Brought into popularity by Zhang Xue's motorcycle, how should Dongpeng Special Drink proceed with subsequent marketing?

Ask AI · How can Dongpeng Beverage combine extreme sports sponsorship with safety advocacy?

Because Zhang Xue’s motorcycle team won consecutive championships at the WSBK Portugal round on March 28 and 29, the low-cost sponsor Dongpeng Special Drink unexpectedly gained popularity, which effectively offset the negative impact of the stock price decline after Dongpeng Beverage’s 2025 annual report release.

On March 31, Dongpeng Special Drink released its 2025 annual report, with revenue of 20.88B yuan, an increase of 31.80% year-on-year; net profit of 4.42B yuan, up 32.72% year-on-year, with revenue and profit growth rates ranking among the top global beverage companies.

However, on the day of the financial report release, Dongpeng Beverage’s market value dropped from 128.76B yuan on March 30 to 115.83 billion yuan on March 31, a decrease of 12.93B yuan, a 10% decline. The main reason is that the revenue of Dongpeng Special Drink, a flagship product with a 2025 revenue of 15.6B yuan (surpassing 15 billion yuan for the first time), saw its Q4 growth rate fall to 8.5%, compared to 19.43% in the same period in 2024.

In fact, the full-year revenue growth rate of Dongpeng Special Drink was 17.25% (slightly lower than the growth rate of revenue and profit), with its market share in the national energy drink market increasing from 47.9% in 2024 to 51.6%, and its sales revenue share rising from 34.9% to 38.3%, both ranking first. Another major product, electrolyte drink “Rehydrate,” achieved full-year revenue of 3.27B yuan, a year-on-year increase of 118.99%.

Dongpeng Special Drink and Red Bull are known as the two giants of domestic functional beverages, with Red Bull traditionally boosting its brand through extreme sports sponsorships. In contrast, Dongpeng Beverage has mainly sponsored CCTV World Cup broadcasts, the Portugal national football team, street dance, and invested heavily in channel promotion and freezer placements, with sales expenses reaching 3.4B yuan in 2025, up 27% from 2.68B yuan in 2024.

Products like Rehydrate and sugar-free tea are suitable for sponsorships of the World Cup and street dance. As Dongpeng Beverage’s flagship, Dongpeng Special Drink should sponsor more extreme sports like Zhang Xue’s motorcycle team to elevate its brand image. This time, Dongpeng Special Drink gained popularity through Zhang Xue’s motorcycle sponsorship, and it is highly likely that Dongpeng Beverage will increase cooperation with Zhang Xue, leveraging his fame to go viral and expand overseas—by 2025, Dongpeng Beverage’s online, overseas, and catering channels are expected to generate sales revenue of 740 million yuan.

However, Blue Shark Consumer suggests that after Zhang Xue’s motorcycle team becomes popular, it will attract a group of young people pursuing speed and passion (who may have little motorcycle riding experience and find high-performance riding dangerous). Besides continuing to sponsor Zhang Xue’s team in world-class competitions, Dongpeng Special Drink can also collaborate with Zhang Xue on ESG initiatives, such as partnering with driving schools nationwide to strengthen motorcycle safety knowledge and skills training. To diversify risk, Dongpeng Special Drink should explore sponsorship opportunities in more extreme sports.