Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 135 The new business darling (please subscribe)

Chen Ran was watching the live broadcast of the game in the players' lounge after receiving a massage and bathing to relax after the game.

Generally speaking, players often go to the stadium to watch games when there are no games, but on game days because they don’t have time, they often glance at the live broadcast through the global signal on the big screen in the player lounge, and also through Find out what's going on at other stadiums with the scoreboard.

Chen Ran's original plan was to go straight back to the hotel, but after accidentally glancing at the screen, he stopped.

On the big screen, the Spanish star Ferrero is playing against the Croatian dark horse Ancic who eliminated Safin.

Perhaps the battle with Safin drained all Ancic's luck and energy, and the exhausted Croatian was beaten by the fourth seed.

0:6，3:6，2:6！

Ancic had no resistance at all and was swept by Ferrero in straight sets.

Ancic even got an "egg sadness" in the first set.

Ancic's dark horse journey stops here.

Chen Ran frowned and looked at the scoreboard again.

The match between No. 10 seed Argentinian Nalbandian and No. 6 seed Federer has entered a fierce stage, and the two sides reached the fifth set of the deciding set.

Chen Ran couldn't see the screen and could only pay attention to the changes on the scoreboard.

What was Federer's performance at the 2003 Australian Open in his previous life?
He didn't remember a little bit, but generally speaking, it shouldn't be that outstanding.

On the scoreboard, the scores of Federer and Nalbandian increased alternately, and soon reached a 5-5 tie.

"It's not going to be a long game, right?" Chen Ran muttered in his mind, "If it's a long game, Roger's physical fitness will be the advantage."

Federer's physical fitness is very good.

In the 2019 Wimbledon men's singles final, the 38-year-old Federer and Djokovic played five sets and five hours before losing to each other 2-3 with great regret.

The score in the fifth set of the deciding set was 12:13!

The rules of Wimbledon at that time were that when the two sides reached a tie at 12 in the final set, there would be a tie-break!
This is 12 more games than a normal tie-break set!

But the 38-year-old Federer still gritted his teeth and persevered, which shows how strong his physical fitness is.

However, just when Chen Ran was expecting a long-set victory, the number next to Federer on the scoreboard jumped twice in a row, from 5 to 6, and then to 7.

Federer won the fifth set 7:5 and won the five-set battle with Nalbandian.

"All the top eight spots have been selected."

Chen Ran sighed slightly and left the dressing room carrying his luggage bag.

……

Located in the IMG building in Yanjing, Xue Peng, who is in charge of Chen Ran's agency affairs, just hung up the phone again.

The so-called people are refreshed on happy occasions!

As Chen Ran's performance improves by leaps and bounds, apart from the player himself, the one who is most proud of is his agent.

“It’s truly a Grand Slam-level competition!”

"Every time you advance one round, the popularity, attention, and commercial value you gain will double."

Xue Peng originally expected that Chen Ran could reach the third round of the Grand Slam, which was the top 32.

Now that Chen Ran can break into the top 8, he has completely exceeded the task.

There is no doubt that after this Australian Open, Chen Ran will grow into a first-line sports star in China.

Pepsi is calling, Coca-Cola is calling!

They all actively hope that Chen Ran can become one of their spokespersons.

Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola, their spokespersons are the vane of popular celebrities in this era.

Only the most popular celebrities can get an endorsement contract.

The two major brands are also fighting openly and covertly, and the competition with each other is very fierce.

Today, whether it is Pepsi or Coca-Cola, their endorsement artists are all super popular celebrities from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

It can even be said that mainland celebrities are simply not in the eyes of these companies.

What is the situation in the mainland entertainment industry today?
It is difficult for powerful actors to win the love of young people. Most big-budget movies have Hong Kong and Taiwan artists playing the leading roles.

After the highly anticipated 03 version of "The Condor" was aired, the leading actors Li Yapeng and Zhou Xun became the targets of ridicule. Their popularity and popularity were far less than that of F4's "Meteor Garden".

In this era, the Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment circles dominate the Chinese entertainment industry, and those stars from the mainland are far inferior in terms of popularity and advertising effect.

When mainland brands want to find spokespersons, their first choice is Hong Kong and Taiwan stars. Even young people in mainland China dislike mainland stars.

The only exception is Yao Ming, who is not in the entertainment industry. He may be the only celebrity from mainland China whose popularity can compete with the first-line stars in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

If the original timeline is followed, one person will appear after the Athens Olympics next year, and that is Liu Xiang.

But Chen Ran suddenly emerged and after breaking into the top 8 in the Grand Slam, his popularity and commercial value are enough to rival those first-line stars in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Especially tennis, a global sport, does seem to be quite high-end and stylish.

After all, Hong Kong and Taiwan, which are now admired by the mainland, admire the European and American world, and tennis has a very high status in Europe and the United States.

Therefore, whether it is Yao Ming or Chen Ran, the reason why they can have popularity comparable to the first-line stars in Hong Kong and Taiwan is because they have achieved success in sports that the European and American world pays attention to.

This is also considered overtaking on a curve in another sense.

"Pepsi-Cola chose Yao Ming, so Coca-Cola's demand for Chen Ran became more urgent." Xue Peng first put aside Pepsi-Cola's offer, and then emphatically checked Coca-Cola's contract.

"SHE? It's been two years since Taiwan's super popular girl group debuted?" Xue Peng frowned, "What the hell is this?"

He doesn't even know Jay Chou well, let alone the beautiful girl group SHE.

