Post by Thomas Hoon

Argentina against Spain tomorrow. Messi against Yamal. The old king against the teenager BUT the biggest star in Chinese advertising this week is not there and watching it from his couch. His name is Haaland. Norway crashed out of this World Cup weeks ago and sent him home early. In China nobody got the memo, because the man is still absolutely eating. The numbers are a bit silly. Account open barely a month, 5.7 million followers. That is more than the entire population of Norway. The man out-followed his own country. Ten endorsements this cycle. Around 80 million US dollars a year. Midea, Wang Lao Ji, Doubao all lining up for a striker who is currently on holiday. Best part is the commercials were only the starter. The real chaos is fan made. Regular people cutting their own Haaland edits, dubbing him, remixing the fridge ad and the herbal tea ad into stuff no brand manager would ever approve. Those clips are the ones getting the headlines now. The brand paid for one video. The internet made ten thousand sequels for free. That is the whole lesson. Western marketing sells you a chiselled hero staring into the distance thinking about synergy. China puts a washing machine on the man and lets the crowd play. Give people a toy and they build you a factory. I keep seeing ASEAN founders land here with a brand book, a tone of voice guide, and one very serious founder photo. Then they wonder why the market yawns. Nobody wanted to admire them. People wanted to play with them. Somebody lifts the trophy tomorrow. Argentina or Spain. Messi or Yamal. Bring snacks. Who is your pick?

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