Fashion • Sports Flower XTEP

XTEP is the brand of Sanxing group. Why is it called Sanxing group?

Sanxing group was assembled by three people in the 80s of last century.

Perhaps Mr. Ding Shuibo's original vision and brand naming move have already determined XTEP's achievements today.

In 2001, when Sanxing group focused its efforts to open up the domestic market on the basis of export sales, perhaps "San Xing" became a brand more natural. However, because Mr. Ding was worried that he thought it would be the same as today's famous South Korean Samsung "pull relationship", he decided to take another name.

This is extremely valuable and respectable in the imitation of Jinjiang shoe enterprises, which are famous for their name and foreign names.

As a latecomer in the domestic market, how can XTEP stand out in the battle between more than 3000 shoe companies and dozens of brands in Jinjiang alone?

How did XTEP brand achieve such brilliant achievements in just a few years?

Success must have its reasons and methods.

Differentiation is an eternal strategy for the latecomers to surpass the former.

The success of XTEP has a "congenital" advantage over other brands.

In 2001, Sanxing group founded XTEP brand, and has been engaged in overseas OEM business for 14 years. Its products are exported to 47 countries and regions in five continents, which makes Sanxing group have a very rich experience in production, delivery control, cost control, material procurement, quality management and so on. Over the years, the large amount of foundry income has made it possible to invest huge amounts of capital and launch marketing in the early stage of brand creation.

It can be said that XTEP is born with jade.

XTEP is a successful example of a powerful successor who creates and runs a brand by using high and high scores.

(1) the idea of differentiation of brand positioning and differentiation of the curtain determines the beginning of this story, and brand positioning is the first step in this story.

Early XTEP's brand positioning is: fashion, personality, and rebellious, not the "China Fashion and sports first brand" advertised on its official website today.

The positioning of "fashion" alone has made XTEP differentiate from the shoe industry brands such as "Sports", "Sports" and "leisure" and "sports leisure", which are followed by Anta, because the name from time to time or the product of touring shoes, now called "sports shoes" - "Sports" and "leisure" is a very easy concept.

The author thinks that the important difference is that it distinguishes Anta from the "professional sports" with the "first advantage".

2 years ago when the Sanxing group founded XTEP brand, that is, in 1999, its city brother Anta got the first take off with "sports star + CCTV".

Thousands of celebrity endorsements have made this model rampant and the effect of brand communication has been greatly reduced.

The spokesperson Anta hired at that time was a sporting giant of the ascendant, the sports route was very obvious, although later also occasionally made the "popular route" little cold, but after several years of brand building exploration, now firmly positioned in the "professional sports" image and route, XTEP's "fashion, personality" brand positioning first of all to avoid this radiant brand.

From a few years later, some brands or marketing experts have divided the sports shoes market into professional sports, leisure sports and fashion sports.

I do not agree with this division, because fashion is a very inclusive attribute. Professional sports is not fashionable.

NIKE's cool marketing strategy is often praised by the industry.

"Leisure" is not "fashionable"?

As the spokesperson of the American leisure and apparel industry, the US spokesman, Jay Chou, is a fashion.

I think fashion is a broader attribute, it has a very strong inclusiveness, and it is an ever popular theme.

In my eyes, popularity is "sub fashion" or "quasi fashion".

Therefore, the author believes that the brand positioning of today's sports shoes industry is divided into "professional sports", "Sports" and "leisure".

Perhaps these three locates are more obvious in the local dress industry, and the US is positioned in "leisure". NIKE and Anta are positioned in "professional sports". Pepsi sports are positioned in "Sports". In fact, with the PUMA, KAPPA and other professional giants in the field of "professional sports", they can not overcome or exceed NIKE or ADIDAS giants. They are turning around in the direction of "Sports", emphasizing the blending of sports and fashion.

Sport seems to be a pitional zone between "professional sports" and "leisure". From today's partial shoes and clothing market, brand sports and leisure oriented "professional sports" are positioned, and leisure brands are "leisure oriented".

From what we can see, in 2001, XTEP chose the positioning route of PUMA, KAPPA and Pepsi sports, which gradually became clear.

Because of the "Vagueness" phenomenon of consumer cognition and consumer behavior and brand building and dissemination, the sporting goods industry has become the "confusion of the concept to the left and the function to the right".

It is not important whether this kind of puzzle will be developed, how long it will last, whether consumers will tend to be rational, and so on. The key is that we can know that Mr. Ding of XTEP chose to build XTEP's "fashion and personality" attributes, so that the brand is very capacitive and separated from the "Sports" area.

It is very susceptible to consumer preferences of different attributes.

Why?

Fashion and love are eternal themes.

The key is to make people feel that you are "fashionable" enough to "love", that is, the popularity of brands must be distinct.

What I want to mention here is XTEP's logo, "X", which represents errors, negatives and global Universties.

This logo is very consistent with its brand "fashion, rebellion, X generation". It means negation, and XTEP needs this negative meaning too much. It is the negation of the rules of consumer groups that follow fashion and individuality. As the latecomers of the industry, leaders NIKE and Anta deny the difference between sports shoes and professional sports.

(two) entertainment marketing promotion differentiation. If Anta started the mode of "CCTV + stars", XTEP also created another way of this mode. The former was the first to employ star (sports star) endorsement, while XTEP hired entertainment stars, it is Nicholas Tse, which effectively avoided the "Sports" route.

From 1999 to 2002, it was a crazy time for Jinjiang to build cards.

