Rebirth: My dad is too obedient

Chapter 447: Mr. Xu's Speculation
Zhongguancun, downstairs of Baidu headquarters, a Beijing noodle restaurant.

When you come to Beijing, the first thing you eat is the old Beijing fried noodles with soybean paste.

Xu Chen ordered three big bowls, and also ordered some extra braised beef, beef tendon, etc.

Su Rong was already eating with a "huffing" sound, her cheeks puffed up like a little squirrel.

Sun Amy still looked uneasy, and was obviously still worried about the report just now.

Xu Chen took big bites of a piece of braised beef in soy sauce and thought that the taste was a little worse than that made by his father Xu Zhiquan.

Lao Xu is very knowledgeable about braised beef, and the one he makes is no worse than any other store.

Lao Xu even mentioned that before he started working in the factory in the village, he actually considered opening a restaurant specializing in braised beef in the city...

Xu Chen's phone vibrated. He opened it and saw that it was a message from his assistant Miao Xiaoyu.

Xu Chen frowned and took a breath of cold air.

Sun Amy looked at Xu Chen and asked timidly:

"Boss... have you received any feedback on the report just now?"

Xu Chen hesitated for a moment, thinking that this matter could not be concealed, so he said:

"Indeed, Li Yanhong really didn't like our plan."

Sun Amy was stunned for a moment, then burst into tears out of grievance.

When Xu Chen saw Sun Amy crying, he suddenly panicked and really didn't know how to deal with this situation.

Su Rong put down her chopsticks, hugged Sun Amy in her arms, and gently stroked her head as if comforting a wounded kitten.

Xu Chen thought for a moment and said:

"That's how competitions work. There's a lot of uncertainty in it."

Sun Amy sobbed, "But Mr. Xu has never lost a project he has taken on...

I lost one today!"

Xu Chen: "I've already said it's not your problem."

He pondered for a moment and then spoke again:
"In fact, the reason is very obvious..."

Su Rong seemed to be interested: "What's the reason?"

Xu Chen had actually thought about it, and said:
"Today's decision maker is Li Yanhong, a typical technical guy. He may not be interested in the overly creative and funny ideas we proposed today."

He paused for a moment, then said to Sun Amy:
"So, it's not that our plan is bad, nor is it that Amy's report just now is bad. It's simply that we are not on the same channel as today's decision makers."

But Xu Chen still felt a little distressed.

It is obvious that the "standard answer" that was brought out today was from the previous life, and theoretically it should be Baidu's inevitable choice.

Could it be that the appearance of Li Yanhong today is itself a disruptive variable?

……

At this moment, Xu Chen's phone vibrated again.

I picked it up and saw that it was Zhao Ling calling.

"Mr. Xu, I'm really sorry about what happened today...

You haven't left yet? I'll treat you to dinner!"

Xu Chen replied politely: "Mr. Zhao is too polite!
We are already eating at the noodle shop downstairs.”

Zhao Ling: "Please wait a moment, Mr. Xu. I'm coming downstairs!"

……

Zhao Ling still revealed the emotion of "apology" in her words.

After all, it was Zhao Ling who invited Dongchen Advertising to come here specifically, and Dongchen's plan was rejected in the first round of reports, which made Mr. Zhao feel a little guilty.

……

A few minutes later, Zhao Ling came to the store as expected.

Seeing Xu Chen and the other two from afar, he walked over with a polite smile.

"Mr. Xu, you all have eaten...

This is my fault. I didn't tell you in advance that I wanted to treat you to a meal."

Xu Chen: "Mr. Zhao, you don't have to be so polite. We have to catch a plane later, so we can just make do with lunch.

Let's find another opportunity later, I'll treat Mr. Zhao to a meal!"

Zhao Ling sat down next to him and said in a low voice:

“In fact, I personally like Dongchen Advertising’s proposal very much. Compared with proposals from several other companies, it is also the most interesting one.

But our Robin's overall preference is to focus more on logic and data.

So I couldn’t choose Dongchen Advertising’s plan…”

Sun Amy, who was listening at the side, couldn't help but reveal a lost expression.

Xu Chen looked at Zhao Ling and asked with a smile:

"May I ask which company's solution was finally approved by Mr. Robin?"

Zhao Ling: "It's a smart and practical solution."

Xu Chen said "Oh" and nodded.

It turned out to be the plan of Tif Wu.

