Chapter 104: Shania and Winona, The Pepsi Collaboration
[Chapter 104: Shania and Winona, The Pepsi Collaboration]
While still in Daniel's office, Shania had watery eyes, looking at Linton with a silk-like gaze.
After leaving Daniel's office, she immediately walked over to him and hooked her arm around his, saying, "Linton, on such a happy day, let's celebrate together, shall we?"
Since meeting Linton, the past six months felt like a dream to Shania. Her career development had been incredibly smooth.
This time, not only did she receive a large sum of income but, more importantly, with the blockbuster success of the movie soundtrack, her fame was rapidly rising.
Among the songs she sang solo, Step Up reached Billboard No. 9, and U Must Be reached No. 17 on the Billboard charts.
She had firmly stepped into the ranks of second-tier female singers, completing her transformation from a newcomer to a pop star.
Sunshine Music was already helping her collect songs and preparing to release her album.
Her agent kept receiving constant offers, multiple brand endorsement invitations had come in, and her future looked bright.
...
Since Winona was still vacationing at the estate, Linton first handed two scripts to Mira (The Shallows and Step Up 2), asking her to register them as soon as possible.
Before leaving, Mira reminded Linton not to forget the endorsement contract signing with Pepsi the next day.
...
Linton took Shania to his office at Universal Music and frankly told her about Winona's vacation at his estate, asking if she minded.
Shania had long known Linton was a bit of a playboy and was mentally prepared, so she agreed without much hesitation.
It wasn't enough for Shania to agree; Linton also called Winona in front of Shania, asking if she minded him bringing a beautiful woman home to celebrate.
Winona had already prepared herself upon seeing Cameron and Naomi occupying rooms at the estate, and when she found out it was Shania Twain, she also agreed without hesitation, only requesting he come home early.
Meeting two such understanding women moved Linton. Forget everything else, he left work immediately and took Shania back to the estate.
Seeing Linton being such a casanova -- already having one woman at home and now bringing another -- even assistant Meena rolled her eyes, silently calling him a "big pervert."
...
To Linton's surprise, Winona and Shania got along very well.
Perhaps because they were not in the same industry and had no competition, or maybe because they both joined later and sought allies, the two quickly became friends.
Linton had been a bit worried they might clash upon meeting, but apparently, they weren't that simple.
Shania also took a room next to Winona's, and Linton instructed housekeeper Amy to coordinate the arrangements.
After communicating with her agent, Shania announced she would take a week off to vacation with Winona at Linton's estate.
...
That afternoon, the three swam, sunbathed, and had fun at the estate; at night, they played a high-stakes poker. With Shania joining, the game became much livelier.
At first, the two women were a bit reserved, but soon, under Linton's vigorous efforts, they were overwhelmed and had to team up, making the battle even more intense.
...
The next morning, Mira, Ellie, and Goodman arrived at the estate to meet with Linton for the Pepsi contract signing. Before departing, Linton gave Winona a credit card.
He instructed David, Hayden, and Sandy to avoid paparazzi and take the women to choose cars -- a car each, within $300,000 -- intended as their dedicated vehicles at the estate.
He reminded them to keep their choices low-profile in style and color; these cars were not for them to drive but for chauffeured transportation.
The two women happily gave him kisses, almost reigniting a passionate rivalry.
---
The endorsement signing with Pepsi went smoothly in front of the media. The endorsement fee was $5 million per year for three years, totaling $15 million, paid annually.
Linton was required to film one commercial for Pepsi each year and participate in at least one promotional event. Naturally, Linton was not allowed to drink other sodas publicly.
Pepsi was very interested in Linton's song Taste the Feeling. After internal evaluation, they deemed it a perfect promotional song for Pepsi.
...
In the afternoon, Linton, Pepsi, and Universal held talks about the song production, MV shooting, distribution, and copyright issues and reached a cooperative agreement.
The song would be recorded by Universal in two versions. Pepsi's promotional version would have slightly different lyrics emphasizing Pepsi.
The MV would be filmed by Pepsi, also in two versions.
One version used for the song's promotion would contain some Pepsi elements but required Universal's approval and would be distributed by Universal on MTV and local TV.
The other version was purely Pepsi's promotional MV, broadcast through Pepsi's own channels.
The song was scheduled for release starting January 1993, with Universal handling global distribution using the usual release plan. Pepsi promised strong support, including chart promotion and advertising in various countries to expand the song's influence.
Starting February, Pepsi would launch its MV version and promotional material globally to enhance its brand image and sales.
Regarding licensing, the three parties agreed that Pepsi would have exclusive rights to the song in the beverage category, with a licensing fee of $5 million, of which Linton received $4 million and Universal $1 million.
Pepsi would not participate in other rights or revenue sharing, which would follow the existing contract between Linton and Universal.
This was a win-win cooperation. Linton valued Pepsi's promotional power most for boosting his popularity.
Under the witness of the three parties' lawyers, the contract was signed that very day.
Linton considered asking about the MV's female lead but thought better of it. His current status wasn't quite enough to influence a huge company like Pepsi, so he left it to them. After all, the lead would definitely be a dazzling starlet.
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After finishing, Linton returned to the estate and was warmly embraced by Winona and Shania, who exchanged kisses with him. It seemed that appropriate material indulgences were necessary.
Their cars had already arrived, parked at the estate. Winona chose a top-spec Mercedes S300, and Shania picked a top-model BMW 740, both priced below $200,000.
Fortunately, both opted for silver instead of flashy colors favored by most women, showing they heeded his advice on subtlety.
Linton shared the good news of his Pepsi endorsement with the two women, who responded with amazement and admiration.
Perhaps feeling their identity had been elevated by having dedicated cars and rooms at the estate, or maybe motivated by the car purchase, or simply happy for Linton's Pepsi collaboration, that night, Winona and Shania were extremely passionate, their energy maxed out. Together, they matched Linton's stamina in a fierce, balanced passionate encounter.
In the middle, Winona suddenly had an idea: to rotate between their three rooms for intimate moments, enjoying the passion in different settings.
Since aside from the assistant on the first floor, nobody else was around, Linton agreed.
Moving from the third to the second floor, in different rooms and scenes, the two women also sang loudly, truly having an amazing experience.
...
The next morning, the three of them, radiant, came downstairs for breakfast to find assistant Meena looking exhausted, with large dark circles under her eyes -- a clear sign of being overwhelmed.
*****
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