Can Li Ning make a comeback after taking over from Anta? | Pay-to-Win · Big Consumption

Author | Xie Yunzi 

Editor | Zheng Huaizhou 

Cover Source | Enterprise Official

Two major national sports goods groups, Li-Ning and Anta, have once again drawn collective attention.

On January 15, the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange officially announced that Li-Ning Company won the project of collecting cooperative enterprises for the sports clothing of the Chinese Sports Delegation from 2025 to 2028. This implies that in the next four years, the Li-Ning brand will replace the Anta brand and serve as the official sports clothing partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee (Chinese Olympic Committee, hereinafter referred to as COC) and the Chinese Sports Delegation.

On the evening of the same day, the founder and chairman of Li-Ning Company rarely released a "Letter to Li-Ning People" within the company.

In the letter, Li Ning first expressed his gratitude to "all Li-Ning people" and pointed out that during the period from 2025 to 2028, the Li-Ning brand will support the Chinese Sports Delegation to compete in top events such as the 2026 Milan - Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics, the 2026 Aichi - Nagoya Asian Games, and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

"I hope every Li-Ning person can proudly accept this honor and mission."

Almost simultaneously, Anta Group, which has accompanied Chinese Olympic athletes on the Olympic podium for 16 years, also made a statement on this matter.

Anta responded to 36Kr, saying, "We will contribute to the construction of a sports power with greater investment in a wider range, continue to provide first-class sports equipment for 25 Chinese national teams, and fully promote the public welfare project of providing lifetime security for outstanding athletes."

At the 2024 annual summary meeting held by Anta Group on the same day, Ding Shizhong, the chairman of the group's board of directors, also delivered an important speech.

Ding Shizhong said that in the process of the continuous change of the business model, "good products" are always the basis for "winning battles". In addition, (Anta Group) should build a business model and organizational model with consumer demand as the core and products as the focus, create product value through innovation and differentiation, and form a "product-oriented" "winning battle" culture.

In 2025, Li-Ning Company will once again stand on the Olympic podium, while Anta Group will lead many brands to "win battles". The two domestic brands may start a new competition in the new year.

Image from the enterprise official

Li-Ning, Once Again "Taking the Throne"

The last time the Li-Ning brand was a partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee was 20 years ago.

In 1990, Li-Ning became a sponsor of the Beijing Asian Games, becoming the designated clothing for the torch relay and the medal ceremony uniform of the Chinese national team. From 1992 to 2004, in the four Olympics in Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens, the Chinese sports delegation also wore Li-Ning to the podium.

However, in the subsequent 2008 Beijing Olympics, the equipment of the Chinese delegation was snatched by Adidas at a high price of 1.3 billion yuan.

Nevertheless, in that year, Li-Ning Company still overshadowed Adidas with the event that Li Ning himself "flew to light the Olympic flame" at the opening ceremony. At least in the public opinion field, many consumers believe that Li-Ning is one of the official sponsors of that Olympic Games.

In 2009, Adidas' contract with the Chinese Olympic Committee expired. After a long negotiation, Anta became the partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee for sports clothing from 2009 to 2012 with 70 million US dollars. Since then, the cooperation period between the two sides has been continuously extended, and the "main partner" of the Chinese Olympic Committee has entered the "Anta Era".

It is also in these 16 years that Anta Group's performance has soared. Financial report data shows that from 2009 to 2023, Anta Group's total revenue has increased from 5.87 billion yuan to 62.36 billion yuan. During this period, Anta Group even acquired Amer Sports, becoming a typical representative of a "snake swallowing an elephant". During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Anta also shone in the ice and snow projects.

The general perception in the industry is that becoming an official partner of the COC not only enhances Anta's international reputation but also opens up resources for international top events for Anta Group.

