Originally published by Gordon Orr on LinkedIn: Want Sponsorship? Go to China
The announcement that Sun Hung Kai (SHK), the well-known Hong Kong based property developer, is to sponsor one of the 8 boats in the 2017-18 round the world Volvo Ocean Race made me think.
What had brought SHK to suddenly embrace endurance yacht racing either as a personal passion or as a brand building exercise? Will potential buyers of property in Hong Kong and Mainland China be more aware of SHK’s apartments as a result of this sponsorship? Will they be willing to pay more? After all, there is hardly much of a tradition of ocean racing as a mainstream sport in mainland China or Hong Kong. But looking at plans for the race in more detail, I realized that one of the other boats is sponsored by a mainland auto company, Dongfeng.
Perhaps more Chinese car buyers than I had realized were interested in yacht racing after all? Or perhaps the sponsorship is a result of lobbying by management in PSA, the French automotive company in which they own 50%. And after all, the entire race is owned by Volvo Cars, which is itself owned by the Chinese car maker Geely. So the race is mainland Chinese owned and will have at least ¼ of its boats sponsored by mainland Chinese and Hong Kong companies.
In India, the recently concluded Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament had a Chinese mobile phone brand, Vivo, as its Title Sponsor. Many of the teams had Chinese-owned brands, such as Moto, on their shirts. Clearly a successful case of Chinese sponsorship in India, as Chinese brand mobile phones currently hold over 50% market share.
The Title Sponsorship for 2018 is up for auction soon, and I am sure that there will be Chinese companies at the top of the bidding, maybe this time Huawei? Huawei has built up its mobile device business significantly since the Title Sponsorship was last up for auction and has established a strong global track record in sponsoring soccer teams across all the major European leagues.
Soccer sponsorship has proven very popular with Chinese brands, delivering a double benefit of boosting brand awareness internationally and enhancing their image as a global brand domestically when the games are shown on Chinese TV. Beyond sponsoring teams, Hisense is a lead sponsor of the World Cup and Wanda of FIFA. How long before the Barclays Premier League in England becomes the (FIT YOUR FAVORITE CHINESE BRAND HERE) Premier League?
Basketball, with its popularity in the US and in China, also lends itself to sponsorship by Chinese brands as they globalize. Lenovo was an early mover and today ZTE claims that its NBA advertising has built its brand awareness in the US from 1% to over 30%. Tencent uses its sponsorship of basketball to provide exclusive content to its WeChat users online in China, increasing their stickiness to the service.