vitality, and during exercise, the human body needs to replenish a lot of water while sweating and consuming. Because of its convenience, bottled water often becomes an indispensable part of sports activities and sports events. It is precisely because of this relationship that bottled drinking water industry has always occupied a decisive position in the global sports marketing market. In order to expand and deepen the territory of sports marketing, all kinds of drinking water brands are actively looking for sports resources that match their tonality.
However, the formulas of most bottled drinking water are highly similar, and the prices are generally similar. In order to seize the opportunity in the sports market, brands often need differentiated packaging and well-planned marketing activities to help their products win more market share. Judging from the cooperation between domestic bottled drinking water and sports events in recent years, it is obvious that each needs his own needs, but in fact it is undercurrent.
In addition to Baisui Mountain, Yibao and Nongfu Spring are also domestic bottled drinking water brands, and they are the main force in the battle for sports resources.
Ipoh regards sports marketing as an important carrier of brand upgrading, and uses the spiritual connotation of "concentration, action, cooperation and transcendence" carried by sports to strengthen the functional value of brand "health and purity". It can be said that sports is highly compatible with the concept of Ipoh brand, and it also enriches the brand connotation of Ipoh.
Ipoh's sports marketing strategy is to achieve full coverage of runners through the road running sponsorship system from marathon to professional road running, and at the same time enhance the national influence of the brand with the help of top football and cycling events.
Ipoh started to cooperate with Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen marathons from 20 16, and integrated high-quality sports IP resources such as Xuanzang Road Gobi Challenge, TNF 100, and 800-mile quicksand to form a national, professional and systematic "green runner" image.
In addition, Ipoh has also made extensive investments in the field of football, including striving for AFC Champions League cooperation resources and establishing cooperative relations with China men's football national team.
In recent years, Ipoh has gained insight into the development trend of domestic sports industry and further integrated sports marketing resources based on the national reform of sports industry and sports assets. In 20 19, Ipoh officially became the partner of China national team TEAM CHINA. In the cooperation with TEAM CHINA, Ipoh made full use of the brand's own resource advantages, which not only enhanced the product's value attribute with the help of the quality of the national team, but also enhanced the product's popularity and recognition with the help of the high exposure brought by the national team, helping the product to go global during the national team's campaign.
During the cooperation period, Ipoh successively launched Ipoh Water for China National Team and Magic Sports Drink for China National Team, which were launched on e-commerce platforms such as JD.COM and Tmall in major cities across the country, fully demonstrating the characteristics of numerous channels and flexible terminals, and directly conveying the brand image of TEAM CHINA to consumers.
Nongfu Spring took part in this competition earlier than Baisui Mountain and Yibao. From 65438 to 0998, Nongfu Spring combined the live broadcast of the World Cup in France with the bid for the Beijing Olympic Games. Later, it became the special water for the training competition of China delegation in Sydney Olympic Games, the partner of Chinese Olympic Committee and CBA League.
In recent years, Nongfu Spring has continuously invested in top sports IP at home and abroad, from Wuhan Tennis Open and FINA to China Men's and Women's Basketball Team, and then became the official partner of China Swimming Association and the official sponsor of 20 19 to 202 1 drinking water and functional drinks. These actions further consolidated Nongfu Spring's position and reputation in the field of sports marketing.
Nongfu Spring has been deeply involved in sports marketing, and their goal is to continue to tap the infinite possibilities of the sports market and continue to stabilize its position in the domestic bottled water market. In addition, it is particularly important for Nongfu Spring to enter the international market. It has reached a partnership with FINA International Swimming Federation to provide drinking water for famous swimmers, coaches and officials at all levels from all over the world. Sponsor diving World Cup and swimming World Championships; Becoming a partner of La Liga China is a wonderful move for Nongfu Spring to further broaden its brand market.
In addition, domestic bottled drinking water brands such as Jinmailang Erbaikai, Master Kong and Lu Bing are also making secret efforts. Although not as widely involved in sports events as Baisui Mountain, Yibao and Nongfu Spring, they all found a small share of their own in this drinking water sports marketing war.
