2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 905 A Cataclysmic Start, A Year of Stability!
In his first full fiscal year at the helm of Meizu, Tan Jincheng accomplished a great deal, but he didn't actually have many demands or high expectations for the company.

At Meizu's last meeting, Tan Jincheng made only two requests: to stabilize Meizu's product line and not to lose too much money.

It's quite funny, actually. In 2016, Meizu shipped 2200 million units. This achievement is not as good as Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO and Vivo, but it is definitely enough to firmly establish itself as a second-tier brand.

Selling mobile phones is a relatively profitable business, with a shipment volume of 2000 million units. However, the most profitable department in the entire company is actually the Flyme division.

It's understandable that Meizu's low-end, budget-friendly phones like the Meizu Blue don't make money, but Meizu's other series are quite expensive, yet they still can't make a profit.

The fact that both sales volume and sales revenue appeared in the top ten of the mobile phone category during Double Eleven was somewhat beyond his expectations.

The mobile phone market in 2017 was still very competitive. Huawei's two major brands were very strong, as were Xiaomi and Redmi. Other competitors included OPPO and Vivo, Samsung (which had not completely given up on the domestic market), and even Sony.

In addition, second-tier brands like Nubia and OnePlus also have strong competitive strength.

Most importantly, this year Xiaomi launched the Xiaomi 6, which is known as the most enduring phone in Xiaomi's history. Its high cost-performance ratio, balanced configuration, innovative design and craftsmanship have brought this phone a lot of attention.

With a price of 2499 yuan, a design style that Tan Jincheng finds stunning, and balanced performance, it's no surprise that Xiaomi became the top seller during this year's Double Eleven shopping festival.

A famous saying arose from the Xiaomi 6: "Buy new, not old, unless it's the Xiaomi 6."

Xiaomi has long been known as a "low-end phone," mainly due to its design, cheap plastic materials, and unstable quality and performance, in addition to its starting price of 1999 yuan.

The four-curved glass body is so integrated that it can be called a work of art. It is unbeatable in terms of both feel and appearance. Its performance is also very strong. Its sales are unmatched, which has also enhanced the brand image of Xiaomi phones.

Meizu under Tan Jincheng's leadership had a somewhat unfavorable start. The PRO7 series, under his intervention, encountered the rising power of Xiaomi, as well as Huawei's two major brands, especially Honor, and OPPO and Vivo, each with their own classic products.

Top brands are at their peak, while second-tier brands like OnePlus offer similar benefits. Meizu promotes a simple and smooth system, which OnePlus can also provide. However, the user experience of OnePlus's system is not much different from that of Meizu's Flyme.

Even non-mainstream brands like Luo Yonghao's Smartisan phone have gained immense popularity; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they had a disastrous start.

After the Double Eleven data was released, Meizu's entry into the top ten on both major lists surprised the media and the mobile phone industry. As a result, the media could not ignore Meizu's presence. On the 12th, there were many media outlets praising Xiaomi and Huawei, and there were also quite a few praising Meizu.

"The phone is well-made, and the marketing is very successful. People in the internet and automotive industries say that Mr. Tan is an excellent product manager. I used to think it was a bit of an exaggeration, but now I believe it."

Huang Zhang, who has been unemployed at home for nearly a year, is holding Meizu's newly launched Pro 7, a new flagship that completely overturns his design.

After experiencing it firsthand, Huang Zhang was filled with emotion.

Meizu has a core theme for launching new models this year: returning to the mainstream. For example, in the design of the Pro 7, the small screen on the back of the phone has been abandoned, and the screen is now a full-screen display, which is currently popular in the market. In addition, a series of functions that should be on flagship phones, such as NFC, have all been used.

While preserving the aesthetic appeal of the design, performance must not be sacrificed; this is Tan Jincheng's requirement for the new Meizu.

In Tan Jincheng's view, if a mobile phone only looks good but its performance is terrible, then isn't it just a waste of its potential?
Although Huang Zhang was very assertive and did not retain any shares, and left Meizu in a straightforward manner, he continued to pay attention to the changes at Meizu.

He had witnessed the dramatic changes at Meizu, and although he was still somewhat resentful, he genuinely admired Tan Jincheng's bold actions.

