Generation Z Artists

Chapter 165 Explosive Harvest
The hottest topic and the most widespread expectations of 2001 were born simultaneously after this press conference.

A public bathhouse attached to an industrial area in Northeast China.

"Damn, Fang Xinghe is a real piece of work!"

"Absolutely right, he's fucking good at everything."

"That's unbelievable! He even beat Jordan! How do you guys think he trained like that?"

"Practice martial arts! Once you've mastered your kung fu, hitting someone is like hanging a painting; playing ball will be a piece of cake, won't it?"

A small mahjong parlor in a town in Sichuan.

"Oh my god, after watching the NBA for so many years, finally there's going to be a Chinese player."

"What's the point of the NBA? If you ask me, Fang Xinghe should just go play soccer; the national team needs him!"

"Playing in the final round of World Cup qualifiers in September? That's too late, isn't it?"

"Why is it too late? Special conscription? There are still more than three months left!"

"Absolutely. If Fang Xinghe could play as a striker, who the hell could stop him when he gets going?"

"He's never played soccer, so he'd be great in the NBA. It seems like Jordan is going to make a comeback for him. If he plays on Jordan's team, the championship will be a piece of cake!"

An informal teahouse in Guangzhou that sells dim sum and shrimp dumplings.

"Fang Zai is fierce!"

"Fang Ziwei can beat Michael Jordan!"

"It's so inspiring! I don't have any other skills, but I'll buy everything my family eats and uses from now on, and he'll be the one who endorses it."

"Isn't our international dragon boat invitational tournament scheduled for June 23rd this year? We should invite Fang Xinghe to attend; he's a sports representative for China!"

"Oh, what a great idea! Inviting him to cut the ribbon would definitely be very impactful!"

Parks and hutongs in the capital, theaters and theatres in Tianjin, office buildings in Shanghai...

People are talking about it everywhere, and everyone is cheering.

Fang Xinghe got to enjoy what Yao Ming was supposed to be looking forward to next year ahead of time, and with an even more enthusiastic and admiring response.

Apart from football fans who were slightly envious, the rest of the Chinese people were genuinely excited.

My back suddenly became stiff, and I couldn't even turn over in my sleep.

Wang Charlie seized the opportunity and copied more than a dozen Clippers tryout videos, then put them up for sale!
Actually, the video rights belonged to the Clippers. The copy that Wang Charlie obtained through threats did not have broadcasting rights. ESPN did buy the exclusive North American broadcasting rights from the Clippers, but that had nothing to do with Asia.

Now, back on his own turf, Wang Chali waved his hand and said: If you dare to want it, I dare to sell it!

Just kidding, so many American cable channels are broadcasting it, I don't believe the Clippers would dare to sue me.

CCTV couldn't broadcast it, and major stations like Capital TV and Dragon TV were also hesitant to broadcast it, but Jilin Provincial TV didn't care about any of that and just broadcast it randomly.

People in China had only seen textual descriptions in the news praising Fang Xinghe's basketball skills and how fierce he was when facing bullies, saying he was incredibly awesome at taking on five opponents at once, but they hadn't actually seen the footage.

Now, Jilin TV broadcast the recording regardless of the consequences, and suddenly it exploded again.

Although Jilin TV was immediately warned by its superiors and only gloated for two days, once it opened the floodgates, local county and city stations across the country followed suit, replaying the program over and over again for about a week.

Whether it was due to poor control by the General Administration of Sport or a lack of effort in rectifying the situation, Fang Xinghe's playing style and how he assaulted others were fully exposed to the national audience.

This was the first time he had truly extended his influence to the township level and below.

This is also the first time he has truly expanded his reach, no longer relying on cultural trends but instead capitalizing on sports traffic.

In an instant, everything changed.

The amount of floating powder increased by nearly 200 million, and the rural population of 850 million was absorbed by a quarter of them at once.

This part of the powder is definitely not long-lasting and it is difficult to refine it to a higher level, but just this one wave of popularity directly contributed 200 million star points.

