The 2014 Incheon Asian Games was an opportunity for athletes to enhance their reputation and for companies to advertise their brands to new markets and customers.

Compared to other sporting events, the Asian Games receives less, smaller-scale sponsorship opportunities. The 2014 Incheon Asian Games received about 120 billion won, which is 7.5% of the total amount of sponsorship contributed to the 2014 Brazil World Cup (1.6 trillion won). Plus, it is only 4.8% of the sponsorship for the 2010 London Olympics (2.5 trillion won). However, the Asian Games have always been regarded as the most cost-effective form of PR because it offers a chance to catch the eyes of 4.5 billion Asian people, that is to say a large amount of potential customers. Many global companies viewed these Asian Games as a great opportunity to advertise themselves to as many as 2.5 billion Chinese and Indian people and more across the continent.

During the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, the uniforms of athletes, volunteers and torch bearers attracted as much attention to the athletes themselves and the various events. You must have wondered about what 361° represented while watching the games. It is the brand logo of a Chinese sporting-goods manufacturer named 361°.

361° is a large Chinese sports brand that was launched in 2003 and is one of two official uniform sponsors of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, the other being Cheil Industries (a Korean company). 361° sponsored the casual uniforms including for volunteers while Cheil Industries supplied the uniforms for organizing committee members and referees. Because 361° provided 300,000 uniforms (including T-shirts) for about 20,000 volunteers and operating personnel, in addition to the uniforms for torch-bearers, it was easy to spot the 361° logo all over the stadiums.

Then, why do you think 361° focused much on the 2014 Incheon Asian Games? As I mentioned earlier, the Asian Games is not so attractive for sponsors and is smaller than other sporting events like the World Cup and the Olympics in terms of investment size. But, many experts said that it would be as effective as the World Cup and the Olympics for public relations. That is because the Asian Games attracts more than 60% of the world's population, and their consumption scale as well as purchasing power, continues to increase. It sounds like one of the AMOREPACIFIC Group's global strategies, doesn't it?

In other words, sponsors of the Asian Games looked ahead and invested, in common parlance, for money-grubbing. With this sponsorship, they indeed took an advantageous position to secure new customers in the next ten years - on which for now you cannot place a price tag.

For your information, official sponsorship of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games is classified into four categories, depending on the amount of sponsorship money donated. The four categories are Prestige Partner, and Partner, described in the table below, and as a Sponsor and Supplier that invested more or less than 5 million dollars. 361° is a Prestige Partner, the highest category of sponsorship. This Prestige Partner represents a sponsor that provided more than 15 million dollars and 361° is the only foreign and China company among the six Prestige Partners of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

361° is not one-hit wonder that made a meteoric rise at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, and its brand value and sales are not as high as its competitors in China like Lining (李宁) and Anta (安踏). Rather, 361° was a company plodding in mediocrity that steadily outdid its competitors through wise decisions in sports marketing and with its global knowhow. Though it is not the best of its kind, I think it is worthwhile to highlight this company's rise because it took rank alongside a number of competing brands in the sports accessories industry, specifically with two prominent companies, Nike and Adidas, in only 12 years since its establishment. There are three keywords for understanding 361° - global, sponsorship and communication with customers. 361° builds name recognition and brand loyalty amongst its customers through the sponsorship of sporting events where large audiences and media gather, and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programs and based on this, strengthen its competitiveness.

361° denotes the 360 degrees of a circle plus one extra degree, representing its will to provide a complete, perfect product with an added degree of passion for its beloved customers.

361° broke a deadlock in the Chinese sports sponsorship market that was previously occupied by foreign brands, and established a solid foothold in the global sportswear and accessories market. It gained recognition for being a professional sporting accessories brand with strong brand power, as it renewed the public's awareness of sports based on its brand philosophy of one extra degree of passion, instead of resting on its laurels of being a global brand in the course of growth.

It raised its global brand recognition through the sponsorship of small and large international sporting events. From sponsoring an international marathon held in China to a table tennis league and Chinese college basketball league at the same time, 361° was able to make its brand identity friendly to sports fans through all of the sporting events it sponsored, like clothing sponsorship of CCTV (China Central TV) and the Malaysian Olympics organizing committee.

361° marked a milestone in the history of sports sponsorship as it became the main sponsor of the 2012 Guangzhou Asian Games, and with this, was able to accelerate the globalization of its brand. That was because it was the first case of a Chinese brand becoming the main sponsor of the international sporting event, outrunning global competitors. 361° provided broadcasting systems to CCTV (China Central TV), and at the same time, enlightened Chinese people about the Olympic spirit and sportsmanship during the 2012 London Olympics. It moved one step closer to becoming a global brand through its sponsorship of the 2014 Brazil World Cup. Finally, its twelve years of effort came to fruition at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, through which it made itself known to 7 billion people around the world, beyond China and Asia.

Moreover, 361° is putting great effort into online marketing that targets its main customer base - young people aged between 20 and 40. In addition to its collaboration with QQ, provided by the biggest Chinese IT company Tencent (騰訊), it promotes full-scale marketing campaigns and online events through its own online sports community, and in doing so, builds brand loyalty among its customers. Furthermore, it holds big online events to propagate the Olympic spirit, the spirit of the Asian Games, and sportsmanship to promote the importance of sports and distinguish itself from its competitors.

Meanwhile, 361° has continued with a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) program titled One Cares One that donates a pair of shoes to children for every pair of shoes sold. Through this, it has gained a good image, providing customers with an easy way to make a donation and help others. 361° has now expanded the scope of its program.

Plus, it launched products for social contribution on the online e-commerce site, JD (http://onecaresone.jd.com) and created an extra web site (http://onecaresone.com/), as part of its CSR program to encourage the participation of various celebrities. It builds public trust, and at the same time, makes its own story as it posts the history of donations, and provides pictures showing how the program is carried out online and through SNS channels.

As a matter of fact, China is more interested in sports than any other country, with its people enjoying a wide range of sporting activities such as basketball, table tennis, badminton, football and swimming. From a young age, sports are being taught to Chinese children, and that is the reason that many local brands were launched in the Chinese market since the 1990s, asides global brands like Nike and Adidas.

Sporting goods makers in China expanded their businesses in a rather rapid manner, riding on big sporting events hosted in China, including the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. The boom in the Hong Kong stock market in 2009 also played a factor in their growth, but hasty expansion caused slowdown in growth and dead stock from 2012. Unlike global giants Nike and Adidas, known for their consistent investment in R&D, they focused on selling products, and as a result, failed to keep up with the trends in the sports industry with technological innovation and brand power became new, core competencies.

Lining(李宁) once added a new dimension to its brand, as its founder himself lit the Olympic flame at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but it had to make a massive cut in the number of staff members in 2012. Many other brands also had to downsize their business by closing stores, merging with other brands and deferring construction of production bases due to a rapid decrease in sales and an increase in dead stock, thus changing their ambitious plans and vision.