With the first advantage, Anta achieved the "first effect". XTEP, as a latecomer, relied on the huge influence and height of Nicholas Tse, the entertainment star, as one of the few leading brands, while the other astonishing brands gradually became blurred and gradually moved away.

XTEP, with its powerful media, CCTV and satellite TV, is one of the most powerful and influential stars in the time. Nicholas Tse, XTEP takes the strategy of "taking the boat to sea" and makes a high bid to create XTEP's popularity nationwide.

With the rapid expansion of terminal channels and the strong consumption demand of advertising for terminal, XTEP grew at a high speed - sales revenue of 600 million yuan in 2003 and more than 1 billion in 2005.

The 1 billion magnitude is the threshold that Lining, a sporting goods leader in China, could not overcome in 2000.

Nicholas Tse has an extraordinary appeal in the younger generation. Its fashion, rebellious and personality can very well endorse the brand characteristics of XTEP, which makes XTEP's brand personality and image distinctive.

In depth cooperation with XTEP spokesperson, XTEP promoted XTEP's signatures, concert, posters, CD and signature album, and carried out a massive promotional campaign in more than 20 key cities nationwide to deepen XTEP's brand image.

Nicholas Tse's success endorsement is just the beginning.

Not long after that, XTEP launched a heavy attack again, signed a vibrant, dynamic, fashionable and popular TWINS combination, once again set off the climax of creating "fashion" XTEP, and the BOY 'Z portfolio also entered XTEP's line of sight, becoming XTEP's brand spokesperson.

XTEP adopts the strategy of "group star" endorsement, and promotes cooperation with many entertainment and fashion media programs such as Hunan satellite TV, Dongfang satellite TV, light media and so on, and carries out entertainment marketing in the end.

What I want to add here is that many Jinjiang brands have hired a surprising number of celebrity endorsements, and the same way has made this model fail.

However, the role of the top stars is still the same because the number of stars with strong influence and appeal is limited.

In Nicholas Tse's endorsement of XTEP, del Hui Kai Jay Chou had good results to prove.

And the rest of the astonishing sports brands in Jinjiang employ two or three line star endorsements, and most of them are only doing print ads. In terms of publicity and credibility, they are far less than the television media, and the results are very weak or even fruitless.

(three) the difference between product differentiation and brand image is recognized and the product has the opportunity to be recognized by consumers.

This is particularly evident in the footwear industry, where brand building and marketing are oriented.

XTEP's differences in products are embodied in design concepts, colors and insoles.

The positioning of fashion allows XTEP's design philosophy to focus on functionality and comfort while focusing on fashion. It focuses on integrating the most popular fashion elements into product design at all times.

In terms of color utilization, it is more daring than the same industry, and dare to adopt some bright colors to pursue clear-cut and fashionable pursuit.

In addition, XTEP's products have added perfume, which can eliminate odor.

This is not obvious in the consumer's response. It can be seen that the influence of design and color on fashion and differentiation is more profound, and the difference between product and brand image is more important to consumers than before.

XTEP didn't focus on the fashion line and entertainment marketing.

In 2004, XTEP spent 16 million 200 thousand yuan to become the sole partner of the Tenth National Games in 2005. XTEP began to promote the promotion of sports activities such as the three national basketball tournament and the three regional basketball competition. In 2006, it became the only partner of sporting goods in the third national sports Congress and the equipment sponsor of the Jiangsu sports delegation. At the same time, XTEP was the exclusive partner of the Chinese Basketball Association open (CBO) and the Chinese Collegiate Volleyball League (CUVA) industry. In 2007, it was named the sixth People's Republic of China City Games basketball and badminton match, and became a partner of the six City Association, naming the Chinese women's Basketball League A (WCBA) and the Chinese men's Basketball League (NBL).

From the above professional sports events or sports sponsorship, we can see that XTEP is obviously tilting towards the "professional sports" route.

Such a brand line will really be the same as XTEP's official website: "dual track" strategy combined with entertainment and sports, which will inject infinite vitality and vitality into enterprises and brands, and ensure the leading position in the industry.

Is such a strategic model correct?

Can entertainment combine with sports?

Wall Street investors criticize Lining as the 25 person between "Sports" and "leisure". Is it true or not?

XTEP's positioning is "fashion and Sport". Why is there such a big deviation between the promotion of today's activities and brand communication and positioning?

Ten during the broadcast of the games, Nicholas Tse's advertisements were broadcast. Many consumers felt the conflict of XTEP brand, and the conflict between "professional sports" and the "fashion" orientation of entertainment routes was evident.

As I have explained before, I believe that today's sports shoes and clothing market is divided into three relatively distinct market segments: professional sports, sports and leisure. Sports are the pition between professional sports and leisure. Sports are "sub sports" or "quasi sports".

Now, XTEP has made it clear that the first brand of Chinese fashion and sports can blind the brand positioning of XTEP.

Continue to adopt the "fashion" positioning to separate other Jinjiang and international brands of "professional sports" and "leisure" routes; at the right time, the "Sports" subdivision should be specific to the market and create a sports image.

The two most important elements of XTEP's brand image are fashion and sports.

Then, XTEP sponsors or promotes more activities that should be related to fashion. Of course, entertainment is only one aspect of fashion relevance.

Sports games or professional sports events have a weak fashion, but professional sports image is very strong, that is, sports attributes are more obvious.

The author objected to the sports attribute of XTEP adopting professional sports and sports meet to shape its "Sports" image.

The reasons will be given below.

Why should XTEP stick to the fashion movement route?