Reborn Industrial Tycoon

Kobe's first signature sneaker is on the market.

In a sports journal in Los Angeles, a review like this quickly appeared in the sneaker review section:

"Would I pay for a high school rookie's signature sneakers? Of course not! Unless I'm a fool! I guess you are not fools either.

Although the style of this shoe looks very trendy, with a price tag of US$135, the manufacturer of the sneakers is really crazy about money!

Kobe Bryant is just a 13th overall pick, and he has just revolutionized the Lakers' rotation. Do you think he is 'Penny' Hardaway?"

The media specifically mentioned Hardaway because in 1996, the signature sneaker "NIKE Air Penny" sold by Nike for Hardaway was priced at US$135.

Later generations of shoe speculators drove the price of sneakers to sky-high prices, but in fact, in the American market, the first-year price of signature shoes by players was not high.

The signature sneakers of outside players are easier to sell, and the price is generally between 110 US dollars and 130 US dollars. For example, Payton's signature sneakers were sold for 110 US dollars when they were launched. A few years later, LeBron James's first signature sneakers were sold for

The price is $130.

Sneakers for inside players are not easy to sell, and the price may even fall below 100 US dollars. The price of Garnett's first signature sneaker is only 95 US dollars.

In 1996, a signature sneaker dared to sell for 135 US dollars. It was basically sold at the price of a superstar. With Kobe's popularity and influence, it was obviously not worth such an expensive price. It was normal for him to be criticized by the media.

The sales results of sneakers, as James Bond said, are very bleak.

Many customers buy this shoe not because it is Kobe's signature shoe, but because they think the shoe is very fashionable in design.

Obviously, for a player who is still struggling to break into the rotation, few fans are willing to pay for him.

In one month, Kobe Bryant's first signature sneakers only sold more than a thousand pairs, which is lower than ordinary sneakers. There is no sign of the star effect.

Some media in Los Angeles have started ridiculing mode again.

But this time it was not Kobe who was being mocked, but Leap!

Spending huge sums of money to sign players and release signature sneakers, but sales are very poor, this should be ridiculed.

Some sports commentators have already evaluated Kobe's signature sneakers as the most failed endorsement in NBA history!

…

Just after the Valentine's Day in 1997, Americans' eyes focused on the annual NBA All-Star Weekend.

Friday's Rookie Challenge is probably the most watched one in recent years.

Because 1996 was a big year for the draft.

For NBA rookies in previous years, by the time of the All-Star Game, the rookies had just adapted to the rhythm of the NBA game and were barely able to have stable playing time in the rotation.

However, the golden generation of rookies in 1996 is different. Iverson has become the boss of the 76ers, and others such as Marbury, Ray Allen, Raheem, and Walker have also become stable scorers for the team.

Yes, there is no problem in joining the starting lineup.

The 1996 Rookie Challenge was all participated by rookies and was divided into the Eastern Team and the Western Team. In 2000, it was changed to a rookie team versus a second-year team.

For the Western Team, Marbury did not play due to injury, and only Nash, Fisher and Kobe were left on the back line. Therefore, everyone felt that the Rookie Challenge would become Iverson's personal performance.

However, what everyone didn't expect was that it was Kobe who really showed off!

In the Rookie Challenge, Kobe scored a game-high 31 points, and also grabbed 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. When facing Iverson, Kobe was not inferior at all, and instead faced off against the opponent.

Mark it.

Shooting, breaking through, and dunking, Kobe showed a variety of offensive methods.

Although the Western Conference lost to the Eastern Conference 91-96 in the end, and the Rookie Game MVP was also won by Iverson, this game made the whole country get to know Kobe, a young man.

After all, it was not the Internet era at that time. Ordinary people relied on television and newspapers to obtain information. The limited space on television and newspapers would definitely be given priority to star players. News reports about ordinary players would only appear in local media.

Rookie players like Kobe who can barely make it into the rotation are not known to many outside of Los Angeles.

The NBA All-Star Weekend is broadcast live across the United States, and you can perform outstandingly in the Rookie Challenge, which is equivalent to showing yourself in front of a national audience.

Only then did the fans know that among this year's rookies, there was a young man named Kobe, who had very outstanding personal abilities and could actually compete with No. 1 overall pick Allen Iverson.

But this was just the beginning. Kobe's real highlight moment came in the dunk contest the next day.

…

In the second round of the dunk contest, Kobe was the first to appear.

The 31 players in yesterday's Rookie Challenge gave Kobe so much confidence that he didn't even take off his training clothes in the first round of the slam dunk contest.

However, out of the three dunk opportunities in the first round, he only completed two, and the one-arm windmill failed in the second dunk. Fortunately, his opponent also made frequent mistakes, allowing Kobe to successfully advance to the second round.

In the second round, Kobe finally took off his training clothes.

Initially, the audience thought that there must be some special weapon hidden inside the training uniform, but it was just a simple Lakers uniform, which was a bit disappointing to the audience.

In last year's slam dunk contest, Brent Barry also wore training clothes for the first round of dunks, and then took off his jacket during the second round of dunks, revealing a T-shirt that read "White People Can Fly" underneath.

