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Shoemaker steps up game with NBA player
By Herman Wong (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-02-11 06:28
HONG KONG: The latest in basketball footwear will be modelled by the NBA's elite at next week's 2006 NBA All-Star weekend and for the first time, a Chinese footwear company will be making strides in the sports shoe showcase.
Damon Jones |
The world's top sports brands will be sported from February 17 to 19: signature Nikes on Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, Adidas on Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady, and Reeboks worn by Allen Iverson and Yao Ming.
These stars will be playing in this year's game, which will be broadcast in more than 200 countries and regions across the globe.
But there's another player making his mark at the basketball showdown in Houston, Texas.
Cleveland Cavalier Damon Jones will go as a spectator, but mostly as the first NBA ambassador of the China's largest sports footwear and apparel maker, Li-Ning.
By recruiting Jones, Li-Ning, founded by and named after China's Olympic gymnastic gold medallist, is making its first major appearance on a pair of NBA feet this year.
Extending its efforts to gain international and professional credibility for its brand, Li-Ning recently signed Jones to a two-year contract to endorse the company's shoes and apparel.
With Jones, Li-Ning has acquired a basketball star known as much for his outsized personality as his three-point shooting. For Jones, this is a unique opportunity to parlay his love of overstatement into profit.
Fittingly, Jones described the endorsement arrangement with Li-Ning in grand terms during a telephone interview with China Daily.
"Being the first player to market these shoes and being different from everybody else who wears Nikes and Reeboks, I'm kind of a trendsetter," he said.
"I'm kind of a pioneer of sorts, trying to bridge that gap between the United States and China."
In a written statement, Li-Ning's CEO, Zhang Zhiyong, called the contract "a jump-off point" for Li-Ning to enter one of the world's top commercial events.
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