LI-NING unveiled a new logo and slogan Wednesday in a relaunch of China's dominant domestic sporting goods apparel brand timed to coincide with its 20th anniversary.


Founder and former Chinese Olympic gymnist Li Ning appeared Wednesday to personally unveil the company's new logo and slogan at Li-Ning's Beijing headquarters. A large group will gather at the LI-NING Centre to celebrate the launch including LI-NING Company executives, investors, representatives from each of LI-NING's five gold medal-winning teams, and many other VIP guests.

 

The brand relauch follows three years of intense market resarch into the maturity cycle of the market, industry growth drivers, competition landscape analysis and positioning and consumption trends, the LI-NING brand proactively adopted a re-invention approach.

LI-NING's new slogan is “Make The Change.” The new logo displays a modern interpretation of the iconic attributes of the original logo in a modern design language that spells out a global perspective. Not only has the new logo narrated the rich visual heritage of the classic “LN” symbol, it has also abstractly outlined the “Li Ning Cross” gymnastic posture invented by Li Ning.


The new logo also resembles the shape of the Chinese character “Ren,” which means people, encouraging everybody to express and actualize himself through sports. It features a cleaner cutting to convey a tough, motion- and energy-rich silhouette. The new slogan “Make The Change” is adapted from a new brand manifesto that speaks out the evolution from “dare to think” to “dare to do,” encouraging everybody to embrace changes and breakthroughs. It is a calling to a new breed of consumers, the “Generation 1 Creators.”

“We believe the Generation 1 Creators have been born,” said Mr. Zhang Zhiyong, CEO of the Group. “This is what initiated our urge for a change. These people have global visions. They love innovations. They demand high product quality. They are giving new meanings to sports. To gain their recognition, we need to become more sensitive, more refreshed, more energetic and have stronger personalities. The LI-NING brand and all young people are eager to express and actualize themselves. We are communicating with them in a new language. People will gradually notice that the LI-NING brand is gradually evolving into a young chap with light-hearted wit, who is true to life, curious and inventive!”


Li Ning advertising will now focus on the company's evolution since the 1990s. During that period the company systematically upgraded its sports events planning, geographic planning and product research, development and design.


On Wednesday, the company also unveiled new product collections that carry rich new features: the “Athletic Pro” collection of top-notch sports equipment for professional athletes, the multi-function “Urban Sports” collection for light urban sports, the all-orange-color “Brand Heritage” collection that illustrates the brand equity, and the “Crossover” collection that collaborates local and foreign design talents.

The original logo and the legacy “Anything is Possible” slogan of the LI-NING brand are not retiring. They will become part of the Group's brand assets and be appropriately deployed.