ZTE, Rockets continue holiday tradition

Scores of children from three Houston-area organizations, including the Chinese Community Center, got to spend a "night at the museum". They didn't see dinosaurs come to life, but they got to spend time with the NBA's Houston Rockets.

Four Houston Rockets basketball players, including Dwight Howard, along with Rockets mascot Clutch and the Power Dancers cheerleaders were on hand on Sunday night at the Children's Museum, providing gifts and holiday cheer.

It was the concluding activity in the Season of Giving, an annual event presented by ZTE USA and the Houston Rockets. Several families were treated with gift cards to purchase groceries, and children from the Fifth Ward Enrichment Program and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Houston had a fun evening playing arcade games.

Both ZTE USA CEO Cheng Lixin and Rockets CEO Tad Brown joined the festivities and expressed satisfaction about ZTE and the Rockets' three-year partnership. The men said they have become close friends through the business relationship.

The three-season contract between ZTE and the Rockets will be up for renewal in the summer of 2016, and the two parties have not formally started renewal negotiations yet. However, Brown joked that "we have a lifetime partnership".

ZTE also has signed with another four NBA teams since partnering with the Rockets.

"In the last three years, the ZTE brand awareness has grown from 1 percent to 34 percent, and our market share continues to expand," said Cheng. Partnership with NBA teams has been ZTE's major brand strategy.

Brown said that the Rockets during the course of a year generate roughly $2.5 million in local community gifts. The players program during the Season of Giving also gave children some time with the Rockets players.

"A lot of these activities are not about money but involvement. You see kids smiling with the players and going to places they want to go. It gives the kids exposure and self-esteem by going in front of the public with their idols; it has much bigger impact than money," said Cheng.

"We have made positive impact on at least 60,000 to 80,000 families around the US," Cheng said.

ZTE's Experience Tour truck also was in Houston.

"We want our consumer to feel and touch our product, so we came up with the idea of a mobile flash store. We started from Chicago in November, and by now we have traveled probably 3,000 miles through eight major cities, and will continue and ultimately travel to Las Vegas in January," Cheng said.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com