Chinese companies are learning that brands can pay.
With an increasingly sophisticated and wealthy customer base,Chinese consumer-goods makers are starting to pay attention to brand-building.The smartest are moving beyond simple product ads to marketing an entire lifestyle. In an echo of Nike's famous "Just do it" campaign,Li-Ning,the largest producer in China's sportswear market,has just launched an advertising blitz under the mottos "Goodbye" and “Anything is possible" costing 15 million yuan($1.8m),eight times the company's usual ad spend,it taps int the Chinese belief that they can safely wave goodbye to their hard lives of the past,and that the future is flled with unlimited opportunities.
One of those opportunities,if you ask Wilson Xu,Li-Ning's marketing manager,is a new-found freedom to seek a more balanced life.Putting it plainly,consumers should stop chasing academic and commercial success and get out more often to participate in more sport. Only around 15% of Chinese mainlanders aged 15-35 actively play a sport,compared with 50% in America."Most Chinese people believe that success is about academic achievement and making money.They don't care about their health,"says Mr.Xu.
The sophisticated ads,which feature ordinary people overcoming failure (one shows a boy who smiles despite hurting his hand skateboarding: another a girl kick-boxing and then a shot of her bandaged knuckles),are supposed to puncture the self-consciousness that keeps many Chinese on the sidelines unless they are already good at a given activity, says Kelvin Cheng,managing director of Leo Burnett Beijing,the agency behind the campaign.Mr. Cheng says that the style is a new way of advertising for Chinese companies,which usually sell on price alone.
Of course,appealing to a new fad for spiritual well-being and for sports ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing is also a good way to get modern Chinese consumers to part with their money.After years of focusing on cheap prices,Li-Ning,like many Chinese companies, has spent the past two years learning that branding pays.The company is investing around 10% of its 1 billion yuan revenues in marketing,compared with 5% two years ago,and the proportion is due to grow.
That investment,which includes hiring a foreign ad agency,has enabled Li-Ning to hold on to its leadership despite the encroachment of foreign firms. Li-Ning leads both America's Nike,which has about 800 million yuan in sales in the mainland of China,and Germany's Adidas.The prospect of the Olympics is helping to expand the market by more than 25%a year.Mr.Xu reckons the new branding campaign should enable Li Ning to double the retail prices of its most expensive products (shoes) to around 1,000 yuan in a few years,roughly what Nike's most expensive shoes cost now.
Will Chinese consumers continue to choose a home-grown brand over a glamorous foreign one such as Nike, which uses sports celebrities with global appeal to endorse its products? As China gains in self-confidence,they might. And Li-Ning understands the danger of relying too much on celebrities. Its founder was Li Ning,who won three gold medals for gymnastics in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, but is now regarded as a bit passé by younger consumers.Mr.Li's days as a sporting hero may be over, but his brand may yet bring more glory.
It can be learned from the passage that
A、Li-Ning has to compete with foreign companies for market share in China
B、Li-Ning's sportswear generates more profits than shoes
C、Adidas is the second favorite brand for Chinese
D、A pair of Li-Ning shoes may well cost 1,000 yuan now
【正确答案】：C
【名师解析】:根据文章内容，我们可以了解到以下几点： 1. 李宁公司是中国体育用品市场的领导者，正在通过品牌建设来吸引越来越成熟和富裕的消费者群体。 2. 李宁公司的广告投入从以往的500万元增加到了1500万元，是公司常规广告支出的八倍，这表明公司正在学习品牌的价值。 3. 李宁公司的广告不仅仅是推广产品，而是在推广一种生活方式，这与耐克的"Just do it"广告活动有相似之处。 4. 文章中提到，李宁公司正在通过广告来鼓励消费者追求更平衡的生活，参与更多的体育活动。 5. 李宁公司的广告策略正在从仅依靠价格竞争转变为通过广告来提升品牌形象。 6. 文章最后提到，李宁公司理解过度依赖名人代言的风险，并且正在通过新的品牌战略来提升其产品的零售价格。 根据这些信息，我们可以分析题目的选项： 选项A提到李宁公司必须与中国市场上的外国公司竞争市场份额，这是正确的，因为文章中提到了李宁公司正在与美国的耐克和德国的阿迪达斯竞争。 选项B提到李宁公司的体育用品比鞋子更赚钱，但文章中并没有提供足够的信息来支持这一点。 选项C提到阿迪达斯是中国第二受欢迎的品牌，但文章中并没有提到这一点，只是说李宁公司领先于耐克和阿迪达斯。 选项D提到李宁的鞋子现在可能已经卖到1000元，但文章中说的是李宁公司预计在未来几年内将最昂贵产品的零售价格提高到大约1000元，而不是现在。 因此，正确答案是A，因为文章中提到了李宁公司正在与外国公司竞争市场份额。其他选项要么没有足够的信息支持，要么与文章内容不符。