淺談中國品牌體育賽事中的公共關系問題

摘要：從新千年初始至今，中國已經舉辦了大量的體育賽事，種類繁多、形式各樣、內容豐富。而其中最值得關注的當屬一些國際性的大型體育賽事，尤其集中在上海和北京兩大城市，比較著名的賽事有：F1中國大獎賽、上海網球大師賽、上海國際田徑黃金大獎賽、世界斯諾克上海大師賽、北京鐵人三項世界錦標賽、中國網球公開賽、北京國際馬拉松賽等。隨著中國體育市場開放程度越來越高，以及體育賽事運作管理行業的發展，未來更多的大型國際性體育賽事將會在中國建立起穩定的市場和運作機制，從而走上一條具有中國特色的體育賽事品牌化道路。從某種角度上看，一場大型的國際性體育賽事更像是一次大型的公共活動，在活動中協調各方關系，旨在為體育賽事創造更大的影響力。所以若要打造品牌體育賽事，公共關系將起著舉足輕重的作用。

關鍵詞：中國 體育賽事 品牌 公共關系

Since new century， China has held a great variety of sports events with various forms and abundant contents. Some large international sports events are worthy of greatest attention. Especially in Shanghai and Beijing， there are famous sports events including： F1 China Grand Prix，Shanghai ATP Masters， Shanghai Golden Grand Prix， World Snooker Shanghai Masters， Beijing Triathlon World Championship， China Open， and China International Marathon. In the future， along with increasing openness degree of Chinese sports market and development of operational management for sports events， more large international sports events will build up steady market and operational system in China， resulting in a branding road of sports event with Chinese characteristics. In certain angle， a large international sports event is more like a large public activity， in which relationships among various parties will be coordinated to create greater influencing power for the sports event. Therefore， the public relations will play a very important role in the creation of brand sports events.

1. The meaning of public relations application in sports

1.1 Public relations

There are many explanations for the concept of public relations. For example， according to the official definition of Public Relations Society of America on public relations， with the help of public relations， an organization and its public members can be adapted to each other. The famous scholar Ju Yanan has suggested that public relations refer to a kind of communication and persuasive activity that a social organization or public figures carry out to seek for understanding and cooperation of the public under the guidance of certain occupational ethics and rules. In the opinions of other people， public relations refer to a series of activities that an enterprise or team applies to meet the demand of environment and win over understanding， confidence and support from society by establishing a good image for the enterprise and team. Just as American public relations expert， Doctor Harlow has mentioned， as a unique management function， public relations can establish and maintain the relations of mutual benefit and reciprocity between an organization and various corresponding public people determining its success. Therefore， a good image can be built up among the public.

1.2 Sports public relations

According to definition of sports public relations in the book， written by American public relations scholar， G. Clayton Stoldt et al.， sports public relations belong to a management function based on communication， aiming to identify key public people in a sports organization， evaluate relations between sports organization and its public people， and encourage consensus relations between sports organization and these public people.

2. Sports event and public relations

2.1 Brand sports event and sports event public relations

Brand sports event refers to commercial sports event with very high popularity and fine reputation held at regular intervals and acknowledged by society and the public. There are various forms to apply public relations in sports， resulting in professional sports event public relations. Domestic sports event researcher， Professor Liu Qingzao has suggested that sports event public relations refer to the practice process that operational management organization of sports event obtains positive evaluation and sets up good event image by establishing harmonious relations between sports event and environment based on the communication with the environment. Only when we know the importance of sports event public relations， and complete public relations work well during the event period， we can create a brand sports event with long term social benefits and economic benefits.

2.2 Sports event public relations > sports event marketing

Just as mentioned before， sports event is a large public activity. Event operational management organization should communicate and coordinate with all interested parties， so the sport event can go on wheels. Event operational management organization should get on well with the following objects： owner of event， local governmental departments， athletes， media， audiences， sponsors， suppliers， and internal staffs. From the angle of marketing， if the sports event operational management organization is regarded as the principal part of sports event， the sports event is the product and value that the organization creates and exchanges with others. However， as a product， the sports event has its particularity. Due to too many interest relations therein and strong focus property， the whole dynamic process has instability and sudden， which may cause crisis at any time. The sports event marketing also has its particularity. Especially， in China with rapid development， the sports event marketing is also city marketing. As a calling card of a city， sports event can increase the popularity and find reputation of city and government. As a result， resources from various parties can be promoted to realize benefits maximization. Therefore， public relations will not only be a premise and key factor for the successful operation of sports event， but also be an effect measure for post-event evaluation. With importance is higher than sports event marketing， the marketing will not be successful without the guarantee of public relations.

