Respawn Entertainment: Days of Glory

Chapter 973 The World Cup Finals and Your Meeting

The video isn't very long. It starts with Bian Lang watching the game from the stadium, and then it's a montage of matches from various national teams and club teams.

Juventus, Villarreal, and Arsenal organized their fans to sing together at the stadium. Following them were performances by players from various national teams; these weren't the teams sponsored by Adidas, but Nike didn't sponsor any of them.

This high-quality music video concludes with a scene of fans celebrating alongside the Italian national team at Juventus' home stadium, seamlessly blending football, music, and commercial elements. The clash between the fans' joy and the players' passion perfectly captures the allure of football, the world's most popular competitive sport.

This is also the purpose of hosting the World Cup!
The decision to launch the campaign during the National Day holiday was intended to leverage the surge in traffic from Chinese tourists visiting Europe, aiming to create a buzz both domestically and internationally.

Undoubtedly, the goal was achieved perfectly. Suddenly, the number of visits to the official websites and videos of Juventus, Adidas, and other teams exploded, leaving their network maintenance staff somewhat bewildered.

As for the domestic marketing accounts that spread misinformation, they were all dumbfounded. Some of them even paid out of their own pockets to buy traffic in order to boost their data rewards, and now they are seeing the result of losing everything.

In London, at the headquarters of Time magazine, Summer kept refreshing the data on various websites, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his lips: "If this matter ferments for another day or two, our magazine cover will be even more convincing."

Upon hearing this, another editor in the office poured cold water on his enthusiasm: "Aren't you afraid of being investigated by headquarters in the US?"

"Why are they holding me accountable? As a journalist, I simply reported the facts objectively. Isn't that what we should be doing? Louis, I advise you not to pay too much attention to the arguments of those people at US headquarters. Our situation is different; we are not political tools in the hands of certain guys!"

Despite Sammer's unwavering stance, Louis remained deeply worried. While they didn't know the exact nature of the relationship between CAA and headquarters, the fact that CAA's artists consistently had the opportunity to grace magazine covers suggested a close connection.

Those people know best how tarnished the reputation of the Rolling Stones and Bianlang is in the US right now. They're being slapped with all sorts of inexplicable labels like "cultural hooligans" and "cultural invaders," and some misled radical rock fans are even starting to talk about the purity of rock 'n' roll heritage.

DGM didn't immediately inform Bian Lang of this news from their relationships with other Rolling Stones artists in the US. It wasn't that they intentionally kept it from him, but rather they felt it unnecessary to affect his mood. The fact that he wouldn't be able to perform at the upcoming Rolling Stones Festival would be difficult for anyone to accept.

Therefore, this cover story from Time Europe is undoubtedly going against the prevailing media landscape in the United States. Once it's published and generates buzz, headquarters will definitely investigate what's going on.

Sammer was in charge of the culture and arts section, while Louis was responsible for sports, so this was a major collaborative project between the two. If they were to be held accountable, neither of them could escape responsibility!
"Sammer, I'm still very worried!"

“Louis, things have come to this point, what's the use of worrying? Should we have the printing press reprint a batch, or something...? Let them pursue it if they want; sales and buzz are guaranteed, and advertising budgets will increase. They won't find a respectable reason..."

Louis sighed again, swallowing back the words that were about to come out.

He wasn't as conflicted as he is now when Summer persuaded him to do this interview together. It's just that he had just received news that there were some problems in Nike's negotiations for next year's season frame.

The nature of the problem is self-evident; it's definitely related to this matter. As for the severity of the problem? Since the editor-in-chief of his department has already been informed, it can't be a minor issue.

Indeed, as Summer said, if we look at the matter itself, what fault could be found between the two of them? Is it wrong to increase business volume and revenue?

Please, this is a media company controlled by capitalists, not a state-owned enterprise.

But if it affects Nike's contract renewal next year, then he'll be the only one who suffers. After all, he's in charge of the sports aspect.

The two had been working together for quite some time, and judging from his expression, Summer basically guessed the reason: "If Nike is going to use this incident as a bargaining chip to get you to concede on the price, I suggest you learn from Villarreal!"

Sammer, who focuses on the arts and culture scene, naturally didn't know much about the football world before. However, since this collaboration was related to Bianlang, he did some background research and discovered that a Chinese sports brand had already begun to become a sponsor of the top five European leagues through Rolling Stone.

Therefore, the day when we can advertise in Time magazine shouldn't be too far off.

This suggestion reassured Louis somewhat: "I hope so!"

As for Nike, they weren't particularly concerned when they first heard the rumors. After all, they felt that Bian Lang and the Agnelli family teaming up for something like this was a thankless task. One family controlled an Italian Serie A club, and the other owned a record company; the World Cup wouldn't benefit them much no matter how you looked at it.

Therefore, their conclusion is that these two companies joined forces simply to capitalize on the popularity of the World Cup.

To their surprise, what came out was just as unreliable as a man's mouth. They said it was just a rub, but how did it end up inside?
The song's artistic and musical merits are almost negligible. But realistically speaking, if they had heard it earlier, Nike would have been willing to pay double, or even more, Adidas's contribution.

"Damn it, how can a rock musician write this kind of song? What about his musical pursuits and his rock philosophy? Ole ole ole ole... Damn it, how come I can already sing it?" Nike's manager in charge of the World Cup case complained while singing along.

My colleague echoed this sentiment: "If it weren't for the connections between the Korean girl group and those in power, perhaps..."

"Shut up, this isn't something we need to discuss. What we need to think about now is how to ensure we ultimately win this competition!"

"Should we copy them and make a music video? Or maybe we could do something a little suggestive, I think..."

"In the eyes of fans, beauty is not as important as the game. If we imitate them, we have no chance of winning. This song is simply impeccable..."

