Chapter 438: 300 million in 10 years, Mercedes-Benz looks for Lin Quan to endorse at a sky-high pric

After the eighth round of the league, it’s FIFA match day again.

Since the Spanish national team advanced to the European Cup in advance after defeating Slovakia and North Macedonia, Bosque did not recall all the main players in this round of group matches.

He chose to use a large number of young players and continue to examine their status on the court.

Del Bosque didn't believe it. La Liga is second to none among the five major leagues. How could it not find suitable young players?

It just so happens that on this national team match day, their opponents are not very strong, so they can be used as a training ground for these young players.

Whether it is a mule or a horse, you have to pull it out and run around to find out.

When Bosque didn't call him to fight, Lin Quan was happy and at ease.

De Gea was not summoned either, so he came over to ask Linquan to watch an e-sports match in London.

In 2015, various e-sports competitions began to rise in Europe, and more and more capital began to enter the ranks, investing and forming many e-sports teams.

Like Barcelona star Pique, he intends to invest in an e-sports club in Catalonia to participate in LEC competitions.

De Gea was influenced by Pique and developed a strong interest in this emerging industry.

Coincidentally, he knew that Lin Quan also played this game on a daily basis. When the national team was training, the two of them had played together in the hotel.

So I made an appointment with Lin Quan to go see it together, and help him read the details to see if he would also like to invest in individual stocks and start a team with Pique?

"Pique is setting up the Catalan team. You, a Madrid native, shouldn't get involved, right? If it gets involved with Catalonia's separatism in the future, you won't be able to explain it!"

There is no harmony in Spain, and Catalonia's clamor for independence is not something that happens in a day or two. Catalonia even held an independence referendum last year, which caused a lot of excitement.

As the most successful and influential club in Catalonia, Barcelona actually has many players involved in this matter.

Pique is one of the Barcelona players who openly supports Catalonia's independence. For this, he has been criticized by the Spanish Football Association.

In fact, for Barcelona, ​​if Catalonia is really independent, it may not be a good thing for them.

The reason is simple. Once Catalonia becomes independent, Barcelona will leave La Liga and will lose the qualification to participate in the Champions League.

If they want to return to the Champions League, they must either join other leagues, such as Serie A or Ligue 1, or join other clubs in the Catalan region to form a Catalan league of their own.

But these tasks are very difficult and cannot be solved in a short time. Since the team has not been able to participate in the Champions League for several years, their exposure and influence will decline rapidly.

Big-name stars in the team may also leave the team because of this, just like Messi. If he is unable to play on a high-level stage for a long time, he may not be willing to stay in Barcelona.

After all, he is not a Catalan and there is no need to risk his career for the Catalans.

Although Lin Quan grew up in Catalonia, he has no sense of belonging here, so he has never cared about or participated in the independence of Catalonia. He looks like he is just watching the show.

"It makes sense, then I think I'd better set up an e-sports club here in the UK!"

After listening to Lin Quan's advice, De Gea followed suit and made a decision quickly.

"Well, let's continue watching the game!"

The game the two watched was the quarter-final match between FNC and EDG in the S5 Global Finals.

As a local team in Europe, FNC received enthusiastic support from the audience.

And their performance was worthy of the applause and cheers they received. FNC cleanly defeated the LPL's No. 2 seed with 3:0.

The atmosphere at the scene was very warm, especially when FNC advanced to the semi-finals, the audience was filled with applause and cheers.

De Gea was also very excited: "I originally heard that the teams in East Asia are very strong, but now it seems that is not the case!"

Lin Quan's mouth twitched. East Asia's teams are indeed very strong, but the strongest one is the LCK!

The current LPL is still in the darkness before dawn, and its record in foreign battles is not very good. It will not really rise until S8 and S9, and complete the achievement of three championships in four years.

However, Lin Quan has never liked Koreans very much, so naturally he will not help Koreans to praise their team.

He also didn't tell De Gea that FNC, which eliminated EDG 3:0, was swept by a Korean team in the semifinals with the same score.

After watching the game, Lin Quan left early instead of staying to watch on the grounds that he had to go back to training.

He already knew the results of this year's World Championship, and there was nothing interesting to see.

As for investing in e-sports teams, he did not blindly follow the trend.