2.3 Issues about public relations of sports event

Now， most sports events focus their attentions on sports event marketing， and regard public relations as a type of sports event marketing. Seen from some large international sports events in China， the event marketing is not mature enough， mainly focusing on the sales of sports products in certain event， including： entrance ticket of each competition， broadcasting right of event， top sponsor right， on-site signboard， and event souvenir. Although some events haveheld for several years， they mainly perform short term publicity before the event， and fail to carry out sufficient and constant follow-up publicity after the event. Meanwhile， these events usually last for several days. Therefore， the above situations are very disadvantageous for creating a brand. It is the same with the phenomenon that an enterprise sells the products to consumers， and consumers fail to get ideal after-sales service. Although in certain degree， sports event has no constant contact with consumers， it will influence consumer mind more or less. Therefore， the application of public relations should be paid attention to at any time， and the benefits of the public should be put in the first place. For example， after the completion of a sports event， the feedback from audiences can be found through mail query. The audiences who make timely feedback can obtain an event souvenir or half price discount coupon for the event entrance ticket of the next year. As a result， the event can be planned better on the basis of audiences opinions， and the brand can be remembered by audiences in their mind. Meanwhile， the customer database can be set up to cultivate the brand loyalty of audiences.

3. How to create brand sports event by means of public relations

3.1 Importance factors of brand sports event

3.1.1 CIS

CIS is short for Corporate Identity System. As an identify system of an enterprise， the theory of CIS regards the corporate image as a whole to perform construction and development. The components of CIS include corporatemind identity， corporate behavior identity， and corporate visual identity. The corporate image is an objective evaluation on comprehensive image that people obtain through the experiencing systematic character and feature of an enterprise due to their emotion and will. With the help of CIS， a sports event can set up a uniform image in the mind of people. A good image of sports event can not only maintain current audiences， but also make for opening potential market. Meanwhile， the cohesion of internal staffs can also be strengthened. However， CIS strategy is only an important factor for construction of event brand. Furthermore， as CIS strategy lay particular stress on the principal part， so it can only be regarded as the first step to create brand.

3.1.2 Unity of objective

A sports event， especially a large international sports event involves with various marketing and public relations activities. Integrated marketing demands that enterprises can transmit uniform information to customers. As a result， during the sports event， all activities should meet the first-level objective. Sports event operational management organization should complete internal public relations and coordinate work among various departments to guarantee that all links in the event follow the specified objective.

3.1.3 Principle of public first

As the core principle of public relations and core principle of crisis transmission management， the principle of public first is particular important to sports event. Seen from the angle that audiences buy entrance tickets and watch the event in the field， the sports event marketing is real experience marketing. During the whole process from ticket purchasing to the end of the event， the experience of audiences will directly influence their impression on this event. Consumers are both rational and perceptual. The sports event brings a spiritual enjoyment to the people. The consumers pay more attention to whether their demand on emotion and respect has been satisfied. The creator should follow the principle of public first to attract participation. As a result， the brand can enjoy popular support and the creator can achieve the effect.

3.1.4 Event influencing power

Commonly， the success of an event relies on whether it has enough influencing power. Of course， the influencing power here is positive. There are various factors promoting the influencing power of the event including： the event is an international event or a local event; whether the athletes participating in the event has popularity; event organization and event location; a series of publicity before the event held by operational organization including media advertising， professional event website and public relations activities. Of course， the short term influencing power is not enough to create a brand sports event. Especially， for large sports event with great expenditures， the period is very short. If the event really aims to enter the life of the public， the constant public relations activities after the event are very necessary to cultivate the loyalty of the public on the event.

3.1.5 External public relations

Sports event is particular. The sports event operational management organization must coordinate various interest relations at any time to guarantee the successful implementation of events. Good relation with media is particularly important for the event. In order to increase exposure ratio of sports event， the operational management organization should establish long term good cooperative relations with friends in media fields by offering relevant information of event initiatively and offering excellent service to media. The event sponsor is important cooperator of event operational management organization. The sponsoring plan of sports event should meet the fundamental key of the whole event. As a result， the sponsor will fully integrate to the event， and then the event sponsor and sports event will gain a win-win status. Therefore， the organization should perform good communication and coordination with sponsor. The crisis event is a common problem in sports event. The reasons for crisis are usually different. The crisis in sports event， especially in large event， has certain particularity， which means unpredictable and vast influence. As a result， sports organization should have professional knowledge to deal with crisis issue and establish long term cooperative relation with public relations companies.

