Anta president Ding Zhizhong's entrepreneurial story

Ding Zhizhong, the 37-year-old president of Anta (China) Co., is a native of Chennai town in Jinjiang city, Fujian province. As the first sports shoe company in China to advertise with sports stars, Anta President Ding Zhizhong is known as the "first to eat crab".

In less than a decade, Mr. Ding has left behind Anta's thousands of competitors around town. "Anta does big, Ding Zhizhong is not easy to see now." "Said a Shishi businessman who started making sportswear in 1983. Sales of his Haojian brand of sportswear are about $100 million a year.

Ding Zhizhong became a veritable local shoe king, but he did not become president of the local shoe industry association. "He has a bully in his bones and is difficult to deal with." "Said a local media reporter. He was also never willing to accommodate others. According to locals, Ding Shuibo, the founder of Xtep, another shoe owner in Jinjiang, would choose to do something he didn't want to do, while Ding Zhizhong would simply refuse.

Perhaps because of this, in 2006, when Quanzhou city (Jinjiang belongs to Quanzhou City) elected the president of the Footwear Association, Ding Zhizhong, as the boss of the Jinjiang shoe industry, was the best choice for the president. However, after a lot of opposition, Ding Shuibo finally took the position.

"Ding Zhizhong is a closed person in terms of personality. Only a few close friends can understand his inner thoughts. Most people, even the director of his company, may not know what he is thinking at all." "Said a person who has worked close to Mr. Ding for years. This "difficult to deal with" businessman, but why can surpass more than 3000 Jinjiang shoe enterprises, and become the wealth star in this labor-intensive industry?

The summer after he graduated from junior high school, 17-year-old Ding Zhizhong proposed to move to Beijing, but his family didn't understand. His father asked him to give a reason. Ding Zhizhong said that every day, there are outsiders with money to buy things, almost anything can buy, why don't we take the initiative to sell Jinjiang goods?

Ding's father's shoe factory was just starting up at that time, and the economy was not well off. However, he was persuaded by his son to take out more than 10,000 yuan and let Ding Zhizhong buy 600 pairs of Jinjiang shoes to sell in Beijing.

To put Jinjiang's goods on the counter of the Xidan shopping mall in Beijing, Ding Zhizhong went to the mall every day. In the beginning, people said no and said to him: "How old are you, running out to do business?" Ding Zhizhong insisted that he was 20 years old, but people didn't believe him. Also regardless of other people's faces, the especially sincere introduction of the advantages of Jinjiang products continued for more than a month, and the mall people finally agreed to go to Jinjiang to see it. Ding Zhizhong was so happy that he hurried back to Jinjiang to prepare. In the end, Ding Zhizhong secured a special counter for the Jinjiang shoe factory in all the major shopping malls in Beijing.

But in 1991, Ding Zhizhong returned to Jinjiang. Originally, the low price that Jinjiang shoe sells in Beijing deeply stimulated Ding Zhizhong. At that time, the market is more famous "Qingdao double star", Shanghai Torch brand shoes have a considerable part of the production in Jinjiang, and Jinjiang goods quality is not a problem.

With 200,000 yuan earned in four years, Ding Zhizhong started his factory in Jinjiang again. At that time, his idea was clear: we must make the enterprise bigger and the brand is well-known. In 1999, a domestic shoe industry advertising war and sports star war born, Ding Zhizhong became the first person to eat crab. 1.6 million yuan, "I choose, I like", Kong Linghui became Anta's image spokesman for two years; 5 million, the budget price of advertising on CCTV. As A RESULT, WITH KONG LingHUI'S EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE IN the Olympic Games and his unique "I choose, I like", ANTA quickly completed the brand establishment and dissemination and greatly promoted the growth of the market.