No wonder he, an advertising man with pure local origin, can be such a smart and capable "partner". It seems he really has some skills.

Zhao Ling apologized again and explained a little more:

“The smart and lean solution places great emphasis on user data, which hits the point that our Robin boss is most concerned about.

They even created a data crawler specifically for today's plan and conducted a detailed analysis of the preferences and needs of domestic search users.

Finally, a solution was derived.

We at Robin have always been from a technical background, and we attach great importance to data and user feedback.

So if Lingzhi Jingshi takes out the big data of users, it can almost take down Mr. Robin..."

Xu Chen nodded and thought, "So that's it."

It seems that Wu Tianfu and the Lingzhi Jingshi team were indeed well prepared.

Wu Tianfu is also a proposal master who knows how to "caterize to the preferences of others". He actually accurately predicted the preferences of today's decision maker Li Yanhong and specially customized a set of proposal contents.

And just as Zhao Ling just said, maybe the smart and solid ideas themselves are average, but when they came up with a set of "user big data" collected by crawlers, this itself was a huge persuasive force for Mr. Robin, who came from a technical background.

Being able to win the project is a natural thing.

……

Xu Chen: "Can I ask you about the specific plan for Lingzhi Jingshi?"

Zhao Ling thought about it, then smiled and said:

"Of course you can, but after all, this is a plan that has not yet been launched on the market, so Mr. Xu just needs to keep it confidential."

Xu Chen smiled and nodded:

"Of course."

Perhaps out of inner regret, Zhao Ling briefly explained the proposals of the other three bidding companies to Xu Chen.

The smart and solid solution seems very straightforward at first glance.

The creative concept is called "Baidu search, catch everything in one go, steady, accurate and ruthless".

Wu Tianfu's team did their homework. They used web crawler tools to summarize the preferences, cognitions, etc. of a large number of domestic search engine users, and formed a brief report, which was included in the proposal document.

Finally, based on the needs of users, the concept of "catch everything in one go, steady, accurate and ruthless" was refined.

In a sense, it does meet the current search needs of netizens.

In terms of creative presentation, Lingzhi’s solution is also very direct. It uses the “hawking” method to refine and package the selling points of Baidu Search with “steady, accurate and ruthless”.

It is a simple, direct and efficient form of creativity.

There is no beating around the bush, and it must be easy to understand for Li Yanhong, who has a technical background.

……

McCann-Erickson's proposal has a very traditional 4A tone, and is very particular about sentiment and tone.

The creative concept is, "We are all people with problems. If you have any questions, go to Baidu."

It is somewhat similar to the promotional content of another Internet product that Xu Chen had seen in later life.

McCann-Erickson did some clever thinking in terms of creativity, collecting dozens of questions asked by real netizens in search engines, and used "attitude problems, angle problems, height problems, progress problems..." and so on, and connected them with the final "If you have any questions, go to Baidu".

In terms of creative processing, it can be considered clever and thoughtful.

……

There is another plan from BlueFocus, which is very "public relations"-oriented.

They planned several public relations events, such as releasing an "Internet Search Engine White Paper", holding an "Internet Search Summit", etc.

In a sense, BlueFocus is here to show off its public relations resources. It can invite CCTV, as well as certain big shots and leaders, to support Baidu.

……

……

After Zhao Ling shared her general idea, Xu Chen had a general idea in his mind.

In fact, purely from a program perspective, Lingzhi Jingshi does not have any overwhelming advantages.

The report was purely to please Li Yanhong, and a user report extracted by crawler was set up specifically for him to increase the persuasiveness of the proposal.

The disadvantage of Dongchen Advertising's proposal is that it is too unconventional and too creative, which is indeed a bit difficult for Li Yanhong, who has a purely technical background, to accept.

So the problem ultimately lies with "people".

However, this also confirms that Li Yanhong was the "variable" of this project, which led to the rejection of Dongchen Advertising's proposal with the "standard answer" in the first round.

……

Zhao Ling looked at Xu Chen and showed a hint of apology again:
“Personally, I really like Dongchen Advertising’s proposal.

After all, our ads are to be spread through Internet channels, and your video has the greatest chance of causing self-propagation and user discussion.”

While we were chatting, the phone on the table vibrated.

Xu Chen took a look and saw a message from Gu Xinxin in the group:

[How is it going? Is the proposal going well? ]

……

When Xu Chen saw the message sent by Gu Xinxin, he was suddenly stunned.

