Haaland Shines in World Cup, Baiyunshan Revived by Wanglaoji?

The 2026 World Cup is in full swing. Norwegian star striker Erling Haaland (rendered as “Haaland” in Mainland translation) is drawing a great deal of attention for his performances on the pitch; off the pitch, his mind-buzzing ad shot for the Mainland Chinese herbal tea brand Wanglaoji has also swept social media. Haaland’s Wanglaoji international edition “WALOVI” ad has brought more than 290,000 Instagram likes to the product. But after the excitement, a more realistic question follows: with Haaland’s international fame, can Wanglaoji’s parent company Baiyunshan (00874) truly deliver a turnaround?

Baiyunshan’s performance and share price have been under sustained pressure in recent years

Baiyunshan’s recent performance has been mediocre. For full year 2025, the group recorded revenue of RMB 77.656 billion, up 3.55% year over year; net profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 2.983 billion, up 5.21%. However, in the first quarter of 2026, while revenue increased 3.6% to RMB 23.278 billion, profit attributable to shareholders fell 2.1% to RMB 1.784 billion.

What is even more noteworthy is the “natural beverages” business centered on Wanglaoji herbal tea. For full year 2025, this business generated revenue of RMB 9.672 billion, a slight year-on-year decline of 0.34%, and since 2024 it has already fallen below the RMB 9 billion mark. Overall, Baiyunshan’s H-share price has dropped by more than 30% over the past five years; as of July 6, 2026, the share price was HK$15.26, the 52-week high was 20.4 yuan, the low was 14 yuan, and the year-to-date decline has exceeded 17%.

Domestic market bottlenecks squeeze the push overseas

Wanglaoji faces tough challenges in the domestic market. The growth rate of the Mainland herbal tea industry slid from 15% in 2015 to 3% in 2025. Young consumers are pursuing low-sugar, healthier drinks; combined with fierce competition from new tea beverage brands such as Nayuki and Mixue Bingcheng, the traditional herbal tea market is gradually becoming saturated.

At the same time, Wanglaoji is also trapped in a trademark dilemma overseas. Competitor Jia Duo Bao claims to have registered trademarks such as “WANG LAO JI” in 60 countries worldwide, forcing Guangyao to create a brand-new international brand, “WALOVI,” for differentiation. Against this backdrop, choosing Haaland as a global spokesperson is precisely intended to leverage the World Cup momentum and open up international markets.

Internationalization efforts show early signs of light

In fact, Wanglaoji’s internationalization push began as early as August 2025, when the international cans were officially launched worldwide; in October, they were subsequently rolled out to the German and Saudi Arabian markets. Data shows that over the past decade, Wanglaoji’s overseas market size has grown 6.5 times, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 25%.

Haaland Wanglaoji ad screenshot:

Haaland’s move to join as a spokesperson is the “final step to close the door” in WALOVI’s internationalization. The ad adapted the fan anthem “Haaland Song” into catchy “ha… Haaland… When it’s hot, just ha (homophone for drink) Wanglaoji!” lyrics, successfully taking the “reduce internal heat” concept to the international stage. As of July 7, on WALOVI’s IG account, one of Haaland’s posts recorded 317,000 Likes—its most popular post since the account was created one and a half years ago.

The road to a turnaround is still long

However, expanding herbal tea into international markets still faces structural challenges. Data shows that in 2022, herbal tea’s total share in the global soft drinks market was less than 0.5%, with the consumer base highly concentrated in Chinese communities. Whether relying on a single sports star spokesperson can truly open up the non-Chinese-ethnicity (overseas Chinese-heritage) consumer base remains to be seen.

Haaland’s addictive ad has brought Wanglaoji unprecedented international attention, but to convert this wave of hype into sustained overseas sales, Baiyunshan still needs to put in more effort in areas such as adapting product tastes, building distribution channels, and strengthening brand awareness. Whether Baiyunshan can truly turn things around probably won’t be as simple as just saying “ha.”