In a small village at the foot of the mountain in the province of Mendoza, Argentina, Blake opened his mobile phone and immediately received several text messages prompting him to call.
The call came from Antonio, a colleague, and friend of Blake. Blake knew there must be something important in the company and 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, mountain climbing in Argentina, Aconcagua, the highest peak of the Western Hemisphere! The altitude is close to seven kilometers, there is no cell phone signal there!" Blake explained.
"So you haven't watched the news lately, have you!" Antonio continued, "You don't know anything about Zhang Guan?"
"What about Zhang Guan? Hahaha, of course, I know! He has been banned and blocked by their national field management center, right? I knew this before the vacation. And I also lifted Zhang Zhang's endorsement contract for the next two years!"
"We signed an endorsement of US $10 million with Zhang Guan for four years, and now we have two years left, that is, we still have to pay him the US $ 5 million. However, if Zhang Guan is suspended, he will have no endorsement value at all. And I only spent 200,000 US dollars in a breach of contract, I canceled this endorsement contract, but I saved 4.8 million US dollars for the group! If it wasn't known that Zhang Guan was suspended, we may have to wrongly spend more than 4.8 million US dollars." Blake said that he was frowning. He then said with some excitement, "Is the board very much appreciating my decision? They should raise my salary!"
"The board is discussing whether to transfer you to Africa!" Antonio snorted.
"What? Transfer to Africa? Don't joke with me, Antonio!" Blake said. He felt that he had made a great contribution and should be commended. Transfer to Africa? That was second only to the punishment for dismissal.
"Blake, I suggest you still check the news! Sports News, Australian Open." Antonio sighed, and then said, "Zhang Guan has advanced to the Australian Open final. He will compete with Federer for Australian tennis this year championship."
"What are you talking about? Australian Open? Zhang Guan is a track and field athlete!" Blake said angrily, "Antonio, it's not April Fool's Day! And we are friends, you shouldn't make such a bad joke with me!"
"Blake, I knew you wouldn't believe it. Your phone should be able to surf the Internet. You can use your phone to search up what I said!" Antonio said helplessly.
Blake hung up the phone, and he immediately searched for news related to the Australian Open on his phone.
"Australian Open's biggest black horse in history, Zhang Guan advanced to the final!"
"What?" Blake suddenly felt the world turning, almost sitting on the ground.
...
A month ago, when Zhang Guan was just suspended from the field management center, Blake got the news. As the group's director of marketing, Blake contacted the championship team for the first time and asked Zhang Guan to terminate the advertising endorsement contract in advance. In Blake's view, Zhang Guan's suspension and blockade will lose media exposure and he will lose the value of endorsement.
At that time, Zhuge Wenbo once talked about this with Zhang Guan, and also joked that "the emperor is not in a hurry to become a eunuch". At that time, Zhang Guan also said that as long as the sponsor is willing to pay the penalty, the contract can be terminated. So Blake paid liquidated damages of US $200,000 and canceled the advertising endorsement contract with Zhang Guan.
At that time, Blake also felt that he had made a big bargain because, at the beginning of 2007, he would not have to pay the 2007 fee if he canceled the contract. And this four-year US $10 million advertising endorsement was signed in 2008, so Blake feels that he has saved US$5 million for the company.
Then Blake ignored the follow-up report about Zhang Guan, and he started his vacation. Blake, who loves mountaineering, and traveling to Argentina. He wants to conquer the Aconcagua Mountain, the highest peak in South America.
Every year January and February are the best months for mountaineering in the southern hemisphere and the best time to climb the Aconcagua Mountain. After Blake entered the mountains, he lost his mobile phone signal, and then the process of climbing and descending the mountain took him ten days. These ten days are exactly the ten days of the Australian Open. When he returned to the village where he could receive mobile phone signals, the semifinals of the Australian Open had just ended.
...
In the meeting room, Blake was crying with a sad face, fidgeting.
"Blake, about the termination of 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 between us, why do you want to advance the cancellation, you never know that doing so will cause huge losses to the company!"
