HONG KONG, June 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A provider of integrated marketing solutions in Greater China, Activation Group Holdings Limited ("Activation" or the "Company", collectively, the "Group", stock code: 9919) is pleased to announce that Shanghai Aideweixuan Sports Development Co., Ltd. ("Activation Sports"), an indirect non-wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, entered into a memorandum of understanding with Guangzhou Yuerun Information Technology Co., Ltd. ("GYIT"), under which, the Company and GYIT agree to form a joint venture company in Shanghai ("Joint Venture") to jointly develop and operate an online cycling mobile application ("APP") and build the first online cycling community based on world-renowned sports IP in China. Activation Sports and GYIT will hold 51% and 49% of the equity interest of the Joint Venture, respectively.
GYIT is a professional sports service provider in China that specialized in marathon services. According to the number of daily active users ("DAU"), Joyrun, an APP developed by GYIT, is China's largest sports data platform. Up till now, Joyrun's number of users exceeded 80 million covering 2,100 cities all over the world. Through the APP, sports social networking and online and offline events, Joyrun provides a full range of services for running enthusiasts. GYIT will bring its rich experience in the field of sports data platform into this cooperation to be responsible for performing the research and development of APP and guiding the existing huge user traffic of Joyrun to the APP, so as to connect the cyclists with running enthusiasts and to improve users' sports experience.
Activation will devote its rich resources in the sports IP development business to the Joint Venture and extend its sports IP development business to digitalization, in order to enable the Group to achieve a leading position in Chinese sports service market, especially the cycling field. The Group has started its IP development business in the sports market since 2016, and entered into an IP Cooperation Agreement with the Amaury Sport Organization for granting the Group exclusive rights to organize the authorized events with "Le Tour de France" brand and other rights for marketing, sponsorship, merchandising and other uses in China. "Le Tour de France" is the foremost among three major cycling races and the most famous one in the world. In the future, capitalizing on the influence of "Le Tour de France", the Group will attract many professional cyclists and cycling enthusiasts to join this online community, which will become the first online cycling community based on world-renowned sports IP in China.
In addition to the highlight added by "Le Tour de France" IP, the other differentiated advantages of this cycling community also make it stand out in the sports APP. First of all, the cycling app will not only be limited to providing accurate cycling records, customization of cycling plan, professional sports data analysis, etc., but will also provide a platform for cyclists to manage, share and talk about their cycling equipment to meet APP users' social needs .
Secondly, due to the group gathering characteristics of cycling, this APP will become a vertical social platform for cycling enthusiasts to socialize online. Thanks to a strong social networking function, the user viscosity of the APP is expected to be higher than other sports apps.
Last but not least, Activation will also introduce advanced virtual reality ("VR") technology to provide users with a comprehensive visual experience and enhance the sense of participation in the sports event, so that users can feel the cycling race's tense atmosphere through the APP and appreciate the charm of cycling.
In the future, with the stability and growth of the cycling community, this cycling APP will not be limited to cycling community but will further extend to triathlon and other endurance sports to evolve towards an online sports data platform.
As a provider of integrated marketing solutions in Greater China, Activation will make the most out of its rich experience in marketing, digital marketing, brand promotion and public relations services, combined with accurate promotion channels and flexible marketing approaches, to introduce the APP developed by Joint Venture to more sports enthusiasts and to further obtain more user traffic. By then, the Group can convert huge user traffic into cash flow by collecting APP advertising revenue, selling sports equipment online, developing online training courses, and providing platform services for sports events.
Mr. Steve Lau Kam Yiu, Joint-chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Activation Group, said, "In response to the digital transformation trend of sports IP development, which is an important future direction, Activation is honored to cooperate with GYIT to apply the successful operation model of Joyrun to the online cycling community, coupled with Activation's rich resources in the field of sports IP and the advantage of holding the exclusive rights of world-renowned sports IP, the prospects for this cooperation are very promising. As China's middle class continues to grow and the need to improve personal health management continues to rise, the Group is expected to further expand into other sports segments, continue to promote the transformation of sports IP development business into digitalization in an effort to fully grasp market opportunities."
About Activation Group Holdings Limited
Activation Group Holdings Limited is a leading and fast-growing integrated marketing solutions pro-vider that focuses on the provision of experiential marketing, digital and brand communication, and public relations services which mainly operates in Greater China. The shares of the Company were listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on 16 January 2020. Ac-cording to the independent market research report issued by China Insights Industry Consultancy Limited Group ranked first in 2018. The Group also is also focused on tapping into the sports and en-tertainment IP development sector. Since 2016, the Group has started its IP development business for sports market where the Group entered into cooperation agreements with each of LaLiga and Amaury Sport Organisation for granting the Group exclusive rights to organise authorised events with LaLiga Club brand and Le Tour de France brand and other rights for marketing, sponsorship, merchandising and other uses in the PRC. In 2017, the Group also established Stufish Asia Limited with Stufish Productions Limited tap into entertainment IP development business.