Zhang Qing, the founder of Key-Solution, also believes that the cooperation with the COC is one of the reasons that contributes to Anta enhancing its brand value and increasing its performance. And from the perspective of the strong sense of identity and pride of the younger generation towards the country at present, sponsoring the Olympics is still a better way to have a better dialogue with consumers.

It is certain that the layout of professional sports brands for top events such as the Olympics is undoubtedly an important manifestation of their own professional strength.

According to another report from "Lanxiong Sports", Li-Ning Company won the cooperation rights of the Chinese Olympic Committee from 2025 to 2028 with a total price of about 800 million yuan, which has increased significantly compared with the previous cycle.

Spending a lot of money to win the COC may also mean that after leading the "national trend" craze, Li-Ning, who once again "gets on the table", will return to the professional field and reaffirm its brand gene as a professional athlete.

The Confrontation between "Single Brand" and "Multi-Brand"

"The purpose of my founding Li-Ning Company is to create a professional sports brand that can serve the development of Chinese sports and inject the sports spirit into the entire service and operation of the enterprise."

In more occasions, Li Ning has stated the original intention of founding the Li-Ning brand and the reason why he has always practiced the strategy of "single brand, multiple categories, and multiple channels".

In a certain earnings call, Li Ning also told 36Kr, "Multi-brand has a multi-brand business model, but what we hope to do is to be a professional sports brand originated from China, so all resources and values can be presented on this brand."

However, in the capital market, Li-Ning Company's "single brand" has always been compared with Anta Group's "single focus, multi-brand, and omni-channel".

In 2009, Anta Group acquired the franchise rights of the Italian brand FILA in Greater China from Belle for 460 million yuan, thus starting the multi-brand strategy. In the following more than ten years, FILA has gradually become the main brand that contributes more than half of Anta Group's revenue. Perhaps because of the revitalization of FILA, Anta was able to acquire many international brands such as Kolon Sport, DESCENTE, and Amer Sports in the later period.

In the first half of 2024, DESCENTE's operating profit margin reached more than 30%. According to Ding Shizhong's vision, DESCENTE will become the third brand with a revenue of over 10 billion yuan under Anta.

There has always been an opinion in the industry that Anta Group's continuous acquisition of multiple brands makes its business performance more diverse and more able to resist market risks. But the main brand of Anta Group is still Anta.

Just from the perspective of brand potential, since Li-Ning Company launched the product line "China Li-Ning" focusing on fashion sports in 2018, the overall brand value has greatly increased. Coupled with Li Ning's "athlete aura", compared with other domestic sports brands horizontally, Li-Ning's brand value may be difficult to be surpassed in the short term.

However, since 2024, consumption stratification has become a trend, and the attractiveness of the national trend to consumers has decreased. The problem facing Li-Ning at the moment is: How to enhance the brand power and how to balance between the market growth brought by fashion and the professional products with a narrower audience. At present, the conclusion drawn by Li-Ning Company is to be driven by professional sports and supported by sports life.

Looking back on the entire 2024, Li-Ning has also gradually brought "sports technology" to the forefront. Public information shows that in the past 10 years, Li-Ning Company's total R & D investment has exceeded 3 billion yuan.

In the internal letter, Li Ning himself also emphasized, "We must continue to increase investment in sports research and professional product R & D, continuously improve the application ability of technology, and use professional products and high-quality services to help Chinese athletes improve their sports performance, continuously improve in the training field, and achieve extraordinary results in the competition field."

From the perspective of the secondary market, this return to the COC also gives more confidence to the capital. Up to the time of press release, Li-Ning's stock price has risen by 1.98%, with a total market value of 39.961 billion Hong Kong dollars.

In addition, it is worth noting that the identity of the sponsor of the Chinese Olympic Committee may enable Li-Ning to gain more potential in the process of going global. For the multi-brand development of Anta Group, it also needs to stand in the global perspective and the dimension of the entire category to choose a more suitable marketing cooperation channel.

The confrontation between the two brands will also extend and reappear in more international markets.

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