Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 932 Crisis PR or PR Crisis?

"After in-depth discussions, our team concluded that since that was Chen Mo's hometown, we might as well try 'stealing' it."

"Haven't you heard the saying 'Investment doesn't cross the Shanhaiguan Pass'?" Old Ma's tone suddenly turned cold, filled with undisguised sarcasm. "Too naive!"

"Chen Mo is a native of Northeast China, but after Bi'an made its fortune, it did not make any substantial investment other than moving the customer service center there."

Why did Alibaba choose to establish its headquarters in Hangzhou instead of Beijing or Shanghai?

Look at Liu Qiangdong again; what level of investment has he made in his hometown of Suqian?

Do you really think Chen Mo doesn't want to give back to his hometown?

He immediately summoned Joseph Tsai and said decisively, “We should try to avoid this area in our future investments. Doing business in a place where only personal connections and relationships matter is a waste of effort—it’s better not to do it at all.”

"From now on, you don't need to report these kinds of trivial matters to me anymore." He glanced at Yang Lei one last time, a look that sent chills down the latter's spine.

"Yes Yes"

On the way back to the office, Lao Ma fell silent.

The business world is like a battlefield. Now that the war has begun, he can't remain on the defensive forever. He must find the key to breaking the deadlock.

Since the problem cannot be solved immediately, it is better to deal with the person who created the problem.

In the game of chess, sometimes, "off-board moves" are more effective.

Chen Mo now lives a secluded life and rarely goes out.

But it's not entirely without a solution.

He took out his phone and dialed an international number.

A few minutes later, the other party's confirmation brought a satisfied smile to Lao Ma's face.

Some things are inconvenient to do domestically and are prone to mistakes, but are easier to do abroad.

Old Ma stared at the opponent's layout diagram on the computer screen, his gaze finally settling on the other side—JD.com.

After a moment of contemplation, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

Let's start with you then.

Meanwhile, at the Beyond Science and Technology Park, the "Ma Yijinfu" combat command center.

Three large screens hang on one wall, displaying various data charts in real time; a huge whiteboard on the other side is filled with key information and simulation records.

Chen Mo tapped the whiteboard, speaking calmly: "Alibaba lost the first round in terms of public opinion, followed by Meituan and Pinduoduo catching fire one after another."

While Wang Xing and Huang Zheng are no ordinary individuals, they are not qualified to extinguish this fire. Alibaba needs to send a top-tier executive to coordinate and integrate resources—who do you think it will be?

Chen Tuo stroked his chin thoughtfully: "DingTalk's Wu Zhao has been rendered useless, Ant Financial's Peng Lei has been transferred, so Alibaba's three driving forces are now only Jiang Fan. Based on our previous contingency plans, he is indeed the most likely candidate."

Xu Chaojun looked up and asked, "Moss, are we really going to take action against him?"

"He's not the only one."

Chen Mo turned around, wrote two names on the whiteboard, and drew heavy circles around them.

One is Jiang Fan, and the other is Wei Ya.

He tapped the whiteboard and gave a cold laugh:
"If I remember correctly, two years ago, several ordinary programmers at Alibaba were fired for writing a script to snatch mooncakes."

"Next, I'll see if Alibaba's 'values' can be applied evenly this time."

The following day, the "Pinduoduo incident" continued to escalate and ferment under some deliberate impetus.

The hashtags #Douyin主播社会实验翻翻#, #Tens of thousands of people failed to cut the price#, and #Kengxixi is making another effort# have successively topped the trending searches on Weibo.

On Bilibili and Douyin, there are countless clips and mashups of related live streams, with netizens who love to watch the drama making fun of and mocking the participants.

Several popular questions have appeared on Zhihu: "How would you evaluate the rise of Huang Zheng, the founder of Pinduoduo?" and "Behind the 'cut-a-knife' strategy: a human nature trap or a capital scam?"

All the descriptions of these issues explicitly or implicitly point out that the capital behind Xixi belongs to the Alibaba Group, just like Ant Group, which was recently embroiled in controversy.

Social Observation Network was the first to publish a report titled "E-commerce Platforms Must Uphold Integrity."

The article writes:

Last night, a streamer, having nothing better to do, invited tens of thousands of netizens to help him cut down Pinduoduo's account during his live stream, but the result was beyond everyone's expectations.
During the live stream, the host first attempted to "bargain" on a product worth several thousand yuan. Tens of thousands of netizens were online, and thousands of people tried to help "bargain" but failed.

Following suggestions from fans, the streamer then tried inviting friends to help them cut the price and withdraw cash, which lasted for two hours, but still failed to complete any price cuts.

On JD.com's Jingxi app, with the help of thousands of people, the streamer won a free brand new Xiaomi Mix phone in less than 10 minutes.

The two platforms serve as a control group; it simply means that each platform has its differences.

Ironically, on the very night the report was published, the streamer who participated in the "collective price-cutting" received an "equivalent discount coupon" from the Pinduoduo platform.

Because the entire process was broadcast live, this scene was witnessed by countless netizens, who questioned whether the platform was "paying hush money".

Two days later, a lawyer in Shanghai filed a lawsuit with the court on the grounds of "suspected commercial fraud and using false data to conceal the true rules"—the reason for choosing Shanghai was precisely because Pinduoduo's headquarters are located there.

Following media reports, more lawyers across the country, driven by a sense of justice or simply eager to capitalize on the trend, filed lawsuits, accusing the "cut-the-price" model of essentially deceiving users. Amidst the public outcry, Pinduoduo, relying on its long-established "reputation," faced a nationwide online backlash.

Perhaps it was due to fluctuations in operational data, or perhaps it was because of the hashtag that consistently topped the trending list: #The whole internet is waiting for Pinduoduo's response#.

Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Xixi, Public Relations Department.

"Director, is this version acceptable?"

The public relations specialist handed over a statement that had been revised countless times.

The director stared at it for a moment, then shook his head: "Bring over the original version."

"Huh? Oh, okay!"

"Add a paragraph here—" the director dictated, and the specialist took notes.

Half an hour later.

"Director, it's been revised as you just said," the specialist said through gritted teeth, confirming with professional ethics, "Are you sure you want it sent this way?"

"Reasonable, well-founded, neither servile nor overbearing, firm yet gentle—do you have any objections?"

"No, no!" The commissioner was cursing under his breath. If this statement were released, his colleagues would laugh him to death, but he dared not show the slightest dissatisfaction on his face.

"Then send it."

"Yes!"

Watching the specialist hurriedly leave, the director sighed.

Before its IPO, Pinduoduo was already embroiled in a "counterfeit storm," with brands such as Skyworth and Xiaomi publicly condemning the rampant counterfeit products such as "Skyworth Pioneer" and "Xiaomi New Product" on the platform, earning it the reputation of being a "counterfeit distribution center."

Since the company went public last month, every issue has been subjected to stricter public scrutiny and magnified by overseas media.

The existence of Pinduoduo seems to be a kind of original sin.

This situation was already overwhelming for their department, and then this unexpected problem struck, making it feel like their team had become firefighters working around the clock.

Regarding the issue of counterfeit goods, their unified rhetoric is: this is an inevitable stage in the development of Pinduoduo as a new platform in the manufacturing and consumer markets, and they are addressing and resolving these issues as quickly as possible.

At the same time, it emphasizes the social value and sense of responsibility of Pinduoduo, which has created millions of jobs, helped farmers sell agricultural products directly, and met the consumption needs of the vast majority of people in the lower-tier markets.

In Mr. Huang's words, "We are just a child."

The result was that before the fire on the mountain stronghold was completely extinguished, a larger fire broke out on the other side after a single slash.
Those damned bastards.
On August 13, Pinduoduo initiated emergency public relations, releasing a statement through official channels.

The main contents are as follows:

The online rumor that "the livestreamer failed to negotiate a lower price" is false.

该博主8月11日20点52分开团砍价一款价值8388元的iphoneX手机，8月11日21点40分已砍价成功。

According to the event rules, the platform has sent a special coupon to the blogger's account to claim the product. The blogger claimed the coupon, and the product obtained through the price reduction was shipped at 2:41 PM on August 12th.
The claim that "tens of thousands of people participated in the price-cutting" is also untrue.
During the blogger's live stream, a QR code for participation was publicly displayed. Due to the massive surge in traffic causing server congestion, the actual number of users participating in the price-cutting was in the four-figure range, not the tens of thousands of viewers rumored online.
It should be noted that, due to the limited length of percentile digits displayed on the page, and in order to improve the user experience, percentiles with more than 6 digits after the decimal point have been reduced to 2 digits, and the remainder have been converted using other numerical forms. The specific rules involve trade secrets and cannot be disclosed.

For example, the price-cutting page may display 99.99% but the actual figure could be 99.999146%.
The current online incidents involving malicious targeting of livestreamers to negotiate prices have, under some deliberate manipulation, become trending topics and hot discussions that are completely contrary to the facts, thereby confusing public opinion.

The company's legal department has completed the preservation of relevant evidence and reserves the right to file a lawsuit. We urge netizens and consumers not to spread or believe rumors.

Thank you for your attention and support for Pinduoduo's related activities. In the future, the platform will further improve the activity process and rules, optimize the activity guide, and enhance the activity experience.

Judging from Pinduoduo's statement, it did not respond to netizens' questions; it only addressed the issues trending on social media.

In fact, given Bingxixi's terrible past reputation, even if she kneels down and begs for forgiveness and admits her mistakes this time, netizens will not have any sympathy for her.

But this time, in addition to responding to the trending topic, he also turned the tables at the end, stubbornly sticking to his guns, causing an uproar in the industry, whether it was a professional public relations team or a self-media person engaged in public relations business.

Head-on confrontation, misjudging the opponent, and threatening to provoke them.
So many basic mistakes can be easily listed.

Has Pinduoduo's PR team gone mad? A PR intern who just graduated from university couldn't have written such a statement.

This is like an online influencer expressing their opinion on an unreasonable matter and mentioning a certain company in the process. It's not a big deal, and it could have been downplayed by letting it fade away.

Whether it was because the big V's prediction unfortunately came true or for some other reason, the business owner actually reacted by personally taking to the scene and confronting the issue head-on. Between saving himself and proving himself, he chose suicide!

We agreed on a fight, and you started by slitting your own throat. Who are you trying to scare?
This "ask for a hammer and get a hammer" response ignited the fighting spirit of influential figures, instantly shifting public attention from the single incident to the company's attitude and behavior, causing the situation to escalate rapidly.

This PR article from Pinduoduo gave many professionals the impression that the company's PR team was a makeshift operation.

Of course, another speculation is that the fact that an outsider was instructing a professional leader, and that the leader was personally involved, could have led to this outcome.
It would have been better not to respond at all.
If they were to write it, this would clearly be an opportunity to turn public opinion around.

But among ten million ways to commit suicide without making a mistake, she chose the one method that would generate the most traffic.

This caused public opinion surrounding Bingxi to spiral out of control, like oil being poured onto a raging fire.
This situation left even Chen Mo and the core team of "Ma Yijinfu" stunned.

They had simply lit a match in front of a pile of dry wood, intending to set it ablaze, but a few days later, the entire forest was ablaze.

Although it was an unexpected surprise, before Chen Mo could even process it, he received a call from Liu Qiangdong:
"What? You're going abroad?"

(End of this chapter)