He suddenly remembered that Gu Xinxin was organizing that document.

The last part is about some interesting stories and gossips about Baidu founder Robin Li...

Xu Chen seemed to have figured out the crux of the problem in an instant.

He looked at Zhao Ling with a smile and asked:
“I read in the news before that Baidu’s marketing module seems to have always reported to Melissa Ma, right?

How come Robin is managing it personally now?"

Melissa Ma Dongmin is Li Yanhong’s wife.

It is said that Ma Dongmin also holds an independent position within Baidu and was previously in charge of several business modules.

Li Yanhong focused on the technical field, and his wife Ma Dongmin had to worry more about some aspects such as marketing, administration, and management.

And in some gossip rumors, Robin is always suspected of being "henpecked".

It is said that before Li Yanhong returned to China to start his own business, he worked in Silicon Valley, California, USA.

In his spare time, Li Yanhong likes to grow vegetables in the backyard of his villa.

As a result, one day when he returned home, all the vegetables planted by Li Yanhong were pulled up by his wife Ma Dongmin, who left a message:

"I don't want my husband to be just a California farmer."

Since then, Li Yanhong was "forced" to return to China to start a business and established Baidu.

When Xu Chen thought of this, he had some guesses.

He submitted his report with the "standard answer" from his previous life, but it was rejected by Li Yanhong.

Then there must be some unexpected problem...

Now it seems that this accident was undoubtedly caused by Li Yanhong's intervention.

So in the previous life, could it be that "Madam" Melissa Ma Dongmin influenced the choice of this plan?

……

When Zhao Ling heard Xu Chen mention Melissa Ma, she couldn’t help but be stunned.

She smiled awkwardly:
"I didn't expect that Mr. Xu knew something about our company's internal affairs."

Xu Chen made up an excuse:

“I seem to have seen news reports before, saying that Robin’s wife Melissa is also a strong woman.

Melissa is in charge of the company's marketing and several business lines..."

Zhao Ling nodded:

“The marketing line does report to Melissa…

But it just so happened that Melissa was on vacation during this period, and our current marketing campaign was crucial, so Robin came over to oversee it personally.”

Xu Chen: "Then you should report to Melissa!"

Zhao Ling nodded: "Our reporting line is still with Melissa."

Xu Chen smiled and said jokingly:

"Then don't you need to send today's plan to Melissa for a look?"

Zhao Ling was slightly stunned.

She blinked and took a breath.

"Mr. Xu, this reminder is very necessary...

It needs to be sent to Melissa for review.”

And Zhao Ling inadvertently showed a hint of panic.

Although Melissa Ma Dongmin is on vacation, she is still her immediate superior after all.

The situation of this project was not reported to Ma Dongmin at all, which was indeed a huge negligence.

Although Li Yanhong is the founder and chairman, his wife Ma Dongmin still has the final say on many matters...

Zhao Ling suppressed her anxiety and said to Xu Chen with a smile:
"I have to thank Mr. Xu for reminding me...

I have a meeting at noon and have to go back. Mr. Xu, next time I go to Shanghai on a business trip, I will pay you a special visit!"

Xu Chen: "Mr. Zhao is too polite! I will arrange a reception for you when you come to Shanghai!"

Zhao Ling went upstairs in a panic.

Sun Amy and Su Rong looked at each other, both feeling confused.

Su Rong looked at Xu Chen: "Why do you ask about Melissa specifically? Who is she?"

Amy Sun: "Melissa is the boss lady of Baidu, right?"

Su Rong: “Ah?”

Xu Chen ate a large piece of beef tendon and said with a smile:

"Just wait and see what happens!"

……

……

At the same time, near Zhongguancun, at a Beijing restaurant.

Wu Tianfu is also a foodie. As it is a rare occasion for him to come to Beijing, he ordered a large table of authentic Beijing dishes.

Several young subordinates surrounded "Brother Tif". Each of them was eloquent and very good at providing emotional value to the boss.

Wu Tianfu was drinking a bottle of sour plum soup and looked very happy.

The young female subordinate named Sandy looked at her phone and suddenly screamed.

"What's wrong, Sister Sandy?" a colleague nearby asked.

Sandy looked at Wu Tianfu with surprise and said:

"Congratulations, Brother Tif, you got the Baidu project!"

When several colleagues heard this, they were all very surprised:

"Really, Sandy?"

"Didn't we just finish the report? And the results are out already?!"

(End of this chapter)