In a small village at the foot of a mountain in Mendoza Province, Argentina, Blake turned on his mobile phone and immediately received several text messages alerting him to incoming calls.
The call was from Antonio, Blake's colleague and friend. Blake knew immediately that there must be something going on in the company, so he called back immediately.
"Blake, you are finally willing to answer the phone!" Antonio's voice rang.
"Antonio, I told you before, I'm on vacation, climbing mountains in Argentina, Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere! The altitude is nearly 7,000 meters, and there is no mobile phone signal there!" Black explained.
"So you haven't watched the news recently, right?" Antonio continued: "You don't know anything about Zhang Guan?"
"What happened to Zhang Guan? Hahaha, of course I know! He has been suspended and blocked by their country's field management center, right? I knew this before I went on vacation. And I also terminated the relationship with Zhang Guan's agent I have signed an endorsement contract for the next two years!”
"At that time, we signed a four-year endorsement deal with Zhang Guan worth 10 million U.S. dollars. Now there are two years left, which means we still have to pay him 5 million U.S. dollars. However, if Zhang Guan is suspended, he will have no endorsement value at all. . And I only spent US$200,000 in liquidated damages to terminate this endorsement contract. I saved the group US$4.8 million! If we hadn’t known that Zhang Guan had been suspended, we might have spent more. 4.8 million US dollars wasted money." Blake said this, looking very happy. He said excitedly: "Does the board of directors appreciate my decision very much? They should give me a salary increase!"
"The board of directors is discussing whether to transfer you to Africa!" Antonio snorted coldly.
"What? Transferred to Africa? Antonio, don't kid me!" Blake said. He felt that he had made great contributions and should be praised. Transferred to Africa? That's the worst punishment next to being fired.
"Blake, I suggest you read the news quickly! Sports news, about the Australian Open." Antonio sighed, and then said: "Zhang Guan has advanced to the finals of the Australian Open, and he will compete with Federer for this year's Australian Open. Open champion.”
"What did you say? Australian Open? Zhang Guan is a track and field athlete!" Black said angrily: "Antonio, this is not April Fool's Day! And we are friends, you shouldn't make such a cheap joke with me!"
"Blake, I knew you wouldn't believe it. Your phone should be able to access the Internet. You can search on your phone to see if what I said is true!" Antonio said helplessly.
Black hung up the phone and immediately searched for news about the Australian Open on his phone.
"The biggest dark horse in the history of the Australian Open, Zhang Guan advanced to the final!" 》
"What?" Blake suddenly felt dizzy and almost sat down on the ground.
…
Black got the news a month ago when Zhang Guan was suspended from the field management center. As the group's director of marketing, Black immediately contacted the championship team and requested an early termination of Zhang Guan's advertising endorsement contract. In Black's view, Zhang Guan will lose media exposure if he is suspended and blocked, and has lost the value of his endorsement.
At that time, Zhuge Wenbo once talked about this matter with Zhang Guan, jokingly saying that "the emperor is not in a hurry, and the eunuch is not." At that time, Zhang Guan also said that as long as the sponsor was willing to pay liquidated damages, the contract could be terminated. So Blake paid a liquidated damages of US$200,000 and terminated the advertising endorsement contract with Zhang Guan.
At that time, Black felt that he had made a huge profit, because it was the beginning of 2007, and if he terminated the contract now, he would not have to pay the 2007 fees. This four-year, $10 million advertising endorsement was signed until 2008, so Black felt that he had saved the company $5 million.
Then Blake ignored the follow-up reports about Zhang Guan and started his vacation. Blake, who loves mountain climbing, heads to Argentina to conquer Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America.
January and February every year are the best seasons for mountaineering in the southern hemisphere, and also the best time to climb Mount Aconcagua. After Black entered the mountainous area, he lost the signal of his mobile phone. The process of climbing and descending took him ten days. These ten days were exactly the ten days of the Australian Open competition. When he returned to the village where he could receive mobile phone signal, the Australian Open semi-finals had just ended.
…
In the conference room, Blake was crying and looking restless.
"Blake, it's about terminating the contract with Zhang Guan, so we need a reasonable explanation." A director directly asked: "Zhang Guan was originally our spokesperson. We still have a two-year contract. Why did you want to advance the contract?" Terminate the contract, you never knew that doing so would bring huge losses to the company!"
"I did this to avoid losses for the company." Black then defended: "I received the news that Zhang Guan has been suspended by their country's track and field management department, and the media will also ban him. He will be banned for a long time in the future. , he will not be able to participate in the game, and there will be no reports about him in the media, so he has lost commercial value. If we continue to execute the contract for the next two years, it will be a waste of money!"
