Li Ning's new marketing strategy is hurt! How much is Li Ning going to go after 90?

Figure 1: Many Li Ning brand stores have been replaced with new logos

Figure 2: Sports shoes designed by the Li Ning brand for "90s" consumer groups

After the performance exceeded Adidas in 2009, "Li Ning" - a brand that is quite proud of the Chinese people - took advantage of the situation. In 2010, the brand brewing was brewed for a long time. The new logo and new brand slogan were activated. , In the brand positioning directly called board Nike, Adidas and other international first-line brands. However, it is regrettable that the Li Ning brand, which is currently undergoing high-end development, has seen a continuous decline in the volume of orders this year. According to Li Ning’s product ordering results for the second quarter of this year, the total volume of orders fell by 6% compared to the same period last year. The company's product ordering results released in the third quarter of this year showed that the amount of orders fell by more than 8% year-on-year, and the order amount decreased by approximately 14% if calculated in accordance with the wholesale and shipping prices. So, what are the reasons for the continuous decline in the sales volume of Li Ning brand? As the most powerful sports brand in China, its dream of becoming the world's top sports brand, how far is it?

Li Ning's new marketing strategy hurts older employees

"Swinging", when asked about the most unbearable leadership behavior, Simon blurted out, this is the trouble in the last job.

Three months ago, Simon was still a manager of Li Ning's marketing department, but he had decided to take a short break and change jobs. After staying in this company for more than four years, he left with some unsatisfying regrets. He once told some friends that Li Ning is China's most likely to become a world-class brand. In the past year, he closed his mouth and talked about this point of view, "Only in this mountain." On June 30 last year, Li Ning launched the largest brand reshaping campaign in the history of the company. Simon is puzzled that a brand remodeling exercise that should have been deliberate and step by step has caused high-level personnel turmoil in one year. The company’s people are not stable and channel orders have fallen. He believes that the departure of former CMO Fang Shiwei is also expected. After all, he is the coordinator of the brand remodeling campaign and can hardly be blamed.

A Dick also felt that the company was ill. He pondered and broke the root of his illness as "a lack of a clear standard for value judgment." The vague standard appeared both in product development and personnel appointments and dismissals. A Dick is a highly qualified employee of Li Ning's product department. He had spent seven years in the itch of Li Ning, but decided to leave Li Ning when it was superficial. The company’s shoe product manager has almost changed in the past five or six years. He feels that he is also “old” to go out and learn more about the new product development doctrine.

I heard that the former chairman of the company talked about himself. Roy was surprised. He is a manager of Li Ning who is responsible for channel sales and resigned after the Spring Festival this year. Roy also joined Li Ning in 2007 and is responsible for business innovation in some channels. In his impression, during the four years of Li Ning's company, Li Ning had never had a separate exchange with Chairman Li Ning. When I heard from my friend that the former chairman talked about the business that he was responsible for, he also talked about him. Some of his veterans wanted to go back to the mountain for intuition. Simon and Dick, have the same look and feel.

They all remember that at the Li Ning Group's annual meeting on January 27, when the chairman Li Ning finished his speech, he was quite passionate to say, “We also have a new Li Ning in three years,” but they all chose not to wait any longer. For the next life, they want change to happen.

Li Ning's new marketing strategy hurts his old customers

At the end of June 2010, at the celebration of Li Ning’s 20th birthday, the new Logo “Li Ning Intersection” was unveiled, while the new brand slogan “made the change” replaced what consumers already knew “everything is possible”. "The goal is directed at the "post-90s," and it is intended to take the lead and seize the future consumer army.

The brand "Li Ning," founded by the former Olympic champion Li Ning, has an extraordinary emotional significance for the Chinese sports equipment market and for a generation of Chinese people. Looking back at China's clothing consumption culture before and after the establishment of Li Ning—in the early 1990s, China entered the initial stage of brand consumption. To be exact, people at that time were “brand names” for consumption. People will not deliberately distinguish the dress requirements on different occasions. Therefore, Li Ning and Youngor, Shanshan, Tiger and other suit brands together, is regarded as a synonym for Chinese brand names. The spillover effect of the personal brand of gymnastics prince Li Ning brought about the first rapid development, and more importantly, the brand even became a collective memory of a generation.

According to relevant data, among the actual consumer groups of the Li-Ning brand, consumers in the 35- to 40-year-old age group account for about half of the consumers, and after the “90s” consumer accounts for about 30%. For the entire sporting goods industry, young consumers aged 15-35 account for more than 80% of the total. It is because of Li Ning's clear recognition of this point that it has made a marketing strategy that focuses on “post-90s”. However, in the eyes of many people in the industry, this appears to be a bit too aggressive.

Industry insider Rufi believes that at the same time when the logo was changed, the Li Ning brand's strategy has directly crossed the "post-80s" and targeted the core target consumer groups with its "90s" generation of the same age. The "Post-70" consumer groups that have become the backbone of Li Ning's brand business have been abandoned in the new marketing strategy.

However, unfortunately, the "90s" customer base that Li Ning brand has devoted its efforts to does not seem to be buying at present. They are more intrigued by international brands such as Nike and Adidas. According to a survey conducted by relevant agencies on the “post 90s,” the “90s” favorite sports shoe brands are Nike and Adidas. They are called new consumer bullies; in the “post-90s” mind, “Li Ning” is still just One of the best local brands.