Brand image differentiation. Sony and Honda have much higher sales than their competitors because they invest more in public relations and advertising. Besides, compared with their competitors, their advertising activities are organized more carefully and meticulously. When product functions and distribution models tend to be the same, brand image may be the only source of differentiation. However, the misfortune of Swiss watch industry also reveals the danger of brand image. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the brand image effectively for a long time.
Differences in profit and cost structure. First of all, from the sale of new products and additional services, the pursuit of the greatest possible profit. Secondly, make a fuss about the distribution ratio of fixed cost and variable cost. When the market is depressed, it is easy for companies with lower fixed costs to lower their prices. Therefore, the company can easily expand its market share through low-price strategy. This strategy is very destructive to those enterprises with high fixed costs. When the market price is too low, they are often unable to act.
Lightweight boxing tactics. If the company intends to advertise in the media or increase research and development efforts, a large part of the company's income will be consumed in these additional fixed costs. Small and medium-sized enterprises are at war with market giants in this field, and it is self-evident who wins and who loses. However, enterprises can base their market incentive plans on a gradual proportion, not an absolute value. Such a variable incentive plan can also ensure that dealers increase the sales of enterprise products in order to obtain additional returns. Obviously, it is impossible for the three major market players to provide such extra returns for their dealers, so their profits will soon be eroded by small and medium-sized companies.
Du Haitao Kane Mono Du Haitao Kane Mono are three words that Japanese planners talk about, namely, people, money and things (fixed assets). They believe that only by balancing the three, without redundancy and waste, can we achieve streamlined enterprise management. For example, it is a waste that the cash stock exceeds the manager's capital demand. On the contrary, if there are too many managers and the disposable funds are insufficient, it is also a waste. The resulting waste also includes that financial managers have to spend precious time on how to allocate limited funds. In this manpower, financial resources and material resources, funds should be the final allocation. Companies should first allocate "people" (managerial talent resources) according to the existing "things" (workshops, machinery and equipment, technology, process business and functional strength). Once the creativity of "people" is developed and a far-sighted business idea is produced, "things" and "wealth" will be allocated to these specific business ideas and production projects according to demand.
On Li Ning's Brand Reengineering from 3C Strategy
The competition in the sporting goods industry is becoming more and more fierce, and the role of brands in the competition is becoming more and more prominent. Li Ning Company started from the gymnastics prince family of 265,438+in the late 1990s, relying on Li Ning's small company, and encountered development bottlenecks: the growth rate of performance slowed down in some years, and even negative growth occurred. Therefore, since 2000, Li Ning Company has started a series of actions to adjust its strategy and reshape its brand. Therefore, Li Ning can be today: the leader of the sporting goods industry in China.
What are the successes and shortcomings of Li Ning's rebranding strategy? What problems should we pay attention to in the future? Based on the 3c strategic model put forward by Kenichi Ohmae, a Japanese strategic master, we made a comprehensive analysis of Li Ning Company before implementing the rebranding strategy. This paper puts forward rational thinking on the brand rebranding strategy of Li Ning Company, and compares it with the brand rebranding strategy actually implemented by Li Ning Company, so as to summarize the gains and losses of the company in the process of brand rebranding and provide reference for Li Ning and other enterprises to implement brand strategy.
1, 3C strategic triangle model
The 3c strategic triangle model (Figure 1) put forward by Japanese Kenichi Ohmae holds that a successful strategy has at least three key elements: the company itself, its customers and competitors. Only by integrating with competitors in the same strategy can we have a better sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, enterprises should make full use of their relative competitive advantages when formulating strategies, better meet customer needs, and strive to form absolute differentiation with competitors. For the key factor-enterprises, we should strive to maximize the competitive advantage of enterprises, especially in the functional fields closely related to the success of enterprises. For the key factor-customers, it is the basis of all strategies. The company's primary consideration should be the interests of customers, not shareholders or other groups. If the customer needs can't match the company's needs, it will endanger the long-term survival of the company. In addition, we need to consider the third key factor-competitors. If competitors cannot better match the relationship between enterprises and customers, the company will also be at a disadvantage. In a word, the competitive advantage of an enterprise can be realized through the differentiation of procurement design, manufacturing sales and service. And a good strategy must match the relationship between the company itself, customers and competitors, and dynamically grasp their evolution trend. Only in this way can enterprises have a chance to win this interest war.
