Chapter 974: Happiness and Perfection
“Coincidence!”
It's all coincidence.
If anyone accuses the Australian Open of favoring Gao Wen and pushing the whole thing behind the scenes, then Craig Tiley will righteously cry out that he is innocent.
Arranging Gao Wen in Press Conference Room No. 1 was indeed a coincidence. The only thing that can be said is that Luzhou Laojiao really hopes that Gao Wen can get better treatment, but because the three parties did not complete the signing, Luzhou Laojiao did not make any specific requirements.
Ultimately, it is the Australian Open's own internal decision.
After all, the Australian Open is preparing to expand its market based in the Asia-Pacific region, and Gao Wen, as a new Grand Slam champion, is naturally a top priority.
In fact, not only Gao Wen, but also Kei Nishikori's treatment at the Australian Open has been significantly improved.
To Terry, it's all a game of chess.
Who could have thought that the spark of "Gawain vs. Djokovic" would spark a chemical reaction from that moment on?
Then……
Then, the final happened, the breaking point happened, history happened, and everything was like a storm that could no longer be stopped.
Including Luzhou Laojiao and the Australian Open, including Gao Wen and Tobias, none of them expected that the story would end like this.
Tiley swore that although everything seemed to be manipulated by him, it was indeed an independent decision, not aimed at Djokovic, and without the instruction of Luzhou Laojiao.
So, is this a "happy ending"? For Luzhou Laojiao and the Australian Open, it should be.
From New York to Paris and then to Melbourne, Gao Wen's career has taken a triple jump. Luzhou Laojiao's five-year, $50 million sponsorship contract has completed a qualitative change.
A piece of data, and also a fact, in the entire men's professional tennis world, only four players can reach a sponsorship contract of 10 million US dollars per year with a brand:
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and... Kei Nishikori.
It is a little surprising that the fourth place is not Murray, but Kei Nishikori. The reason is very simple. In Japan, Kei Nishikori has huge commercial value and top sponsors support him in all aspects. After all, there is only one Japanese player ranked in the top 100 in the world.
Scarcity makes things valuable.
What is true for Gao Wen is also true for Kei Nishikori.
Moreover, even for these four players, not all brand sponsorships can reach such a level. The average range of US$2.5 million to US$7 million per year is the norm.
Tennis is known as the most profitable sport in the world. Endorsement and sponsorship fees are part of the profit, while competition prize money is another part.
If we only talk about endorsements and sponsorships, football, known as the world's number one sport, is still the leader, and tennis is still slightly inferior.
The "10 million club" is basically the top of the tennis pyramid.
Now, there is a fifth member in this club, Gao Wen!
Even with the women, there were only two more members in the club, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova - later, Naomi Osaka became the third female member of the club, but that was all.
In just half a year, Gao Wen officially surpassed Bouchard and became the fastest rising and most profitable player of the new generation. He even entered the top ranks in one fell swoop, demonstrating incredible market appeal.
but!
Even so, the object of everyone's envy is not Gao Wen, but Luzhou Laojiao.
reason?
It is not so easy to sign Gao Wen now. It would be difficult to do it simply by relying on a blank check.
New York, Grand Slam.
Paris, Masters.
Melbourne, Grand Slam.
In half a year, Gao Wen won three championships, all from top competitions. He proved himself with his unparalleled performance on the field and became an idol of the new generation.
More importantly, in Melbourne, the performance of defeating three giants in a row to reach the top will probably be talked about for a long, long time.
Gawain deserves it.
Now you can imagine the frustration and regret of those brand sponsors. If they hesitated for a moment, the opportunity would have passed.
There was one offer in New York, one offer in Paris, and now there is another offer after Melbourne ends.
Triple jump.
Soar into the sky.
There is no doubt that the difficulty of getting Gao Wen's sponsorship contract will be doubled again. According to the internal feedback information of Luzhou Laojiao, Tobias hired a team of six people to specifically create Gao Wen's brand image, market positioning and endorsement brand selection.
Professional enough and advanced enough.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
It can be predicted that with his second consecutive Grand Slam title, Gao Wen’s market value will only go up for a long time to come.
Of course, as long as the haters want to, they can always find reasons to discredit Gao Wen's championship: Nadal, Murray and Djokovic, the three players are not in the best physical condition. Djokovic even injured his finger in the final and had difficulty breathing and thigh cramps. These are all objective reasons on the table. Gao Wen's victory was unfair and there is really nothing worth bragging about.
The word "lucky" can easily wipe out all of Gao Wen's efforts and ignore the fact that Gao Wen himself also experienced the hot and humid weather in the final.
But it doesn’t matter, these voices have no impact on Gao Wen’s market value.
There are still many eyes that envy Luzhou Laojiao.
When interviewed, Luzhou Laojiao also stated that the negotiations were not smooth sailing and that the last five days even required more than twelve hours of high-intensity three-party negotiations every day. The focus of the three parties was on how to ensure the brand effect of all three parties while achieving the greatest possible win-win situation.
At the same time, as Gawain progresses in Melbourne Park, it also means that Gawain's bargaining chips are getting heavier and heavier, which is also the key to influencing the negotiation situation.
Day by day, the situation and circumstances are changing. Every day we are solving problems and facing new ones. Until the actual signing of the contract, variables always exist.
Not only Luzhou Laojiao, but also the Australian Open has its own insistence, they must emphasize -
Gao Wen is not the spokesperson for the Australian Open.
In fact, the best benchmark brand for such a three-party cooperation is Kia.
The sponsors of the four Grand Slams are basically divided into three to four levels. The highest level is the title sponsorship, which will not only appear on the court, but also in broadcast shots, slow-motion replays, game switches, etc. Then, as the levels decrease, the status and rights also decrease.
Kia is one of the four major brand sponsors of the Australian Open; Luzhou Laojiao is only a second-level sponsor.
Every year, Kia has a large number of official promotional activities at the Australian Open, and as Kia's global spokesperson, Nadal will definitely attend all activities. This also means that Nadal can indeed get some preferential treatment at the Australian Open, but it does not mean that Nadal can represent the official position of the Australian Open.
Now, the same thing happened to Gawain.
Considering that Gao Wen will definitely appear in all activities of the cooperation between Luzhou Laojiao and the Australian Open, the Australian Open must also put forward more detailed requirements.
Negotiations are indeed very, very difficult.
According to Luzhou Laojiao's negotiation team, they have made preparations for the worst. The team has even bought tickets to return home and abandoned all efforts and operations over the past six months.
Finally! After all the hardships, Luzhou Laojiao finally took a very important step. Not only did it reach a cooperation with Gao Wen, but it also officially stepped onto the Grand Slam stage.
(End of this chapter)