With advertisements in the European Cup, can CATL, which aims to become the Intel of the automotive industry, gain strong control over car manufacturers?

On June 14, the European Cup, which was pessimistically predicted by many media as "no Chinese people watching", officially kicked off. Although public opinion has become increasingly pessimistic about the future of football, it has not stopped Chinese brands, such as BYD, Hisense, vivo, and Alipay, from enthusiastically buying up billboards throughout the stadium.

In this rapid advance of Chinese brands to occupy Europe, in addition to the above-mentioned brands targeting C-end users, some B-end manufacturers such as CATL are also looking for angles to enter the European Cup.

Recently, CATL signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Migu, a subsidiary of China Mobile, and became Migu's chief partner for broadcasting top European football events.

CATL, a true TO B manufacturer, generally only deals with car manufacturers and does not directly contact end users. Why does it have to compete with a bunch of consumer brands?

Ning Wang's logic is probably this: he has an absolute dominant position in the power battery industry, and he promotes himself and makes himself a brand that consumers are familiar with. Then when consumers buy a car, they will pay attention to whether the car is equipped with CATL batteries, which will then be converted into sales of his own batteries.

In order to achieve the goal of "letting more users know CATL", CATL even plans to open its first offline brand showroom store in August this year. As long as the car models are equipped with its own batteries, they will be displayed in the store, and these models will also be marked with the "CATL Inside" logo.

CATL Inside, does it sound familiar? Yes, you will often see the Intel Inside logo when you buy a computer. In Intel's marketing plan, users will specifically choose a computer because of Intel's CPU.

The inside plan is undoubtedly successful, and Intel once enjoyed great success because of it. Today, in the new energy vehicle circle, Huawei is actually also a supporter of this model. Its Hi mode and smart car selection mode both carry the meaning of HUAWEI Inside. The extremely high attention paid to Huawei models such as Wenjie, Zhijie, and Xiangjie also proves that there are indeed many users who will pay for Huawei's support.

CATL obviously also wants to learn from the practices of Intel and Huawei. It does not want to be a simple TO B supplier, but wants to build appeal among end consumers and let users develop the habit of "asking whether it is a CATL battery before buying a car."

However, even if users have such awareness, they still will not directly contact CATL. Therefore, CATL's approach has another purpose, which is to deeply bind automakers.

This is also the real business strategy behind the Intel Inside logo. It circles many allies to form a circle of friends, and then gives back through huge reimbursements in media placements. Because superficial alliances are likely to trigger market monopoly clauses, but through this invisible chain of interest transfer, it is a normal business behavior. There is no word of binding, but everyone is an ally. CATL's inside should also be played in this way.

In May 2024, CATL's share of the domestic power battery market reached 43.87%, which can be said to be far ahead. But even so, CATL still has a deep sense of crisis, because many automakers do not want to be bound by a single supplier and always want to find a substitute.

It is not difficult to understand why manufacturers make this choice. Power batteries account for more than 40% of the cost of a vehicle. If "battery freedom" can be achieved, the cost of the vehicle can be reduced again.

Secondly, getting rid of the sole reliance on CATL can also ensure the stability of the battery supply chain, so that vehicle manufacturers will not be passive due to fluctuations in the battery supply chain. Tesla is the best example in this regard. Musk's 4680 battery has been repeatedly delayed due to the poor performance of supplier Panasonic, which has seriously affected the launch of new cars.

In addition, the technical threshold of power batteries is not very high, which also makes major manufacturers eager to try. BYD, Geely, Great Wall and other manufacturers have the ability to independently develop power batteries, while Weilai, Ideal, Xiaopeng, Xiaomi, Dongfeng and other manufacturers have also achieved the diversification of the battery supply chain by investing in power battery manufacturers.

Ning Wang cannot stop the car manufacturers from making these choices. If he wants to hold on to these manufacturers and maintain long-term cooperative relationships, he can only start from the C-end, improve his position in the minds of consumers, and give himself a unique weight among car manufacturers.

This idea is actually very good. Think about it, if Huawei models such as the M7 no longer have Huawei's "N-piece set", will consumers still pay attention to them?

So, will Ning Wang's Insida plan be as all-in-one as Intel and Huawei? In 91che's view, it may not be easy to copy all of this, mainly because Ning Wang mainly relies on scale rather than technology to win.

When it comes to power batteries, there is no bottleneck technology for any company. Just like Coca-Cola, its success is mainly due to its ability to cover a huge market at a very low price, rather than any legendary secret formula.

Intel CPUs are always a little bit stronger than AMD's, and the same goes for Huawei. They do have something real in autonomous driving that is difficult to replicate in a short period of time.

However, Ningwang's batteries cannot achieve this kind of active exclusive brand effect. Many car manufacturers mix its batteries with other brands, and consumers do not completely reject them. This shows that consumers pay more attention to the overall performance when buying a car. At this stage, there are not many consumers who do not want batteries other than CATL.

However, it is good that CATL is willing to give it a try. After all, it has the title of the world's champion in power battery shipments. If it insists on brand promotion, it will always play a role. However, if CATL really wants to have the brand appeal of "Intel side", it should come up with truly breakthrough and irreplaceable technology. Only in this way can Ning Wang sit firmly on the C-end and control the B-end without worry.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.