"Zhang Guan cannot participate in the competition? So what is the Australian Open? There will be no reports about him in the media? Look at the sports sections of major media now, who is the headline? Even Chinese domestic media, the focus of reports this week It's all Zhang Guan, but you told me that Zhang Guan is being blocked by the media? Now is the Internet age, any news can spread all over the world in just one second!" Another director said angrily.
"I don't know why this happened! Zhang Guan is a track and field athlete, how could I have imagined that he would play tennis and advance to the finals of the Australian Open!" Black said aggrievedly.
"Then why don't you wait? If you are willing to wait a week, you will be able to see the news about Zhang Guan's participation in the Australian Open. So my question is, why are you so eager to terminate the contract with Zhang Guan!" The person who spoke smiled strangely, and then said: "I heard that after you terminated your contract with Zhang Guan, you rushed to Argentina to climb mountains. You probably don't want to miss the good mountain climbing season!"
"What do you mean? Are you saying that in order not to miss the mountain climbing season, I have to terminate the contract with Zhang Guan as soon as possible?" Blake looked angry, but the expressions of the other directors at this time also represented Same question.
"I chose to terminate the contract with Zhang Guan as soon as possible to avoid paying him the endorsement fee for 2007! If the 2007 contract is executed, we will have to pay him 2.5 million US dollars!" Black explained.
"Now we would rather pay him 2.5 million US dollars and then execute the 2007 contract. But even if we give him 2.5 million US dollars, he refuses to accept it now." The speaker then added: "Zhang Guan's agent has suspended They have to wait until after the Australian Open to discuss some commercial endorsements and advertising negotiations. Do you understand what that means?"
"Wait until the Australian Open is over before we talk about commercial endorsements?" Black was stunned, and then suddenly laughed: "Hahaha... Does Zhang Guan's agent think that Zhang Guan can win the Australian Open? Then the good lion opened his mouth ? This is so funny. Zhang Guan’s opponent is Federer! Although I don’t know much about tennis, I also know that Federer is the strongest tennis player in history. Zhang Guan will definitely be beaten by Federer! What a bunch of naive people agent!"
"But what if Zhang Guan really wins the Australian Open?" The director who looked very angry just now said: "The king of world track and field, plus the Grand Slam champion, can achieve the top achievements in both fields. , what exaggerated commercial value Zhang Guan will have, he will become the sports star with the highest commercial value in the world! Oh, no, he should be the star with the highest commercial value! And this kind of superstar would originally be our spokesperson, and we Just give him 2.5 million US dollars a year!"
"That can't happen!" Black said confidently: "There is no way Zhang Guan can beat Federer."
"Mr. Black, even if Zhang Guan can't beat Federer, with his original reputation and a runner-up in the Australian Open, he is still worthy of the annual endorsement fee of 2.5 million! So it is undeniable that this time with Zhang Guan Terminating the contract will be our loss." The director who spoke at the beginning reminded.
Blake suddenly fell into silence. He knew that what the other party said was correct. With Zhang Guan's current reputation, no matter what sport he engaged in, even skipping rope and kicking shuttlecock, as long as he could continue to appear in the public eye, there would be people Willing to pay for endorsements. And now Zhang Guan has successfully advanced to the Australian Open finals. Calculated in terms of commercial value, the endorsement fee of US$2.5 million a year is really not expensive.
…
Zhuge Wenbo put the phone to his ear, looking proud.
"Mr. James, you are right. Our cooperation with your company has been very smooth... Yes, the previous termination was a misunderstanding, but since we have signed the termination contract, we should abide by the contract. We champions The team has always been very contractual!”
"Re-sign? Of course! We have cooperated before and are very familiar with each other. Zhang Guan also hopes to continue to be your company's brand spokesperson!"
"No, no, no, of course it cannot be at the original price. The original contract was signed in 2005. As you know, the economy has developed rapidly in the past two years and inflation has been very strong. Now everything is increasing in price, so We also have to adapt to the situation and slightly increase the price.”
"How much is the annual endorsement fee now? Mr. James, please don't worry. The Australian Open finals will start tomorrow. Zhang Guan is now preparing for the competition with all his strength. We don't want Zhang Guan to be involved in commercial endorsements. So why don’t we just enjoy tomorrow’s Australian Open final together and wait until the Australian Open game is over before we continue to talk about the price?”
Zhuge Wenbo hung up the phone, and the depression caused by the sponsor's termination a few days ago was gone.
"Zhang Guan, come on! Once we beat Federer and win the Australian Open, we can sign several big advertising endorsements!"
Chapter 1 delivered! My home network is finally repaired, so I’ll give you a chapter first. Today, Saturday, let’s break out and walk! Do you still have monthly passes
(End of chapter)