2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 275 Stealing the Tower!

What are your impressions of your fellow townsman?

"He's a very good young man, what about you?"

"I think he is a very good competitor, but the market is so big, we don't need to be afraid of him. We just need to compete fairly."

"That makes sense. It seems you've recovered from being stunned by him. Did you get him drunk last night to vent your anger?"

"Haha, that makes sense. I didn't really believe you when you told me you had a low alcohol tolerance. How did you manage to run a company with such a low alcohol tolerance? Turns out it really is true."

What Tan Jincheng didn't know was that when he returned the calls to Zhang Congxun and Dong Jinggui, the two were smoking in Zhang Congxun's office. That's how the electric vehicle industry is; competition is competition, but people still have good relationships in private.

It's understandable. Electric scooters, as products targeting end customers, are like mobile phones. Ultimately, the choice is in the hands of the users. It's impossible to achieve an absolute monopoly. If you have a market share of more than 10% nationwide, you can live quite comfortably.

Tan Jincheng's goal was not to achieve a monopoly, but simply to enter the top three in the industry. He remembered reading a report in his previous life that the top three companies in the electric scooter industry had market shares of about 30%, 20%, and 15%, respectively.

In some parts of Zhejiang Province, local governments even organized an event where electric vehicle entrepreneurs could sit down together, chat, and sign a mutual assistance agreement to avoid malicious competition. This was the case with the Yongkang government.

Yongkang suffered a great loss back then due to malicious bidding among enterprises, which allowed foreign companies to gain a huge advantage. This can be considered a lesson learned from history.

"It's kind of interesting. This young man was trying to trick me into telling him who my spokesperson is yesterday. Could I tell him? Haha."

"So who is the spokesperson you hired?"

"I can't tell you either, you'll find out in a few days. It's definitely better than yours. By the way, Xiao Tan complained about your spokesperson yesterday."

"Xiao Tan has the right to criticize this, so why are you laughing so happily?" Dong Jinggui said, somewhat speechless.

However, he then said somewhat dejectedly, "It's really not working out. I plan to wait until the contract ends and then find another one. I've been researching this recently. K-pop is quite popular, so I'll switch to a Korean artist when the time comes."

"Anyway, none of you can compare to my spokesperson." The middle-aged man had a mysterious confidence in his aesthetic sense.

Zhang Congxun was like this, as was Dong Jinggui. While they might consult their subordinates on other company decisions, the choice of spokesperson was entirely their own decision, including that of Tan Jincheng.

The difference is that Tan Jincheng has memories of his past life, so he is more aware of the value of celebrities and whether or not they will cause scandals than others.

As for those actresses from "Princess Pearl" that Zhang Congxun mentioned before, could they be signed? Of course not.
-
Saturday, October 4.

In the afternoon, after more than a week, Boss Tan returned to Beicang, but he wouldn't stay long. Next, Tan Jincheng planned to go to Suzhou, and then on the 28th, he would go north to attend the press conference for the Olympic Games design competition.

After the press conference, the official winner of the contract to be the designated vehicle for the Olympics will be announced. If they win the contract, the Flash Cruiser will be able to sell under the name of the designated vehicle for the Olympics for the next two years, which will be a leap forward in the high-end brand strategy.

"Boss, the electric sightseeing vehicles for the World Expo have been won by an electric vehicle company in Fujian Province called Sanxie. The news just came out today."

The hardworking assistant had only been back in Beicang for a short time when she had to organize information and report to the boss.

"Well, tour buses aren't our main business, so if we can't get the contract, we can't get it." Flash Motors also participated in the bidding, but they were just there for the fun of it.

"Another thing is the intelligent controller that you asked me to keep an eye on, which is being developed in collaboration with Chang'an Jiaotong University. They have made new progress and launched an online upgrade function."

"Okay, keep an eye on things from now on, keep in touch with their manager, and also call Zhou Ao over here."

"Ok."

A short while later, Zhou Ao arrived.

"Boss, you're looking for me."

"Hmm, how's the contact with Jay Chou and Kobe going?"

Zhou Ao said somewhat dejectedly, "We can't get in touch with Kobe yet, but we have made contact with Jay Chou, and he has expressed his willingness to talk."

He's a Kobe fan, and given the company's strategy, he'd naturally prefer to sign Kobe. However, it's understandable that Kobe has signed with top international brands, making it difficult to quickly acquire him.

On the contrary, Jay Chou's response was more enthusiastic. He has always signed with popular brands, and electric vehicles are also within the scope of his brand endorsement selection.

"Then let's focus all our efforts on Jay Chou and stop hesitating. Has he said how much the endorsement fee is?" 2005 and 2006 were Jay Chou's breakout years, with more than 10 advertisements under his belt. According to his agent's interview at the beginning of the year, his advertising income last year was 1200 million yuan, and his total income for the year was 5700 million yuan.

His endorsement fees rose to seven figures, and his commercial performance fee was 100 million yuan per show. This did not include the food and accommodation of his staff. He only rested for 18 days a year, making him a model worker during this period.

