Fantasy Marketing Strategy for Fantasy Sports in China

A couple of months ago I applied to a conference and one of the questions on the application was:

"You are introducing a good or service into the American or Chinese market. What is this product and how would you market it?"

Conveniently, I had just finished a class where the goal of the whole semester was to write a business plan. Building upon the marketing strategy I had written for the business plan, I wrote this on the conference application:

Many of the current foreign business ventures into China have concentrated on the new rich and expatriate populations in China, leaving much of the Chinese market untapped. An online fantasy sports’ game has broad appeal as well as being accessible to a variety of income and age groups, making it an ideal product to introduce to the Chinese market, where sports like basketball and soccer have boomed in popularity. For online fantasy sports to succeed in China, the marketing strategy needs be as broad as its target audience.

The online marketing strategy will aim to target sports fans across China as accurately as possible. Chinese sites that feature sports content or are popular with Chinese sports fans will be used to promote the product. Advertisements on social media sites such as RenRen, Youku and Tudou, can easily target sports fans because of the open sharing of personal information on these sites. Keyword triggered advertisements on Chinese search engines and ecommerce sites such as Baidu, Souku and Taobao will ensure that those who show an interest in sports hear about fantasy sports.

In order to put fantasy sports into the hearts and minds of Chinese sports fans, it is necessary to create a physical presence as well as an online presence. An additional marketing strategy will be the creation of fantasy sports tournaments and leagues at brick and mortar locations that Chinese sports fans gather at. The best example of such a location, are the many university campuses across China. Reaching out to the competitive college sport fan through the creation of inter and intra university competitions will build a fantasy sports in a large and impressionable audience.

The key to fantasy sports’ success is the intelligent targeting of Chinese sports fans through the creation of an online and physical presence that will put the game into the forefronts of the fans’ minds. The eventual goal of the marketing strategy is to build a self sustaining culture of fantasy sports similar to the one in the United States.