2024-07-04 20:30:21
Did you notice the many Chinese European Championship sponsors on the sideboards?
40 percent of all major sponsors come from the Middle Kingdom. The online store AliExpress, the corresponding payment provider Alipay, the e-car company BYD, the TV manufacturer Hisense and the smartphone manufacturer Vivo are ubiquitous in our EM house. For comparison: Only Adidas, Lidl and Engelbert Strauss, as German companies, joined the exclusive club of 13 main sponsors of the European Championships.
What does China expect from aggressive marketing?
Chinese characters on the boards
Chinese advertising from Hisense during the Germany vs Hungary match
Actually, with the new digital outline advertising, it would not be a problem to adapt the language to the audience. However, the electronics company Hisense puts its message “Zhongguo diyi” (Eng. “Number one in China”) in Chinese characters. The advertising is clearly aimed at the domestic market and not the German audience.
opposite the “time” explains Matthias Fifka, professor of business administration in Erlangen and expert in strategic management: “Those people who look good in a European context are considered more chic and reliable.”
Interest in football is increasing greatly. At the last European Football Championship in 2021, 352 million Chinese tuned in, 43 percent more than in 2016. Hisense was also active in 2016 – at that time it was still the only main Chinese sponsor.
Impact advertising backfires
David Beckham (49) as the face of the new brand in the AliExpress TV commercial
Unlike Hisense, mail order company AliExpress specifically targets the non-Chinese market. AliExpress company does not ship any products to China. Former soccer star David Beckham (49) is the face of the campaign.
AliExpress also invests in influencer marketing. However, this does not go down well with everyone. Thousands of fans online are demanding that influencers be banned from stadiums because these “real” fans would take seats.
The so-called e-mobility partner of the European Championships, the car company BYD, hopes that the sponsorship will create a better image and greater brand presence. Reason: Only 201 new BYDs were registered in Germany in May 2024. For comparison: BMW sold more than 18,000 of its cars in the same period. The EU’s potential punitive tariffs of 17.4 percent against BYD are unlikely to help the Chinese electric car manufacturer’s image.
Still rare on the roads, omnipresent at the European Championships: the electric cars from BYD
Another Chinese company can be found in the football stadium: at the final whistle, the best player is awarded “Vivo Player of the Match”. Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Vivo is tailoring its surround advertising for fans. The advertising in the stadium is in German, but in China or the USA it is then transferred digitally.
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China’s big football plans
It is not known how much Chinese companies spend on advertising. However, China has big plans in football.
President Xi Jinping is said to have expressed three wishes as early as 2011: “For China to qualify for the World Cup, China would host the World Cup and open 50,000 soccer schools in China.” China by next year.
It will probably take some time before the World Cup is successful; as of now, China is ranked 88th in the FIFA world ranking. But surround advertising dominates in China today – and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change anytime soon.
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