"I did this to avoid a loss to the company." Blake went on to argue, "I received the news that Zhang Guan has been banned by the track and field administration of their country, and the media will also block him for a long time to come, so he won't be able to participate in the competition, and his report will not appear 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 can't participate in the competition? What is the Australian Open? His report will not appear in the media? Look at the sports sections of the major media, who is in the headlines? Even for the domestic Chinese media, Zhang Guan is the focus of this week's report, but you told me that Zhang Guan is being blocked by the media? Now in the Internet age, any news can be spread all over the world in just one second!" Said another director angrily.
"I don't know why this happened! Zhang Guan is a track and field athlete. How could I haven know he would go play tennis and qualify for the Australian Open final!" Blake said in the aggrieved opinion.
"Then why don't you wait, if you are willing to wait a week, you will be able to see Zhang Guan's participation in the Australian Open. So my question is, why are you so desperate to cancel Zhang Guan's contract!" The person who spoke said a strange smile and then said, "I heard that after the termination of the contract with Zhang Guan, you quickly went to mountain climb in Argentina. You should not want to miss the good season of mountain climbing!"
"What do you mean? Are you saying that I have to finish the contract with Zhang Guan as soon as possible in order not to miss the climbing season?" Blake's face was angry, but the expressions of several other directors at this time also represented the same question.
"I chose to terminate Zhang Guan's contract as soon as possible to avoid paying him the endorsement fee for 2007! If the 2007 contract was executed, we would have to pay him 2.5 million dollars!" Blake explained.
"Now we would rather pay him $ 2.5 million and execute the 2007 contract. But even if he was given $2.5 million, he would not accept it now." The speaker then added, "Zhang Guan's agent has suspended some commercial endorsement and advertising negotiations, they will wait until the Australian Open is over. Do you understand what it means?"
"Wait for commercial endorsement after the Australian Open?" Blake froze for a while, then suddenly laughed, "Ha ha ha... Does Zhang Guan's agent think that Zhang Guan can win the Australian Open championship? Then good Lions Open mouth? This is 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 be beaten by Federer! Naive agent!"
"But what if Zhang Guan wins the Australian Open?" Said the director, who was angry just now, said, "The king of the world track and field, plus the Grand Slam champion, in both fields, he can achieve the top achievements. What exaggerated commercial value will Zhang Guan have, he will become the world's highest commercial value sports-star! Oh no, it should be the highest commercial value star! And this superstar would have been our spokesperson, and we could have just given him $ 2.5 million a year!"
"That's impossible!" Blake said confidently, "Zhang Guan cannot beat Federer."
"Mr. Blake, even if Zhang Guan can't win Federer, but with his original reputation, plus an Australian Open runner-up, it is enough to deserve an annual endorsement fee of 2.5 million! So it is undeniable that this time with Zhang Guan termination is our loss." The director who started talking reminded me.
Black suddenly fell into silence. He knew that the other party was right. With Zhang Guan's current reputation, no matter what sport he was engaged in, even if he went to jump rope to kick the shuttlecock, as long as he could continuously appear in the public's field of vision, someone will be willing to pay the endorsement fee. And now Zhang Guan has successfully advanced to the Australian Open finals. Based on commercial value, the endorsement fee of the US $2.5 million a year is not expensive.
...
Zhuge Wenbo put his mobile phone in his ear, a triumphant look.
"Mr. James, you are right, our cooperation with your company has been very smooth... Yes, the previous termination is a misunderstanding, but since we have signed the contract, we should follow the contract, we the championship team has always been very contractual!"
"Re-sign the contract? Of course! We have worked together before and we are very familiar with each other. Zhang Guan also hopes to continue to be your company's brand spokesperson!"
"No, no, of course, the original price cannot be used. The original contract was signed in 2005, you know, the economy has developed rapidly in the past two years, and inflation has been very strong. Now everything is going up, so we have to adapt to the situation and raise the price a little bit."
"How much is the endorsement fee for one year now? Mr. James, please don't worry. The final of the Australian Open will start tomorrow. Zhang Guan is preparing for the battle. We don't want Zhang Guan to think about the commercial endorsement. So, why not let us enjoy the Australian Open final tomorrow, and wait until the Australian Open is over, how about continuing to talk about the price?"
Zhuge Wenbo hung up the phone, and the depression caused by the sponsor's termination of the contract was wiped away a few days ago.
"Zhang Guan, come on! After winning Federer and winning the Australian Open, we can sign a few big advertising endorsements!"