.

Therefore, the audience also expected that there would be some gimmicks in Kobe's jacket.

Although there were no small surprises in the jacket, which disappointed the audience, Kobe's performance did not disappoint the audience.

I saw Kobe accelerating near the 45-degree three-point line on the left, cutting into the penalty area, then taking off, holding the ball with his left hand and passing under his crotch, catching the ball with his right hand and dunking with one hand.

A perfect crotch-hand-changing windmill dunk! It instantly caused the whole audience to scream.

In future dunk contests, this kind of crotch-changing windmill may not be very surprising, but in 1997, such a dunk would definitely get a lot of applause.

Sure enough, the referee gave a high score of 49 points.

This dunk can be said to have attracted a lot of fans. It was this slam dunk contest championship that made Kobe Bryant go from being unknown to a player that everyone knows.

At least when the name "Kobe Bryant" is mentioned, fans will think of the young man who changed hands in the dunk contest.

In front of the TV, James Bond looked dumbfounded as he watched Kobe Bryant lift the dunk contest trophy.

The next second, he immediately picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number.

"Hey, I'm James Bond, Kobe Bryant's signature sneakers. I'll have enough of them ready for me when I get to work tomorrow!"

…

The next day, the front pages of major sports media in the United States were all about the news that Kobe Bryant won the dunk contest. Some even included a picture of the crotch-changing windmill dunk.

Those Los Angeles media who were not optimistic about Kobe were slapped in the face.

However, the media is also the most fickle. Three months ago, they said that Kobe was worthless, but now they seem to have forgotten what they said back then, and they all praise Kobe to the sky.

The dunk contest is obviously the most watched event on the second day of the All-Star Weekend. Some fans may even think that the dunk contest is the most watched event during the entire All-Star Weekend.

Therefore, the winner of the dunk contest every year is often the focus of the media.

Kobe has also attracted a large number of fans because of this, and his signature sneakers are finally no longer a product that no one cares about.

In Los Angeles, there is once again a long queue in front of the Feiyue flagship store, and the picture from the Kobe Slam Dunk Contest, coupled with the picture of Kobe's signature sneakers, has been made into a huge poster and hung at the entrance of the store.

Passersby don't need to ask, they know right away that the shoes sold here are Kobe's signature sneakers.

James Bond stood at the door of the store, looking at the people going in and out with a smile.

"Unexpectedly, the boss won the bet again!" Bond sighed, and then said to himself: "But it is still a bit difficult to sell 300,000 pairs. If you don't lose money, you will make a profit!

"

Thanks to Kobe's growing fame, sales of Kobe's signature sneakers have finally gained momentum.

However, if you want to sell 300,000 pairs, it is an impossible task.

But Li Weidong is not in a hurry. He thinks that even if the remaining 200,000 pairs of sneakers cannot be sold, they can all be sealed up. When Kobe becomes popular, they will be treated as out-of-print sneakers and a limited number of two to three thousand pairs will be released every year.

You have to pay extra to buy it.

With Kobe's huge fan base, more than 200,000 pairs of signed sneakers are still very easy to sell. If it doesn't work, you can take them back to China and sell them to shoe speculators, and you can definitely make a lot of money.

Kobe is a player who is popular first and then strong.

In 1998, Kobe had not yet entered the starting lineup of the Lakers, but he was voted into the All-Star starting lineup by the fans and faced Jordan.

In other words, Kobe, who entered his second year in the NBA, is already as popular as a superstar.

When selling signature sneakers, what matters is not the data of the star talent manufacturer, but the popularity of the star. As long as the popularity is high enough, the sneakers can be sold.

As long as Kobe's popularity increases, there will be no need to worry about no one buying his sneakers.

Historically, Adidas decided to let Kobe Bryant endorse its basketball shoes around the time of the dunk contest.

It's just that Adidas has never paid much attention to Kobe. At first, it only let Kobe endorse Adidas's tepid TOP10 series.

Later, Adidas released a so-called KB8 basketball shoe, which was the pair that Kobe wore when he was selected to the All-Stars for the first time.

But this shoe is actually a modified version of the Adidas EQT series. It was not originally designed specifically for Kobe. It is said that Adidas saw that Kobe had a huge advantage in the All-Star voting, so it hastily pushed this shoe.

Strictly speaking, KB8 is not Kobe’s signature sneaker.

In the eyes of sneaker collectors, this shoe is also nicknamed "hard as a dog" because this shoe is special from the upper to the sole.

Because this shoe had many flaws, its sales at the time were relatively average.

Later, when Kobe became a superstar, Adidas improved the shortcomings of the sneakers and reproduced the KB8 sneakers. However, by that time, Kobe had already switched to the Nike camp, so Adidas could not use the name "KB8" and could only rename the sneakers "Crazy8"

Conduct sales.

As a result, because Kobe has so many fans, the sales of this shoe are still very hot. The season when Derrick Rose won the MVP, he wore this replica Crazy8.

