Asics No Longer Blindly Pursues The Sports Foundation Of Millennials Returning To Professional Running

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the brand, the Japanese sports product group Asics has formulated a new marketing strategy: gradually returning the strategic focus from pursuing the lifestyle of millennial consumers to the sports foundation of professional running.

At the end of 2017, Asics reached a cooperation agreement with American DJ, record producer and fashion designer Steve Aoki to launch the "I MOVE ME" marketing campaign (the latter has 8.4 million fans on Twitter and 7.3 million on Instagram). At that time, Asics said that the purpose of this cooperation was to lay the tone for the new brand image and concept of Asics - to express themselves through the collision of culture and sports, and to attract young consumers who are not runners.

However, Sarah Bishop, vice president of marketing department of Asics, said recently: "Although the brand and Steve Aoki are still good friends, they will not continue to cooperate. We are returning to the foundation of running."

In order to better convey the new marketing strategy of Asics, Sarah Bishop will cooperate with Gene McCarthy, an industry veteran. The latter has 21 years of industry experience in Nike, Under Armour and other brands, and joined Asics America three years ago as president and CEO.

Gene McCarthy said: "Cooperation with Steve Aoki is part of the company's expansion of brand and wider audience relations, so we have appointed Steve Aoki, an opinion leader with cultural influence. But our goal is to regain the largest market share of running shoes. I will organize and build a world-class team, including the new Vice President of Sales who will join in April. "

Gene McCarthy said: "The running culture has a natural connection with the Asics brand, and we hope to win back market share. If we have done so in the past, we will be able to achieve this goal again."

According to the data of NPD, an American consulting company, Brooks, the American sports brand, currently occupies the largest market share in the special category of running, reaching 23%. Asics declined to disclose its brand's market share.

In November 2018, it was reported that the net sales of Asics in the first nine months of fiscal year 2018 fell 4.7% year on year to 295.68 billion yen, the operating profit fell 37.1% year on year to 15.36 billion yen, and the net profit fell 47.55% year on year to 8.288 billion yen. Among them, the sales volume in the Americas fell 17.8% year on year to 67.67 billion yen. Affected by low sales and higher cost of sales ratio, the US division lost 958 million yen.

In order to turn the situation around, Asics has revised its five-year strategic plan to focus on the performance of the U.S. market, accelerate the growth of the Chinese market, develop digital business, and strive to transform the clothing business into a profitable growth business. Asics regards the US market as a key priority area and launches new running shoes such as Gel-Kayano 25, HyperGel and Gel-Nimbus 21.

Sarah Bishop said: "This year, many models of these traditional running shoes have been updated in color and shoe type. Asics America is also strengthening cooperation with elite runners such as Emma Bates, Allie Kieffer and Olympian Deena Kastor to try to make them talk with consumer groups, of which women account for 60%. At the end of the first quarter of this year, the brand will launch an initiative focusing on women's empowerment. "

In addition, Asics will continue to sponsor Live Nation, the world's largest concert entertainment company, and become the exclusive shoe sponsor of specific venues and music festivals in the United States and Canada. However, Asics will no longer sponsor the New York City Marathon. The two sides have cooperated for 25 years. The cooperation agreement ended in 2018, and the sponsor is now replaced by New Balance.

But this does not mean that Asics is ready to leave the lifestyle field completely. When asked about the performance proportion of brand functional product business and lifestyle business, Gene McCarthy pointed out: "All our products are functional products, but consumers will also choose to wear them as lifestyle products."

Sarah Bishop added: "We will continue to cooperate with outstanding creative people such as London designer Kiko Kostadinov, who have redesigned some core shoes of the Asics brand."