BEIJING - Just two weeks after Li Na won the French open to become the first Grand Slam champion from Asia, premium car brand Mercedes-Benz announced the Chinese player will be its global ambassador.

Bjrn Hauber, vice-president for sales and marketing at Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd, said the partnership follows a tradition that began in 1996, when the German carmaker began sponsoring the ATP World Tour.

It was later one of the driving forces brining the tour to China.

"We have been working together with Li Na since 2008, so we have known her for quite some time," Hauber said.

At that time, Mercedes-Benz had just launched a grassroots program in the country named Swing for the Stars to "motivate young players to pick up a tennis racket, understand and fall in love with the game and get the necessary education", Hauber said.

"It is not only a tennis program, but it has a lot to do with teaching kids how to follow their dreams and reach their goals," he added.

Co-founded by Mercedes-Benz and the China Tennis Association, the program offers training opportunities for players under 12 years old in an effort to identify and cultivate talent.

Now a professional tennis great, Li Na taught in the Swing for the Stars program. According to the newly signed agreement, she will also serve as the official ambassador for program in the next three years.

Another Mercedes-Benz superstar partner is Roger Federer, who joined the company's tennis training program in China three years ago and later became its worldwide brand ambassador.

There are many great athletes around the world, but not everybody fits a certain brand, Hauber said, noting the company is very careful in selecting who it works with and in what areas they work together.

"It's the idea - what these people stand for - that we want to support," Hauber said, explaining that Li very much reflects the automaker's brand philosophy of "the best or nothing".

"We have the ambition to lead as Mercedes-Benz, so does Li in her game."

Having sports stars to represent a brand or a product is one of the most important and frequently used strategies in modern marketing. It helps enhance the brand reputation, builds emotional connections with potential customers and transmits messages in a clever way.

A recent successful example is Kobe Bryant and the smart, an urban car made by Mercedes-Benz. The commercial has received overwhelmingly positive feedback, according to Hauber.

"With his size inside the smart you can see a lot of the advantages the smart brings. You don't need to explain how big the car is from the inside," he said. "Pictures say a lot more than words."

It's also very clear that Kobe Bryant will not get into a car that is slow, unattractive and not agile, he added.

Mercedes-Benz reported 70 percent year-on-year growth in China sales with more than 78,000 cars delivered in the first five months.

Hauber forecasts the luxury car segment will increase between 20 to 25 percent for the full year, and he thinks Mercedes-Benz could exceed that.

China Daily