In terms of marketing, Tan Jincheng completely cut off last year's concert-style promotional model. This monthly concert-style press conference promotion model would definitely bring Meizu continuous exposure, but in reality it was useless.

Aside from eliciting jokes from netizens, it doesn't bring much of a boost to sales.

New product launch events are definitely necessary, but the number should be controlled. Holding a launch event for every new product is just creating amusement for oneself.

The new marketing model is more diverse. In addition to the new product launch, the first change is celebrity endorsement. Zhang Xueying, who has worked with Meizu for several years, will continue to be the spokesperson. This young actress is quite popular this year, and she has been chosen as the spokesperson for the Meizu Blue series.

Another one is Zhao Liying. After so many years of hard work, she finally ushered in her moment of glory. The first thing Tan Jincheng did after taking over last year was to use his connections to sign her at a high price to be the spokesperson for Meizu series.

This person, who debuted in 2006 and has been in the industry for over a decade, finally reached the peak of his career with a period fantasy drama two years ago, and even played the lead role in Han Han's movie this year.

She had previously endorsed a sub-brand of Coolpad, but the contract had expired long ago. After signing with Meizu, she revealed that Honor was also in talks with her about an endorsement contract.

When asked why he chose Meizu, he was quite honest.

Besides the higher endorsement fee offered by Tan Jincheng, Meizu is the main brand, while Honor is a sub-brand, which can enhance her commercial value. Previously, when she endorsed Coolpad, it was also a sub-brand.

Once you've secured a popular spokesperson, all that's left is to increase investment both online and offline. For offline advertising, there's not much to say—just run ads.

For online marketing, Tan Jincheng chose a marketing model based on short videos, which is also Wei Lai's consistent approach: to increase Meizu's exposure by collaborating with a large number of mobile phone review bloggers and high-quality video bloggers, using direct and indirect sales methods.

In addition, Tan Jincheng also has another promotional channel, namely Orange Live. Orange Live is independently operated, but how could CEO He Jia not give Tan Jincheng face?

There's also Xiao Wang's live streaming platform, which has become very popular in recent years. If he wants to stream King of Glory, he needs Tan Jincheng's permission. Besides, Tan Jincheng knows his father, so it's just a matter of saying hello.

In terms of publicity channels, Huang Zhang's resources are nowhere near those of Tan Jincheng.

With just a little effort and some favor, Meizu will have no shortage of exposure, even without holding a concert. Plus, he himself is now an internet celebrity, and showing off a new Meizu phone is much more effective than Huang Zhang answering questions on forums.

Over the years, Tan Jincheng has paid attention to image management and has even studied it in detail. With his already high looks, he can easily become a top influencer in the sales industry with his deliberate efforts.

Aside from changes in marketing methods, Meizu's biggest change is in hardware.

This year's new Meizu phones, including both the Meizu series and the Meilan series, do not use any chips from MediaTek.

This move completely shocked the entire mobile phone industry at the time. Even Huang Zhang, who had already retired, was invited out by the Zhushi authorities to try to persuade Tan Jincheng in a subtle way.

However, Tan Jincheng remained unmoved.

Both sides demonstrated sufficient sincerity in reaching a comprehensive settlement with Qualcomm.

Meizu's high-volume Meilan series has switched to the same Snapdragon 625 chip as the Redmi Note series, and the entire Meilan system has chosen Qualcomm's mid-to-low-end chips as its chip supplier.

This is a huge temptation for Qualcomm. In addition to being a chip supplier, Qualcomm's Qualcomm tax is also an important source of revenue. Acquiring Meizu would not only allow them to earn more profits, but also weaken MediaTek's performance in the low-end market.

The newly launched Meizu Note 6 has similar configuration to the Redmi Note 4X, but its starting price is one yuan cheaper than the 4X. One sells for 999 yuan, while the other sells for 998 yuan.

Qualcomm is not a clueless company. Meizu's current boss is surnamed Tan, and this new boss has considerable influence on Wall Street. Qualcomm has previously cooperated with Wei Lai, and the two sides got along quite well.

And so, Meizu's two new flagship phones, the Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus, appeared alongside seven other new models, including the Xiaomi 6, Samsung S8, and S8+, in the list of the first models to use the Qualcomm 835 processor, which is considered a revolutionary chip.

