Haaland dominates the World Cup, Baiyun Mountain revived by Wanglaoji?

The 2026 World Cup is in full swing, and Norwegian star striker Erling Haaland (translated locally as “Haaland”) has been drawing widespread attention for his performances on the pitch. Off the field, the mind-numbing commercials he filmed for mainland Chinese herbal tea brand Wong Lo Kat have also swept through social media. Haaland’s international edition advertisement for Wong Lo Kat, “WALOVI,” has brought the product more than 290,000 Instagram likes—but after the excitement, a more realistic question follows: with Haaland’s international fame, can Wong Lo Kat’s parent company, Baiyunshan (00874), truly engineer a turnaround?

Baiyunshan’s performance and share price continue to face pressure in recent years

Baiyunshan’s recent performance has been lackluster. For the full year 2025, the group achieved revenue of CNY 776.56 billion, up 3.55% year over year; net profit attributable to shareholders was CNY 29.83 billion, up 5.21%. However, in the first quarter of 2026, while revenue rose 3.6% to CNY 232.78 billion, profit attributable to shareholders fell 2.1% to CNY 17.84 billion.

What is even more concerning is the “natural beverages” business, with Wong Lo Kat herbal tea at its core. In 2025, this business generated full-year revenue of CNY 96.72 billion, a slight year-over-year drop of 0.34%, and since 2024 it has already fallen below the CNY 90 billion mark. Overall, Baiyunshan’s H-share price has fallen by more than 30% over the past five years; as of July 6, 2026, the share price was HKD 15.26, the 52-week high was HKD 20.4, the low was HKD 14, and the year-to-date decline was more than 17%.

Domestic market bottlenecks drive international expansion

Wong Lo Kat faces severe challenges in the domestic market. The growth rate of the mainland herbal tea industry declined from 15% in 2015 to 3% in 2025. Young consumers seek low-sugar, healthy beverages, and combined with intense competition from new tea brands such as Nayuki Tea and Mixue Ice Cream City, the traditional herbal tea market is becoming increasingly saturated.

At the same time, Wong Lo Kat is also stuck in trademark issues overseas. Competitor JDB claims to have registered trademarks such as “WANG LAO JI” in 60 countries worldwide, forcing Guangzhou Pharmaceutical to set up a brand-new international brand, “WALOVI,” to differentiate. Against this backdrop, hiring Haaland as a global spokesperson is precisely an attempt to open up international markets by leveraging the momentum of the World Cup.

Signs of progress in internationalization

In fact, Wong Lo Kat’s internationalization efforts began as early as August 2025: its international cans were officially launched globally. In October, they were rolled out to the German and Saudi Arabian markets one after another. Data shows that over the past decade, the overseas market size of Wong Lo Kat has grown by 6.5 times, with a compound annual growth rate exceeding 25%.

Screenshot of Haaland’s Wong Lo Kat advertisement:

Haaland’s signing as a brand ambassador is the “final step” in WALOVI’s internationalization. The ad adapts the fans’ chant “Haaland Song” into catchy lyrics: “Ha… Haaland… When it’s hot, ha (homophone for ‘drink’) Wong Lo Kat!” Successfully, it brings the “cooling down / reducing internal heat” concept to an international audience. As of July 7, on the WALOVI IG account, one of Haaland’s posts recorded 317,000 Likes—making it the 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 in international markets still faces structural challenges. Data shows that in 2022, herbal tea’s overall share in the global soft drinks market was less than 0.5%, and the consumer base is highly concentrated in Chinese communities. Whether relying on endorsement from a single sports star can truly open up the market among non-Chinese consumers remains to be seen.

Haaland’s viral advertisement has given Wong Lo Kat unprecedented international exposure, but to convert this wave of hype into sustained overseas sales, Baiyunshan still needs to put in more effort in product taste adaptation, channel building, and brand awareness. Whether Baiyunshan can truly turn around may not be as simple as just saying “ha” once.