Although this outlet is good, its prospects are unclear, and only a few can actually eat meat.

If you really have money, you might as well invest in some emerging Internet companies, such as Tesla.

Tesla's current stock price is actually not cheap anymore, but Lin Quan knows that it still has room to rise.

And with the gradual promotion and development of electric vehicles in the future, its growth space and potential are very huge.

These will prompt capital investment and hype, making it the Apple of the automotive industry, with its market value once skyrocketing.

Of course, as more and more companies enter the new energy field in the future, Tesla will also face fierce competition from China's new energy companies, so its stock price will gradually fall from its high point, and the myth will gradually be shattered.

Therefore, this investment can last until 2020 at most, and Tesla's stock price will be sold before it reaches a high point. Otherwise, the longer you hold it, the less you will make.

After investing in Beckham's team, Lin Quan currently doesn't have much money on hand.

When all is said and done, there is still about US$50 million, which is still a bit less.

So while he had time, Lin Quan asked Perret to pick out some endorsement contracts and use the holidays to complete the commercials for these endorsement contracts to earn extra money.

As his fame and influence grow, more and more sponsors come to him for endorsements and cooperation.

And what’s different from previous years is that these sponsors are now very willing to give money.

However, Lin Quan's energy is limited, and he is not as short of money as before, so he doesn't receive many endorsements.

At least compared to Messi, Ronaldo and others, among the three super giants, he has the least endorsements.

Therefore, when Pere started calling these sponsors to inform them that Lin Quan was available to endorse, each of these sponsors were overjoyed and were afraid of missing this opportunity.

One of the car companies even came to visit.

"Hello, we are from Mercedes-Benz Car Company. I wonder if there is a chance to cooperate with Mr. Lin?"

As one of the three major BBA brands, Mercedes-Benz has a huge influence in the global high-end automobile market.

And the spokespersons they selected are all international superstars without exception.

The fact that the other party came to seek cooperation is enough to show how influential Bai Linquan is in football.

In fact, in addition to Lin Quan's personal influence, Mercedes-Benz wants to cooperate with Lin Quan for another reason: the Chinese market!

Jeremy Lin became famous because of his short-lived whirlwind in the NBA, and he was able to get various endorsement and sponsorship contracts.

Lin Quan, who is also a Chinese-American star and has performed extremely well in football, the world's largest sport, for a long time. His status in football far exceeds Jeremy Lin's status in basketball. His influence and appeal in China will definitely explode. Jeremy Lin.

Therefore, Mercedes-Benz's appointment of Lin Quan as an endorsement will be of great help to them in exploring the Chinese market.

China's economic development has been rapid in recent years, people's consumption power has increased, and car sales have increased year by year, which has also led to rapid development in the luxury car market where BBA is located.

But the competitive pressure in this market is not small at all. BMW and Audi, which are in the same year as Mercedes-Benz, are not weak in strength and have done a good job in localization.

Although Mercedes-Benz has a slightly higher brand awareness, there is not much gap between it and the latter two brands in terms of sales.

Therefore, they can only adopt a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, they continue to develop new technologies and new products to satisfy more car owners with different tastes.

On the other hand, they have increased investment in publicity, increased their own brand promotion efforts, and strive to attract more potential car owners to them.

Lin Quan, an international superstar with huge influence both internationally and in China, is undoubtedly the most suitable choice.

It's like spending a penny to complete two tasks. The spokesperson on the Chinese side has been solved, and the spokesperson on the international side has also been solved.

Because of this, Mercedes-Benz is very sincere. They offered a 10-year contract of 300 million euros. On average, it is almost 30 million euros per year, which is higher than the annual salary of most players in football.

To be honest, Lin Quan was shocked when he heard the quote from Mercedes-Benz.

Although he has received a lot of endorsements, he has never seen a big contract worth 300 million yuan.

But if you think about it carefully, the price is not particularly outrageous.

Now it seems that the unit price of 30 million per year is very high, but in 10 years, with the influence of currency depreciation, inflation and other factors, 30 million will be nothing.

As far as Lin Quan knows, tennis star Federer signed a 10-year, 300 million contract with Uniqlo three years later, and the contract amount was very close to his.

Uniqlo's influence and financial resources are far inferior to Mercedes-Benz, so the price offered by Mercedes-Benz is not too outrageous.

