This celebrity became even more popular after being exposed of having multiple girlfriends
Chapter 235 - 224: New Brand Endorsement

Chapter 235: Chapter 224: New Brand Endorsement

Shu Mei was delighted that Wu Mu had adopted her idea.

As a true fan of Wu Mu, she naturally hoped that his first album after his resurgence would be more explosive and more topical.

With the theme commemorating his life before the collapse and the songs that were going to be included in the album, she felt the topicto be unavoidable.

Yes, she must support her idol’s first album since his comeback!

Shu Mei decided she needed to save up some pocket money to be able to support him when the time came.

After reading Shu Mei’s analysis report, there was another matter to deal with.

It concerned endorsement deals.

Now that Wu Mu had his own studio and employees, he had delegated the responsibility of business negotiations to his staff.

Shi Wu reported to him that in this period, a total of seven brands had contacted him, wanting him to be their brand spokesperson.

As his reputation warmed up and his popularity gradually increased, the number of endorsements like this had also noticeably grown.

However, not all the brands that approached him were suitable.

Brands choose stars, but stars also choose brands.

Out of the seven, Shi Wu thought four of them were unsuitable after his investigation and analysis, either because their products had issues or the pay was too low, which if accepted, would have lowered Wu Mu’s commercial value.

But there were two that he felt were acceptable.

"First is Qingquan mineral water. They want to offer you an endorsement for their 105-degree distilled water product, proposing eighteen million for two years."

This was a leftover from the previous live broadcast show. Since Wu Mu had sung the advertising jingle, the brand had smartly followed up by riding the wave of his popularity and contacting him to be their spokesperson.

However, the level of endorsement they were offering seemed low.

Just a product line spokesperson.

There are many categories of brand spokespeople, including global spokespeople, regional spokespeople, brand ambassadors, and brand friends.

Depending on the category, the degree of association varies.

For a product spokesperson like this, it means representing only one particular product from the company’s lineup.

Naturally, the pay is much less than that of a deeply involved global brand spokesperson, just eighteen million for two years.

Shi Wu nodded, "The person who contacted us said that their company already has a spokesperson with a contract for more than a year remaining; they can’t switch now, so they want to start by having you as a product line spokesperson."

Wu Mu couldn’t be bothered to care whether their statement was true or false. He said indifferently, "That’s fine, as long as they accept my condition of not doing in-person promotional events."

He had already helped the company gain popularity with the jingle before; if he didn’t have to bother with inconvenient on-the-ground events, then he could accept the lower payment.

"I’ll contact them," Shi Wu made a note of it.

Beyond Qingquan mineral water, there was contact from a watch brand.

But this brand wasn’t looking to sign a new spokesperson; they wanted to renew the contract.

This was a previous brand endorsement the former incarnation had, which had initially followed suit in announcing a termination of their partnership, but after Wu Mu’s revival in popularity, they quietly halted the termination process, ceased the request for the return of endorsement fees, and stopped pursuing damages, opting to wait and see.

Now, after a period of observation and the expiration of the previous contract, they promptly came knocking for a renewal.

For such a brand seeking to renew, Wu Mu was indifferent and asked, "How much are they offering?"

"Twenty-eight million for two years."

"That’s too low," Wu Mu shook his head, "Have them increase it to thirty-five million. If they accept that, we can go ahead with it."

Ah?

"...Is that price not a bit too high?"

Shi Wu asked hesitantly.

He understood the idea of increasing the price, given that his boss’s popularity was truly rising day by day, and with the fame garnered since the last endorsement, a price increase was reasonable.

But to jump straight to thirty-five million seemed a bit extreme.

"The extra five million is a punitive fee for their brand. They wanted to terminate the contract with me and even demanded compensation," Wu Mu said with a smile.

Shi Wu: "..."

A star charging a brand a punitive fee?

Shi Wu could only say that this move was somewhat outrageous; he had never heard of any other star in the industry who could make such an outlandish claim.

Wu Mu didn’t care. If they didn’t agree, he would simply earn a little less. It was just a matter of a few Performance Cards; he wasn’t lacking that much. Feeling good was more important to him.

After Shi Wu finished reporting the two brand endorsements he found valuable, he continued to report the rest that were analyzed and found unsuitable.

Unsuitable though they were, a report still needed to be made.

"There’s a new model of new energy vehicles going to be launched by Huicheng FAW soon. They also want to hire you as the product line’s spokesperson, offering forty-two million."

A car brand endorsement?

And such a high offer, analyzed as unsuitable?

Wu Mu was curious, "What’s the problem with this endorsement?"

Shi Wu shook his head and explained, "Their model has recently fallen into a public relations crisis and has been criticized by the whole internet."

"The main reason they want you as their spokesperson is to have you put out the fire. The money is less like an endorsement fee and more like paying you to divert public attention and take the criticism."

...

Wang Hongtao, the marketing manager of the new energy sector at Huicheng FAW, had been frantically busy lately.

He really hadn’t expected to be so unlucky as to encounter such a stupid incident.

Originally, as the parent company’s trial in the new energy market, their new energy production line was laden with high hopes, and they received full support and resources.

With strong backing from the parent company, they indeed produced a car that was outstanding, both in terms of quality of components and tuning.

The car had a bright future, with pricing nearly at the cost price.

But that bright future was destroyed by an idiot.

Their plan was to officially debut the car at the upcoming Shen City Auto Show, and they had only opened it for pre-sale reservations so far.

To create momentum for the debut of their new car, he decided to hire a super internet celebrity with over sixty million followers on Douyin for a live streaming presale event.

The live stream started off smoothly, and everything seemed to be looking up.

Then, as if possessed, upon seeing a barrage in the comments that accused him of previously selling fake goods and being a scammer, the celebrity lost it.

Right in front of everyone, on the live stream, he called the commenters "fucking idiots," mocked them as "poor losers" who couldn’t afford a car in their lifetime.

When Wang Hongtao saw this scene, his vision darkened.

He knew instantly that trouble was brewing.

And indeed, the incident caused a huge uproar online, trending across various platforms and talked about by numerous self-media and marketing accounts.

The center of public opinion, the big internet celebrity broadcaster, was the unlucky one.

But their new car was doomed to suffer alongside him.

Being the tool used by the broadcaster to insult people as poor losers, their new car hadn’t even been launched yet, and its reputation was already tarnished.

Now, the internet was filled with voices claiming to be poor losers unworthy of buying their car.

For a car that was initially a test product and hadn’t even been launched, being labeled in such a way could be said to be quite a setback.

And as the marketing manager who had decided to hire that big internet celebrity, Wang Hongtao’s career prospects had almost gone the same way.

But no matter how far gone it seemed, he still had to attempt a self-rescue.

He not only immediately contacted the parent company’s crisis management department for urgent PR.

He also hired a top-level public relations team to strategize for them.

Then, to his surprise.

The top-level crisis management PR team he hired made a suggestion that left him dizzy.

They actually suggested hiring the star Wu Mu as their new product spokesperson.