Anta President Ding Zhizhong: The shoe king who came out of school

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In a small town near the sea in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province, Ding Zhizhong was first attracted by a Driven by a simple desire to get rich, he became a shoe workshop owner who had not graduated from junior high school. But when he transformed into a modern business manager faster than others and took the lead in exploring the domestic market, he quickly stood out from more than 3,000 local shoe companies and became the shoe king of the small town.

In Anta’s conference room, a department manager projected slides and reported in detail the progress of a training project. A young man with a baby face sat at the end of the long conference table. After listening attentively for about 10 minutes, he suddenly interrupted: "Don't tell me the specific details, just tell me that you have invested so much." , what benefits will be produced. ?

This young man who is merciless to his subordinates is Ding Zhizhong, the 37-year-old president of Anta (China) Co., Ltd. and a native of Chendai Town, Jinjiang City, Fujian Province. Just half a month ago, he led the company to enter the Hong Kong Main Board and raised funds of HK$3.168 billion. On the first day of listing on July 10, the company's stock price rose by 44%, making Ding Zhizhong and his family members, who hold 75% of the company's shares, worth more than HK$13 billion.

In less than 10 years, Ding Zhizhong has left thousands of competitors around the town where Anta is located. ?Anta has grown bigger, and it’s hard to see Ding Zhizhong now. ?A Shishi businessman who started making sportswear in 1983 said. Annual sales of his Haojian brand sportswear are about 100 million.

Ding Zhizhong became a veritable local shoe king, but he did not become the president of the local shoe industry association. ?He has a domineering nature and is difficult to deal with. ?A reporter from local media said. He was never willing to accommodate others. According to locals, if it was something he didn't want to do but had to do, Ding Shuibo, another shoe boss in Jinjiang, founder of Xtep, would choose to do it, while Ding Zhizhong would Simply refuse.

Perhaps because of this, when Quanzhou City (Jinjiang is affiliated with Quanzhou City) selected the president of the Shoe Industry Association in 2006, Ding Zhizhong, the boss of Jinjiang Shoe Industry, was originally the best candidate for president, but he attracted opposition. There was a lot of noise, and it was Ding Shuibo who finally took the seat.

?Ding Zhizhong is a closed-minded person in terms of personality. Only a few close friends can understand his inner thoughts. Most people, even the director of his company, may not know his inner thoughts at all. What are you thinking about? ?A person who has worked around Ding Zhizhong for many years said.

How did this businessman, who was "difficult to deal with", surpass more than 3,000 Jinjiang shoe companies and become a wealth star in this labor-intensive industry?

? Want to have money to buy a motorcycle like others?

Ding Zhizhong grew up in a shoe-making workshop and is full of interest in doing business. Later, he recalled that the hope of a better life and the hope of having money to buy a motorcycle like others were his initial motivation for doing business.

Chendai Town, Jinjiang, Fujian Province, where he is located, is a place where business cells can easily sprout. Local people have a tradition of going overseas to make a living. When overseas expatriates make money, they will bring capital back and bring market information and orders, thus giving birth to the local manufacturing industry. In the early 1980s, a number of shoemaking workshops had emerged in Chendai Town, Jinjiang. Overseas Jinjiang expatriates brought initial orders to these workshops.

Local farmer Ding Hemu participated in the establishment of a village-run shoe factory in Chendai Town in the mid-1980s. Around 1991, he sold his family's grain, chickens, ducks and other things that could be exchanged for money. With the support of his relatives, he raised 50,000 to 60,000 yuan and established a separate shoemaking workshop. This is Anta. predecessor.

According to information provided by Anta, as early as around 1987, Ding Hemu gave his son Ding Zhizhong 10,000 yuan and 600 pairs of shoes bought from various shoemaking workshops in Chendai. Let him consign it to Beijing for sale. At this time, Ding Zhizhong was only 17 years old and had not graduated from junior high school.

Ding Zhizhong became one of the hundreds of Jinjiang people who came to Beijing to sell shoes in the 1980s and 1990s.

He opened Jinjiang shoe counters in some of the most important shopping malls in Beijing, such as Wangfujing Shopping Mall, and the business was booming. It is said that Ding Zhizhong began to have marketing awareness from this time on. He learned to study consumer types and pay attention to what kind of shoes have greater sales.

