Leading Chinese baijiu maker Wuliangye has leveraged the FIFA World Cup to launch a series of themed marketing campaigns that have generated an enthusiastic market response, driving robust sales during what is traditionally the industry's off-season.
The World Cup marketing campaign features a range of interactive initiatives, including a championship prediction game with a prize pool worth a total of 10 million yuan, mystery boxes of eight champion countries, and auctions of World Cup co-branded liquor products.
The initiatives reflect a deeper transformation in Wuliangye's sports-related marketing strategy, shifting from conventional event sponsorship and short-term promotional efforts toward a systematic approach that includes product co-creation and cultural integration.
By combining its millennia-old brewing craftsmanship with the world's premier sporting events, Wuliangye has been exploring new paths for cross-sector marketing between fine liquors and sports.
The campaign has fostered product innovation and expanded consumption scenarios while tapping into growing public enthusiasm for sports. It has also provided an effective pathway for rejuvenating the Chinese baijiu brand and enhancing its global appeal.
According to information disclosed by Wuliangye, the co-branded product portfolio centered on the 8th-generation Wuliangye World Cup Edition has generated cumulative sales of 1.6 billion yuan. The World Cup marketing campaign has attracted four million new users to the liquor brand, with consumers aged under 35 accounting for 40 percent of the total.
"Traditionally, baijiu sales enter the off-season after May, but this year sales have seen continued growth instead," said a liquor distributor in Chengdu.
During the World Cup period, Wuliangye launched a range of World Cup-related official co-branded products, building a multi-tiered product coverage that caters to both high-end collectors and public consumers.
The collaboration between Wuliangye and the World Cup has not only boosted retail sales and helped ease channel inventory pressure, but also helped reshape its brand image beyond business banquets toward younger and more internationalized products with diversified consumption scenarios amid the industrial adjustment cycle, said industry insiders.
Looking ahead, Wuliangye said it will continue to respond to evolving consumer demand by advancing coordinated innovation in both products and brand culture. Through a brand narrative that resonates with contemporary consumers, the company aims to showcase the craftsmanship and cultural confidence of Chinese baijiu to global markets. (Edited by Li Xueqing with Xinhua Silk Road, lixueqing@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
