By CHEN Qirui
Prada has become the official partner of the China women's national football team, a stylish boost for a sport very much in the shadow of its more glamourous men's counterpart. Securing major sponsorships is no easy feat in woman's sports, but Prada has a history of collaborating with athletes, and not just the big names.
There is a growing trend among brands to seek out untried avenues of association and establish a fresh image.
Partnerships often serve distinct purposes.
When good guys go bad
Celebrities drive explosive sales. Brands can make a big noise in a completely different way – and immeasurably more cheaply – than any in-store campaign.
The downside of these streaming stars is that they are a highly perishable commodity, liable to go off completely, almost overnight, and with no warning. If they are not enveloped in their own personal scandals, or devoured by their impassioned but volatile fans, new kids are appearing on the block on an hourly basis.
Many brands find themselves embroiled in public opinion controversies due to their association with these personalities. The message is: "You should buy our product because he's a nice guy." What was a flimsy premise to begin and can easily turn toxic when a video of the nice guy kicking a cat turns up on Douyin.
Nothing to prove
Contrastingly, athletes typically enjoy better word-of-mouth than pure sellers. They do real things in the real world. Even if they are not well-liked, sports stars are generally taken seriously. Whether a sports star is seen as "nice" is not so important. It's about action, backed up by thousands of hours of practice, and adds gravitas to the brand image.
In China, partnerships between luxury brands and athletes have been relatively uncommon until now. It's something that is bound to change. All luxury brands have address books full of swimmers, drivers and golfers. Rolex, for example, seems to market itself almost exclusively through association with sports.
With the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup on July 20 and Asian Games in Hangzhou set to kick off in September, athletes will generate a lot of traffic. A brand like Prada can push its partners higher and higher up the trending lists, quite literally setting the trend. Better sponsor, more traffic.
Rules of the game
At the recent Olympics in Tokyo and Beijing, athletes like Eileen Gu and SU Yiming made names for themselves and attracted a lot of commercial interest, but they are the tip of a very big iceberg of Chinese sports stars. They have credentials and charisma that influencers can only dream of.
Brand management is a long, complex process achieved through a matrix of marketing strategies. Prada's partnership with the national football team is a big step forward for female athletes. It not only benefits the team but shifts the goalposts of sponsorships in women's sport.