According to a person familiar with Anta, Ding Zhizhong returned to Jinjiang in 1994 with the 200,000 yuan he earned in Beijing. At that time, the shoe factory had been opened and was run by Ding's father and brother. After Ding Zhizhong returned to Jinjiang, he became the deputy general manager in charge of marketing. In 1994, after changing several factory names, the Ding family and his son decided to unify the factory name and product brand into "Anta". According to Ding Hemu's recollection, this brand means "starting a business with peace of mind and being down-to-earth".

Two years later, Ding Zhizhong obtained the leadership of the family business. He became the general manager of Anta, and his father Ding Hemu officially took a back seat; his elder brother Ding Shijia has a gentle personality and "doesn't like to stand out", and is responsible for production affairs; his younger sister Ding Yali, who graduated from a technical secondary school and studied finance, controls the company's purse strings. ?Fortunately, Ding Zhizhong had a very good father who delegated power to his son as early as possible, and his brother and sister formed a very good complementary relationship with him, without fighting for power or internal fighting. ?A person familiar with Anta said.

The success of Anta’s celebrity endorsement ads has triggered imitation among brothers in the same city. The Jinjiang Municipal Government has also promoted the replication of Anta’s experience in other companies, and has rewarded and supported emerging famous brands. For a time, a "brand-building" movement arose in the local area. Dozens of advertisements featuring celebrities of various types endorsements for Jinjiang shoe companies appeared on CCTV-5. CCTV-5 was also nicknamed the "Chendai Channel" (Chendai Town is the town of Jinjiang). The birthplace of the shoe industry, where most Jinjiang shoe companies gather). A group of well-known shoe companies, such as Xtep, Jordan, Delhui, and Hongxing Erke, began to stand out from many shoe companies.

The homogenization of advertising strategies and the intensification of competition have forced Anta to find new ways to find a new living space.

In terms of advertising strategy, Anta has begun to get rid of the celebrity endorsement model that made it famous, and instead sponsored sports events. For example, Anta’s annual sponsorship fee for the China Basketball League (CBA) is 40 million yuan. Ding Zhizhong believes that compared with the tens of millions of dollars spent by some other companies to hire international stars, "ours is another cost-effective business."

After gaining brand awareness, Anta began to break the boundaries of being a professional manufacturer of sports shoes, and began to get involved in the field of sportswear in 2002. Anta's move turned out to be very successful. Four or five years later, the revenue contributed by sportswear was as much as that of sports shoes. According to a former Anta executive, in 2006, Anta exceeded two tens of millions: sales of 10 million pairs of sports shoes and 10 million pieces of sportswear.

It is worth mentioning that at the same time as the clothing project was launched, the retail terminal concept of brand stores was also introduced. This is an important step in Anta's development process. Previously, Anta only had dedicated sports shoe sales counters in major shopping malls. With the increase in clothing and other varieties, Anta has become possible as an independent brand store. Ding Zhizhong, who is good at marketing, believes that brand building relies not only on advertising, but also on strong sales channels.

By 2004, Anta's number of stores nationwide had grown to more than 2,000. This year, in order to further expand the number of exclusive stores, Anta adopted a policy of giving profits to dealers. Just two years later, the number of ANTA stores has grown to more than 4,000, and the ANTA retail network covers the main streets of every third-tier and above city across the country.

It was a professional manager named Ye Qi who laid the foundation for Anta's clothing industry and introduced the concept of specialty stores. He was originally a senior manager of sportswear at Li Ning Company, but was later poached by Ding Zhizhong. In 2002, Ding Zhizhong established a New Oriental sporting goods company in Beijing, specializing in sportswear marketing. Ye Qi served as the managing director. The company adopted a professional manager management team. A year later, due to Anta's strategic adjustment, Ye Qi Say goodbye to Anta, but he has completed useful attempts for Anta in the field of clothing and specialty stores.

? Let professional people do professional things?

In Jinjiang, Fujian, the place where former multinational company executives are most concentrated may be the Anta headquarters. 60% of Anta's directors or deputy directors come from multinational companies such as Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble.

