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Year In Review: Rising Influence From Asia Dominated This Year's Marketing Headlines

This year’s top marketing and sponsorship stories had a common theme -- Asian influence. Asian and in particular Chinese companies made deals with sports properties around the world in ’15. One of the most influential players in the field was China’s Dalian Wanda Group. The group, which is owned by the country’s richest man, Wang Jianlin, started the year off by buying a 20% stake in La Liga side Atlético Madrid for a reported $46.5M in January. But this was only the start to a spending spree that resulted in the creation of Wanda Sports. Only a month after becoming a stakeholder in Atlético, Wang made a bid for Swiss sports agency Infront Sports & Media. Private equity firm Bridgepoint sold the agency for an estimated $1.2B to Wanda. Infront, which is run by the nephew of outgoing FIFA President Sepp Blatter, Philippe Blatter, is one of the biggest sports rights agencies on the planet. It already is the leading winter sports agency, and with its new owner it has the ability to tap into the developing Chinese/Asian sports market. Do I have to mention the 2022 Winter Olympics will take place in Beijing? A market that Infront has not yet penetrated is North America, but this could change under its new ownership. Wanda’s shopping trip continued with the $650M acquisition of the World Triathlon Corp., owner of Ironman triathlon series. "There’s an appetite for acquisitions," Jörg Polzer, director of corporate communications at Infront, said in an interview with SBD Global. With its aim to become the “most profitable sports company in the world,” Wanda decided to consolidate its new toys -- Infront and WTC -- into Wanda Sports. Wang’s ambitious goal for the company is to generate annual income of $10B. To achieve this lofty number, it can be expected that Wanda will continue to survey the market for opportunities to scale its business. Wanda has also been named as part of a group of Chinese investors interested in F1. The group, which is led by China Media Capital, is reportedly willing to "invest roughly" $1.5B in an $8.5B offer being assembled by NFL Miami Dolphins Owner Stephen Ross for the racing series.

EMERGING PLAYERS: Wang also made a play in the media sector. Together with Alibaba Founder Jack Ma, he invested $129M in new sports rights venture LeTV Sports -- now LeSports. The new company went right to work, paying $400M for EPL broadcast rights in Hong Kong. The e-commerce firm also put its toes in unchartered sports business waters. Alibaba signed a two-year sponsorship deal with the Pac-12 for its college basketball game in China. It also inked deals with Kobe Bryant and Real Madrid and ended FIFA's two-year sponsorship drought, signing on as a partner of the Club World Cup. Ma’s company, in cooperation with Sina and Yunfeng, formed the Alibaba Sports Group in September with an aim to transform China's sports industry “through Internet-enabled technology.” Just like Wanda, Alibaba seems to have caught steam in ’15. Both are expected to keep pushing the boundaries and disrupt the status quo in the sports industry.

BIG SPENDERS: On the sponsorship front, Chelsea signed the second most lucrative deal in EPL history. The club agreed to a five-year, $308M deal with Japanese tire brand Yokohama. The estimated $62M annually that Yokohama pays to the club is second only to Chevrolet’s $82M-per-year deal with ManU. With sponsorship and marketing rights values continuing to grow, the Asian influence is expected to continue in Europe and around the world in ’16. The Board of Control for Cricket in India in October unveiled Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Vivo as the new title sponsor of the Indian Premier League. Vivo replaced Pepsi, which decided to end its contract early after the competition had been plagued by corruption scandals in recent years. Pepsi originally bought the title sponsorship rights to the IPL in a five-year, $71M deal in '13. A developing story to keep an eye on in '16 is how the diesel emissions scandal will impact Volkswagen's sports sponsorships.

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