For example, from 20 17 to 2020, Jinmailang Liangbaikai has been an official partner of CBA League, providing drinking water support for athletes and coaches on the court, and the high exposure of CBA has also made them gain a lot. Master Kong took a more grounded route and cut into the sports market from the perspective of national sports and grassroots sports. Since 20 19, it has sponsored Joker League Basketball Camp, HEROS Riding Carnival, "Lijiabei" Hainan Volleyball League and Nanjing Zidong? Many folk or local competitions, such as Xianlin Half Marathon, have helped the development of sports in China from the bottom up.
As a representative of high-end mineral water, Kunlun Mountain and Yake Changbai Ganquan brand are committed to in-depth communication with target consumers through high-end niche sports. After several years of tennis marketing, Kunlun Mountain focused on winter sports, and successively established strategic cooperative relations with Beijing Kunlun Hongxing Ice Hockey Club and China National Ice Hockey Team. On the other hand, Yakexiang Baiganquan has successively established strategic cooperative relations with China Gymnastics Team, China Fencing Team and China Sailing Team, which has comprehensively influenced consumers at all levels.
With the rise and upsurge of national sports, recreational sports events and non-professional sports events with the theme of the masses will appear in the domestic sports market in the future. At the moment when the epidemic is gradually controlled and sports events and activities are revived, this will give other minority or newly established bottled water brands an opportunity to enter the sports field, and it will also be an infinite opportunity.
03.
"short miscellaneous"
Misunderstanding of sports marketing of bottled drinking water in China
At present, the sports marketing sponsorship of bottled water brands in China is frequent, but there are still many problems compared with the sports marketing operation of mature international top brands such as Evian, VOSS and Coca-Cola. To sum up, there are nothing more than two points-"short and pithy".
On the one hand, most domestic bottled drinking water brands are accustomed to focusing on short-term sponsorship of various sports events, and prefer to regard sports sponsorship resources as brand tactical products and supporting products rather than strategic resources.
On the other hand, resources are numerous and complicated, and sponsorship resources are only regarded as advertisements, which does not form integrated marketing communication and effective activation of sponsorship rights. In the market, we rarely see the activation behavior of drinking water brands with users and fans combined with sponsorship events, and its actual sponsorship effect is only based on the embodiment of events, which is basically equal to zero in other scenarios.
Aquafina under Pepsi brand is a good example in establishing long-term cooperative relationship with sports resources and integrating marketing communication. They have maintained a cooperative relationship with MLB for 20 years, and in the cooperation with MLB, they have established a good reputation for their own brand.
As early as 1997, PepsiCo obtained a wide range of beverage sponsorship rights from MLB and signed sponsorship agreements with half of the league teams. As a bottled water brand owned by PepsiCo, Aquafina has also obtained the rights of home advertising placement in some clubs.
In the following seasons, Aquafina participated in MLB's youth competition Pitch, Hit&; Running and most activities, such as MLB all-star game and home run derby. In the 20 17 season, Aquafina also played an important role in the home opener in Chicago and new york, and carried out marketing activities with nine other baseball teams throughout the season.
In April of the same year, during the game between new york Yankees and Chicago Cubs, Pepsi officially launched a marketing campaign aimed at consumers. Cubs not only gave 1 1 team the right to customize Pepsi cans, but also won the world championship in 20 16 and launched a limited edition Aquafina bottled water.
In addition, the Aquafina brand also tried to launch a variety of sponsorship activation projects, including making real-life holographic images of Cubs players, allowing them to play baseball with fans and posting the fan experience on social media; Fans can also show their own commemorative version of Aquafina bottled water. The above-mentioned series of marketing operations have also made Pepsi brand and Aquafina brand by going up one flight of stairs in the field of baseball.
Although the official drinking water and beverage resources of MLB were won by Coca-Cola Company after the end of the 20 17 season, this did not hinder the reputation and influence accumulated by Pepsi and Aquafina brands in MLB and won the favor of other sports. Then they went to the NFL to make sports marketing flourish in the same way.