Anta is undoubtedly a place where people from multinational organizations can often meet. Ding Zhizhong hired JWT for advertising planning, Kearney for strategic consulting, and Morgan Stanley for listing underwriting services? Giving full authorization and letting professional people do professional things is what Ding Zhizhong is doing now Strongly advocated.

In the process of contacting Thomas, Ding Zhizhong met Zhu Zhengzhong, who was then the chief representative of Thomas in China. Zhu is a Chinese American. He was the vice president of Coca-Cola China and a member of Morgan Stanley's expert advisory group. He provided management advice to Morgan Stanley's investments in Mengniu, Nanfu and other companies. Soon after, Zhu was appointed by Ding Zhizhong as Anta's strategic advisor.

Under Zhu’s recommendation, Morgan Stanley contacted Ding Zhizhong in 2003 and was interested in injecting capital into Anta. But at that time, Ding Zhizhong believed that Anta did not need the money for the time being.

Before 2004, Ding Zhizhong was not a person willing to delegate power. But now, Ding has built decentralization as a system of the company. ?Decentralization and motivation are Wang Liangxing's most significant management characteristics. Ding's idea comes directly from Wang Liangxing's influence. ?

Wang Liangxing has been Ding Zhizhong’s friend since childhood. In Ding Zhizhong's small circle of friends, Wang Liangxing is Ding's best confidant. Lilang, founded by Wang, is also a powerhouse in the casual clothing industry.

Since two years ago, the directors of each Anta business unit have been authorized and do not have to report to Ding Zhizhong for everything.

Ding did not let the authorization become empty talk. A company business executive came to his office and reported a situation to him: Because a batch of sneakers delivered to an American customer had the wrong number, the other party demanded a compensation of US$30,000. The supervisor asked Ding Zhizhong what to do. Ding said: "Don't ask me what to do!" It's up to you to decide whether you deserve compensation and find out who is responsible for the mistake. ?The supervisor had no choice but to withdraw from Ding Zhizhong’s office.

With the authorization and responsibility mechanism in place, Ding is not afraid of making mistakes. Once, a batch of goods that Anta promised to dealers was not delivered on time. Although the other party did not ask for compensation, Ding took the initiative to offer compensation of 3 million after learning about it. ?The compensation is paid by the company. Those responsible were criticized. Since then, similar errors have never occurred again. Because they have truly made amends, they know that this kind of mistake cannot be made again. ?Ding Zhizhong told Southern Weekend reporters.

After advocating the new management method, Ding Zhizhong also liberated himself from company affairs. It is said that he now only signs less than 5 documents in the company every day and only participates in 3 internal meetings every month. He spends a lot of time absorbing effective information, communicating with company employees, and thinking clearly about the company's strategic issues.

An, start your business with peace of mind, be down-to-earth and be a down-to-earth person.

ANTA: A believer in brandism

Looking at Anta’s brand growth over the past fifteen years (the factory was established in 1991 and Anta was listed in 1994), it is not difficult to see that Anta’s only What remains unchanged is to constantly create new brand value elements. This value not only actively promotes Anta's differentiation strategy, achieves brand personality and visibility, and surpasses competition; it also opens the door for companies to improve their resource integration capabilities. Specifically, branding is embedding every detail of your brand. When all links contribute to value, there will be a brand. The details mainly include six aspects: brand characteristics, brand interests, brand value, brand culture, brand personality and brand objects. The purpose is to meet the three major needs of customers: emotional needs, experience needs and economic needs. It is customer-centered and provides Customers create value. That is to establish a connection with customers, such as a relationship of trust, and customers will return their attention, loyalty and money to the brand's value engineering.

In 1999, Anta took the lead in proposing the brand proposition "I like what I choose", and the outstanding performance of its image endorser Kong Linghui broke out of the circle of hand-to-hand combat between brothers in the same city and enhanced its brand awareness nationwide. Anta's milestone era began. In 2005, under the strong interception of brothers in the same city, the consumption psychology of leading consumers has quietly changed, and under the fierce suppression of international brands, the ANTA brand has rapidly aged and hollowed out. The great changes in the market have prompted Anta to reshape its brand.

In the spring of 2006, ANTA promptly adopted a new strategy and handed over the brand management project to brand agent JWT (JWT-Zhongqiao Advertising Co., Ltd.); an ANTA branding project led by JWT was launched in full swing.

