Chinese companies become the biggest sponsors of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

International Business News – Recently, Global Data, a London-based data analytics and consulting firm, released data showing that Chinese companies sponsored $1.395 billion for this year’s World Cup in Qatar, surpassing the $1.1 billion of the United States. Broken down by year, China’s sponsorship is worth $207 million per year, compared to $134 million and $129 million per year for Qatar and the United States, respectively. Chinese companies jumped to become the largest sponsors of this year’s World Cup.

But for various reasons, the presence of this World Cup can be described as “the weakest ever”. When the “strongest investment” meets the “weakest ever”, people can’t help but sweat.

Chinese companies “fierce battle” World Cup

This year’s Qatar World Cup, a total of four Chinese companies were selected for the official sponsor list: Wanda Group, Hisense Group, Mengniu Dairy, Vivo, of which Wanda Group became one of the top sponsors of the Qatar World Cup as a FIFA partner, alongside Coca-Cola, Adidas, Hyundai, Kia, Qatar Airways, Qatar Energy and VISA, the same highest level of sponsorship, belong to The first tier. Hisense Group, Mengniu Dairy and Vivo are the second tier of FIFA World Cup sponsors.

This means that we can see the brand logos of Chinese companies frequently appearing in various places such as the Qatar World Cup stadiums and live signals. And in the World Cup marketing war, Chinese companies also from the initial “product to the sea” metamorphosis upgraded to “brand to the sea”.

“Youth is only a few World Cups”. With the approach of the Qatar World Cup, the phrase that awakened the fans’ World Cup sentiment screened the major network media, and the source of this online buzzword is a commercial advertisement created by Mengniu for the Qatar World Cup: “Youth is only a few World Cups, which is the cup that nourishes you”. In addition, Mengniu also customized 12 World Cup history series of nostalgic packaging, creating a nostalgic subway of the classic moments of the World Cup, carrying out “nostalgia” to the end, successfully evoking the emotional resonance of fans and brand empathy, building a unique brand memory.

As a FIFA partner, Wanda is firmly on the road of “long-termism”. It is understood that Wanda has signed a 15-year sponsorship agreement with FIFA, covering all World Cup events until 2030. During the World Cup, Wanda will launch themed hotel housing and food and beverage products around the new experience of “watching the game at the hotel”. In addition, Wanda Hotels will also place in-game advertisements in the World Cup, actively participating in this popular international sports marketing topic.

Hisense, which is deeply involved in sports marketing, is cooperating with the World Cup for the second time this year. At the end of October this year, Hisense joined hands with Jitterbug to officially announce a World Cup micro-variety program: “HI Football Boys”, through which four Chinese soccer boys will be selected to go to the World Cup in Qatar and receive guidance from Milu. At the same time, Hisense soccer friendly matches will also be kicked off in more than 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao.

Can sponsorship be “worth the price of admission”?

“Sponsorship is worth it or not? This is originally not an economic account of the current investment rate of return.” Hisense brand management department deputy general manager Pang Jing said in an interview with the media.

In the world’s top sports IP, men’s soccer World Cup is undoubtedly the “top stream” of existence, FIFA has said: “The World Cup is the most effective international marketing platform.” Compared with the Olympic Games, the advantages of the World Cup are obvious: first, it is a longer cycle, lasting more than a month, twice the length of the Olympic Games; second, the World Cup almost does not exist in the extremely low ratings of the event, even the group stage also has a high degree of attention; third, the World Cup in the younger generation is more visible than the Olympic Games.

Chinese companies are keen to participate in the World Cup, partly because there are more Chinese soccer fans. According to FIFA, a total of 3.572 billion people watched the 2018 World Cup in Russia, accounting for about 47% of the global total, of which China was the country with the largest World Cup audience, with 660 million people watching the World Cup in Russia; on the other hand, enterprises hope to use the stage of the World Cup, a top international event, to go to sea.