Mengniu's corporate spirit of "Born to be Strong" resonates with the Olympic spirit as the curtain of snow rises like a flow of milk from the Inner Mongolia grasslands, carrying thousands of sports figures, passing over the Great Wall and ancient sites, crossing snow-capped mountains, flowing through deserts and oceans, following the winding roads, and finally reaching the streets of Paris. This is the latest "Opening" themed film created by Mengniu in collaboration with Zhang Yimou's directorial team, aiming to "join with every strong person in the world for the opening." Zhang Yimou, who has directed the opening ceremonies of two Olympic Games, once again becomes a hot search topic for his grand aesthetic creativity. Many people are amazed by Zhang Yimou's grand aesthetic creativity, and they suddenly find that the end of the short film is signed with Mengniu and the Olympic rings. There are only a few brands in China that can use the Olympic rings logo for promotion. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has strict control over the use of Olympic symbols, and only official partners and partners can legally use these symbols. Behind this short film is the confidence of Mengniu as a TOP partner of the Olympic Games. For this year's Paris Olympics, Mengniu has launched the slogan "Join hands with the century-old Olympics, and join hands with the century-old Mengniu," and relies on its official sponsorship status to become a special force in Olympic marketing.
Becoming a TOP Partner
On June 24, 2019, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Mengniu signed an agreement with the International Olympic Committee to officially become an Olympic Global Partner, that is, a TOP-level partner, becoming the first Chinese company from the consumer goods industry to become an Olympic Global Partner. "TOP" refers to "The Olympic Partner," which is the Olympic Global Partnership Program established by the International Olympic Committee to provide the "highest level" of sponsorship support for the Olympic Games. The cooperation covers a variety of Olympic events such as the Olympic Games, Winter Olympics, Paralympics, Winter Paralympics, Youth Olympics, and Winter Youth Olympics. Currently, there are only 16 (15 seats) global Olympic Global Partners in the world.
In the history of Chinese enterprises' Olympic sponsorship, only Lenovo, Alibaba, and Mengniu have been or are now TOP partners. Lenovo was the first to sponsor the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Alibaba signed a 10-year Olympic TOP sponsorship agreement starting from 2018. After signing an agreement with the International Olympic Committee in 2019, Mengniu became the only Chinese consumer goods industry Olympic partner and the first global dairy industry TOP partner. Becoming a TOP partner means that Mengniu has the right to use the Olympic logo for marketing activities worldwide, and there will be no competitors in the same industry at this level. Sports marketing is something that Mengniu is familiar with and good at, but as the Olympics approach, Mengniu's position and sense of responsibility as a TOP partner are becoming more and more prominent, starting to promote national sports and advocate a healthy lifestyle, and integrating the core concept of brand building "to be strong" into the expectations for the Olympics and the public. On April 27, as the 90-day countdown to the Paris Olympics, Mengniu held a media football championship. At the opening ceremony, Gao Fei, President of Mengniu Group, said that Mengniu is an enterprise with a sense of national sentiment, and from the beginning of its birth, it has taken "a pound of milk every day, strong Chinese people" as the original intention of the enterprise. Now, Mengniu will not only support and cheer for Chinese athletes at the Paris Olympic venue but also strongly support marathons, cross-country running, triathlons, and other civilian sports events in China, attracting more people to participate in sports and pay attention to health, and comprehensively promote the construction of a healthy China. On May 16, the Paris Olympic qualification series was officially launched in Shanghai, and Mengniu released an Olympic preheating MV with the theme of "Olympic Global Partner, also your sports partner" on this opportunity, linking Olympic events with daily life scenes, and connecting Olympic competition with the daily life of ordinary people. What Mengniu wants to emphasize and promote is not only the professional pursuit of excellence by sports competitors in the field but more importantly, the positive attitude and spirit of ordinary people in their daily lives. In Mengniu's Olympic marketing this year, the general public has become the focus of attention. On July 16, Mengniu launched a 10-day countdown to the opening of the Paris Olympics and released a theme short film "To be strong, not only on the Olympic field" day by day. The protagonists of the short film include "construction site gymnastics prince" Shi Shenwei, "73-year-old marathon uncle" Huang Caifu, "Italian Wing Chun inheritor" Bai Linbo, Jialing River Diving Team, Qiongzhong Women's Football Team, "champion training partner" Liu Leilei, etc. They are not champions, not even professional athletes, but ordinary people who love sports, but they are also worthy of attention and respect.
Deep Participation in the Olympics
As a TOP partner, Mengniu has a different level of participation in this Paris Olympics. Starting from the torch relay, more and more Mengniu elements have appeared on the streets of France. The Olympic flame for the Paris Olympics landed in Marseille on May 8 and began to be relayed within the territory of France the next day. Mengniu recommended friends or spokespersons such as Feng Haiying, Mo Renpiao, and Zhao Lusi to serve as torchbearers for the relay of the Olympic flame. On the eve of Olympic Day on June 18, Mengniu and the International Olympic Committee's official Weibo jointly launched the #Olympic Spirit Image Exhibition# theme activity, widely soliciting netizens' Olympic moment image works, capturing the Olympic spirit in daily life with the lens, and the excellent works were used in this Olympic Day theme TVC. At the same time, during the opening and hosting of the Paris Olympics, these photos were also displayed and broadcast in offline activities on the banks of the Seine in Paris. Mengniu also created several creative environmental protection projects for the Paris Olympics. For example, tens of thousands of discarded and recycled milk boxes were turned into treasures, creating a nearly 80-meter-long public runway on the banks of the Seine in Paris. In addition, as a global partner of the Olympics, Mengniu also created a 140-square-meter desert oasis leisure functional area at the Eiffel Tower Stadium to showcase its unique environmental protection concept and the results of green development practices. International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach mentioned in a meeting with Gao Fei, President of Mengniu Group, in May that Mengniu's corporate spirit of "born to be strong" resonates with the Olympic spirit. At the same time, Mengniu insists on sustainable development, especially the significant effects achieved in the management of the Ulan Buh Desert, which is highly consistent with the "Olympic Forest Network" plan. Norman O'Reilly, the author of "Global Sports Marketing," once mentioned: "The Olympics is a stage, and the eyes of two-thirds of the world's population will focus on it at this time." The industry generally believes that under normal circumstances, an investment of $100 million will increase brand awareness by 1%, while sponsoring the Olympics, an investment of $100 million can increase product awareness by 3%. Therefore, the competition for sponsorship around the Olympics has always been fierce, and those who can win a seat as a TOP partner have always been influential and well-known international brands. Therefore, for Chinese enterprises, sponsoring the Olympics is an important part of becoming international and becoming a global brand. Sponsoring the Olympics is a long-term investment, and it is even more so for Mengniu, as it is a loyal practitioner of long-termism. Mengniu's support for the Paris Olympics this time is not only in line with its century-old goal but also a leap of Chinese consumer brands to the international stage.
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