That's what they say, but they actually have many options at their disposal. After all, they're a South Korean girl group; those who know, know. Calling it high-level public relations wouldn't be an exaggeration!
As for the South Korean national team mentioned earlier, they were probably the first players to break through. Frankly, they certainly hoped their national women's team could collaborate with their sponsors to secure the World Cup theme song, further showcasing South Korea's formidable reputation.

But now, a collaboration between a Chinese person and Adidas has instantly captured most people's attention. So many national teams have come forward to support this song, and this Chinese man is none other than Bian Lang, who made their captain, Sun Minghao, lose face. How could they possibly tolerate this!
So, not long after "Ole ole ole ole" became popular, members of the South Korean national team started speaking out one by one.

Sun Minghao: "Wave? You think China will never have a chance to participate in the World Cup, so you did this, right? Do you really love your country and nation by doing this? Even if your song is recognized by the World Cup organizing committee, so what? It still won't change the fact that the Chinese men's football team has no ability to enter the World Cup!"

I suggest you consider becoming our citizen..."

It has to be said that Sun Minghao's weakness left the Chinese fans speechless.

Adding to the fact that other national team players, whose sponsors are Nike, ultimately missed out on appearing in this music video, the Chinese men's football team has been dragged into the international spotlight this time.

Domestic fans aren't going to tolerate this. Although the situation with the national team may not be able to be changed, it doesn't stop Bian Lang from showing his prowess abroad.

"You guys are so capable, yet you haven't won a single championship. Bian Lang's song was chosen as the World Cup theme song because of its genuine talent! As for your girl group, don't you have any self-awareness about what you're relying on?"

"Sun Minghao, shut up! How big is the football population in your country, South Korea? If all the Tottenham fans in China unfollow you because of this, see how the club deals with you then?"

"That's right! A 10-year Tottenham fan here as proof: if the team doesn't severely punish Sun Minghao, I'll immediately stop being a fan!"

"Why even bother with conditions? Just unfollow them. Tottenham isn't my hometown team, they don't have any Chinese players, and they're not exactly a top-tier team. Wouldn't it be better to just follow Bianlang and watch Arsenal? Or you could watch Juventus..."

"Why bother with him... So what if we can't make it to the World Cup? Your South Korean national team can't build up as many fans as our Chinese national team even if you live several lifetimes!"

That was a very insightful comment, leaving the Chinese national football team players feeling both ashamed and indignant.

It was at this time that Rolling Stones' official Chinese account updated with a video titled "Rolling Stones Chasing the World Cup Dream: Ole ole ole ole, Where is the support from the fans?"
This immediately caused an uproar among fans who previously had to rely on watching the original or pirated versions of the foreign websites:
"Let's go, do you know any voting websites?"

"They need to show some of the same enthusiasm they had for SMS voting back in the day. If they don't give this song a few small goals, how can they be worthy of being called Chinese football fans?"

"If the organizing committee wants to hold a public vote, that would be considered a rigged operation!"

Although these words are mostly ineffective, the market power they imply is something the World Cup organizing committee cannot ignore.

The simplest point is the price paid for the broadcasting rights to China Central Television. If Bianlang wins the bid, even a slight increase of a few percentage points would likely be enough for the major domestic broadcasters in China to pay that price. After all, the sheer size of the fan base and the resulting boost is truly staggering!
Seeing fans online mocking the national team while supporting Bian Lang, the higher-ups who previously banned Bian Lang must be furious. But then they thought, "Since Rolling Stone released the video, doesn't that mean they took our punishment for granted?"

Although he didn't think Rolling Stones would be so reckless, the leader still clicked on the video with some anticipation. After all, they couldn't control how Bian Lang caused trouble abroad, but if he really disregarded their reputation and dared to openly provoke them, then he should just wait to be dealt with!

However, upon watching the video, the leader was ultimately disappointed.

The video, which started with Bian Lang at Juventus' home stadium, was surprisingly cut to a shot of a fan at Yukun's home stadium, with TIFO and Xibic's output at Yukun's stadium. The later montage also included some footage of the Chinese national football team.

Furthermore, at the end of the video, a message was highlighted: "To the Chinese Men's National Football Team: No matter your record, we will always support you, simply because you represent China!"

This sentence immediately triggered the fans' tendency to whine and cry.

Even the players on the national football team had tears in their eyes watching this video. Liu Lei, the legendary captain and a veteran of the national team, was in tears after watching it when he sent a WeChat message to Bian Lang: "Bian Lang, you bastard, you absolutely have to get this song into the World Cup! You wait for us next year, give us some more time, whether it's four years or eight years, we must meet you in the World Cup finals!"

Liu Lei never expected that his entire series of actions would be recorded by his wife: "Leizi, I recorded you! You can't just talk the talk, or your son will laugh at you later..."

"Give it to me! Give me your phone!"

"Why are you being so fierce? Just because your grades aren't good doesn't mean we can't say anything!"

"Then send me the video, and I'll post it online so the fans can witness it!"

"Good! I respect you as a real man!"

Liu Lei kept his word, and then he became a trending topic for the first time in his life!
This time, the fans were no longer overwhelmingly mocking and cursing; some even sided with Liu Lei, saying he still had guts.

Next, the state media got involved. Things had progressed to this point; how could the state media not intervene? The Chinese Football Association couldn't afford to lose face, so the General Administration of Sport stepped in.

"Fully support Bian Lang in the World Cup theme song competition!" These few words alone caused a great deal of lamentation among the self-media outlets that were preparing to continue criticizing Bian Lang.

As for those who banned Bianlang, they were utterly exasperated and speechless. The controversy that had just subsided was suddenly reignited!

(End of this chapter)