For the needs of brand development and new market positioning, the ancients were crowned at the age of 20 to show their manhood, but they were still young at that time, so they were called "weak crowns". 20 10, "Li Ning" 20 weak champion. Although it has already begun to show its edge, it still needs to move forward. "Li Ning, 20, wants to tell consumers in a way: We are still Li Ning, but it is the new Li Ning." Zhang Zhiyong, CEO of Li Ning Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Li Ning Company"), said in an exclusive interview with China Economic Weekly. Three years ago, on June 30th, Li Ning Company announced its brand remolding strategy in Beijing, and released a brand new Logo and slogan. "New Li Ning" hopes to make corresponding adjustments in brand genes, target groups, product positioning, brand connotation, development system, etc., so as to further her dream of internationalization for many years. As a symbol of "balance and dexterity", the fiery red "squirrel tail" logo has been used for 20 years and has become a "classic", replaced by a new logo that is tougher and more contemporary. Its design inspiration comes from the gymnastics movement "Li Ning Crossing" created by Li Ning, the founder of Li Ning Company, and it also contains the shape of "human" to interpret sports values. In addition to changing the logo, Li Ning also launched a brand-new slogan: "Make the Change". "For the' old' logo, we prefer to call it a classic logo, because it is not to be discarded, but it is still a very important part of our brand assets. For example, we have plans to use the old classic logo when launching a new product line in a few years. " Zhang Zhiyong said. According to Zhang Zhiyong, as early as May, 2007, Li Ning had already started this brand rebranding plan. The concrete implementation of the plan was mainly completed by Fang Shiwei, CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of Li Ning Company. "I have done a lot of rebranding work before, but I have never seen a company rebranding when it is rising. Most of them will have such plans at the bottom. " Fang Shiwei told China Economic Weekly, "This shows that this team has a very high sense of crisis and foresight. It is not because their original performance is not good enough that they change, but because they want to win in the longer competition. This is great. " Become the market leader in China within five years at the earliest. Although I feel the "new Li Ning" from the consumer's point of view, it only stays in the launch of new logos, the update of advertising language and the upgrade of new stores ... In fact, Li Ning has undergone profound changes in organizational structure, human resource structure, corporate culture and many other aspects. "About 24 months ago, we started to set up the strategic marketing department, starting with sports categories, including badminton, basketball, running, tennis and urban sports." Zhang Zhiyong said, "In the past, we only divided the company structure according to the functional angles of products, sales and markets, but now it is equivalent to adding a crosscutting line according to product categories. The organizational structure of the company has changed from a vertical structure with a single division of functions to a two-dimensional matrix structure. " But the matrix structure means that one person needs to report to two people, which can easily lead to one thing that no one is responsible or can be responsible for. "We will use culture to make up for this defect. We have added a concept to the new corporate culture, which is called' (We Cultural'), that is, institutional interests first, departmental interests second and personal interests third. Any judgment should be made according to this standard. Our corporate culture is also changing with the reshaping of the brand. " Zhang Zhiyong said. With the promotion of brand remodeling, Li Ning's dream of "internationalization" for many years seems to have gradually moved from the strategic level to the tactical level. From choosing international superstars as spokespersons, setting up an R&D center and specialty store in Portland, Nike's base camp, to setting up a flagship store in Singapore, and vigorously promoting the badminton products and equipment of Li Ning brand in Southeast Asia, these are considered to be the substantive actions of Li Ning's internationalization strategy. However, Zhang Zhiyong said that at this stage, Li Ning will still adhere to the strategy of "brand internationalization and market localization". "Before 20 13, most of Li Ning's market was still in China. From 20 14 to 20 18, the first market is still China, but the company's strategy will increase the proportion of the international market, hoping to reach about 20% from the world. " Zhang Zhiyong said, "It will take us five to eight years to return to the first place in the China market and become the top five sports brand companies in the world." The 2009 annual report of Li Ning Company shows that the annual revenue was 8.387 billion yuan and the net profit was 945 million yuan. In the same year, the sales of Adidas in Greater China was 967 million euros, and the sales in the mainland market was about 7 billion yuan. Nike's sales in China are1700 million US dollars, and its sales in the mainland market are between 8 billion and 9 billion RMB. In other words, in 2009, Li Ning has surpassed Adidas to become the second place in the China market, and the gap with the first Nike has been very small. This change is historic. 1999, when Li Ning achieved annual sales of 700 million yuan in China, Nike's annual sales in China were only 300 million yuan, and Adidas' was only1000000 yuan. However, with the efforts of international tycoons, by 2003, Li Ning had maintained its leading position in China for nine years, which was taken away by Nike. The following year, Adidas also surpassed Li Ning, ranking second.