The weather that day was like what Li Shangxiong did not remember. The only thing I remember was the marketing problem of truck companies.
The head of Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck went to Beijing for a business trip. During the chat, the factory manager complained that their companies had to go to all parts of the country to carry out exhibitions every year for the sales promotion activities of the products. The activities were old-fashioned, there was no new idea, and the media lacked interest. The dissemination work is particularly bad and does not appeal to users. He asked if there is a good way to innovate and replace? However, Li Shangxiong did not have a good solution at that time.
Coincidentally, after watching a car race, Li Shangxiong believed that there were many similarities between the trucking company's sales tour and the car tour competition. If the two companies were to be able to combine the two, they would have both communication and appreciation. Participation in this kind of contest with product promotion is refreshing.
The players participating in truck competitions are generally truck drivers. The competition will become a “test drive†for new products, and product promotion will receive better results. However, according to the traditional way of competition, the costs of the player-owned racing and the participation fees will all be high. Li Shangxiong lowers the threshold, the racing car must be provided by the sponsors, and the player's participation fee is borne by the organizer and the players are eliminated. Worry.
The promised thing must be done
The National Truck Contest has been held for four consecutive years. The same event, the same sponsor, in his eyes, this continuation gives Li Shangxiong the reason to make a truck contest a brand. He remembered that when the second truck race came to a close, Yuchai's boss and Dongfeng Liu Automobile's boss took his hand and said, "Thank you, thank you, and gave us such a good publicity opportunity." The gratitude is sincere, and Li Shangxiong is also well deserved. He does not squander corporate money.
Li Shangxiong's tall figure and his many years of experience in journalism gave him some refined qualities. The truck contest kicked off with the signing of contracts with sponsors and the start of the race. Every step taken was devoted by Li Shangxiong. Li Shangxiong had a keen business observation. Just after the 2006 truck contract was signed at the National Truck Race, he was met by a very accidental chance to meet the female driver Zhu Rong of the Yalun Racing Team.
After two hours of talks, the planning of creating a beauty team consisting entirely of female racing drivers to compete in the National Motorsports Championship has already taken shape in his mind. Li Shangxiong captured the business opportunities. He immediately called Wang Feng, the general manager of Linglong Tire. Wang was always his best friend. He was fully aware of Delong’s needs in market promotion. The entire project took less than 45 days to meet with Zhu Xi, project planning, and project confirmation until the opening of the press conference.
In addition to efficiency, Li Shangxiong knows how to trace the source.
Last year, Li Shangxiong led his think-tank to Le Mans, the sanctuary of the International Truck Contest. It is the final venue of the FIA ​​European Cup. There, Li Shangxiong and his team were infected by the rich cultural atmosphere of the European Truck Contest. The French audience will help the old and young and take pains to fully enjoy the cultural feast brought by the truck contest in three days.
"I'm going to do this truck race too," said Li Shangxiong, who couldn't help himself from his excitement and expressed his happiness and excitement to his companions. "I know that I want to have a big truck race. Such a truck race will only be possible." It is the way out for our China Truck Contest.†So this year’s truck competition was to be popular, popular, and entertaining, so that more audiences would participate in the truck competition.
Media dissemination is an important part of the value increase of sports events, allowing more audience and readers who are not on the scene to understand the progress of the contest and spread its influence. A sports event that lacks media communication support will greatly reduce the return on investment of its sponsors. Li Shangxiong’s solution is to seize the core issues and ensure that no accidents occur in every aspect of communication: “The promised things must be done, and the things that cannot be done are absolutely unacceptable.†This is his consistent principle of doing things.
In the industry you are familiar with
More than ten years of experience in the automotive media made Li Shangxiong well aware of the industry and was naturally sensitive to the market, which made him start the business in this industry. The first project that Li Shangxiong and his team took over was the National Truck Contest.
Based on his understanding of the foreign truck competition, he decided to organize China's own truck competition. His planning has received the attention of the sales manager of Dongfeng Liuzhou Automobile Company. When everything is ready, a very tricky thing has happened.
The sales manager of Dongfeng Liuzhou Automobile called and told Li Shangxiong that the upper floor decided not to make the truck competition project. At that time, it was a weekend. A press conference was held on the following Monday. When Li Shangxiong heard the news, he was paralyzed. The two sides did not sign an agreement. Anxious and frustrated, Li Shangxiong only patiently persuaded the other party and tried to cancel the various drawbacks of the event and eventually persuaded the other party.
The entire process of preparing for the truck race is difficult. In the process of negotiations with sponsors, there are also many twists and turns. Because of the details, the negotiation with Dongfeng Liuzhou Auto entered a stalemate stage. At this time, it was suggested that he could start with another sponsor, Yuchai Group. If he first negotiated with Yuchai, the negotiation of Dongfeng Liuqi would be even more successful. Good progress.
The experience of hurrying through the night was thrilling for Li Shangxiong. The Panshan Road in Guangxi Province had no streetlights and slight mistakes. Fortunately, Li Shangxiong went safely to the Yuchai Group. In the course of the negotiations, the other party put forward a requirement that Li Shangxiong could not do. If he did not agree, negotiations would definitely be deadlocked. The things that cannot be done absolutely cannot be promised. This is the attitude of Li Shangxiong at that time, and it is clear that his attitude of doing this has impressed the sponsors and eventually signed an agreement.
As a marketer, he never thought how difficult it was to create a project. However, as a leader of a team, he deeply felt that it was difficult to fully lead a team. A team of dozens of people have different ideas. How to organize this team and make it effective can be a problem that Li Shangxiong puts in front of him. It also prompts him to make up for it from his constant learning and experience. This lesson. After the signing of the truck race agreement, Li Shangxiong has discovered new business opportunities. Based on the separation between the Chinese racing industry and companies, he believes that market awareness should be brought into the racing world to achieve a win-win situation for both businesses and racers.
The transformation of a role from a market person to an organization manager requires a process. Li Shangxiong believes that this process is not only a learning process, but also a process of changing concepts. How to apply the ability to grasp the market to the management of the organization, make good use of everyone, and achieve the maximization of the role of the organization are issues that he urgently needs to solve.
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The truck race, which originated in the United States in the late 1970s and originated mainly in the oval race track, was introduced on the European road race in the early 1980s. In 1993, the FIA ​​established its own "truck competition" including annual In 8-10 rounds of competition in at least 6 countries, the main competitors came from no fewer than 10 European countries and became the second series of successful FIA events in Europe.
Europe has four national truck championship series; France, Britain, Spain and Finland, while Mexico and Brazil have their own, highly competitive and very attractive series.
The expansion of international television coverage in the past three years and the construction of many new tracks around the world have strengthened interest in truck competitions around the world, such as the Middle East, China and Africa, as well as mature markets such as Japan and the United States.
In the nearly 30-year span of the truck race, it has changed from "In this game you bring anything from your haulage/transport company, garage or junkyard can play, and there is a level for everyone" Today's mature, more professional, security-oriented series.
The truck race is currently at the crossroads leading to a bigger and better future. This is based on the competition truck type becoming a single game level, and it is more and more likely to promote this sport all over the world.