No one would’ve thought these two concepts could work together, but here we are! Think about it: Pro soccer player Erling Braut Haaland breathes fire, speaks Mandarin, and sells you 200-year-old Chinese herbal tea. The campaign could not care less whether it makes sense. In fact, it even got to the point where viewers thought it was AI-generated. But it’s not—it’s definitely real.
Haaland, the Norwegian phenomenon and prolific striker for Manchester City, is famous for his raw physical dominance on the pitch. Now, he’s the global face of Walovi—the international brand identity of Wang Lao Ji (王老吉). For context, Wang Lao Ji is a historic, two-century-old Chinese beverage brand famous for its natural, plant-based “cold tea” that combats the body’s shàng huǒ (上火), an ancient concept of “internal heat” that English has no clean translation for.
Instead of trying to awkwardly translate the untranslatable, Walovi fully leaned into the chaos. They used the most direct, visceral visual language possible to show what the drink actually does, out-weirding the language barrier with fire-breathing, intense barbecues, and a remixed stadium terrace chant. The feeling lands before you even have the vocabulary for it.
As Walovi pushes into global markets, targeting health-conscious youth and capitalizing on the modern “food as medicine” trend, partnering with a powerhouse like Haaland actually works. Among a thousand algorithms and everyone fighting for a split second of attention, unabashed, brain-rot-adjacent advertising seems to still be scoring goals. Catch the official Walovi campaign video ft Haaland below.
Cover image via The Standard.
