ISPO CONNECT | The KOLs and communities you've booked are about to go live. Are you ready?

China has over 660 million social media users, and more than 50% of Chinese consumers search for product reviews on social media before making a purchase. Currently, 70% of consumers are from the post-95 generation, who prefer to shop via social media channels. According to research by Boston Consulting Group, retailers in China will struggle to succeed without leveraging KOLs to influence consumers.

Over the years, the influence of KOL-driven sales has become extraordinary. Seizing this opportunity, ISPO invited friends and industry leaders to gather at the SNOW 51 Ski Space in Shanghai on November 2nd for an industry salon titledISPO Connect .

The salon opened with a keynote speech by Thomas Loeffler, Chief Financial Officer for Greater China and Southeast Asia at Messe München (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Thomas introduced the upcoming preparations for ISPO Beijing 2019, exhibition area distribution, and the special 15th-anniversary celebration events to the attendees.

Next, Elena Jasper, Project Director of ISPO Beijing and ISPO Shanghai, took the stage to present ISPO’s new philosophy:B2B2KOL.

Sports expert = professional consumer + opinion leader

Brand budgets are shifting, with more promotional spending directed toward KOLs.

ISPO Beijing will launch a series of new activities at the 2019 exhibition forKOLandprofessional consumers:

• Inviting KOLs and professional consumers to the exhibition to help brands establish connections
• KOLs and professional consumers sharing product insights or consumption trends on stage

Finally, He Xiaoqing, Project Manager of ISPO Shanghai, previewed the planning details for ISPO Shanghai 2019 and introduced ISPO’s “Thousand Points Plan.” The 2019 ISPO Beijing and ISPO Shanghai dual exhibitions will collaborate with offline outdoor stores and retailers.At that time, the ISPO brand, events, and promotions will appear and create synergy in more physical retail locations. ISPO Shanghai will deepen its collaboration with Tmall to empower brands.

Based on the KOL and professional consumer topics introduced by ISPO, the participants focused on sharing their practices and insights on two key issues:

• What kind of products and services should be used to communicate with consumers?
• Through which channels can more KOLs be found?
  

Steven, Head of Outdoor Sports and Digital 3C at Xiaohongshu

Xiaohongshu’s current model is aSocialcommerce approach combining community and e-commerce. Keywords like skiing and diving can yield 10,000 and 40,000 pieces of content respectively in the community, but no related products can be found.We need stronger e-commerce matching. Currently, we need to “activate” users, gather them, and continuously generate content.

Roger Ren, General Manager of Shanghai Extreme Home

We have been working with ISPO since 2005. Our company shifted from offline to e-commerce six years ago, from print media to digital marketing three years ago, and from Weibo and WeChat to our current KOL cluster last year.This year, we plan to add more KOLs in various sports categories to the cluster.Xiaohongshu is our next target for maintaining consumer groups.Because I believe WOMEN Sports is the next iceberg of potential in sports consumption.

Thomas Kan, Regional Manager for PADI Greater China

Previously, we relied on the most traditional word-of-mouth approach, but it no longer fits China’s rapidly growing e-commerce trends. So two years ago, we focused onselecting a group of KOLs for the Chinese market.By collaborating with Ctrip, we conducted live training and certification courses, while also inviting their fans to join us for diving, which generated significant traffic.We hope to engage in cross-industry collaborations with other outdoor brands. Because we’ve found that although the product categories differ, the conversion rate among sports fans is very high.

Kaka, Founder of AiRanShao

Sports events or competitions have this characteristic:Most of the experiences take place offline, with too few online touchpoints. How can we connect these long-tail, scattered user interactions?Also, in the realm of endurance running, it has always been a small circle for many years, giving the impression that core participants are elite but with little change. We need to create events for the 5km to 30km mid-range,providing stepping stones for sports enthusiasts to level up, so they have the motivation to progress and form a closed loop.。

Peter, STC Coach

The triathlon in the U.S. has a history of about 30 years, but its development over those three decades could be described as slow. Most participants started out of an interest in the sport and gradually evolved into professional athletes. In China, however, the commercial development of events has greatly accelerated this process. I don’t think this development model is bad. But in terms of both the events and the equipment, the commercialized model and social media can easily lead to excessive marketing.I hope events will focus more on the participants themselves, deliver great experiences, and upgrade both software and hardware step by step.。