One spot of powder floats, poor quality but large quantity, it's so satisfying.

With this windfall, I can finally try some inspiration-based spending. Congratulations!

The number of Tier 2 core fans also surged, increasing by about 1000 million.

Most of them are newly added honorary fans, which comprehensively strengthens Fang Xinghe's foundation.

However, these honor fans have a relatively low willingness to spend money, and the period of unfollowing them is much shorter, so there's no need to get too excited.

There is a "strange thing" that only industry insiders know – when Liu Xiang had just won the Olympic gold medal, his endorsement was not very effective. The sales of the brands he endorsed, such as Anta, Yili, Cadillac, Visa, and Lenovo, did not increase as expected.

It's not that it didn't rise; it did surge when it was first officially announced, but then it stabilized and returned to its original niche. The long-term overall return is quite average.

However, after 2020, with a turnaround in public opinion, Liu Xiang's second endorsement after his retirement was highly recognized in terms of brand image. It focused on emotional marketing and emotional resonance, and was cost-effective, becoming a classic case of "cultural symbol accumulation".

This is a classic example of the paradox of "honor fans being worthless." They are enthusiastic, make a big show of it, stir up trouble everywhere, and provide the highest level of popularity, but their sales are less than one-tenth of those of girlfriend fans and older sister fans.

Therefore, the industry's usual approach is to attract influencer fans as much as possible at the beginning, and then cut off influencer fans as much as possible after stabilizing to ensure the purity of the core base.

After making his profit from this wave, Fang Xinghe also planned to find an opportunity to cleanse the honorary fans who came from Zhu Guang.

He doesn't really intend to switch to sports; at most, he'll try to win one or two gold medals at the 08 Olympics held in his hometown. In the years that have passed, there's no need for him to listen to their opinions.

The truly important level 3 die-hard fans didn't see much of a price increase this time.

30, a number that's neither high nor low.

The proportion of new fans is extremely low; they are mostly extracted from existing fans.

Everyone feels elated by the idea of ​​"enhancing our national prestige," but very few people develop loyalty because of it.

Chairman Yao and Liu Feiren are both quite capable, but how many of them have truly loyal followers?

Outsiders who don't understand always talk about the perceived popularity. In 07, Liu Feiren's total endorsement fees were 1.6 million yuan, which was indeed popular. But if you look at the annual reports of those endorsement companies, do they match his popularity?
Commercial value is a very rational, static metric. Putting aside the glitz and glamour, it ultimately comes down to the level of support from fans.

Therefore, the rise of traffic to power was indeed inevitable; the whole world was the same.

Fang Xinghe cannot change this historical trend driven by human nature; he can only set a benchmark for traffic in advance, raise the standard of traffic, and lead the domestic cultural and entertainment industry in a better direction.

Human strength has its limits... all we can do is try our best.

Fang Ge opened the Starlight panel and sighed with delight.

Level 1 powder buildup: 2.9 million

Tier 2 Midfielder: 1720 million

Level 3 die-hard fans: 150 million

Level 4 Frenzy: 451052
Level 5 Belief: 21433
Starlight Value: 3.2 billion

Star value: 6 points

The powdery coating is an exception; it can only last until the end of the year when everything settles down.

During this period, a single big news story can garner over 200 million star points, so don't waste the opportunity; collect as much as you can to spark inspiration.

The core group consists mostly of fans who are honorary members; they are useful but not very useful.

These celebrity fans are great at boosting TV drama ratings, but struggle to contribute to movie ticket sales. Fat Fairy, Tu Li, and Chou Zi are mostly comprised of celebrity fans, which is why their dramas are hugely popular, but they have a hard time selling products… well, Fat Fairy doesn't have a hard time selling products, but she's a special symbol with unique influence.

Die-hard fans and fanatics are the real foundation and the key element driving commercial value. It's not easy to accumulate so many.