If it can't beat the Xiaomi 6, then it will compete with Xiaomi's high-end MIX series. The entire Pro 7 series is aimed at the MIX2 series, and the starting price is also slightly lower than the MIX2, one selling for 3299 and the other for 3280.

Lei Jun almost laughed in exasperation at Tan Jincheng's actions, and even called to tease him about it.

However, Meizu poses no threat to Xiaomi. Xiaomi has also released many new products this year and doesn't care about being compared to its competitors. The jokes are just jokes.

At most, Tan Jincheng would pass on a message to Li Nan, telling him not to say such unpleasant things during the publicity.

In the mobile phone industry, Meizu also has very talented people who are good at marketing. Li Nan, the head of the Meizu Blue series, is known as a man who is marketing even when he is breathing. When it comes to riding the wave of popularity, Zhou Hongyi is a little brother in front of him.

Completely abandoning MediaTek chips within a year is somewhat radical, and Tan Jincheng's personal reasons are certainly involved in this decision.

Last year's Meizu flagship phone received market recognition for both its design and performance. It used MediaTek's high-end deca-core chip, and MediaTek, which aimed to challenge Qualcomm's position in the high-end market, was very high-profile when it launched the chip.

If the story ends here, even if the subsequent chip performance is mediocre and doesn't pose any high-end challenges, consumers will still praise Lenovo for its backbone and say they'll come back next year.

But MediaTek's questionable actions not only emptied its most loyal fans, but were also fatal to itself, almost blocking its path to the high-end market.

If you betray your teammates, who would dare use your chips in flagship models?

For Meizu, embracing Qualcomm like Xiaomi might one day lead to them being labeled as Qualcomm's lackey, but right now Meizu doesn't have a better choice; survival is the most important thing.

As for MediaTek, it's not impossible to continue cooperation once relations improve.

In addition to the major changes in chip suppliers, Meizu also made a very bold change in screen suppliers this year, switching from Samsung to BOE.

Having endured many hardships, BOE almost went bankrupt during the 2008 financial crisis, but the Luzhou government, known for its aggressive investment strategies, provided 175 billion yuan to save it.

Afterwards, BOE worked hard and gradually became one of the mainstream mobile phone screen suppliers. After the flexible screen went into production, Huawei and Meizu became its customers.

These are the only two customers of BOE's flexible screens so far. Interestingly, both of these major brands use BOE's screens in their main brands.

Tan Jincheng's bold reforms seemed very abrupt at the beginning of 2017. Having never used a mobile phone before, his actions were thought to be a deliberate attempt to eliminate the influence of Huang Zhang's family at Meizu.

In the writings of some smear PR outlets, Tan Jincheng was portrayed as a clueless newcomer in the tech industry who only knew how to fight for power, changing two core suppliers as if it were a joke.

Huang Zhang also believes this. From his perspective and with more information than the media, Tan Jincheng really has these reasons for doing so. In Huang Zhang's understanding, Tan Jincheng does not actually value Meizu's mobile phone business that much.

He was interested in the changes that Meizu's Flyme system could bring to the vehicle's infotainment system. Furthermore, Tan Jincheng had never directly addressed these issues, leading the market to believe that Meizu wouldn't last long. "While the sales figures for Singles' Day don't fully indicate that Meizu has solved its problems, they at least mitigate some of the negative impact on the boss."

Orange Group and Meizu both performed exceptionally well during Double Eleven, but Tan Jincheng didn't pay much attention to it. However, outsiders and his subordinates didn't think so.

At this moment, members of the vehicle infotainment system project team at the Weilai Research Institute were discussing this topic.

The team for the Weilai in-vehicle infotainment system project, personally led by Hu Zhengnan, is quite complex. In addition to personnel from the Weilai Research Institute, it also includes core executives and technical staff from Horizon Robotics, Meizu, and Orange.

Normally, such a configuration would make it difficult to achieve results, but fortunately, all four companies are controlled by Boss Tan. From the very beginning of the project, Boss Tan demonstrated a leadership policy centered on Hu Zhengnan.

Hu Zhengnan's decision represented the decision of the Weilai Research Institute and himself. After the core person in charge was determined, things became much easier.