Li Jun, General Manager of Action Fox (Happy Fox)

We have been working with ISPO since 2005. We mainly produce functional outdoor hats. My feeling is that this market changes a lot. We started with mountaineering and hiking, and now it’s expanded to running, kayaking, diving (all kinds of Western sports). We found that in this field, functional aspects are too rigid and it's hard to tell a story. Later, by leveraging our own outdoor club, we beganproduct placement and created a series of cartoon-themed calendar products,which felt refreshing.So I hope to have the opportunity to integrate different IPs and create collaborative or trendy co-branded products.。

Rico Lee, Founder of RICO Lee

Currently, the core group of the outdoor community remains niche. Without new participants, it means losing vitality. We’ve also seen traditional outdoor brands experiencing a sharp decline in sales, while sports brands, trend-driven brands, and even fast fashion brands are rapidly rising. It can be said that from Europe to China, the outdoor industry is undergoinga shift in its consumer base.Actually, for ordinary consumers, it’s not that they dislike the outdoors, but they want to look cooler when wearing outdoor gear — in other words,their psychological and cultural needs are higher. The audience for trendy styles is far larger than that of core outdoor players.I think the outdoor industry shouldcultivate more of its own idols to attract a broader audience.。

Hugo, founder of TRICKCOO

Previously, we found that many consumers were not interested in outdoor brands, yet our professional fashion buyers pointed out that fashion brands could also possess outdoor attributes. That’s quite a dilemma. Consumers do indeed have a desire to embrace the outdoors, but brands shouldn’t overlook their need for style. So I believethe definition of sports fashion is: sportswear that looks good and performs functionally. I’ve always felt that fashion needs the warmth that the outdoors can provide..

Nuva, founder of Wushi (污师)

In the current era of mobile internet, there’s an information overload.Our output to users must include content, image, and story.. We integrate user scenarios, design approaches, brand narratives, and visual identity to create derivative products, while also reflecting these elements on the packaging of our designed products. This makes design a symbol that connects users with the brand story.Every vertical segment within sports has a demand for storytelling. Next, I think we can explore more co-branding collaborations.. There’s a lot of potential to be tapped here.

Grace Pi, head of Direction Kayak Club

Our business mainly focuses on two areas: team-building services and youth training programs. For the youth segment, we have a KOL program where, through partnerships with online platforms, retail stores, and other channels, we invite 2,000 to 3,000 children to experience kayaking offline. From those 2,000 to 3,000 kids, we then identify core targets and further provide growth opportunities for them. Essentially, we use the water activities as a platform, while adding more value through other means. For example, we establish parent groups,which adds a social aspect to the sport..

Anda,founder of Black Eyes Humanistic Travel (ioutside)

I think humanistic experiences and the concept of the outdoors should be integrated in diverse ways.When it comes to KOLs, I believe they should be more than just traffic drivers—they should primarily be content creators. For example, when promoting our Silk Road travel routes, we partnered with the Dunhuang Painting Academy. We filmed their painting process and turned it into video content for distribution.

Denys, head of ScubaCrew diving club

In today’s multi-channel media environment, the demand for KOLs across various sectors has increased significantly. But in terms of KOLs’ ability to drive sales, traditional outdoor sports collaboration methods aren’t very effective.We prefer content-based collaborations. The planning and packaging of KOL marketing should be more comprehensive. At the same time, KOLs themselves should be more segmented..

Shelly, Brand Director of Ellefit

Currently, our main focus is on three areas: celebrity videos, brand collaborations, and developing the Ellefit Membership program.What makes someone a KOL? Anyone who can translate professional content into something simple and easy for the general public to understand can be a KOL..

Acknowledgements

Event Venue Sponsor

SNOW51 brings the Austrian world-champion ski school’s curriculum, equipment, and coaches to Shanghai, allowing you to experience professional skiing in the city. It also creates a one-stop professional skiing space, serving as your first step toward conquering the snowy mountains.