TCL Corporation President Li Dongsheng appointed Vice-President of the Chinese Tennis Committee

TCL Corporation President Li Dongsheng appointed Vice-President of the Chinese Tennis Committee

December 19th,2007

On December 17th, 2007, in Huizhou, after receiving the "Outstanding Contributor to the Development of Chinese Tennis" award in February, TCL Corporation president Li Dongsheng was formally appointed vice-president of the Chinese Tennis Committee. National Tennis Management Center Vice President Gao Shenyang personally handed the letter of appointment to Mr Li at TCL's Huizhou headquarters.

This appointment signifies that TCL Corporation's strategic collaboration with the Chinese women's tennis team has entered a new phase of development, in addition to marking a comprehensive "upgrade" of TCL's sports marketing strategy.

At the awards ceremony, the National Tennis Management Center Vice President Gao Shenyang thanked TCL Corporation's President Li Dongsheng for his continuous support to the national women's tennis team and commented, "TCL, a newly formed Chinese power, strongly supported the fast developing Chinese women's tennis team to play efficiently, and increase its international standing, as well as continuously pouring energy into the Chinese tennis industry's long term development plan."

When asked to comment on his appointment, Li Dongsheng replied, " I feel extremely honoured to have been chosen for this remarkable position. Together with the whole of TCL Corporation, I will do my very best to support the Chinese tennis team's career development, as well as to properly implement all duties involved in the position of China Tennis Committee's Vice President, so as to usher in a new era of sincere strategic cooperation between the two parties.

" He also pointed out that the common tennis term "doubles" and his company's management strategy could both be traced back to exactly the same origins: "doubles" reflects the whole team's understanding and skills, which means not only that the team members cooperate closely, but they also embody a perfect balance between mental and physical effort.

This same kind of enthusiasm is shared by TCL Corporation, which has always strived to reflect its continuously improving results through its production and business sense, stemming from an active participation in both the domestic and international markets.

In the past few years the Chinese women's tennis team has achieved breakthroughs in sporting events in which Western countries traditionally dominated. TCL Corporation has also managed to become an awe-inspiring leading competitor at a time when the competition is extremely fierce in the global consumer electronics industry.

The women's tennis team and TCL have become two powerful new Chinese forces on the global stage. President Li Dongsheng repeatedly mentioned that the Chinese tennis team and TLC are excellent reflections of each other. The two parties are of one accord in terms of spirit, character, aspirations and their common thirst for success.

Tennis as a sport in general, and the spirit of the Chinese women's tennis team in particular, are the best reflections of TCL's brand image, product image and company culture. Tennis as a sport is focused and full of passion and initiative, just like TCL's brand; all the members of the Chinese women's tennis team are respected and never cease in their efforts to succeed, just as in TCL's company culture; the Chinese women's tennis team is outstanding, healthy, stylish and striving for quality results, just as in the lifestyle that TCL promotes.

Nowadays, the tennis player and fan base is growing at an unbelievable pace, and the sport is managing to attract a large number of fans who are more interested and focused than ever. This process is turning tennis into a major business. Tennis is undoubtedly a key mainstream sport, and its image is very consistent with TCL Corporation's multinational image; this is the main reason TCL decided to sponsor tennis.

All the members of the TCL Chinese women's tennis team were invited to visit TCL Corporation's factory and operational base in Huizhou. In order to positively prepare for the 2008 event, encourage the team members, and to win honour for the Chinese sporting spirit, TCL Corporation and the Tennis Committee arranged a "Special Project".

This project consisted of an invitation for the Tian'anmen National Flag Squad to come to Huizhou and hold a flag raising ceremony of special significance. The Chinese women's tennis team remarked, "We were deeply inspired by this, and it was a good psychological encouragement for our 2008 match preparation".

That afternoon, the team members were trained in PR and their future interactive relationship with the media, which contributed to a further development in the team's international image and taught them useful PR skills. This is just part of TCL's continuous strategic cooperation plan with the Chinese women's tennis team.

TCL has a long history of successful participation in sports marketing campaigns. Sport campaigns have in fact become one of TCL's main strategies and have been utilized for around 11 years now. At present, TCL's marketing vision is focused on the development of Chinese tennis as a sport. In February this year, TCL signed a three-year strategic collaboration agreement with the Chinese Tennis Committee, and reached a common understanding on sponsorship in terms of the use of logos, media promotion, spokespersons, and so on.

At the same time, TCL Corporation has provided funds to encourage the Chinese women's tennis team. In the future, each of the four tennis "Grand Slam" champions will be awarded RMB300,000 (including coaches), while each Olympic champion will receive RMB500,000 (including coaches). For the important 2008 Olympic Games year, the strategic cooperation between TCL and the Chinese women's tennis team will be elevated to a higher level through branding integration and the resulting social impacts and effects.

When the Chinese women's tennis team compete at the Australian Open Tennis Championship in January, TCL Corporation will cooperate through a series of marketing strategies, as well as organizing for the fans to travel to Australia to support the Chinese women's tennis team at close quarters.

TCL president Li Dongsheng's new position as the Committee Vice-President marks an important success in TCL's sports marketing strategy. In terms of the team's overall promotional platform, the cooperation between these two international forces and their daily contribution to the field has resulted in a wave of creativity, producing a comprehensive and important effect on their respective fields.

In line with this policy, TCL is planning to hold consumer feedback activities over the New Year period, so as to encourage the Chinese women's tennis team and gain a picture of public reaction to the collaboration, as well as welcoming the 2008 Chinese sports year together.