Reporter Han Bing reported 19 years ago, Messi, who came to China for the first time wearing the No. 21 shirt at Barca, experienced the snub and indifference of Shanghai's 80,000 Stadium; 19 years later, Messi, a World Cup champion, felt unprecedented enthusiasm in Beijing, and even Argentine reporter Edour had to sigh: this is the most fanatical fan atmosphere he has ever seen.
But in stark contrast to the fanaticism of the fans, offline interaction and business activities are basically zero. The Argentine national team, which doubled its commercial offer after winning the World Cup, took away a 2-0 friendly victory, a $7 million appearance fee, and a sizable share of television broadcasts, commercial revenues and box office revenue from Beijing. Although the vast majority of Argentine fans who attended the venue spent a lot of money, they did not get the traditional close contact opportunity when European and American powerhouses came to China.
Argentina experienced a very different "commercial performance" from the past, and the organizers who rarely apologized for the pre-match development conference made a lot of money, and what left it for the Argentine fans who paid unprecedented enthusiasm, especially the future Chinese business competition market?
Because the organizers underestimated the enthusiasm of the fans, resulting in insufficient security, Argentina could only stay in the hotel after training. Messi may recall his trip to China 16 years ago, Beijing, Jinan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, almost half of China, every stop closely interacted with fans. But this time, he was only able to chat with enthusiastic fans outside the hotel and training ground online. In the whole of Argentina, only goalkeeper Martin participated in offline business activities, which can be regarded as an "explanation".
The last time the ST World Cup champion came to China was the Brazilian team 20 years ago. In the year when there was no unprecedented communication power of social media, its sensational effect was actually no less than this time, but this time Argentina's visit to China should have been more commemorative - after all, the Xinke World Cup champion "left" the opportunity to compete abroad for the first time after winning the championship. Moreover, this trip to China is also regarded as the last possible visit of contemporary football king Lionel Messi as a professional footballer.
For Argentine fans in China, especially Messi, a close farewell to Messi, who has entered the twilight of his career and has decided to leave the five major leagues, is actually more commemorative than the game itself.
Unfortunately, such a top business game with both sentiment and commercial value has come and gone in a hurry. Before the start of the main meal of the new work, in addition to creating dozens of hot searches with Messi as the core, it did not leave enough unforgettable moments for most fans who came from afar.
Although Argentina and Messi spent a week in China, for fans, the fond memories may be only a brief 95 minutes in the stadium - the two teams joined forces to provide a matchup above the average of friendly matches: as the starring Messi, he opened the goal account with a signature shot in the opening 81 seconds, and planned a tactical corner kick that finally extended the score in the second half; And the Australians, who were regarded as a group performance on this trip to China, did not waste the opportunity to collect money and compete with the world champion, and the whole game was spared.
Just such a moment of joy, I wonder if it is enough to comfort the hearts of Argentine fans who have been hurt before? A series of operational errors caused by the organizer's "layman" caused fans to encounter countless disappointments: the drapery outside the hotel and training ground was pulled up to cut off the fans' sight; The offline fan meeting of the brand Sanlitun store, which has already been arranged, was temporarily canceled; The two online live broadcasts were only 15 minutes, and the Massey family took $3 million, but the live broadcast effect was greatly reduced because the translation, the network and the two sides failed to reach an agreement in advance on the commercial elements that appeared in the live broadcast...
Towards the end of the race, the uninvited guests of the new body add a dramatic end to the story of the night. But recalling the organizer's apologies before the game, the confidence in the security of the game is inevitable, and it is inevitable that people will frown. It is rare for the organizers of China's previous commercial competitions to hold a press conference before the games to publicly apologize, which is why this Argentine visit to China, although of great significance, did not meet the expected social evaluation.
Although the actual ticket price is lower than the previous online rumor, it is still the highest record in a commercial competition in China, but for fans, the value for money is far less than before. On the optimistic side, Messi's fastest goal of his career, a full-time match that exceeded expectations, Garnergio's national team debut and the Australian's hard work may also satisfy some fans. But this is precisely the most irreproducible part of the whole business game, this time, the fans are waiting for two "professional" teams that make a lot of money to do beautiful things, what about the next time?
For the Chinese commercial competition market, which has experienced a 3-year freezing period, Messi and Argentina's coming to China is the first and very important opportunity to stimulate the market recovery. Unfortunately, this opportunity has not been properly harnessed and exploited, achieving a win-win situation between social benefits and commercial interests. Wasting top IP resources such as Messi and the Xinco World Cup winner, and finally making the event, which should have been more successful, become a money-making machine. Smash a hammer in confusion, and what is left behind may be a mess.
At present, the Far East commercial competition market is almost completely controlled by Japan and South Korea, with Barcelona, Paris, Manchester City, Liverpool, Atletico, Bayern, Inter and even Riyadh visiting this summer, in addition to Tottenham, Leicester City, West Ham United and Roma in Southeast Asia. China was originally a very attractive commercial market in the Far East, but apart from Argentina, no other European and American giants visited later.
After this operation that disrupted the positioning of the Chinese commercial competition market, the difficulty of China becoming the first choice for European and American giants in the summer gold rush may increase greatly in the future - and the international champions cup that was originally crowded with giants operates simultaneously in North America, Europe and the Far East in the summer, after the peak of 2017 Greater China had as many as 12 top commercial competitions.
The chaos encountered during the Argentina trip to China may not only make fans deeply regret, but also make other professional event operators worry.