Chapter 445: Grab Su Dong!
Herzogenaurach, northwest of Nuremberg, Germany.
A black Audi stopped in front of the headquarters office building in the Adidas Industrial Park. The rear doors on both sides were opened, and two middle-aged German men in suits and ties, who seemed to be in a hurry, got out.
An assistant had already come to greet them at the door. After shaking hands with the two, he said, "The president is waiting for you in the conference room."
The two were a little surprised and didn't dare to stay for a moment. They immediately followed the assistant into the office building.
The employees in the office building all knew them, the powerful men in the Asia-Pacific region.
The one who is half a step ahead is the current president of the Asia-Pacific region. He gave himself a Chinese name, Du Brui, and no one pays attention to his original name.
He is a big shot within Adidas. He joined Adidas in 1988, starting as product director and working his way up to become general manager of Japan, a position he held for thirteen years. During these thirteen years, Adidas achieved rapid growth in Japan.
It was precisely because he did an excellent job in Japan that he was officially promoted to President of the Asia-Pacific region in 2004.
Half a step behind him is the vice president of the Asia-Pacific region and general manager of the Korea region, whose Chinese name is Bo Wenkang. He joined Adidas in the late 1990s and has performed very well, especially during his time in Korea in 2002, when he achieved amazing results.
But unfortunately, he is behind Duberry in terms of qualifications, which means he has to be slightly inferior to others now.
However, Adidas executives all knew that it would only take a few minutes for Bo Wenkang to become a regular employee.
The two men rushed here from Asia overnight, looking exhausted, which surprised everyone at the headquarters. They thought it might be related to the World Cup in Germany. After all, this is Adidas's base camp, and the headquarters would like to take this opportunity to make a big splash around the world, with the Asia-Pacific region being the top priority.
But only the two of them know clearly that it probably has little to do with the World Cup.
They are now extremely busy with the World Cup promotion activities. If it is really for the World Cup, there is no need to call them back specially. Something big must have happened.
When they followed the assistant to the high-level conference room, as soon as they entered the door and saw the people present, they became more certain of their guess.
Adidas President Herbert Hainer, Vice President and General Manager of the Football Division Marcus Baumann, Deputy General Manager of the Football Division Ernesto Bruck…
These Adidas department bosses, who are rarely seen on weekdays, are now sitting in the conference room.
And it was obvious that a long discussion had taken place before they entered the room.
But what exactly was being discussed? What was it that warranted such serious attention from Adidas’ top management?
Full of doubts, the two found a place to sit down at the end.
…
"I called you back this time mainly because I want to hear your opinions on something." President Haina said first.
"According to the accurate intelligence we have received, our competitor Nike is negotiating a contract extension with Su Dong, which is likely to be a long-term, heavyweight and sky-high contract."
The other people in the conference room were not surprised, as they had obviously known about it for a long time. Only Du Berry and Bo Wenkang were a little surprised.
This is absolutely confidential! Needless to say, Adidas's intention of calling them back to the headquarters is obvious, Su Dong is Asian.
The Asia-Pacific region is the market that Adidas attaches the most importance to, especially China, which is just as important as the US market.
"We all know that Su Dong has been cooperating with Nike since his debut, and Nike also attaches great importance to Su Dong. In recent years, with the help of Su Dong's momentum, Nike's development in the Asia-Pacific region has been very rapid. But now there are some differences in the negotiations between the two sides, which gives us an opportunity to take advantage of." Herbert Hainer analyzed.
After finishing speaking, Heiner looked at Marcus Baumann.
As the head of the football division, Marcus Baumann attaches great importance to Su Dong because Adidas currently has a lack of young players, especially at the superstar level.
"We have very few superstars at the moment. The only ones who can be considered as such are Beckham and Zidane. Zidane has decided to retire after this season. However, Nike has acquired a number of outstanding star resources in recent years, such as the popular players Su Dong and Ronaldinho. Both of them have world-class influence, and Su Dong's influence in Asia-Pacific is unmatched."
When Marcus Baumann said this, he glanced at everyone present and said, "I think we should intervene in this negotiation and try to get Soviet East Asia to our side. Even though we need to pay a huge price for this, I think it's worth it."
"How was the negotiation between Su Dong and Nike?" Brook asked with concern.
"According to the news, Su Dong's agent Mendes proposed that Su Dong's sponsorship fee cannot be lower than Tiger Woods. Nike is very hesitant because they are planning to sign a new contract with Tiger Woods. The sponsorship fee will be very staggering, and Tiger Woods has a very high status in the field of golf, so..."
Marcus Baumann didn't finish his words, but everyone knew what he meant.
Nike is evaluating whether it is worth signing this contract with Su Dong.
