TCL Well-Prepared for May Day Golden Week with China Women's Tennis Team

TCL Well-Prepared for May Day Golden Week with China Women's Tennis Team

April 26th,2007

Mr. Li Dongsheng, president of the TCL Corporation, visited the China Women's Tennis Team whose members were preparing for the upcoming French Open Tennis Championships and endowed them with a variety of sporting good products for their training in the Chengdu Tennis Training Camp in the afternoon of April 21st.

During the visit, the leader in Chinese tennis, Miss Sun Jinfang director of the National Tennis Sport Administration Centre bestowed the "Distinguished Figure in the Promotion and Development of Chinese Tennis" award to Mr. Li Dongsheng, in order to honour him and his TCL Corporation for their contributions to Chinese tennis.

Three top players in the China Women's Tennis Team Zheng Jie, Yan Zi and Li Na also participated in the award ceremony. It is believed by the industrial players that this visit marks the grand launch of TCL's Tennis Marketing Strategy before May Day Golden Week.

It's reported that yesterday's award ceremony was the first public appearance of the two parties after the sponsorship agreement signing ceremony between TCL and the China Women's Tennis Team. Having just received the award of "Distinguished Figure in the Promotion and Development of Chinese Tennis" from the Chinese Tennis Association (CTA), Mr.

Li Dongsheng said that in order to encourage the Chinese Tennis players to further enhance their skills and make even greater achievements in this sport, the TCL Corporation is planning to endow special bonuses to reward the players of the China Women's Tennis Team. It is said that the bonus will be RMB 300 thousand for the champions of the four tennis Grand Slam games and RMB 500 thousand for the champions of the future Olympic Games.

After the award ceremony, Mr. Li Dongsheng personally played tennis with the members of the China Women's Tennis Team to boost their spirits before the French Open Tennis Championships. At the end of the event, Mr. Li encouraged the players to set high goals for themselves and to make fabulous achievements. He wished them good luck in defending their championship in the doubles tennis games and in striving for medals in the singles tennis games, and hoped they would create a new page in the history of Chinese tennis in next year's Beijing Olympic Games.

During the May Day Golden Week, TCL will launch large promotional events with the theme of tennis all over the country. Chengdu is only the first stop chosen by Mr. Li Dongsheng and he will later personally visit other cities to supervise the trainings.

In addition to its close cooperation with the China Women's Tennis Team, TCL will fully penetrate into the tennis sports for further implementation of its tennis marketing strategy. It's known that the "TCL Tennis Program" is also under planning and preparation, which include sponsoring the ITF International Men's Tennis Championship and promoting the "Tennis Grassroots Movement" among common people.

This February, TCL signed a 3-year strategic cooperation agreement with CTA on the basis of their common understanding regarding the mutual rights of and interests in the sponsorship, including the use of identity, media promotion, and player endorsement. Regarding why he chose to sponsor the China Women's Tennis Team, Mr.

Li Dongsheng said that for the past few years, the China Women's Tennis Team has made a breakthrough in this sport traditionally dominated by Western countries. Simultaneously, and by way of close identification, the TCL Corporation has become a strong competitor respected by other companies in the highly-competitive global market of consumer electronics and both China Women's Tennis and TCL are uprising Chinese powers on the world stage.

Many times in the past, Mr. Li has expressed the belief that the China Women's Tennis Team and TCL are mirror images of each other. Both parties share a common spirit, character, pursuit, and eagerness for victory. Tennis and the spirit of the China Women's Tennis Team are the best representations of the TCL brand and product image as well as its corporate spirit.

Tennis games feature devotion, progressiveness, passion and innovation, just like the TCL brand name: China's women's tennis players are fearless and persevering, just like the corporate spirit of TCL and tennis games are elegant, healthy and fashionable, and its players are always seeking to be the best they can be just like the lifestyle TCL advocates as well.

As the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games approach, sporting goods marketing has gradually become one of TCL's core marketing strategies. In fact, 2007 is the 11th year of TCL Corporation's implementation of its sports marketing strategy. Back in 1996, TCL signed an agreement of cooperation with the China Women's Volleyball Team and then chief coach of the national team Lang Ping (with the favorable nickname "Iron Hammer") who had become TCL's spokeswoman.

Beginning in 2002, TCL sponsored four consecutive sessions of the PGA European Tour. As part of its globalization strategy, TCL has gradually expanded the range of its sports marketing to overseas markets. In Australia, TCL sponsored local and popular horse races, baseball and rugby games. In Thailand, TCL sponsored the Game of Go contests and the re-broadcasting of Germany's World Cup.

In India, TCL became a sponsor of its cricket games.

Nowadays, TCL is casting its perceptive marketing insight upon the rapidly-growing sport of tennis in China. At present, the tennis playing population in China has expanded quickly. And the public interest, attention and attraction caused by tennis have resulted in an excellent marketing opportunity that will not be missed and this phenomenon was also at the heart of TCL's choice of tennis.

TCL's present sponsorship of the China Women's Tennis Team, in aspects of not only grade and funding but also influence, is so far the most important sports sponsorship program in the company's history. This move is not only a bold stroke in TCL's sporting goods and Olympic Games marketing strategy, but it also establishes a large platform for the corporation's overall brand management and marketing promotion.

On this new platform, TCL trumpets in its promotional campaign for this year's May Day Golden Week in advance: to carry out promotional activities with the theme of "Get your Grand Slam of TCL products, Get your Tennis Gifts", in which consumers, when buying TCL products, have the chance of being presented with souvenir tennis balls, T-shirts, rackets, and other sporting goods with the signatures of the championship China Women's Tennis Team.