"Yes, in the market, everything is about results. As long as you achieve results, everything will be popular."

As the president of Flyme Business Unit, Li Yan, who was involved in the research and development of the in-vehicle system, spent most of the past year at the Beicangweilai Research Institute. However, as one of Meizu's core executives, he was well aware of the extent of Meizu's changes.

Chip and screen suppliers are just one example; the contract manufacturers have also changed from Wingtech Technology to BYD and Changying Precision.

The company is undergoing a major overhaul to remove any association with General Manager Huang. Any entity within the supply chain that has close ties to General Manager Huang's family will be removed without question.

The operating model was quite inhumane and also harmed the interests of some people. For example, changing the contract manufacturer caused the stock price of the listed company to fall. To some extent, the media's criticism was not without reason.

"That's right. The mobile phone market is the same as the car market. If the car sells well, all the criticism will disappear."

In the past few days, the stock prices of several listed companies under Tan Jincheng's umbrella, and even companies in the industrial chain, have performed very well. The data of Orange Products Club's more than 800 million orders on Singles' Day set a new high for SF Express since its backdoor listing.

Changying Precision's stock price, which had been falling for two months, also rebounded slightly around Singles' Day, reflecting its performance in the capital market.

"You can't say that. Replacing Wingtech is because they are transforming into semiconductors, and their OEM business will decrease in the future. I can say that this is absolutely without any personal bias."

Zhongyin Company, the predecessor of the listed company Wingtech, participated in the restructuring plan of ByteDance in 2015 and still holds a small portion of Wingtech shares, just like BYD and Changying.

However, in terms of personal relationships, Tan Jincheng is definitely closer to BYD and Changying.

The vehicle infotainment project team was having a meeting. Tan Jincheng had originally planned to attend, but something came up and he had to cancel. Now that he had some time, Tan Jincheng thought he'd listen to what they had come up with.

When discussing Meizu, these people didn't deliberately lower their voices, since ordinary people couldn't usually get into this floor anyway.

"Haha, the boss overheard me talking behind my back."

Hu Zhengnan laughed and pointed at Li Yan, teasing him. Li Yan seemed a little embarrassed. He had had quite a bit of contact with Tan Jincheng this year, but ultimately, he was not as familiar as Hu Zhengnan, with whom he had worked for many years.

"It's alright, there's nothing that can't be said to others. Mr. Li is right about one thing: results are the best proof."

"Whether what I did for Meizu was right or wrong is not something you can decide, but rather the market. If the market accepts it, then it's right; if the market doesn't accept it, then I'll have to carry the reputation of ruining Meizu for the rest of my life."

Hu Zhengnan and the others smiled but remained silent, while Li Yan said with a wry smile, "Then you've really been wronged, boss."

He has the right to speak about Meizu's situation last year. It suffered huge losses of hundreds of millions of yuan. The sales volume supported by the Meilan series could not bring profits to the company. MediaTek's betrayal pushed the Meizu series to the brink of collapse.

Furthermore, Huang's reneging on the deal during the collaboration with Ali caused the technical genius to lose face, indirectly leading to a falling out with capital.

Even if Ali doesn't do anything to harm its own interests because of its status as a shareholder, few institutions will dare to invest in a company that doesn't abide by its agreements, let alone the listing plan that Mr. Huang mentioned.

Even without President Tan's appearance, they were still in a precarious situation this year.

"Haha, that's not important. I'm not responding because it's not worth responding to. Even if it really ruins me, what loss would I suffer? If the car owner system becomes the market leader, I've already made a profit."

"However, there is one thing you are wrong about."

Hu Zhengnan laughed heartily: "Come on, let me tell you about the boss's profound insights."

Speaking of which, it was Tan Jincheng who had privately invited him over. During their discussion about the car's infotainment system, the topic of Meizu came up, which made Hu Zhengnan realize that these newcomers, who were not very familiar with their boss, had a very serious problem in their understanding of him.

That is, the newly joined executives, including Li Yan, almost all believed that the boss's marketing was the reason for the hot sales of a series of products.

This is clearly a backwards way of thinking, and it is extremely dangerous.

"Mr. Hu just mentioned what you were discussing; indeed, I don't deny the importance of marketing, and good products need to be promoted even more."