Brand positioning

First of all, re-examine and think about the brand target and find that the actual consumer group is inconsistent with Anta’s original consumer group. JWT first conducted large-scale focus group interviews and in-depth questionnaires covering 10 cities in China. After more than three months, it was discovered that Anta's original target groups were not very consistent with the actual consumer groups.

Secondly, the perspective of actual consumer groups. I found that these are a group of ordinary young people living in second- and third-tier cities? They are high school students who cannot bear the academic pressure, they are college students who are in urgent need of self-realization, and they are newcomers who work hard at the bottom of the workplace and are eager to get ahead. They are all grassroots, non-mainstream social groups, non-elite grassroots masses, they are the majority of all people; these people have the same characteristics: no favor from fate, no innate talents , hoping to realize his dream bit by bit with his own efforts and persistent fighting spirit. Obviously, this group of people is very full of vitality.

In the past, the vague brand objects that were only segmented by simple age gradually became clear. Therefore, Anta did not hesitate to target the grassroots, determined to achieve seamless connection with its target consumers.

Brand core value and corporate mission

Based on the clarity of the brand target, we can further explore the lifestyle and values ??of the brand target, and found that the "grassroots spirit" is the core of this group lifestyle and values. Specifically, they are a group of ordinary people living around us. They have no extraordinary talents or prominent backgrounds, but they are full of hope, positive and unremitting efforts. Even if they fail again and again, they are unyielding and unswervingly persistent. Pursue your dreams. At the same time, they discovered that in the process of chasing dreams, they need to find a channel to release themselves, where there is a goal to win, where any self-expression and showing off are allowed - this channel is sports. The core of this grassroots spirit is consistent with the sports spirit of constantly surpassing, constantly improving, and improving one's abilities and performance. Moreover, it is in the same vein as the Eastern cultural spirit of hard work and constant self-improvement advocated by the Chinese. Therefore, grassroots spirit has a broad base of people and a cultural heritage with Chinese characteristics. Finally, the connection point and integration point between the brand object, the product and the mainstream culture of society was found. Therefore, Anta's brand core value proposition "Never Stop" was born.

Anta’s journey of creating dreams for grassroots people and helping them realize their dreams has begun. Ever since, "Integrating self-transcendent sportsmanship into everyone's life" has become Anta's corporate mission, establishing that Anta is contrary to the international big-name brand's emphasis on self and personal heroism, and directly enters the Eastern culture of the grassroots public. The national spirit of self-improvement and courage to fight and the brand strategy of grassroots image.

Breakthrough points and communication power

Milton Kotler said: Brands must connect with target consumers in their lives, work, shopping process or media viewing. Consumers make connections?.

ANTA Company proposed the "CBA Grassroots Plan", which revolves around the core grassroots culture of "Grassroots Spiritual Heroes" and launched an integrated brand communication campaign of close contact and communication between ANTA's "Never Stop" brand culture and the grassroots. ANTA's 2006 CBA grassroots program consists of three parts: the Dream CBA-2006 ANTA KO Streetball Game, the ANTA Draft CBA Training Camp, and the Dream CBA-2006 ANTA KO Streetball Game Finals and Fans Carnival.

Starting on July 15, 2006, the CBA2006KO street basketball game was held in 12 cities in China, including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. This largest street basketball game in China attracted more than 20,000 people. Fans; it is stipulated that the final winner of the competition will not only participate in the CBA new season competition projects, but they can also realize their dream of going from grassroots to star. In addition, ANTA Extreme Sports came to campus in May, attracting students from more than ten universities in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu to experience the charm of extremes and challenging themselves.

Use the Olympics to consolidate professionalism

The Olympics are around the corner, and the world’s attention is focused on China.

On August 8, 2007, a full year before the Beijing Olympics, Anta Company sounded the clarion call to fully launch its Olympic strategy. The "Declaration" of the Olympic advertising series was the first to be intensively launched on CCTV1, CCTV2, CCTV3, CCTV5, CCTV8, Hunan Satellite TV, Anhui Satellite TV, Shanghai Oriental Satellite TV and other TV media. ? Major portal websites such as Sina, Sohu, and NetEase are all at war with each other. It is reported that Anta will successively launch Olympic preparation series, Olympic gold medal series, Olympic future series and other Olympic advertisements to fully interpret the brand spirit of "Never Stop" and sprint for the Olympics!

