Chapter 1328: Labeled Players
The Parisian audience is world-famous for its pickiness and troubles. If they get really carried away, even the host players may be booed to the point of doubting their lives.
However, Gawain, who played in Roland Garros for the first time, won heated discussions among the audience at a fan event and became a hot topic?
Of course, this does not mean that Gawain conquered the Parisian audience. This group of picky audiences is like a summer rainstorm. They may turn against him at any time. They may praise the player to the sky in the previous game, and send the player to hell in the next game. They change their attitude faster than a three-year-old baby.
Among the spectators of the four Grand Slams, only the French Open could make the usually elegant and calm Federer lose his composure.
Danson could fully understand Bennett's surprise and excitement——
This is indeed worth a careful study. What is the context behind this imagination? Is it an accident, a coincidence, or a necessity? Bennett carefully observed Danson's expression. He did not continue to procrastinate. In order to avoid further delaying the progress of the meeting, he spoke again and got straight to the point.
“Charlie, let me just say that I think Gowan is a great fit to be a part of Nike’s global brand identity.”
“We should reconsider the value and positioning of Gao Wen. Perhaps it is time to formulate a new plan and officially enter the next stage.”
Bang! A heavy pound.
Nike is a star-studded company, and it is certainly not easy to get truly top-level treatment. The company also has grading for different athletes in different events. There are only a handful of players who can become global brand image positioning.
These players are often called "label players". Even among countless star players, they are only a handful of top superstars. Each label may mean billions or hundreds of billions of dollars in commercial value.
Gao Wen's level has always been very high. After all, with the support of the Chinese market and Nike's willingness to split a portion of the sales dividends, the entire positioning, marketing and planning are naturally different. Last year's offseason, Nike's advertisement using Gao Wen to connect several superstars was a reflection of this.
But to be honest, the proportion of the entire tennis project is still in the second tier within Nike, so naturally, Gao Wen's position is far from reaching the top level.
The most direct and obvious manifestation is Nike's positioning of Federer.
Nike and Federer have been cooperating for nearly twenty years, and both sides have achieved mutual success. To a large extent, Federer is the top spokesperson for Nike's tennis program. His overall status may be slightly higher than Serena Williams, and he has become an integral part of Nike's tennis image.
However, in terms of Nike's overall brand image, Federer's position can only be considered second-tier. For example, in advertisements or event projects where top superstars from different fields work together, Federer will definitely appear, but he is definitely not the core figure, and his appearance time and position are not too much.
After all, football is still the number one sport worldwide.
It was also because of this that in March 2018, Federer's contract with Nike expired. Even though Federer had just won the Australian Open and Wimbledon championships the year before, breaking more than three years of Grand Slam championship drought, and then successfully defended the Australian Open, Nike still did not give Federer corresponding treatment, and it could even be said to be negative.
A big part of the reason is that Nike has doubts about Federer's age, health, and length of his career. They don't think Federer can continue to stay at the top of the pyramid for too long; but it is undeniable that behind this, it can be seen that Nike lacks sufficient confidence in the tennis market.
This is true for Nike and Adidas. The positioning of the two giants in the tennis market can never be considered as the first tier.
But now, Bennett has thrown out a heavy bomb -
What he meant was not only to elevate Gao Wen to a whole new level, but more importantly, to increase the market share of the entire tennis sport.
There is no doubt that this is a breakthrough, or even an extraordinary breakthrough.
In Bennett's view, now is the time to take the next step.
The entire conference room was silent, with thoughts surging in everyone's minds. Everyone knew what this sentence meant.
Danson is no exception.
However, Danson had seen countless storms and waves, and he did not lose his composure or panic. He raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "Reese, what do you mean?"
He needed further confirmation.
Bennett shrugged. "Charlie, we've been worried about what will happen after Roger and Rafa retire. Now, isn't the answer out?"
Huh.
The whole audience took a deep breath.
But Bennett still wasn’t done.
"Moreover, our development of the tennis market has reached a bottleneck. Apart from Roger and Rafa, it seems difficult to break the shackles of the market and move to a higher level."
"But I think maybe Govan can be an opportunity, not only to start with the Asian market, but also to use Govan's unique image to impact the North American and European markets in turn."
Huh! A second buzz of shock went off in the conference room, and the rustling sound continued to surge.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
But Danson seemed remarkably calm.
Danson could understand the impact of Bennett's words, but at the same time, he could also understand that there was some basis behind Bennett's words.
From last year to this year, they did not expect that Gawain's jersey sales would perform so well. He pushed Nike's activities forward step by step. Breaking the history of planning the "tennis jersey event" for the first time was an important turning point. Gawain did show the potential to become a pioneer.
What cannot be ignored is that the sales of Gao Wen's jerseys have also ushered in a frenzy in North America. His experience as an NCAA All-American champion and his miracle at the US Open have indeed allowed Gao Wen to take deep roots here. He won the support of a group of fans early on and even broke the shackles of his Asian identity.
Bennett's idea is indeed crazy, but if you think about it carefully, it may not be unreasonable.
In Danson's view, opening up new markets is a very important step, as it requires destruction before construction.
Tennis, that's it.
In fact, Nike has been actively looking for opportunities all the time. Federer and Nadal, Serena Williams and Sharapova are the best examples.
However, the key point is that the tennis market was one thing before these four superstars, and it developed to its current scale after the brilliance and drive of these four superstars; but the release of their own energy has reached a bottleneck, and they need another opportunity and a driving force to usher in another qualitative change.
However, an "opportunity" comes once in ten years. If they are everywhere, it will no longer be an opportunity.
Now, they need to think about a question: Can Gawain become a brand new opportunity to change the market size in the next ten years? Moreover, Gawain has only been around for so short a time, is it too early to make a judgment? Bennett proposed a possibility, and after Danson chewed it carefully, his eyes showed an excited light, interesting, this is really interesting.
(End of this chapter)