Traffic entertainers are sometimes a double-edged sword for brands.

On June 26, a user with the Weibo account “Ms. C is not too brave” claimed that the traffic artist Cai Xukun had a relationship with a woman, causing her to have an abortion after becoming pregnant, etc., and pointed out that Cai Xukun's mother installed a camera at the woman's doorstep.

Cai Xukun has been slow to respond to this.

Until the evening of July 2, after CCTV and other platforms removed their videos, Cai Xukun finally responded on the morning of July 3.

“There have been a lot of topics about me on the internet recently, so I'm sorry this has taken up everyone's time and attention. I was single two years ago and had a relationship with Ms. C. The private matters between the two parties were properly resolved in 2021, and there were no further disputes with each other.” Cai Xukun said.

Cai Xukun's public opinion storm may still continue to ferment, which has hurt some A-share companies quite a bit.

According to incomplete statistics from ID: TradeWind01 (ID: TradeWind01), the current spokesperson for Yanjing Beer (000729.SZ) and Tomson Beijian (300146.SZ) is Cai Xukun.

Yanjing Brewery and Cai Xukun have been collaborating for a long time. From 2021 to 2023, Cai Xukun was the spokesperson for Yanjing Beer.

After the incident, Yanjing Beer seemed to have no intention of “cutting” with Cai Xukun.

ID: TradeWind01 (ID: TradeWind01) noticed that currently Yanjing Brewery's official Weibo still tops the advertising endorsement of Cai Xukun.

In fact, this is not the first time that Yanjing Brewery has “stepped on the thunderbolt” on the question of a spokesperson.

In June 2021, Yanjing Brewery hired entertainer Zhang Zhehan as a spokesperson for its brand “Shelter Beer,” but after the official announcement, Zhang Zhehan was blocked from all over the network due to improper behavior, and the two ended their collaboration thereafter.

ID: TradeWind01 (ID: TradeWind01) called the Yanjing Brewery Securities Department to seek proof whether its cooperation with Cai Xukun continued. The other party said “I don't know.”

In fact, Yanjing Brewery has been following a “rejuvenation” strategy in recent years, and regards cooperation with artists as an important part of this strategy.

“During the reporting period, the company continued to carry out U8 full-link marketing and build a brand content system with first-line artist endorsements.” Yanjing Beer stated in its 2022 annual report.

Under the rejuvenation strategy, Yanjing Brewery's performance has been growing steadily in recent years. In 2022, revenue and net profit from the return mother were 13.202 billion yuan and 352 million yuan respectively, up 10.38% and 54.51% year-on-year respectively. This growth rate ranked among the highest A-share companies in the world.

Another A-share company that has been cooperating with Cai Xukun for a long time is Tomson Beijian. As early as 2018, Tomson Beijian used Cai Xukun as the spokesperson for its “YEP” series of nutrition brands aimed at young people.

As of now, Tomson Beijian's official Weibo still tops Cai Xukun's advertising endorsement.

ID: TradeWind01 (ID: TradeWind01) sought evidence from Tomson Beijian on whether the cooperation between the two continues. The other party said there is no further information yet.

As a nutrition brand that mainly targets C-end customers, Tomson Beijian's sales expenses rate has never been low. It reached 40.31% in 2022, up 6.69 percentage points from 2021.

However, this did not come in exchange for an increase in profits as planned.

In 2022, Tomson Beijian's revenue was 7.861 billion yuan, an increase of 5.79% over the previous year. The net profit for the same period was 1,386 billion yuan, down 20.99% from the previous year.

“It is estimated that within the next two to three years, the company's sales expenses ratio will remain in the 35%-40% range. It is expected to approach the upper limit of the range this year.” Tomson Beijian said in response to investors' questions in June of this year.

For many brands that follow a youthful strategy, hiring traffic artists as spokespersons has become the norm. But how to manage risk may also be an important challenge.