The advertisement of Rongsheng, a sub-brand of UEFA Euro 2016 sponsor Hisense, was watched and replayed all around the world, when Xherdan Shaqiri of Switzerland scored his sides first goal in a match between Switzerland and Poland during UEFA Euro 2016 on June 25, 2016.
The global strategy of Hisense
China home appliance industry has seen a rise in its global competitiveness, with a number of mergers and acquisitions ahead of UEFA Euro 2016, such as Haier's acquisition of GE, Midea's acquisition of Toshiba, and Hisense's acquisition of Sharp's Mexican factory.
Hisense, a leading electronics and home appliance maker in China, started its global operation many years ago. It expanded its global operations by building overseas branches, R&D centers and factories step by step, in an attempt to promote its own brands rather than OEM products, Hisense's vice president Lin Lan said in an interview made by China Appliance many years ago.
With great importance attached to its overseas campaign in markets such as Europe, America, Africa and South Africa, Hisense stepped up its global strategy based on an increasing expansion of its own brands overseas. Lin Lan said, it achieved a global sales of 3 billion dollars, with a brand value of 1.53 billion dollars in 2015.
With 0.37 billion Yuan offered for UEFA Euro 2016, the top Chinese sponsor takes Europe as a springboard for massive global market.
As Hisense's most renowned refrigerator brand with a long history of over 30 years, Rongsheng plays a crucial role in Hisense's global expansion in refrigerators and white goods. It also appeared in UEFA Euro 2016.
Lin Lan estimated that, sponsorship to UEFA Euro 2016 would generate billions of outputs for Hisense. Rongsheng would also benefit.
Top quality: Rongsheng's commitment to global market
European market has long been a challenge for China home appliance industry for its deep-seated negative impression over products "made in China". Up till now, no China's self-owned home appliance brand has ever made a leading power in European market.
With a slogan of "Rongsheng, refrigerators with ensured quality ", Rongsheng is set to go global with quality as a selling point, which earlier was badly recognized widely.
A conservative estimate shows that UEFA Euro 2016 has more than 0.15 billion audiences for each live broadcast, and 7 billion for all matches in total, among which more than 1.2 billion are from China. With advertisements on site, Rongsheng highlights its high quality in front of billions of audiences.
But could Rongsheng fulfill its promise?
Chinese has long regarded Rongsheng as a brand that values quality. At its founding in 1983, Rongsheng promised to offer best-quality products with endorsement from celebrity Wang Mingquan with a slogan of "Rongsheng, refrigerators with ensured quality ". A month earlier, Rongsheng invited Wang Mingquan for the second time to endorse its products, in hope of drawing consumers' attention to its quality.
According to latest statistics from All View Cloud (AVC), Rongsheng outshined other refrigerator makers greatly for the first 5 months in 2016, though China's refrigerator market saw a 6% drop in sales. Rongsheng's new 4-door refrigerator has been a smash hit in market and a number of other products make the list of leading energy efficient products.
For the past decade, China Appliance has interviewed a number of top managers of Rongsheng, who all regards quality as the lifeline of Rongsheng. Rongsheng has established a sound quality management system covering full life cycle of products, including supply chain, production line, logistics, transportation, etc.
With premium quality, Rongsheng is gearing up to expand its presence in global market.