Chinese company shines on World Cup sidelines

An advertisement of "REGZA" in Japanese appeared on the LED ad boards that line the pitches on June 24 at the game between Japan and Senegal at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which is being held in Russia.

It may come as a surprise to see a Japanese advertisement in the current World Cup, since there was not any Japanese sponsor at the event after Sony's announcement to end its sponsorship with FIFA in 2014.

Actually, the advertiser is not Japanese at all but rather Chinese home appliance and electronics maker Hisense, which is based in Qingdao, Shandong province and is the official TV manufacturer of the 2018 World Cup.

It was Hisense’s fourth version of the advertisement, following versions also shown in Russian, English and Chinese.

The Chinese electronics giant bought a 95 percent stake in Japan's Toshiba Visual Solutions Corporation (TVS) in November 2017, as part of its efforts to expand globally.

In February, Hisense Electric Co under the Hisense Group, and Tokyo-based Toshiba Co Tuesday jointly announced a12.9 billion yen ($113 million) deal between the two companies.

TVS is a television and visual products subsidiary under the Japanese electronics maker Toshiba.

After the deal, Hisense was granted the right to use the Toshiba's brands TOSHIBA and REGZA over a 40-year period.

According to statistics, the sales of Hisense televisions in Japan saw a year-on-year increase of 44 percent during the January-April period, ranking them fifth in the Japanese TV market and first among overseas TV brands in Japan.

Toshiba's Japanese ads on display at the 2018 World Cup. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Hisense's Russian advertisement on display at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]