The Belief Powder is the core of the core, but Fang Xinghe suddenly realized that there seemed to be no use for them—only dusk could prove their loyalty, but would I have dusk?

During an avalanche, they are the guarantee of a comeback, but I have no chance of avalanche at all...

The importance of the "belief fans" to Fang Xinghe is rapidly decreasing; however, they play a core role in shaping the atmosphere of the Xingwang official fan cafe.

The core sections and fan-created content in the official fan cafe are almost entirely controlled by the fans who share their beliefs.

Their pure sincerity guides and maintains the healthy, friendly, and positive atmosphere of the official forum, and in the long run, this value is immeasurable.

Starlight is not needed for now.

Fang Xinghe doesn't have any skills that need to be upgraded, and he's not in a hurry to unlock the new professions such as screenwriter, singer, and composer in the profession panel.

When he actually starts working on his own projects, he can add up to 89 points whenever he needs them.

Those six stars were the biggest gain from this trip back to China.

With just a tryout video, a chaotic battle, and a bunch of speculative news, and before he had even secured a high draft pick in the NBA, Fang Xinghe had already earned 6 Star Points amidst the excitement of the Chinese people.

If we really win the top score... adding another 6 points wouldn't be unreasonable, right?!

Giving Japan and South Korea 6 points each wouldn't be unreasonable, would it?
For Southeast Asia, contributing a total of 3 points is fine; we can't have too high expectations for them. However, securing one endorsement deal with one country and quietly earning two or three million US dollars is something we can look forward to.

In short, a second trip to Asia should be put on the agenda. If we don't reap the rewards now, when will we?
Fang Xinghe didn't plan to save up his Star Glory, so he casually maxed out Speed ​​and put the remaining 3 points into Flexibility.

Appearance: 99 for looks, 90 for figure (expand)

体质属性：力量90、速度99、耐力90、灵敏99、柔韧93
隐藏属性：协调99、感知90、恢复90、免疫90、健康90
The official definition of flexibility is the range of motion of human joints and the elasticity and extensibility of ligaments, tendons, muscles, skin and other tissues.

Softness refers to flexibility, while toughness is roughly equivalent to the ability to resist damage.

This attribute isn't as intuitive as strength, but in Fang Xinghe's view, it has a higher priority than strength.

Fang Xinghe's basketball advantage is built on large-scale shifts in center of gravity, extremely fast-paced rhythm changes, and explosive breaks from stop-and-go.

The playing style is incredibly cool and highly entertaining, but it also puts a lot of strain on the ankles and knees.

The two previous Jordan successors, Penny Hardaway and Grant Hill, are typical examples of how the more flashy a player is, the faster they fade away.

It's not that they lack coordination; someone with poor coordination couldn't be the fastest player in the league, let alone execute such a dazzling offensive play.

They are more explosive than flexible, so they all had problems with their most vulnerable ankles.

This has nothing to do with health attributes. Those two were perfectly healthy. After Hill changed his playing style, he stayed in the league until he was 42 years old before retiring.

This guy is just a tiny bit of flexibility and agility away from his true peak.

Fang Xinghe also likes to play flashy games, prioritizing gaining fans over winning, so maxing out flexibility first, then health, is the right approach; strength is enough.

This trip to Japan and South Korea should max out my flexibility. When I do that, I'll use a feint with both hands, and if I can't shake Danzi off balance, I'll eat my hat!
Those 3 points of speed are basically useless; I can easily run in 10 seconds, but my acceleration with the ball is still the same.

With only 89 points of ball control, you can't unleash your maximum speed.

The key to improving his dribbling skills lies in his ball control, but he doesn't have enough points to allocate to technique, so he has to practice on his own.

Fortunately, with top-notch coordination, whether practicing martial arts or ball skills, the growth rate is very fast, so it's not necessary to use cheat codes.

Fang Xinghe's assistant team carried several basketballs with him, and he took pictures wherever he went. In just over four months, it shouldn't be a problem for his score to rise another three to five points.

After quickly summarizing the gains in individual skills, Brother Fang began to summarize the external gains.

