CRI听力: Anta-a New Image of Chinese Sports in the World Stage

Anchor:
Following in the footsteps of Lining and Adidas, Anta Sports has signed a four-year sponsorship contract with the Chinese Olympic Committee. But as a growing Chinese home-grown brand, Anta is also facing challenges.

Let's take a closer look with Liu Min. (www.hXen.com)

Reporter:
During the 2012 London Olympic Games, the image accompanying the Chinese Athletes will be the logo of Chinese sports brand Anta. This role was previously taken by Lining and Adidas, more familiar sports brands to Chinese citizens. Lining sponsored the team during 1992 and 2004 while Adidas took the place in the 2008 Olympics. The debut of Anta seems like a dark horse among the better known brands. Marketing development Director of the Chinese Olympic Committee Ma Jilong explains,

"We have a series of standards to measure who we should partner with. For example, whether the brand can represent the Olympic ideals, or whether the brand can better support the sports industry in China."

According to both sides, the cooperation between the COC and the sports brand will cover the largest variety of commercial fields in Chinese Olympic history. Because of the marketing opportunities presented by the Olympics, nearly all of the domestic and international sports brands showed great interest in the bidding war. But Anta finally beat out other competitors and won the bid. Some insiders revealed the sponsorship has exceeded the amount that Adidas provided last time, a 600 million Yuan investment. The uNPRecedented cooperation also promoted Anta's performance in the stock market, with a 6% jump at 9.45 Yuan on the announcement day.

Vice President of Anta Sports Cooperation Zhang Tao.

"To a certain extent, this is more like a monopolized resource. Once you get it, over the next four years, no other brands can represent Chinese sports. That's why we consider it most important in our strategy and have invested so much."

Ma Jilong also explains why the COC particularly chose Anta to represent China.

"Anta is a fast developing brand. It had a stronger desire to seek partnership with the COC."

Besides Anta's glamorous debut on the world stage, Hongxing Erke has become North Korean delegation's sponsor to accompany them into the South African World Cup in 2010. Another Chinese brand Peak has shown up at the Conferderations Cup with Iraq team.

The frenzy of getting into such international sports games has become a new ambition among Chinese sports brands. CEO Zhang Qing from the Beijing Guanjian Sports Consultant Company thinks it is a way for Chinese sports brands to explore world markets.

"This kind of cooperation gives them more opportunities to expose their brands to the world. And by doing that, they can communicate with many people and tell them that here is a Chinese sports brand, which has competitive power and has made great progress among all the other sports brands in the world."

Anta will represent the Chinese delegation in more than 11 grand international sports games, including the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, and 2012 London Olympics.

For China Drive, I'm Liu Min.