Dominate the Super Bowl-Chapter 318 - 317 Blatant

The atmosphere was subtly tense.

Describing it seemed complicated, but it actually happened in the blink of an eye: eyes intersecting, movements stiff, undercurrents beginning to surge.

Standing outside the door, Jerry Stanley was also slightly taken aback, clearly shocked by such an unexpected encounter.

Now was the moment to test one’s reflexes.

Stanley quickly composed himself, casting a meaningful glance at the innocently clueless Donald, before smiling broadly at the Coca-Cola negotiation representative, "Tom."

The representative from Coca-Cola quickly regained his composure, nodded slightly, and in a controlled and distant manner, also greeted, "Jerry."

A brief greeting, though they were face to face, they could both feel their eyes subtly avoid each other, not even willing to engage in eye contact, and the air was palpably tense, filled with a subtle and sticky feeling.

Donald continued to appear honest and naive, seemingly pondering how to defuse the awkward situation, his eyes moving back and forth between the two men.

Consequently, it was Li Wei who couldn’t help but giggle, breaking the deadlock, attracting all eyes in an instant.

Li Wei wasn’t nervous either, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Sorry, Tom and Jerry, some strange thoughts popped into my head, surely because I’m too tired from training; my fault, it must be."

Tom and Jerry, they are just like the cat and mouse, aren’t they?

Looking at the standoff before him was just like television reflected in reality.

The atmosphere eased slightly, with everyone unconsciously raising the corners of their mouths, but their eyes and expressions held no laughter, instead sparking even more intensely.

The Coca-Cola representative finally faced the eyes of his competitor head-on, "Yes, of course, I am Tom, Tom from the real world."

The Pepsi representative didn’t back down, "Obviously, Tom has always been misled. In television and reality, they are much the same."

Back and forth they went, who was the cat, who was the mouse, who was each other’s prey, both men uncompromising, the invisible blades clashing.

Then, the ever clueless Donald suddenly spoke up.

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"Indeed, Donald Duck is always the character that nobody cares about."

Donald Duck, Donald, unexpectedly joined the fray, all eyes turned toward the Stoic Jester Donald, and the mood became suddenly cheerful.

Coolly, Donald made a gesture inviting the Coca-Cola representative to leave, "It’s been a tough day; I promise such accidents won’t happen again next time."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the Coca-Cola representative took a deep look at his rival, then turned and walked away; the Pepsi representative deliberately ignored his rival, smiling broadly as he entered the hotel room with Li Wei.

In fact, even if there was no direct encounter, the rivals were well aware—

Just like Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi clashed across all aspects, with competitive sports being one of the fiercest battlefields. They did not need to think twice to guess that they had both set their sights on Li Wei.

But competition behind the scenes is one thing, a head-on collision another.

The air was suddenly thick with tension.

Stanley appeared calm, but quietly straightened his back, sitting alertly.

He did not believe in coincidences. The face-to-face meeting of Pepsi and Coca-Cola could only mean that Donald was promoting fair competition among suppliers, but fundamentally it was still triggering their competition against each other, the higher bidder wins, after all, the positions of buyer’s and seller’s markets couldn’t have been clearer.

However, it wasn’t so.

Stanley had just written a string of numbers on a piece of paper and passed it to Donald, who didn’t even open it; instead, he placed it untouched on the table, maintaining a smile and gently shaking his head.

"Numbers are important, I won’t say the foolish words that they aren’t, but before confirming the numbers, I need to ensure one thing."

Jerry Stanley, "I’d like to hear more about it."

Donald, "What does Pepsi think Li Wei’s market-moving brand image is?"

Stanley’s eyebrow slightly raised, revealing a confident smile, "A superstar. We unwaveringly believe that Li Wei could become the next top superstar, and even..."

Fluently, without going through his brain, the words just came naturally, picking whatever sounded good to say, momentarily exalting Li Wei to the skies in a way all too familiar.

If needed, Stanley could keep talking like this for thirty minutes without repeating himself.

However, Donald interrupted Stanley.

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"No, the person you’re describing is not Li Wei."

"To be precise, he could be Li Wei, or Little Beckham, or Kamara, or McCaffrey, or any other young talent Pepsi is eyeing, otherwise, we wouldn’t be sitting here having this conversation, right?"

This time, Stanley didn’t rush to speak but patiently waited for what was to come.

As expected, Donald continued.

"Over the years, Pepsi has been collecting superstars like a boy scout collects badges. People say Real Madrid is the ’Galactic Battleship’ full of stars, but they really should see the Pepsi ad from the 2014 World Cup."

It was Stanley who had been praising Li Wei, but now it had turned into Donald praising Pepsi—was this... reciprocation?

"Li Wei could be one of them, I understand the significance of that, believe me, I’ve done my homework."

Rarely seeing Donald tell a joke, Stanley very much encouraged it with a light laugh and nodded in appreciation.

"But the crux is, what is Li Wei’s unique quality?"

"If Pepsi just wants to add another great name to their luxury lineup, have you heard of a player called Tom Brady?"

One second, two seconds—

Ha ha.

Stanley clapped and laughed heartily, instantly livening up the atmosphere.

Who says Donald can’t joke?

But the Stoic Jester himself remained calm, merely tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"What I mean is, in a gathering of stars, which trait of Li Wei touched Pepsi? What is the highlight that makes him stand out from the countless choices?"

"Otherwise, I don’t think Li Wei can find a place in Pepsi’s ad, maybe next year, but definitely not this year."

"On this, I have a clear idea, but the key question is, does Pepsi?"

For a moment, Stanley genuinely didn’t know how to respond.

Confident, calm, Donald came prepared, he knew winning a spot in Pepsi’s stellar lineup for Li Wei was not easy—

At least not this year. Even if Li Wei appeared in the ad, he would probably be just a minor character, his screen time fleeting, needing a magnifying glass to be spotted.

But listen to Donald’s words, "maybe next year," that implied a strong belief in Li Wei’s and the Kansas City Chiefs’ performance for the rest of the season.

However, that’s not the point.

The point is, Donald revealed a key aspect: he needed to craft a brand image for Li Wei and naturally needed to understand the brand’s vision for Li Wei.

No wonder Donald wasn’t looking at the numbers. From the beginning, this agent had been strategically planning, including the "chance encounters" with Coca-Cola and Pepsi.