Jeanswest has confirmed its exit; it will not renew its two-year contract, and it is likely that a Japanese apparel company will take over.

However, Jeanswest had no complaints and expressed their heartfelt gratitude to Fang Xinghe for his help at the press conference.

This little workshop is now incredibly successful.

In the past two years, Fang Xinghe has generated nearly 5 million yuan in sales for them. This is because production capacity and quality control cannot keep up, not because Brother Fang is unable to lead them.

How much was Fang Xinghe's endorsement fee when they signed him?

120 million a year!
In the business world, people are so envious they could cry. University business management and advertising majors have included Jeanswest in their textbooks, regarding it as the best of contemporary commercial advertising.

How sloppy it is!

Fang Xinghe's Jeanswest commercial has never been reshot. It's still the same parkour commercial that's been airing for almost two years, and so many kids are still learning it.

Since last year, Jeanswest has been following Fang Xing's expansion strategy, opening stores all over Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, with near-zero advertising costs and gross profit margins of almost 80%...

Who wouldn't drool over it?

It's not that they don't want to continue cooperating with Fang Xinghe, but that they genuinely can't afford to pay him anymore.

Japanese clothing brands are raising prices like crazy, including the fledgling Uniqlo, the minimalist Muji, and Issey Miyake, a designer brand under Shiseido...

These lunatics have raised their offer to $350 million! Who can afford that?
Domestic companies remained silent, watching helplessly as Ziwei Xingjun (a powerful deity) swept across the land, unable to get involved at all.

The main problem here is actually the exchange rate.

$350 million is equivalent to 2800 million RMB per year for an endorsement deal in China, which almost no domestic company can afford.

However, since Japan and South Korea have floating exchange rates pegged to the US dollar, the $350 million they provide is not actually equivalent to 2800 million RMB in China.

Moreover, Japanese and Korean brands have a global reach and can afford high costs, unlike domestic products which are mainly processing and cannot earn brand premiums.

The only domestic brand that could afford Fang Xinghe is Brain Gold, which spent a whopping 4000 million yuan to have him as its spokesperson...

Fang Xinghe simply waved his hand: "Be good, stay away from me."

As for his only remaining domestic endorsement, Xtep, the contract still has a full year left, and it's uncertain what will happen in the end.

That depends on what Michael Jordan and Nike think.

If they can reach an agreement, Fang Xinghe would certainly prefer to endorse Nike. It has nothing to do with patriotism. He earns several million US dollars in foreign exchange every year. Wouldn't it be better to donate the money he earns to the county?

But we can only start discussing this after we finish fighting with Danzi, and whether it will work out is another matter. So the focus right now is to hurry up and make some money in Japan and South Korea.

After the press conference, Fang Xinghe returned to school for a symbolic two-day stay before boarding a plane to South Korea once again.

At this time, South Korea's KBS television station had just finished broadcasting "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and an ESPN special program, and the whole country was in a state of pride and euphoria.

Fang Xinghe really didn't understand. "I'm awesome, so what are you guys so proud of?"

But that's just how peculiar the Koreans' thought process is. The Daily Sports clearly stated: "Fang Xinghe is also the pride of our Republic of Korea."

Even the Chosun Ilbo, a core pillar of the conservative movement, is jumping on the bandwagon: Fang Xinghe's shock to America is equivalent to the Republic of Korea's shock to America.

Where exactly is the logic?
Anyway, Fang Xinghe was not found.

As a result, the media dared to write about it, and the Koreans dared to admit it. The public was jubilant, with people eating Nongshim ramen endorsed by Fang Xinghe and showing off Sprite and Coca-Cola with Fang Xinghe's image on them, while dreaming of Korean basketball going global.

Outrageous fucking opened the door, outrageously home.

Then, Wang Charlie chuckled all the way on the plane.

If I don't cut off three pounds of your tenderloin, I'll be letting down Fang Tonghui, who's still donating sperm!
(End of this chapter)