2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 225 Cycling Promotion (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

On February 17th, the first Friday after the Lantern Festival, at 2 PM, a cycling video quietly appeared on Tudou.com.

While it wasn't entirely silent, FlashTech had been subtly promoting itself on various forums, Sina blogs, QQ spaces, and other platforms since before the Lantern Festival, so quite a few netizens knew about it.

The internet is still in the Web 2.0 era. According to the 2005 Internet Environment Report released at the beginning of this year, as of December 31, 2005, we had approximately 1.11 million internet users, accounting for 8.5% of the total population.

These 1.11 million internet users, excluding large cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, are mainly concentrated in eastern coastal provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Guangdong, which largely overlaps with the route of FlashTech's "Trip Across the Seas" event.

Therefore, the focus of this event in terms of publicity is on the internet. During the three special periods in the previous life, most Chinese people were unable to travel and it was very inconvenient to go anywhere. Tan Jincheng was no exception.

During those years, Tan Jincheng's daily routine in his spare time was to watch videos of several cycling content creators on Bilibili. Some of these creators were funny, like "Bed Bro," but they were indeed too slovenly. This style was definitely not suitable for corporate promotion.

Even if Tan Jincheng designed it this way, Li Qiangzhong might not be willing. After all, he is a well-known motorcyclist and still has some face to save.

Therefore, the style of the content creator surnamed Xu is the most suitable for Li Qiangzhong and his assistant, and it is also the most beneficial for brand promotion. There is no need for too many advertising slogans. As long as the video has enough views, the lightning bolt logo that appears in each video is the best promotion for FlashTech.

Whether it's traveling or living, the three essential elements of food, accommodation, and transportation are indispensable. Most ordinary people can only admire RV self-driving tours but cannot put them into practice. Electric vehicles are somewhat different from bicycles, but they are still worth trying to some extent.

Using diary formats such as food, mukbang, adventure, and travel, with the grand goal of a long journey, like the main quest in a game, the videos have continuity and allow viewers to feel immersed.

In addition, the videos are accompanied by narration, which explains each place in detail, covering geological, geographical, and historical knowledge, allowing viewers to learn something new while watching the videos.

Tan Jincheng essentially copied this model and had an entire team planning it. In each location, the filming team from Flash Technology would write the script in advance, and Li Qiangzhong and his assistant only needed to read the lines according to the script.

As for personal charm, Tan Jincheng couldn't be sure if Li Qiangzhong had that kind of charisma. After all, things were different now than during that special period. Most Chinese people were staying at home, and their longing for cycling was far greater than usual.

Regardless of the circumstances, FlashTech's use of cycling to promote its brand is a first in both the industry and the video sector, and it's also a new attempt for Tudou.com, a video website founded in April 2005.

Interestingly, while uploading the video this time, Tan Jincheng learned something interesting: LeTV, founded in November 2004, can be considered the first video website in China in the true sense.

However, LeTV's reputation is only so-so now, and unlike Tudou, it is not user-driven. In its early days, Tudou was somewhat similar to Bilibili in its later form, with users uploading videos themselves.

Just like his slogan "Everyone is the director of their own life," all users can freely upload videos. In December 2005, "A bloody incident caused by a steamed bun" completely made Tudou.com famous.

However, during this period, after the "Steamed Bun Bloodbath," Tudou.com was dominated by users who created mostly parody videos, such as "Internet Addiction War" and "Spring Festival Travel Empire." Serious videos like "Flash Technology," which focused purely on cycling, were rare.

Inside the study, Tan Jincheng, Gu Qingqing, Zhang Xupeng, Gu Yuxin, and the siblings Gu Yanning were preparing to watch a video together.

The lineup is quite large.

"I don't know how the response will be after it goes live. I don't know if all this advertising will be effective," Tan Jincheng said with a slightly nervous smile.

"It's okay. Based on my experience playing games, the video is like a beginner's village when it first goes online, but it gets better later on," Zhang Xupeng laughed.

It's quite rare to see Xiao Tan show her fear.

"Xiao Tan, do you value this video a lot?" Gu Yuxin asked with some curiosity.

He came today. He heard that his younger sister came with her company leaders to discuss cooperation, and he was so excited that he came to join in the fun. He only arrived this afternoon, and was dragged over after dinner. He doesn't know the details yet.

"I guess so. It's not just this one video; it's a series, a very important part of this year's promotion. Starting today, we will be uploading videos continuously until the end of the event," Tan Jincheng nodded.