In fact, for sports brands, the signature sneakers of most stars cannot repay their original cost. Signing a star can easily cost tens of millions of dollars, or even hundreds of millions. If you rely on selling signature sneakers, how many pairs do you need to sell?

Get your money back?

Except for a few top superstars, the signature sneakers of other stars are all at a loss.

What sports brands really value is the influence of stars.

There are many examples of an entire brand rising because of one star.

The most well-known thing is that Nike signed Jordan.

At that time, Nike was facing the siege of several major time-honored sports brands such as Converse, Reebok, and Adidas in the U.S. market. When Nike made a desperate move to sign Jordan, it defeated each of its opponents in just a few years and became a sports brand.

The overlord, this is also the most successful commercial endorsement in history.

In addition, for example, AND1 relied on Carter to overpower Adidas and rushed to the position of the second sports brand in the NBA; Anta successfully entered the US market with its "most conscientious spokesperson" Thompson; Curry made

Street brand Under Armor has become a "high-end brand".

From this perspective, Feiyue Sports' signing of Kobe is a sure-profit deal. Kobe's influence is enough for Feiyue Sports to occupy a place in the North American market.

Li Weidong never thought that Feiyue would become a giant like Nike or Adidas and that Feiyue could be brought into the ranks of first-tier brands. Li Weidong would be content!

…

The NBA All-Star Game is being held in the United States, and Li Weidong is in Beijing to attend a meeting on agricultural machinery systems.

As the meeting progressed and numbers were announced one by one, everyone attending the meeting looked solemn.

In the 1990s, a large number of domestic enterprises were in trouble, especially in the mid-1990s, when the situation was most serious.

This difficult trend has also affected the agricultural machinery industry.

Large state-owned agricultural machinery companies are doing better and can survive with orders from state-owned farms, but small and medium-sized agricultural machinery companies are really struggling. Many companies have gone bankrupt in the past year.

Small and medium-sized agricultural machinery companies have weak technical foundations and relatively backward products. However, there are still many such companies, and they produce a large number of low-end agricultural machinery.

The product is low-end and the output is large, and the market cannot digest it at all. The result is as you can imagine, everyone is lying on the ground and burying the mountain.

In fact, not only the agricultural machinery industry, but other domestic machinery companies are also facing the same problem.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are unable to adapt to competition in the market economy in terms of management, technology, hardware and other aspects. The number of such small and medium-sized enterprises is so huge that even if they want to be saved, they cannot be saved.

Therefore, the country has adopted the reform strategy of "grasping the big ones and releasing the small ones" to target a few key enterprises that are closely related to the national economy and people's livelihood and cannot be controlled by the state.

At the same time, we should liberalize other state-owned enterprises in the general production field, allowing them to continuously recombine under the influence of market laws and with the fluctuations and changes in the market structure, so as to rationally flow resource factors, shorten structural imbalances, and achieve survival of the fittest.

Agricultural machinery production is related to the country's agriculture and is directly related to whether the people can fill their stomachs. The leading companies in this industry naturally belong to the national economy and people's livelihood companies, and they must be "captured".

Other small and medium-sized agricultural machinery enterprises must survive the fittest under the influence of market rules.

Agricultural machinery is an industry that relies heavily on subsidies. The more accustomed an industry is to receiving subsidies, the harder it will be to adapt to competition in a market economy.

There is no doubt that if they enter the market competition, very few domestic small and medium-sized agricultural machinery companies will survive.

This meeting roughly revealed that for those high-quality agricultural machinery companies, the state will provide help, and the agricultural machinery research department will also provide technical support to help companies upgrade their technology and industry, so that companies can compete in the accumulated market.

Survive the competition.

Those who can come to the conference are all from domestic agricultural machinery industries that have advantages or potential. Some are large in scale, some have strong technical reserves, and some are good at a certain agricultural machinery field.

These enterprises have the opportunity to receive technical support from the agricultural machinery research department.

To put it simply, it means dividing the pie. The state will take out a piece of the pie and distribute it to enterprises to help them survive.

It's just that the country's resources are limited. Whether you get a bowl of meat or a bowl of soup in the end depends on the efforts of the enterprise. If you don't work hard and just want to eat the pie falling from the sky, you may not even be able to drink the soup.

Therefore, this meeting is more like a pre-war mobilization meeting to get these potential companies to pay attention, otherwise they will not get a share of the pie, so don't blame others.

After the meeting, Li Weidong walked out of the conference room and looked at his colleagues around him.

These are all competitors. The pie is only so big. If someone else takes one more bite, then you will have to take one less bite!

Thinking of this, Li Weidong's eyes revealed a wolfish aura: "Fukang Agricultural Machinery must adjust its strategic direction!"

The hemorrhoids recurred the day before yesterday. My butt hurts even when I stand or sit, so I can only lie down. I am a useless dog now! In our line of work, it is inevitable to sit for a long time. Speaking of which, I still have a hundred monthly tickets, so I can

It’s over 1,000, and there’s only one day left this month. I hope you guys can help me by giving me a monthly pass. Thank you for passing the test!