Chinese firms promote brands in FIBA WC for global visibility

Prominent Chinese brands from the dairy, electronics and sportswear sectors will vie for the attention of sports fans at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

They have signed cooperation agreements with the world's top basketball players. In addition, they are among the key sponsors of the flagship event of the International Basketball Federation, which goes by the abbreviation FIBA.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 will open on Friday in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia and run through Sept 10, featuring 32 teams and 92 games.

In the run-up to the tournament, many Chinese sportswear brands announced collaborations with participating teams and players.

On July 12, US NBA star Kyrie Irving announced a deal with Chinese sportswear company ANTA.The player will have a signature shoe from the brand and join the latter as chief creative officer in a partnership that will establish a series of youth camps in the United States and China.

Peak Sports, a Chinese sportswear manufacturer, has inked a two-year shirt sponsorship deal with South Sudan's national basketball team.

The deal was signed a week before the team starts their World Cup campaign with a match against Puerto Rico in Manila, capital of the Philippines.

With this, the number of teams sponsored by Peak rose to six, including New Zealand and Germany.

Of the Top 10 "Global Partners "that the International Basketball Federation has for this World Cup, five are Chinese brands: Ganten, TCL, Tencent, Wanda and Yili.

Yili will enjoy all of the standard rights and benefits extended to FIBA Global Partners. Its products will be embossed with logos, text, icons and images promoting the partnership.

Liu Chunxi, executive president of Yili Group, had said of the collaboration earlier: "The FIBA Basketball World Cup is one of the largest events in international sport and we are looking forward to helping promote it and using such a big tournament to showcase our brand and products globally. It feels like a great fit for us."

Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China, said the basketball World Cup is one of the most influential sports events in the world, and also a marketing battleground for brands. It can help brands further boost their influence in China and overseas.

"Hundreds of millions of fans have been watching basketball games in China, which explains why more brands want to strengthen brand associations with basketball games through sponsorship and related marketing activities, to drive more consumer interactions before and after the games," Yu said.

"The investment will help strengthen the distinctive value proposition of brands to gain more consumer mind-share."

Yuan Hui in Hohhot contributed to this story.