Searching the development history of Anta, it is not difficult to find that Anta has always followed the drumbeat of sports and actively participated in the development of China's sports industry (Global Brand Network). From the beginning of sponsoring sports events in 1995, to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 2002 World Cup, the 2004 Athens Olympics, the 2006 Doha Asian Games, and even the upcoming 2008 Olympics and other top sports events, Anta has taken advantage of all sports events. , and continuously enhance the brand’s popularity and value.

First of all, no expense is spared to create a lineup of sports stars endorsing brands. Kong Linghui (table tennis/1999), Battelle (basketball/2002), Wang Hao (table tennis/2004), Feng Kun (volleyball/2004), Wang Bo (basketball/2005), Li Gaobo (race walking/2007), Song Hongjuan (race walking/ 2007), Tang Zhengdong (Basketball/2007), etc. On the morning of October 18, 2007, it was announced that he had signed All-Star player Steve Francis of the NBA Houston Rockets. On November 9, Anta once again signed NBA star Louis. Scola. A strong lineup of spokespersons has become a powerful pillar of the Anta brand world, which is also the basis for in-depth competition with other brands.

Secondly, it continuously sponsors sports events, sports naming, organizes popular sports activities, etc. to create word-of-mouth and public opinion. After fifteen years of accumulation in sports marketing, an in-depth understanding and grasp of the spirit of sports has made ANTA's brand strategy of professional sports routes more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and also enhanced ANTA's experience in competing with international big names.

Once again, we spare no effort to integrate the brand core value of "Never Stop" into the spirit of modern sports, and always run it through various brand communications such as sports marketing to achieve brand equity.

The core of sports marketing is to take advantage of the momentum, then build momentum, and then create the market. Anta is good at learning from the successful experiences of other brands and finding a way to turn around based on its own current situation. Sports marketing is when Anta learns from the successes of other brands and sums up practices suitable for its own brand building. Sports marketing, Gopsen jokingly calls it the "gong-absorbing method" of Anta's rise!

ANTA took advantage of the current situation to integrate its business into the great development of China's sports industry, realize the transformation from a manufacturer and seller to a communicator of sports spirit, and carry out sports marketing to the end, thereby rebuilding brand belief. .

Anta donated 10 million yuan to aid the disaster-stricken areas

Passing on love to the disaster-stricken areas

On May 14, the third day after the earthquake hit the Wenchuan area of ??Sichuan Province, ?Feeling for the disaster area, spreading love? The disaster relief donation ceremony was held at the central square of ANTA headquarters (Jinjiang, Fujian). Mr. Ding Zhizhong, Chairman and CEO of ANTA Sports Goods Co., Ltd., announced that ANTA had donated more than 10 million in cash and kind to the earthquake-stricken areas. , under his initiative, all ANTA employees spontaneously donated money to the people in the disaster area at the scene. The total amount of funds and materials donated by Anta Company and Anta employees exceeds 10 million yuan, which will be directly used for relief work in disaster areas through the Red Cross Society of China. This is also the first donation from a sporting goods company that the Red Cross Society of China received after the earthquake.

On the morning of May 12, Mr. Ding Zhizhong, Chairman and CEO of ANTA Sports Goods Co., Ltd., successfully completed the Olympic torch relay as the 107th torchbearer in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. ANTA Company was immersed in joy. In the afternoon, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake occurred in Wenchuan, and Anta immediately decided to donate to the disaster area.

When a reporter asked about the donation, Mr. Ding Zhizhong said: As a torchbearer, passing the torch conveys the Olympic spirit. When the country faces a sudden disaster, as a company, we donate money, hoping to not only send materials but also to the people in the disaster area. They convey love and help the affected compatriots to strengthen their confidence and get out of the predicament. This is also the responsibility of corporate citizens to society. ?

As a leading brand in China’s sporting goods industry, Anta has always been committed to becoming a corporate citizen with a sense of social responsibility and continues to give back to the society. Anta’s continuous donations to charitable organizations have been used for various social charities. and welfare undertakings.