At the end of the day it's pretty confusing to the consumer whether they've been through a rebranding or not," Mr. Cavender said.
Mr. Chen doesn't mince words when discussing the flawed relaunch.
"On a rebranding effort you have to have innovation, your product has to change, your tone has to change -- teen to teen rather than father to teen," Mr. Chen said. "Obviously my predecessor didn't recognize that ."
For now, Li-Ning's advertising is back to basics and product-focused. Everything in the pipeline features real athletes, according to Stefan Petzinger, general manager at Leo Burnett Shanghai, Li-Ning's agency of record in China for all categories except basketball.
Mr. Petzinger said that for the 2012 Olympics campaign, expect cinematic-style advertising "that 's very close to the heart of the Chinese people."