Starting from Beihai on the Lantern Festival, today is the sixth day of the cycling trip. Li Qiangzhong and others have now entered Yulin. The reason for postponing the video upload by a week is to allow the filming team time to write the script and edit it.

The first report in print media had actually been published long ago, but print media has limited influence and is a specialized medium, so not many salespeople are interested in reading it. There weren't high expectations for print media. The internet was the key. The story of the bloodshed caused by a steamed bun initially didn't get many views; it only went viral after netizens downloaded and reposted it to other video websites.

To be fair, from Tan Jincheng's perspective in his later years, the steamed buns' production level was only average. The image clarity was not worth mentioning due to the limitations of the technology, the video content was also a bit slow, and the production was rather rough.

The reason it went viral was because someone made such a terrible film that it angered moviegoers. You have to understand that movie tickets were quite expensive at the time, with the average cost of watching a movie in a theater being between 50 and 80 yuan. The video creator spent 80 yuan to buy a movie ticket.

80 yuan, most people in the country don't even earn that much in a day, and you show me this thing?

What's even more ridiculous is that countless people who hadn't seen the movie bought tickets to go to the cinema out of curiosity because of the steamed buns. This kind of reverse publicity is not uncommon in later generations. For example, the movie "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" was promoted by online trolls as the worst movie in history.

Tan Jincheng was also tricked into going there back then.

But the film's director miraculously sued the person who filmed the video, causing a public uproar on February 12th, the Lantern Festival this year. Even renowned directors like Zhang Yimou publicly ridiculed this behavior.

Laughing to death.

"What tangible benefits does the brand gain from spending so much money to film cycling videos? How much will it increase sales?" Gu Yuxin continued to ask curiously.

Gu Yuxin's question was also something that Zhang Xupeng and others were curious about. Compared with Tan Jincheng, none of them had ever made products, did not have their own brands, lacked brand awareness, and did not quite understand Tan Jincheng's thinking.

Traditionally, advertising has been primarily done through television media. The internet is still seen as an illusion by most people, who don't believe that online marketing can bring much tangible benefit or increase product sales.

"Of course it's useful. As long as the number of views reaches a certain level and there are enough websites that repost it, the brand's influence and coverage will increase significantly. You know, our country has more than 100 million netizens."

"Of these 100 million+ netizens, most are young people. Let's assume 1 million viewers. If 1 million people watch this video series seriously, it's like planting the seed of the FlashCheer brand in the hearts of 1 million people. In the future, it could lead to 100 families, and then the reach would multiply."

"Even if we consider 10 people, it's already quite an achievement. In the future, when people see the lightning bolt symbol on the street, they will easily remember it."

The goal of 10 should not be difficult to achieve. After it is uploaded today, the company's marketing team will actively download and repost it to other websites, and then cooperate with online trolls to promote it.

"That's the real benefit. As for the sales you mentioned, I can't estimate it in the short term, but it's definitely not bad in the long term. However, the first thing is to make the videos popular. At the moment, I really don't know if this kind of video series will be popular."

After all, this approach is still somewhat ahead of its time for today's netizens. Although netizens are said to be the most receptive group, Tan Jincheng really doesn't dare to be sure about the specific effects.

If we can convert 1% of the viewers into actual consumers, and have a solid foundation, then this promotion will be worthwhile.

If this publicity campaign is successful, then in the second half of the year, Tan Jincheng plans to start a company to make internet investments, pick up bargains, and recruit a few programmers to do some technology incubation, laying the technical groundwork for smartphone apps in a few years.

This doesn't require much investment; there's no need to use Flashpoint Technology's funds. Tan Jincheng's own money will suffice. It would be even more perfect if he could incubate an internet media company that he controls.

Whether it's electric scooters now or cars in the future, the internet is a crucial element. Even before making cars, companies like Weixiaoli, a new force in the automotive industry, already had their own internet presence.

In the novel "Wei Xiaoli," the guy who sells large refrigerators already had a professional car website before he started his own car company. He used the internet to promote his products and cultivate a user base.

As a consumer, Tan Jincheng can criticize these companies, but as an entrepreneur who wants to start a business, there are still many things he can learn from them.

Now that they have the memories of their past lives, they can apply some of their more useful business logic to FlashTech.

"Stop talking, let's watch the video, it's started." Gu Qingqing stopped Gu Yuxin from asking any more questions and said softly.

Last day! Just over 100 more monthly passes needed! Please help!
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(End of this chapter)