Li Ning Ambushed Adidas at Beijing

When He Lit the Cauldron He Gave His Company Worldwide Publicity

Aug 26, 2008

As one of China's greatest athletes, Li Ning stole the show from his major competitor at the opening ceremony with a high wire act to light the Olympic cauldron.

China and Li Ning may have pulled off the greatest marketing ambush of all time when he was hoisted to the top of Bird's Nest Stadium to light the cauldron and open the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Li Ning was an obvious choice for the honor of lighting the cauldron because he is one of China’s all-time greatest athletes, having won six medals at the 1984 Olympics.

But he also happens to head China’s largest sports retailing firm, a publicly traded company that he started and which still bears his name. That means he exposed his company to thousands of people at the stadium and to billions of television viewers when he carried the torch.

German-based Adidas, his closest competitor, was left to watch Li Ning steal the opening ceremony scene after it spent tens of millions of dollars to become a major Beijing Olympic sponsor. Li Ning's performance was kept a secret prior to the opening.

Adidas responded as a good sport. According to Yahoo.com, spokesman Jan Ruonan said Li Ning embodied "the dream of many Chinese: A child brought up in poverty who became a star and the nation's first millionaire athlete. He deserved to play that role."

Darren Rovel wrote in his Sports Biz column on CNBC.com that Li Ning’s opening ceremony appearance raised the company stock more than 7 percent and the value of L:i Ning's personal holdings about $40 million.

It all gave Li Ning, which was not an official sponsor, more reason than ever to believe in its slogan: "Anything is possible."

The Beijing event made Li Ning the newest player in the long running ambushing war between the world’s major shoe companies. Henry Hughes, a New Zealand legal firm specializing in patents and trade marks, pointed out earlier this year that Adidas, Nike, Reebok and Converse have taken turns ambushing each other at major events.

Nike pulled its own little ambush during the Beijing Olympics, designing and running some of the best television and online commercials, including one which was rated as the best of the commercials run during the games.

The marketing ambush wars have become so frequent and so damaging that New Zealand has passed legislation to protect official sponsors at the Rugby World Cup there in 2011.

The legislation allows the government to set up "clean zones" in which rival advertising is outlawed. It also allows the government to search homes, destroy advertising and force people to remove clothing that advertises a sponsor’s competitor.

New Zealand’s economic development ministry recognized the free speech issues the law might generate, so it said the law should be restricted to major events like the Rugby World Cup.

Event promoters are concerned about marketing ambushes because they make it more difficult to sell official sponsorships.

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