Brand Analysis and Strategies of the Chinese Table Tennis Super League Based on Porter’s Diamond Model

Background: Table tennis as a national sport is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in China. However, administrators have encountered challenges in their efforts to enhance the league brand.

Aim: Based on Porter’s Diamond Model, this paper analyzes the necessity of choosing brand strategy of the China Table Tennis Super League (CTTSL) and its new brand-building methods. Moreover, the author hopes that this paper will benefit the international promotion of table tennis and provide theoretical references for the development of CTTSL.

Methods: Literature on background, practical and theory significances of CTTSL was reviewed. Then, the concept of brand competitiveness of CTTSL based on Porter’s Diamond Model was defined. Through the construction of the theoretical five forces model, we summarized the competitiveness of CTTSL’s brand status. Expert interviews were then conducted and analyzed.

Results and Discussion: We established proposals and strategies to enhance CTTSL’s brand competitiveness. The existing environment poses a threat to CTTSL’s brand promotion. CTTSL’s existing market share has been diluted by other sports leagues, such as the Chinese Football Association Super League. Awareness of the existence of CTTSL by foreign audiences is still low, and Chinese domestic fans are aging at unprecedented levels. Considering the potential problems and competitive factors of CTTSL’s brand-building, several strategies are proposed: 1) establishing an international brand concept based on the market popularity; 2) focusing on market research and reducing administrative intervention of central government to CTTSL; 3) CTTSL’s brand packaging needs to optimize marketing resources to realize tridimensional brand marketing.