In Coca-Cola's quotation contract, they mentioned that they were planning to invite this girl group to become the spokesperson of Coca-Cola together with Chen Ran.

Chen Ran's endorsement fee is slightly higher than the total of the three members of this girl group.

However, Xue Peng first considered whether this combination from Taiwan would lower Chen Ran's level, so he was ready to find out first.

In his subconscious mind, you have to be at the level of Jay Chou or Nicholas Tse to be qualified to cooperate.As a manager, Xue Peng has a very keen sense of the market and has already forced Metersbonwe to increase its quotation.

Originally, Chen Ran had agreed to a 300 million-year contract with Metersbonwe, but Xue Peng made a request based on the principle of maximizing interests.

"This is a two-year contract. If you are optimistic about Chen Ran's potential, he should be at least the same price as Jay Chou."

Xue Peng's meaning is very simple. If Chen Ran wins the Masters championship or the semi-finals of the Grand Slam within two years, he will be the undoubted king of Asian tennis.

By then, it would be an insult if Chen Ran's endorsement fee is lower than Jay Chou's.

The reply from Metersbonwe is that the boss needs to consider it carefully.

They are actually waiting for the Australian Open results...

However, immediately afterwards, Chen Ran defeated Roddick and Youzhny, and reached the quarterfinals in one breath.

There was a sensation throughout China.

Metersbonwe was also anxious and decisively raised its offer, raising Chen Ran's endorsement fee to the same price as Jay Chou.

Seeing that his goal was achieved, Xue Peng readily agreed.

This is the first real contract he has brought to Chen Ran as an agent.

Like the previous Nike and Wilson rackets, the company directly found them through its own resources, which is considered an early investment.

Coca-Cola is the second contract, but what about the third?
The 21st century is an era of rapid technological advancement, and mobile phones have also entered thousands of households in China.

The famous Motorola mobile phone also sent an endorsement invitation to Chen Ran.

There is also the Internet. In recent years, China's Internet has begun to become more and more prosperous.

This is an emerging industry, and Chen Ran is also very popular on the Internet.

"What a pity, Chen Ran's requirements are a bit harsh..." Xue Peng sighed softly.

Chen Ran once requested that when endorsing Internet products, he should try not to touch "online games." However, the most profitable product on the Internet today is online games.

However, his meaning is very clear. Nowadays, many media are criticizing online games, so it is better not to be in the center of public opinion.

Especially those game merchants, each one is more shady than the other, and each one is more deceitful than the other. They are full of thinking about how to squeeze the last money out of the players' pockets.

Now that you have been reborn, you should not help others do evil.

"It's all an endorsement invitation from the game company."

Xue Peng rubbed his eyebrows with some distress, and then reluctantly dialed Chen Ran's phone number...

At this moment, Chen Ran, who was far away in Australia, had just finished his restorative training and had just hung up the phone from Xue Peng, with a strange expression on his face.

He was lying on the ground, and the physical trainer was massaging his muscles.

Today, Sergey is the only one in Chen Ran’s team.

The agency asked Chen Ran if he wanted to arrange an assistant to help him carry bags and do chores.
After all, in today's entertainment industry, even a second-tier star is surrounded by several people when he goes out.

However, a picture flashed in Chen Ran's mind.

In 2016, after the British tennis star Andy Murray won the China Open, he went to the Yanjing High-speed Railway Station alone, carrying large and small bags, preparing to go to Shanghai to participate in the next Masters Tournament.

This photo also quickly became popular on the Internet, with Chinese netizens calling it "the sense of sight of migrant workers entering the city."

These things may seem trivial to Murray, but they amazed Chinese netizens.

At this time, Murray already held three Grand Slams and two Olympic gold medals, and was known as the Big Four in tennis along with Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic.

So netizens started to complain.

"Such a big-name celebrity travels in such a simple and low-key way. Can't those domestic entertainment stars imitate this?"

"The people in the internal entertainment group don't have much ability, but they look very grand when they walk outside. They are afraid that others won't know that they are celebrities."

"They even asked bodyguards to clear the way, thinking they should have an exclusive passage for themselves."

So, Chen Ran declined the brokerage company's proposal: "No, I'm not helpless. I'm used to carrying all this luggage by myself."

As an athlete, you must avoid being pretentious.

But there was another thing that surprised Chen Ran: so many game developers wanted to invite him to endorse.

I remember that in previous online games, except for sports competitions, it was rare for athletes to be endorsed.

Is your image particularly suitable for endorsing online games?

Or maybe this is inherent to the turn of the century?

Chen Ran's attitude was still very firm and he declined those game endorsements one by one.

Then he seemed to think of something again and asked Xue Peng to give him a list of some Internet products of this era. He wanted to know more about it.

The other party felt a little strange, but since Chen Ran had spoken, he had no choice but to do as he was told.

"Metersbonwe, Coca-Cola, and Motorola."

"After playing in the Australian Open, I had three endorsement contracts so quickly."

"Even the endorsement amount of each contract is not less than 500 million."

Chen Ran was a little dazed. This was second only to Yao Ming in the entire Chinese mainland's cultural and sports circles, because the current mainland entertainment industry is not a big deal.

"Chen, you must have made those Russian players jealous. Even Safin, his commercial endorsements may not be as good as yours." Sergey said with extreme envy.

"Sir, actually I still have a contract under negotiation." Chen Ran showed a mysterious look.

Sergey asked curiously: "Is there a bigger contract? What brand?"

"It's a Rolex watch..."

"God!" Sergey exclaimed, "Let me be a Chinese in my next life!"

……

(End of this chapter)