Second, the three elements of Li Ning's strategy before implementing the rebranding strategy
Five years after its establishment, Li Ning Company quickly became the first brand of local sporting goods in China, with the first market share for seven consecutive years. However, after experiencing the rapid brand expansion in the 1990s, it encountered the bottleneck of development. From 1997 Asian financial crisis to 2000, the company failed to break through the growth ceiling, and its sales revenue dropped from 6.7 billion yuan in 1996 to 5.2 billion yuan in 1997. The reasons are as follows.
Enterprise itself
Li Ning's own problems are:
1. The brand positioning is not clear. For a long time, the company has mainly adopted the following strategy of following foreign leading brands, and the product positioning and advertising theme demands are constantly changing, and the brand and market lack strategic thinking. Li Ning's brand positioning is also vacillating between "sports" and "leisure";
2. The brand lacks cultural attributes. In brand management, Li Ning Company neglected the creation of brand culture and did not form a unique brand culture.
3. The brand personality is not distinct. In the minds of consumers, the personality of Li Ning brand is always associated with the image of Prince of gymnastics-CHENG, namely "affinity, nationality, sportsmanship and honor". Rather than the brand personality of "youth, enthusiasm and fashion" that the company strives to create;
4. The product quality needs to be improved.
The sports attribute of Li Ning products is weak, and it lags behind competitors Nike and Adidas in terms of scientific and technological content, innovation and improvement of sports performance, which has also become the primary reason why consumers don't like Li Ning products.
But Li Ning also has its own advantages: 1. Brand awareness is high. After more than ten years of development, Li Ning brand has a high popularity and loyalty, and has a cognitive advantage in the hearts of consumers. 2. Corporate Public Relations * * * Compared with the same period last year, Li Ning Company cherishes Li Ning's personal influence and the strength accumulated by the company in the past ten years, and has established a very wide range of public relations resources. 3. The distribution network is perfect. Li Ning Company has the largest egg joint venture in the whole mine.
Corporate customers
Target customers are misplaced. The target customers of the company are mainly students aged 14-28, large and medium-sized cities, consumers who love sports and advocate trendy fashion and international fashion trends, but the actual consumers are heavy consumers aged 18-45 who live in second-tier cities and have middle income and are not sporting goods.
With the new progress, the passenger flow is gradually decreasing, and most of the loyal consumers of Li Ning brand are admirers of Li Ning's new generation of young people. The attraction of "Li Ning" is gradually losing. They should be the target consumers of the company.
Great changes have taken place in customer demand. With the improvement of living standards, people's consumption power has been greatly improved, and the demand for functional specialization and personalization of sporting goods has become stronger.
opponent
International brands in the mid-to-high-end market have successively entered China. Among them, Nike and Adidas are in an absolute leading position in the sporting goods industry, and their brand influence, product functionality and fashion, sports resources, product image and marketing are better than those of Li Ning Company, which is in a challenger position. However, their development in China has been affected because they still follow the operation mode of mature markets in Europe and America in China. Moreover, Nike and Adidas are expensive, and the market is mainly distributed in the developed areas in the east, while the underdeveloped areas in the central and western regions are slow.
In the low-end market, Jinjiang Sporting Goods Corps, headed by Anta, has broken the pattern that Li Ning brand stands out among national sporting goods brands. Although Li Ning is still in the leading position of national brands of sporting goods, with stronger brand influence and popularity, higher product quality and scientific and technological capabilities, these local brands have attracted a large number of consumers at lower prices and occupied a larger market share in the tertiary market.
In short, the competitors in the middle and high-end market are getting stronger and stronger. There are more and more new entrants in the low-end market, and the customer demand has changed obviously. As well as the inherent problems of Li Ning, the development of the company has encountered an unprecedented crisis. It is urgent to study brand strategy and implement brand remodeling project.
Thirdly, according to the 3C strategic triangle group, the brand remolding strategy of Li Ning Company is rationally considered.
Brand remodeling, also known as brand reengineering, refers to a series of processes of re-investigating, re-evaluating and repositioning the brand from the height of brand strategy on the basis of the existing brand, and finally obtaining the lasting competitiveness of the brand through brand innovation. Brand remodeling is an inevitable choice for enterprises to adapt to major environmental changes and seek, maintain and enhance their competitiveness in changes.