3.2 The public relations problem during the branding process of Chinese sports event

3.2.1 The domestic and international hot issues should be paid attention to.

Industrial era brings huge environmental problem to our society， and information era also brings various problems to us. Current marketing stresses the sense of social responsibility in an enterprise. All enterprises should not only aim to earn profits. The enterprises themselves are a part of the whole society. Therefore， the enterprises should regard lofty missions including serving society， serving human beings and changing life as their core corporate culture to win respect and support from the public. All sports event should pay attention to the most concerned issues of the public， for the organization of a sports event will have influence on benefit of the nation and the people in the macro level， and have influence on environmental construction around the venues in the micro level. As the sports have no borders， a successful sports event can also win resonance from the world people. These thoughts are often reflected in a series of public relations activities held by sports event operational management organization including traffic construction problem based on the event and sports charitable evening party.

3.2.2 The cooperative relations between the organization and public relations companies

Due to unique whole country system in Chinese competitive sports， the sports event operational management organizations can not maintain their status for a long term， resulting in short term relations with public relations companies. Due to insufficient understanding between the two parties and insufficient confidence， the public relations companies can not perform their advantages. Now， public relations departments of many sports eventsin china are set inside the organization， named as activity departments or culture departments. Meanwhile， the public relations activities are usually regarded as auxiliary activities， separated from other marketing plans， or regarded as only a small part of marketing plan. The top principle of public relations is public first. If the public relations activities are carried out according to the marketing objective， the content of event culture can not transferred well. Furthermore， these kinds of public relations activities have no function on event marketing. Different from event marketing and sponsorship activities， public relations activities are behaviors of a long ter. Therefore， in order to create brand sports event， the organization should make efforts to establish long-term steady cooperative relations with public relations companies.

3.2.3 Protracted nature of sports event public relations

With protracted nature and bidirectional propagation， public relations activity is the best way to establish fine reputation for the brand. Current Chinese sports events are still in the stage of creating popularity. However， the popularity can not create the brand. The constant praise from various parties can be the brand asset of the event. Both the sponsor enterprises and event operational organizations usually pay attention to the period during the event. They only make great efforts in a short term. Therefore， the event can not obtain long term profound influencing power. The event operational organization fails to get profound knowledge about target public， and fails to develop potential market. Meanwhile， the public has low loyalty to the event. For example， F1 Grand Prix is regarded as a waste of money by many people. However， only the organization knows whether it is a waste of money. It is not because the event itself that it is not accepted by public people and remembered in mind by public people. The event organization should take steps to deal with relations with the public， for increasing influencing power of the event will drive the development of the event. For example， the development of tourism can be promoted， especially the commercial tourist， resulting in promotion of city marketing. Along with gradual changing educational view in China， the sports event public relations can focus on vaster students market by holding youngsters sports public benefits activities to establish good brand image， and develop and accumulate potential audiences. Now， the coverage rate of internet in China is very high. The effective network public relations activity is an effective way to master protracted nature， including cooperation with game website and sports benefit activities on the net.

3.2.4 Public relations in crisis of brand sports event

Along with the internationalization development of Chinese sports industry， the commercial meaning of sports event is stronger. Meanwhile， most crisis events are led to by excessive commercialization of sports events including： quitting of sponsors; quitting of athletes; cordial events; and blank whistle. In the information era， a little crisis event may likely damage the reputation of the whole sports event. Therefore， the organization must keep strong crisis consciousness at any time and possess the implementation capacity of public relations in crisis. Certainly， a great brand can not be created only based on the public relations. The equality， fairness and openness of the event are the most basic factor to success. The extreme bad public relations in Chinese football are not due to the shortage of professional talents. The huge industry is controlled by various parties. There are deep-rooted bad habits in personal moral issue and systematic issue. People can find the dawn of public relations in Chinese football competition when these issues are solved one day in future.

With important meaning to sports event， public relations can help event operational management organization to build up good event brand image， coordinate and communicate with social public， and guarantee the successful operation of event. Meanwhile， the effect of public relations plays a role of promotion to surrounding environment of the event. China starts to contact with international sports event in recent ten years， and tries to create its brand event. Sports event industry is also a new market for China. The famous marketing strategist in the world， AI Ries has suggested that public relations are the only means to create a brand and any other marketing means can not achieve this goal. In the era of relationship marketing and one-to-one marketing， public relations are the best channel to create a new brand and maintain an old brand.

(責任編輯：李孟明)