“He didn’t say, only that it was a seven-figure sum, but we found out that his endorsement deal with Kobi last year was worth 500 million yuan per year,” Zhou Ao replied.

"Then let's negotiate from 500 million yuan upwards, and I'll give you the authorization up to 10 million yuan. For every 1000 million yuan reduction below 1000 million yuan, the marketing department will receive a 100% bonus incentive. But you absolutely cannot mess this up, or you'll have your pay docked."

After 2000, the little princess who focuses on domestic small and medium-sized brands deserves such treatment; he can be called the pioneer of live-streaming e-commerce.

By endorsing Kebike, Kebike quickly grew into one of the industry leaders; by endorsing Youlemei, Youlemei rose from obscurity to a level that could rival Xiangpiaopiao; and other national brands such as Metersbonwe and Aima followed the same path.

Especially for Aima, it can be said that its success is inseparable from Jay Chou. Since the sky-high endorsement in 2009, Aima has achieved sales growth of millions in the following years and has firmly occupied the top two market share in the electric vehicle industry.

Signing Jay Chou for under 1000 million yuan is definitely worthwhile. If possible, Tan Jincheng hopes to sign him for several more years, so that even if Ai Ma appears, there will be no chance to sign him again.

If that doesn't work, we'll have to sign a non-compete agreement with him, stipulating that he can't sign endorsement deals for similar products for several years after the contract expires.

That's the downside of this guy. In Tan Jincheng's memory, he's endorsed several brands, including clothing and mobile phones; he's basically just a salesman.
"Okay, understood. We will definitely offer the best terms to negotiate with the agent, and we hope you can intervene if necessary."

Zhou Ao could sense the importance his boss placed on him, so he stopped thinking about Kobe. Work was more important than seeing Kobe.

When faced with a choice between life and the future, the vast majority of people, whether they like it or not, will choose life.

“Yes, of course.” Tan Jincheng nodded.

If necessary, you can also fool him like you fooled Xu Wei. As a fan, Tan Jincheng does remember many of his songs, especially some of his later ones.

This time, they're real fans!

FlashTech is working hard to contact Jay Chou, while ChipSun Technology's signing process with Brother Long has entered the final stage. The negotiations between the two parties have basically ended, and only the final signing process remains.

To show respect and importance, Zhang Congxun, who likes grand occasions, decided to hold the final signing ceremony in the RM lobby on April 25th.

On the afternoon of the 22nd, after Tan Jincheng returned to Beicang, Zhang Congxun set off from Wuxi for the capital. In addition to signing the contract, he also wanted to make some more efforts to see if he could win back the design proposal that was not in a favorable position.

Tan Jincheng is also going to the capital, but not so early. He plans to go next Monday. Accompanying him is Dong Jinggui, the chairman of Yadi. In addition, established companies such as Luyuan are also participating in this design competition.

After finishing his business with FlashTech, Tan Jincheng drove to the Financial Building and returned to Beicang. He no longer needed to take a driver everywhere he went, which gave Li Yaohui a chance to rest.

On the way, Wu Jianzhong, having heard that Tan Jincheng had returned, called Tan Jincheng to express his gratitude for the promotion of Zhongtai. In any case, Zhongtai was a business he and Ying Jianren shared, and he was very grateful that Tan Jincheng, as a minority shareholder, had provided the fastest and most effective promotional plan without reservation.

"Mr. Wu, you're too kind. There's no need for thanks. Besides, Mr. Ying even gave me an extra 200 million yuan in consulting fees."

"Of course, of course. Without President Tan's help, our original publicity plan would not have achieved this effect, especially that advertising slogan, which was of great help to us."

"It's good that it helps, but Mr. Wu should still pay attention to the quality and service of the vehicles. We can't relax on these two aspects just because they are cheap. Young consumers will accompany our company's growth for a long time, and we can't let them down."

Tan Jincheng only offered some advice; whether Wu Jianzhong listened or not was up to him. The quality of the first car was questionable; to be honest, the materials used were not very good. Although it was cheap, it was still subject to criticism.

The only thing we can do is provide good after-sales service and appease the buyers, but this requires a lot of costs, and we don't know if Zhongtai is willing to do so.

"Okay, thank you for the suggestion, Mr. Tan. We will consider it carefully. Would you be interested in having dinner together tonight, Mr. Tan?"

"How about tomorrow? I'll treat Mr. Wu tomorrow. I just got home tonight and need to spend time with my family first."

"Haha, okay, I was too inconsiderate. Let's meet and talk with President Tan tomorrow."

Speaking of this, Tan Jincheng really felt a little ashamed. He brought his mother and sister over, but he was never home. If it weren't for his uncle's family being there, and Gu Qingqing visiting him from time to time, Zhang Suzhi would have run away in less than two days.

Zhang Suzhi knew her son would be busy before coming to Ningbo, but she didn't expect him to be this busy!

(End of this chapter)