We can even see the savvy of Mercedes-Benz people from the perspective of 10 years. Lin Quan will be 20 years old soon and will be 30 years old in 10 years.

The golden period of a professional player is almost before the age of 30. After the age of 30, it will slowly decline.

In other words, Mercedes-Benz used this long-term contract to lock up Lin Quan's career, binding him to Mercedes-Benz when he was at his strongest, most famous, and most exposed.

In this way, Mercedes-Benz can not only gain huge advertising effects by leveraging Lin Quan's influence, but more importantly, this contract also prevents Lin Quan from cooperating with Mercedes-Benz's competitors.

From this point of view, Mercedes-Benz has accomplished three things with this money, and the money is indeed well spent.

Although Mercedes-Benz's asking price was very high, Lin Quan and his agent were very satisfied.

But how can the other party offer a price without bargaining?

"Mr. Cleless, this contract is too long, I want to shorten it!"

Lin Quan was quite satisfied with the amount of the contract. The other party offered the maximum salary as soon as it came up and was full of sincerity. If he bargained for the endorsement fee, he would be pushing the envelope a bit.

Therefore, Lin Quan focused on the length of the contract.

Ten years is too long. Five years is just right. If that doesn't work, eight years is acceptable.

In this case, when domestic new energy brands go overseas in 2023, he can choose to cooperate with these car companies to help them go global.

"I wonder how long Mr. Lin thinks is the most appropriate time?"

After hearing Lin Quan's words, Cleless did not express any objection.

First, he wanted to hear Lin Quan's point of view and see how far the other party wanted to adjust the length of the contract.

Secondly, there is also strong opposition to this contract within Mercedes-Benz.

For football players who are easily affected by injuries, signing a 10-year contract with them is simply a gamble.

What's more, who knows whether Lin Quan can still maintain such a good state in these ten years?

If he falls from the peak due to various reasons and gradually disappears from everyone, then the money from Mercedes-Benz will be wasted.

Therefore, from the perspective of risk control, he is actually willing to shorten the term.

It's just that the matter of 300 million in ten years was personally decided by Mercedes-Benz CEO Mr. Dieter, and he couldn't directly oppose it, but if the player himself didn't agree, then he could go along with it.

"Five years, of course, the contract amount can be cut in half."

Lin Quan had the attitude of "I am very kind and I will not take advantage of you."

Clarus's eyes twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but cursed in his heart:

kind?

If the contract time is cut in half, then the contract amount must be cut by at least 70% to be reasonable!

In just five years, inflation will not be that serious, and 30 million per year will seem too expensive.

Although for a large company like Mercedes-Benz, this amount of money is not impossible to come up with.

But we are afraid of comparison in everything. The endorsement fees they give to Federer, Schwarzenegger, Beckham and others are far less than this amount, so there is no reason to suffer this loss.

"Sorry, if it lasts five years, the contract amount may only be 30% of the original unit price."

The third achievement of 30 million is 9 million, 9 million a year. Such an endorsement contract is not attractive to Lin Quan.

He currently endorses shampoo for Head \u0026 Shoulders, earning 4.5 million a year. This is a short-term contract with a term of only 2 years.

It’s a five-year long-term contract, and it’s a product like a car with a unit price of 9 million. I want to cooperate with him. Just dream!

You must know that Li Na’s endorsement fee for Mercedes-Benz in 2011 was 4.5 million, and that was all four years ago.

"Nine million a year is too low!"

Lin Quan shook his head and rejected Cleles' proposal. At this price, he would only agree to sign for three years at most, and he would not even think about signing it for more than three years.

"How about this, let's each take a step back. What does Mr. Clerks think?"

Seeing that the negotiations were about to reach a deadlock, Perret intervened in time.

"Oh? I don't know how we can each take a step back?"

"It's very simple. You shorten the contract period by 2 years, and we lower the asking price by 100 million. What do you think of the 8-year 200 million contract?"

Clares was very interested in this proposal put forward by Perret. If converted from 200 million in 8 years, it would be almost 25 million per year.

It was much less than the previous 30 million per year, and eight years was actually not much shorter than ten years. The contract was long enough and the risks were reduced a lot. This contract was acceptable to him.

So he nodded and said: "Then it will be a pleasure to cooperate!"