"According to market surveys in Europe and North America, Su Dong is the most popular player in the football world, far ahead of other superstars including Beckham and Ronaldinho. His only weakness right now is the World Cup, but this is also his greatest advantage."
Su Dong cannot participate in the World Cup because he is Chinese, but precisely because he is Chinese and has a huge market of 1.4 billion people behind him, no brand in the world can underestimate him.
"What do you two think?" Herbert Hainer asked the two people sitting at the back.
Du Berry and Bo Wenkang looked at each other, and Du Berry answered first.
"Su Dong has a tremendous influence in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in East Asia. Not to mention China, South Korea and Japan all have a strong influence that cannot be matched by any other superstar. Signing him will have a huge impact on our marketing. I believe Nike itself is very aware of this. As for how much he is worth, it is hard to say. It depends on how much we value the Asia-Pacific market."
Bai Wenkang nodded and took over the conversation. "Yes, if we regard the Asia-Pacific market as the key area for the company's development in the next few years, then we must grab Sudong no matter what, because in the Asia-Pacific region, Sudong is irreplaceable."
The top leaders in the Asia-Pacific region all expressed this view, and everyone else immediately understood the influence of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in Asia.
Herbert Heiner pondered for a moment, then looked at Marcus Baumann and others, and found that everyone was waiting for him to make this decision, and he immediately understood.
The Asia-Pacific region is a strategic stronghold for Adidas in the next few years and it must be seized at all costs. In this case, there is no reason for Su Dong to let it go, especially since he has been so successful recently and just scored five goals in the match against Real Madrid, making him the talk of the town.
"Then we should make preparations for both scenarios. On the one hand, our football department should keep in touch with Su Dong's agent and tell him that we are very interested in him. If Su Dong is willing to switch to Adidas, we are willing to help them resolve their contract with Nike. Even if they choose Nike in the end, we will continue to cooperate with them."
What Su Dong signed with Nike was only a sponsorship for football boots, but the cooperation can involve many aspects, such as casual wear, Su Dong’s brand, etc. The key lies in how the negotiation is done.
"In addition, we also need to make another preparation, that is, if Su Dong really renews his contract with Nike, how will we respond?"
Herbert Hainer's question made everyone present frown.
Adidas is in urgent need of star players. Zidane will retire after the World Cup. Who will take over?
Unlike the star matrix created by Nike, Adidas is too slow to follow up in this regard.
"I suggest that Real Madrid take action," Brook suggested.
Adidas has carried out such cooperation many times. Every time Real Madrid acquires a superstar, sponsors such as Adidas are always behind it.
Now, Su Dong's football boots have been signed to Nike, and he is playing for Barcelona, which is sponsored by Nike, which puts Adidas in a passive position.
"This is unrealistic. Su Dong will not go to Real Madrid unless he wants to become the second Figo. And look at the current situation of Real Madrid. How could Su Dong go there?"
"Then it's AC Milan, where there are stars like Kaka and Pirlo. Serie A's mini World Cup should still be attractive to the Soviet Union and the East."
"According to Su Dong's current value, AC Milan will not offer this price. Besides, they have Shevchenko and Inzaghi, so there is not much need to sign Su Dong. As for Juventus and Inter Milan..."
These two Italian Serie A giants are both sponsorship partners of Nike.
This is also the dilemma Adidas is currently facing, not only in La Liga and Serie A, but also in the Premier League, their situation is even more embarrassing.
Among the top four teams in the Premier League this season, Nike owns Manchester United and Arsenal, Liverpool owns Reebok, and Chelsea owns Umbro. None of them have anything to do with Adidas, which makes these sports giants very distressed.
Because of this, Adidas is now trying desperately to snatch Liverpool and Chelsea. After the end of this season, these two teams will wear Adidas jerseys.
But since we have just started working together, many things cannot be discussed in depth.
Sponsors pay their cooperating clubs to poach superstars. This is common in football, and Real Madrid is the best at this. For example, when Florentino signed Figo, in fact, Real Madrid did not pay much money at all. Later, major sponsors helped Real Madrid pay Figo's transfer fee and annual salary.
Because of this battle, the whole world has clearly realized how important the image rights of football stars are.
It can be said that this completely subverted the rules of European professional football.
Now, Adidas, one of the two major sports giants in the world, has helplessly discovered that even if it wants to find a cooperative team to poach Su Dong, it can't find one. This is too embarrassing!
"What do you think? If Bayern Munich comes forward, will Su Dong come?" asked Herbert Hainer.
Everyone suddenly remembered that Hainer was also the vice chairman of Bayern Munich and had a close relationship with the Big Three of Bayern.
(End of this chapter)
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