Chinese sporting firm ANTA reappoints Creme Digital as media partner

Chinese sporting company ANTA has re-appointed Creme Digital to handle media duties for six months following a pitch. The reappointment was attributed to good performance in early 2022 and both parties plan to extend partnership further as key milestones are hit.

ANTA Sports manages a portfolio of brands for the Chinese market including ANTA, ANTA Kids, FILA, FILA Kids, FILA Fusion, and Descente. Jeff Tan, ANTA's group GM, explained that Creme Digital has been a great support in growing the brands. "Its consultancy has ensured our marketing budget has been well spent, and we’ve been able to track longer-term brand growth and marketing effectiveness," he said.

Meanwhile, Creme Digital's regional business director Sam Werngren said the agency was reappointed due to its deep understanding of brand growth beyond short-term performance. "We’re thrilled to be working with such an ambitious team into 2023 and look forward to growing the ANTA brand in Malaysia," Werngren added.

Although brands have cut back on their marketing spend and closed retail stores as a result of the pandemic, ANTA remained bullish on its expansion plans and has opened up 17 new stores in various locations in Malaysia since March 2020. They include 1Utama, Pavilion, and Mid Valley. It also expanded beyond Klang Valley recently with three in Penang and two in Johor.

ANTA's Tan explained that the company sees Malaysia as a long-term growth opportunity for the brand, which is why it was confident in opening new stores while other brands were cutting back. "Part of our success has been localising our offering, and since we opened our first store in Shah Alam we’ve been including options for modest-dressers who’d like to try our brand and our sports trousers continue to be a much-loved line,” Tan added. On the regional front, ANTA also opened its flagship store in North EDSA in the Philippines. 

In April this year, ANTA was ranked 17th in Brand Finance's "Apparel 50 2022" list for the seventh consecutive year. This made it the highest-ranked Chinese sportswear brand and among the top three in the global sportswear industry. Meanwhile, FILA climbed from 34th place last year to 28th place this year. 

Separately, Creme Digital was shortlisted as a finalist for the Most Effective Use – Customer Acquisition category at A+M's Agency of the Year Awards and MARkies 2022 Malaysia. The agency was also crowned Local Hero for Media Agency of the Year at the awards.

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