KevinKeller, a famous brand asset management master, believes that to reshape the brand, many changes are often needed, such as changing brand elements, repositioning the brand, and establishing more convincing differences-that is, creating brand recognition to make the brand more in line with the modern trend, the psychology of modern users, or the personality of modern brands. Enter the new market, win new customers, cooperate with the new marketing plan, and improve the strength, reputation and uniqueness of brand association.
Due to the dislocation of target customers and great changes in competition, Li Ning Company must reposition its brand and target market. Consumers in the age group of 15-25 account for about half of the main users of sporting goods, and are also the main components of disloyal users and potential users of Li Ning brand, and their average annual consumption level is much higher than that of consumers in other age groups. However, compared with other brands, young consumers' preference for Li Ning brand is still low, and price is the main reason why they choose Xiao Ning brand at present. /kloc-consumers aged 0/5-25 like a novel, changeable and challenging lifestyle. I hope to buy different products and show myself. On the other hand, most consumers hope to experience the feeling of success and highlight themselves through exercise.
And become the focus of everyone's purpose. And consumers pay more attention to the professionalism of sports products. Especially young consumers. The importance of product technology is obviously higher than that of older consumers.
We must attach importance to brand culture and shape brand personality.
Enhance the brand image in an all-round way. The main competitors Nike and Adidas have their own unique brand culture. Brand culture is particularly important in brand building.
As the first brand of local sporting goods in China, it is reasonable for Li Ning brand to be internationalized in today's economic globalization. It can not only establish the international popularity of Li Ning brand, but also seek the development space of the international market in the case of relatively weak international markets such as Nike.
Giving full play to the advantages of channels, increasing investment in science and technology, and extending the brand to the high end through parent-child brands will not only enhance the added value of the brand, but also share a piece of the domestic high-end market where Nike and Adidas are relatively weak. Compared with other local enterprises, Li Ning has scientific and technological advantages, and has built an effective defense system against local brands such as Anta in the low-end market with the help of the largest channel in the country.
Fourthly, the actual implementation of Li Ning's brand remolding strategy.
Li Ning Company began to rebuild its brand in 2000. In the meantime, from 2000 to 2002, it was a stage of thinking and exploration. Therefore, the company adjusted its management and introduced many professionals. Re-created the organizational structure and set up a department responsible for brand remodeling. In 2002, with the intervention of IBM, Li Ning Company took advantage of its business.
This paper systematically analyzes the industry environment and the tactical success in the company's history. At the end of that year, Li Ning Company formally established the mission, vision, values and business development strategy of 7 companies. Among them, the mission is "to stimulate people's desire and strength to break through with sports! Committed to the creation of professional sporting goods, let sports change life and pursue a breakthrough in a higher realm. " The vision is "the world's leading sporting goods brand company to realize the internationalization of the company." The company needs to improve its international competitiveness in China market before 2008. By 20 18, it will become one of the top five sporting goods in the world. The company's international market share accounts for more than 20% of the total business. Become a sports brand management company, covering different customers and regions with multiple brands. More than two mainstream sports are in a strong position in the market. In 2003, the company formally implemented the product remodeling strategy. Since then, Li Ning Company has avoided the professional development stage. In order to achieve the above goals, Li Ning Company has taken a series of strategic measures.
Aim at Li Ning brand
Brand repositioning. In 2002, Li Ning Company established a brand-new brand positioning: specialization, fashion, oriental characteristics and internationalization. Embarked on the professional development path of sporting goods. Its advertising appeal was changed to "Li Ning, anything is possible".
Improve the price and quality of products. Increase investment in research and development, carry out technological innovation, improve the scientific and technological content and functional value of products, and at the same time raise product prices and push products to the high end.
Changing the brand promotion mode, the bull's-eye of Li Ning's special brand promotion has shifted from ordinary consumers to national sports teams. According to Nike's "pyramid" promotion idea, Li Ning completely transformed her original "grassroots marketing". The company will focus on professional sports marketing. Promote the brand through the title sponsorship of sports events, and gradually increase the sponsorship of top international sports events (competing with Adidas for the top sponsorship of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and eventually losing) and foreign sports teams (sponsoring African national teams participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games). At the same time, increase cooperation with sports stars, especially NBA players.
Implement multi-brand strategy. At present, Li Ning Company owns many brands such as "Li Ning", "Aigao" and "Shao" and has become the holding company of the famous table tennis brand "Double Happiness".
