news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France is in full swing, and Chinese liquor companies' "Olympic marketing" has not stopped.

Nanduwan Finance reporter noted that during the Olympic Games, liquor companies such as Luzhou Laojiao (000568.SZ), Kweichow Moutai (600519.SH), Jin Shiyuan (603369.SH) and Li Du Liquor frequently launched marketing activities targeting the Olympics, among which Luzhou Laojiao's marketing momentum targeting the Paris Olympics was the strongest.

"The Olympic Games are held every four years and are a major world-class event. They have high attention and great social influence. They have high empowerment value for brands and can be said to be a rare and scarce marketing resource. Participating in the Olympics is a display of corporate strength and an important occasion for companies to showcase their brand image to the outside world. The related marketing and promotion activities carried out around the Olympics have positive significance for expanding corporate visibility and boosting product sales." Wine industry analyst Cai Xuefei told Nanduwan Financial reporter.

Luzhou Laojiao and other brands have strong Olympic marketing momentum

During this competition, Luzhou Laojiao's marketing momentum was strong. It not only appeared in the "China House" in Paris, but also as the honorary sponsor of TEAM CHINA/China National Team, its products became the exclusive celebratory wine for the Chinese National Team. In addition, Luzhou Laojiao's large-scale promotional advertisements entered the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France; after the opening of the Paris Olympics, Luzhou Laojiao's offline advertisements of "Drink celebratory wine today" also appeared one after another.

According to the reporter, as early as 2021, Luzhou Laojiao reached a four-year strategic cooperation agreement with TEAM CHINA/China National Team. This IP resource is currently the most core asset of the Luzhou Laojiao brand in the sports marketing sector. The cooperation between the two parties will cover the 2024 Paris Olympic Games cycle.

From the official WeChat account of Luzhou Laojiao

In addition to Luzhou Laojiao, other wine companies have made frequent moves during the Olympic Games. Kweichow Moutai has become the designated celebratory wine for the CCTV broadcast of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games; while Jinshiyuan's "Guoyuan V9" has become the celebratory wine for Jiangsu athletes, it has also donated 1.5 million yuan to establish the "2024 Paris Olympic Games Jiangsu Athletes Reward Fund".

In addition, Li Du, a national treasure under Li Du Liquor Industry, has become the "designated celebration wine for Jiangxi athletes going to the Olympics"; Xiangjiao Liquor Industry has become the only designated liquor for the Hunan sports delegation at the 2024 Paris Olympics; Wuliangye is also entering France with oriental food culture as the introduction through the exclusive sponsorship of "Chinese Restaurant 8".

Nanduwan Finance reporter noted that not only the Olympics, but also sports events have long been the focus of liquor brand marketing. Take Shuijingfang as an example. In the first half of this year, Shuijingfang continued to maintain close cooperation with the World Table Tennis Federation (WTT) and helped WTT series events to be held in 12 countries and 14 cities around the world. In addition, Shuijingfang has established more than 5 tennis clubs in different core markets across the country, with nearly 100 active members, and held the annual finals of the tennis club in Xiamen in mid-2024.

In addition, Luzhou Laojiao has joined hands with top events such as the Australian Open and the International Table Tennis Federation to continuously upgrade cross-border marketing in the cultural and sports fields; Hengshui Laobai Gan has successively held a series of sports events represented by the 1915 China Entrepreneurs Golf Elite Invitational, the A-Class Eighteen Wineries Health Star Grand Prix 2024 Hebei Tennis Invitational, and sponsored the Shijiazhuang Xianglan Eighteen Wineries Men's Basketball Team to compete in the NBL arena.

The key to focusing on sports events as a key marketing area is that sports users and alcohol consumers are highly overlapped, and international sports events are large-scale and have a large audience. Public data shows that during the 32nd Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan, the average viewing time per person of China Central Radio and Television Station increased by 44%, and the cumulative audience reached 883 million; more than 3.05 billion independent viewers around the world watched the Tokyo Olympic Games broadcast through cable TV and digital platforms.

An industry insider told a reporter from Nanduwan Finance: "Sports events are an important part of residents' daily life and entertainment. They have high social attention and brand exposure, and are a hot topic in daily life. In addition, sports events can easily inspire consumers to have a strong sense of identity and honor. Sports stars also have a certain fan effect and appeal. Marketing around sports is very conducive to establishing positive brand associations, promoting product sales, and boosting market consumption."

The important logic of Olympic marketing: go overseas!

One of the key marketing focuses behind the Olympic Games is to go overseas. Li Du Liquor said that by helping Jiangxi Olympic athletes to go to the Olympics, the company's products will enter a broader international stage and allow more audiences to appreciate the unique charm of Chinese liquor culture.

A reporter from Nanduwan Finance noticed that in the context of the liquor adjustment cycle, in order to seek incremental markets, liquors such as Luzhou Laojiao, Wuliangye, and Shuijingfang have been making continuous efforts to promote their overseas expansion. In addition to vigorously promoting sports events, they have also made a lot of cultural outputs.

Recently, Kweichow Moutai has taken the initiative to appear at important domestic and international conferences and event platforms to export its brand culture; Luzhou Laojiao has launched a series of brand culture activities called "Let the World Taste China" in major global cities such as New York, Paris, Moscow, and London; and Wuliangye has teamed up with the International Financial Forum, the World Top Scientists Forum, and others to export its brand culture overseas.

However, as the voices for Chinese liquor to "go overseas" grow louder, liquor companies are facing many challenges on the road to internationalization, including technical standards, tariffs, consumption taxes, culture, and business models.

In terms of overseas performance, according to the reporter's analysis, among the listed liquor companies that announced their overseas sales performance in 2023, Kweichow Moutai's overseas revenue was about 4.35 billion yuan, Luzhou Laojiao's overseas revenue was 177 million yuan, and Shuijingfang's overseas revenue was 39.9886 million yuan. From the industry perspective, data from the China Alcoholic Drinks Association showed that my country's total liquor production in 2023 was about 6.29 million kiloliters. Data from the General Administration of Customs showed that the cumulative export volume of liquor products in 2023 was about 15,000 kiloliters, and the export volume accounted for only 0.2% of the total production.

"Objectively speaking, the internationalization of liquor is still in its early stages and is still mainly consumed by the Chinese population. It is still far from entering the mainstream foreign market. There is still a long way to go in terms of policy docking, cultural promotion and product education. In addition to the long-term cultivation of the taste of liquor products, the relevant laws and regulations are very strict. Liquor is the embodiment of national culture, especially Chinese liquor has a strong group dining culture and gift social attributes, which are different from the Western bar and family drinking culture. These must be slowly cultivated and integrated." said the above-mentioned industry insider.

Zhang Haixia, trainee reporter at Nandu Wancaishe