Yutang Case Study: Why Wuliangye sponsor World Chinese Badminton Championship 2015

The market of high-end Baijiu , a strong Chinese distilled spirit, has been experiencing a transformation since Chinese government started to shrink the Three Public Consumption in 2102. In order to cope with the sales pressure, top Chinese Baijiu brands have entered into fierce rivalary for market shares among mass consumers. Luckily, with increased incomes and upgraded consumption custom in residents, there is now large space for high-end Baijiu brands to tap the market of mass consumers in China.

Both the governmental policies and consumption custom urge these alcoholic beverage brands to utilize a variety of marketing tools to compete in the market.

Sports marketing is one of the most popular marketing tools that Baijiu brands usually use to improve brand images and to build a close relationship with consumers. In recent years, many high-end Chinese Baijiu brands have become more active in Chinese sports industry. For instance, Sweelfun sponsored China Open as a platium sponsor in 211, Moutai title sponsored former CSL club Guizhou Renhe FC in 2012 as well as Wuliangye which title sponsored China’s National Table Tennis Team in 2013. In addition, Yutang Sports also helped Wuliangye to support the World Chinese Badminton Championship which was held in Changsha, capital city of Hunan Province.

As one of the leading badminton competitions among Chinese in the world, the 2015 World Chinese Badmintion Championship attracted 4,380 players from 22 countries and areas.

However, Wuliangye selected 2015 World Chinese Badminton Championship rather than other sports competitions were not only because of the mass participation of the tournament.

World Chinese Badminton Championship well matches Wuliangye’s internationalization strategy, through which the brand hopes to tap the market of Chinese people across the world and also to improve their brand influence among their global consumers. In addition, Changsha, as the hosting city of the competition, is the second largest city in Central China which is key targeting market for Wuliangye. Sponsoring this competition and taking advantage of those relative rights have effectively help Wuliangye increase their brand influence in Central China.

In brand exposure, the full supports from local government has ensured the media exposure and social attention on this competition. That partly explains why Wuliangye would select this competition as exposure is key to any kind of marketing tools and campaigns.

Apart from that, most of the players who attended the 2015 World Chinese Badminton Championship are aged over 35 years old, and both their identities and incomes well match Wuliangye’s target customer characteristics.

More importantly, the partnership was both attractive in quality and price for Wuliangye, the Sichuan-based Chinese alcoholic brand.

Based on the above analyses, we can clearly see the 2015 WorldChinese Badminton Championship matched the needs of Wuliangye in brand strategy, market zone, target audience and brand exposure. And Yutang Sports played their role in helping Wuliangye find a proper global sports event to implement its internationalization strategy and increase its brand influence among target audiences.