In January of this year, Chinese sportswear giant Li Ning opened its first overseas retail outlet. For the location of this flagship store, the company signalled their statement of intent by choosing Portland, Oregon, headquarters of both Nike and Adidas America. Additionally, at the end of June, Li Ning announced a complete revitalisation of its 20 year old brand, including changes to its iconic logo and slogan. The ambitions of the company have outgrown simply competing against Nike and Adidas in China; their eyes are now focused on a much greater challenge. With a goal of creating a global consumer brand name, Li Ning is hoping to achieve what no other Chinese company has yet accomplished.

Current Western consumer attitudes toward ‘Made in China’ products will make this a difficult task. Several years of bad press, reporting unsafe pet food, toys, toothpaste, milk powder, tires and dry wall, among other products, have left perceptions of Chinese goods at an all time low. Moreover, Li Ning will struggle to convince foreign consumers that its shoes and apparel are not merely imitations of Western brands. The company believes it is up to the task however, with Zhang Zhiyang, CEO of the Li Ning Group, vowing to leverage its 20 years of experience and “continue to innovate and improve the quality of its products while invigorating and highlighting its personality”.

The brand’s personality has always centred on Li Ning himself. In China, Li Ning is the original Olympic hero. At the 1984 Olympics he won six medals in gymnastics, including three individual gold – China’s first ever Olympic gold medals. He founded the eponymous company in 1990, quickly building it into China’s number one sportswear manufacturer, currently ranked by Forbes as the country’s 19th most valuable brand. While this core identity resonates in China among the 30 to 40 year old age group (who make up 50 per cent of the company’s sales), for foreign consumers, and younger Chinese, the Li Ning legend carries virtually no weight.

Therefore, earlier this summer Li Ning announced a comprehensive rebranding plan in order to better reposition the company not only in China, but on the global stage. Chairman Li Ning was on hand to promise, “The step we take today is a determined one that will take us to becoming a world-class brand as we integrate our resources in brand management, sports marketing, product designs, technological innovations and human resources onto a global platform."

The first change was to the brand’s well-known logo, thought to look too similar to Nike’s ‘swoosh’. The result was to simply break it into two pieces so it now more clearly represents a lower-case L and N. The company’s long-term slogan, ‘Anything is Possible’, also got the axe. Although it predates Adidas’ bizarrely similar ‘Impossible is Nothing’ by two years, Li Ning felt ‘Make the Change’ better suited the brand’s new direction. The most controversial part of the rebrand has been the new marketing campaign which, in China, dismisses Li Ning’s older customer base to chase younger consumers with the phrase ‘After 90 Li Ning, Make the Change’. On foreign shores Li Ning is using more traditional brand building methods by signing superstar athletes on apparel contracts, including NBA players Shaquille O’Neil and Baron Davis (pictured above).

Whether this ambitious strategy will work remains to be seen. Chinese companies should take heart from the fact that in the minds of Western consumers, ‘Made in Japan’ once also suggested low-quality knock-offs. By following the Japanese model – a commitment to continued innovation, astute marketing and sponsorship campaigns, product value and patience – Li Ning could be the first global Chinese brand of tomorrow.