"However, the premise is that it's a good product."

"Any excellent marketing is built on the premise of product strength. What we need to do is to improve our products as much as possible, so that we can have the confidence to promote them."

Hu Zhengnan looked at his boss with a smile. He had just made a few rebuttals, and these people had taken some of it to heart, but it was obviously not as convincing as the boss explaining in person. This was the overwhelming advantage that came with his position.

To put it bluntly, these people will definitely listen to him within the project team, but once they leave this room, they are at the same level as executives in other companies. Why should he have the right to influence them?

However, if he didn't make things clear, he worried that disagreements might arise in the future regarding the implementation of product standards.

"Let's take a simple example. Everyone knows about Zhongtai's Baoshitai, right?"

The boss's use of the name "Porsche Tai" to replace SR9 made everyone laugh, and the slightly serious atmosphere became much more relaxed.

"Haha, don't let this get out, I'm afraid Boss Ying will scold me."

"Last year, the Porsche Tai became an instant hit, with sales approaching 7000 units in December alone. It seems like a blockbuster car, right?"

"We don't need to discuss whether he plagiarized or not. Porsche doesn't care. From a business perspective, this is a successful model, and the marketing of Zhongtai is also very successful."

In modern terms, being infamous is still fame. Last year, Porsche became an overnight sensation, and one internet meme after another emerged.

With this marketing model, Zhongtai quickly captured the target audience of Boshitai, and it seems likely that it will be a bestseller for a while this year.

However, this is not the case. As of October, Porsche had only sold 20,000 vehicles throughout the year, of which 14,000 were sold in the first five months alone.

The total sales from June to October cannot compare to the sales in December of last year!
From the initial buying frenzy to the complete lack of interest in the second half of the year, the precipitous drop in sales was due to the poor product competitiveness of the SR9. While knock-off cars may have a short lifespan, it wasn't as short as just a six-month cycle.

The core reason why the SR9 couldn't survive was the concentrated outbreak of quality problems such as engine failure, abnormal noise from the transmission, and sunroof leakage.

"Marketing and product strength are actually complementary, but if we have to say which is more important, it is definitely product strength."

"Only when you produce excellent products and deliver a superior user experience can I confidently go out and boast. Mr. Li should understand this. Mr. Yu boasts every day, but their phones are genuinely well-made. That's the basis for his boasting."

Li Yan nodded. He and everyone else present were all sensible people. The topic that the boss wanted to convey to them was the reason why Meizu had gained recognition.

It's not because of his reforms, nor because of the comprehensive rollout of publicity through celebrity endorsements, product reviews, and subtle advertising, but because the products they made this year have earned the trust of users.

Meizu's popularity hasn't decreased much after Singles' Day; on the contrary, it seems to be intensifying due to sales volume and its own marketing efforts.

"A disastrous start, followed by a year of stability!"

On December 1st, a reputable media outlet in the mobile phone industry published an article about the changes at Meizu within a year of Tan Jincheng taking over the company. Through a comparison of various real data, the media outlet presented its own conclusions.

Although Meizu has not yet achieved a breakthrough in sales, it has truly emerged from the predicament of 2016.

"You guys spent money, didn't you? Okay, stop praising me and start praising your management instead."

"No, that won't do. We still have to praise you, boss. Actually, you're quite suitable for live-streaming sales. How about we do a special Double Twelve live stream and you come to the live stream to help us sell phones?"

The newly appointed CEO, Chen Mingyong, who came to Ningbo to report on his work, can definitely be considered one of Tan Jincheng's "own people".

While the article contains some praise, the data presented is accurate and not biased. As for the money involved, it was definitely spent.

Tan Jincheng hopes to downplay his influence at Meizu, but CEO Chen Mingyong and the management team obviously don't think so. Why shouldn't they use their boss, who is a natural "internet celebrity" with huge influence?

Singles' Day is over, but there's still Double Twelve! Besides reporting on his work, he also had a specific purpose in mind this time!

Based on the data from the first eleven months, Meizu's overall sales this year should be around 2000 million units, a 10% decrease compared to 2200 million units last year. In the last month, they want to make one last push!
Even 100,000 more units would be good.

How long has it been since the boss last did a live stream?

(End of this chapter)