Brand internationalization, as early as 1999, Li Ning Company put forward "brand internationalization". Now, the brand internationalization has been promoted to the strategic level, and the strategy of brand internationalization first and then market internationalization has been formulated, and finally the international image of Li Ning brand has been enhanced.
Facing enterprise customers
Subdivide the market and redefine the target customers. By analyzing the characteristics of its own products and consumers, Li Ning. Adjust the target customer base to1young people aged 5-25. This kind of consumers pursue fashion and sports more, subdivide the age and gender of customers according to the functionality of products to meet the needs of customers.
Firmly grasp the core customers. Li Ning identified college students as the core consumer groups. Concentrate the company's resources and strive to become a sponsor of college sports in China.
Strive for high-end customers. In the second half of 2003, Li Ning formally set foot in the high-end sports professional goods market. And Nike, Adidas and other international brand manufacturers launched a high-end customer competition.
Against competitors
Identify differentiated business areas. Since 2002, Li Ning Company has been committed to producing five types of sporting goods: running, basketball, tennis, football and fitness. In China market, the positioning of running-related brands is still highly dispersed and the brand concentration is not high, which provides opportunities for Li Ning Company. Running has been identified as an important differentiated business development field by Li Ning Company.
Implement price differentiation. The price of Li Ning products is 30%-40% lower than that of internationally renowned brands. But it is 50% higher than brands such as Anta and Double Star. In the high-end market, we should step up technology popularization and innovation, seize market share through the price advantage compared with similar products of top international brands, and create "everyone has my low price". In the low-end market, the product quality and technology of domestic brands are not as good as that of Li Ning brand, but the price is relatively low. Li Ning Company uses its own advantages in quality and technology to provide more cost-effective products and create "people have my essence".
Give full play to the advantages of distributed acquisition. The distribution network of Li Ning Company maintains the status quo in the first-class cities. For the second and third tier cities where Nike and Adi Xuan Si are still relatively weak, the company optimizes resources, ensures the continuous operation of the original stores, accelerates the development of new franchisees, and achieves the synchronous development of Li Ning in major cities in China with more perfect distribution channels than competitors.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) The Gains and Losses of Li Ning's Brand Re-strategy
By implementing the rebranding strategy, Li Ning Company has become the absolute leader among local brands. An influential professional sporting goods company in the international market. Sales and profits have also maintained rapid growth. Consumers' preference for brands has been significantly improved, and brand image and brand value have been greatly improved. Clear professional strategic development direction, clear brand positioning and professional sports marketing in the process of brand remolding are the success of Li Ning Company to re-enter the rapid development channel.
(A) But there are hidden dangers in the renaming of Li Ning Company:
The professional field of 1. brand has not yet formed. It may be because the rebranding strategy has not been implemented for a long time, and in the short term, the brand of Li Ning has not been able to form core features like Nike and basketball, Adidas and football. So at present, Li Ning can only become a scavenger of international brands.
2. Brand culture is not well shaped. Li Ning's brand characteristics are not distinct, and one of the important reasons is that Li Ning's investment in brand culture needs to be increased. Because when there is no technical bottleneck in product quality, brand culture will be the key to determine the outcome of the competition.
3. Brand internationalization strategy is too fast and too heavy. Li Ning Company is bent on becoming an international brand before brand internationalization, trying to stimulate the domestic market through brand internationalization. But here we must pay attention to two points: first, looking at the internationalization process of China companies, most of them are frustrated by lack of experience; Second, due to the limited source of responsibility, too fast and too heavy internationalization will distract the energy and resources of enterprises, and may not be worth the loss in the end. One fact that cannot be ignored is that Li Ning has been surpassed by international brands in the high-end car market in China.
(2) To this end, the future development of Li Ning Company should pay attention to:
1. Increase investment in technological innovation and enhance the added value of Li Ning brand. There is still a big gap between Li Ning Company and international brands in technological innovation, which also limits the promotion of the overall value of Li Ning brand.
2. Create brand culture and enhance brand cultural attributes. When the brand rises to the level of cultural attributes, the brand value can be truly enhanced and the core competitiveness of enterprises can be more lasting.
3. Consolidate the vehicle and soil market and open up the field market. While pursuing internationalization, Li Ning Company should not weaken its attention to the domestic market. Only when the local market is stable can internationalization be backed up.