The Little Tyrant’s Super Learning Machine was introduced to the market. Although it was priced lower than Aiwa Learning Machine, the sales were not as good as Duan Yongping expects.
Duan Yongping came up with an idea for his commercial. “The Clapping Song.” Feng Yu immediately arrange two advertising slots for him.
“You clap once, I clap once, The Little Tyrant has a new Learning Machine.”
In Feng Yu’s past life, this was the classic Little Tyrant’s advertising jingle. However, in this life, this jingle will not be as effective as it was in his past life. In his previous life, The Little Tyrant did not have any competitors.
In this life, Aiwa Learning Machine was already in the market for almost a month and was advertising aggressively. There were 8 advertisements on CCTV every day. No other company or brands had done this before.
Duan Yongping had analyzed his marketing tactics and felt that it was because The Little Tyrant does not have any celebrities endorsing its products. If he could get a celebrity to endorse his Learning Machine, the sales should pick up. There were not many famous celebrities now. The only one that was famous throughout China and even the whole world was Jackie Chan.
Duan Yongping called Feng Yu and told Feng Yu that he was thinking of getting Jackie Chan to endorse The Little Tyrant Learning Machine.
Feng Yu got a shock and almost threw the phone on the floor. Who did you say? Jackie Chan?
For goodness sake, Jackie Chan was also known as a brand killer in his previous life. Whatever products he endorses, something terrible will happen to that brand. There was even a term called “Jackie Chan’s endorsement” in the business world to describe the death of a company!
After Jackie Chan had endorsed for The Little Tyrant’s Learning Machine and The Little Tyrant close down. He endorsed for Ai Duo VCD player, and the boss of that company was put behind bars, and the company closes down. He endorsed for Fen Huang Cola, and this brand disappeared. He endorsed for Volkswagen Caddy, and only about 900 units were sold in entire China. This model withdrew from the Chinese market soon after. He endorsed for Bawang shampoo and later this shampoo was rumored to cause cancer. He endorsed for Si Lian Dumplings, and these dumplings were ordered to be removed from the shelves as it was contaminated with bacteria. He endorsed for Mitsubishi cars, and Mitsubishi had a massive recall of its vehicles due to faulty parts.
In Feng Yu’s past life, The Little Tyrant was the first company that was killed by this curse! This was why when Feng Yu heard Duan Yongping mentioning Jackie Chan, he almost had a stroke.
“Manager Feng, Jackie Chan is famous throughout China, Asia, and even the whole world. He is the hottest Asian celebrity now. If we can get him to endorse our products, we can even export. I had called his manager and the endorsement fees for two years, including commercials and printed advertisements, is only about 5 million RMB. I have bargained this amount to 4.5 million.”
4.5 million for 2 years was really a good deal. Compared to Jackie Chan’s fame, even it was only in Asia, this price was worth it. Jackie Chan seldom visits China now as Hong Kong’s handover still had not happened. He did not attend any business activities in China yet. As such, his pricing was still low in China.
The price given to The Little Tyrant was only to test the market. He wants to know how much he could charge in China.
There was someone who had come to Jackie Chan’s defense about his curse in Feng Yu’s previous life. After Jackie Chan’s endorsement, the product sales will increase exponentially. Everybody liked celebrities and trusted them. The consumers will choose to buy the products they endorsed. As the sales rose, the production could not keep up, and the companies had to expand their operations. The management could not keep up and made the wrong decisions. Some companies’ products had problems too, and the companies had relied too much on Jackie Chan’s popularity.
Most importantly, a tall tree catches the wind. There might be no problem with the brand or product, but because it was Jackie Chan, more people will take note of the product he endorsed. A small issue will be blown out of proportion. Some of the companies’ rival might be behind all these.
If Duan Yongping got Jackie Chan as the brand ambassador, then Feng Yu must make sure that there were no problems in The Little Tyrant’s management. Actually, he does not need to worry too much. The Little Tyrant in his previous life had too many government staff in the management, and there were rumors that the company’s accounts were very messy.
Now, The Little Tyrant was restructured and changed to a shareholding. Fu Guangzheng had also sent his men to manage this company. Without the government interfering with the management, there should not be any problems.
The only worry Feng Yu had was The Little Tyrant could not keep up with the production. If they hire factories as their contractors, the quality might be affected, and this would be a big problem.
There were many electronics factories in Guangdong. In Feng Yu’s past life, The Little Tyrant had to get some of these companies to manufacture their products, and there were problems with the quality. This resulted in The Little Tyrant shut down.
Feng Yu was considering if he should acquire some small factories to increase The Little Tyrant’s production. Managing these factories himself was better than getting factories to manufacture on behalf for them.
“Have you asked Manager Fu? Did he agree?” Feng Yu had a headache.
“I had asked Manager Fu, and he told me to get your opinion.” Fu Guangzheng also thinks that Jackie Chan was a suitable celebrity to endorse this product. Furthermore, 4.5 million RMB was way cheaper than his standard fees in Hong Kong.
But Fu Guangzheng knew about Feng Yu’s skills in choosing celebrities as brand ambassador. Just look at the spokesperson for bladeless fans and the humidifiers.
This was why even though Fu Guangzheng felt that Jackie Chan was a good choice, he did not agree immediately. What if Feng Yu had someone cheaper and more effective in mind?
“Manager Duan, have you considered that our factory is now manufacturing Super Learning Machine and also Aiwa Learning Machine? The sales now are almost matching to our production speed. What if the Super Learning Machine sales increase sharply after Jackie Chan’s endorsement and our production cannot keep up?”
“We have a lot of small electronic factories around us. We can hire them as contractors.”
Sure enough, this was the usual solution.
“Can we acquire some of these factories? It is better for us to manage the factories ourselves than hiring them. Discuss with Manager Fu and think of a solution.”
Damn. If Jackie Chan were to endorse this product, then they must not get some other factories to manufacture this product!
Duan Yongping discussed with Fu Guangzheng. With the current funds, they have no problems acquiring a small factory. But it was too difficult to buy 2 factories. They could use the usual method, using advance payments from the distributors and use the money to acquire these factories. Once after the products were produced, then they can send it to the distributors. If the funds were still insufficient, they can hold back on the materials payment and even hold back the workers’ wages.
Hold back the workers’ wages? Fu Guangzheng and Feng Yu had the same view on this. No way! They can hold back the distributors and suppliers’ payments and goods, but they must never hold back the workers’ salaries!
After both had discussed, they contacted Feng Yu. Feng Yu also agreed with Fu Guangzheng’s solution, which was getting a bank loan. The Little Tyrant must expand no matter what.
China’s economy had been improving these few years, and the people’s salaries had been increasing. Learning Machine sales will also become better. Coupled with Jackie Chan’s endorsement, the sales will definitely increase sharply.
As the Learning Machine was getting popular, Wind and Rain VCD factory was completed, and production could start. However, Feng Yu does not have time to visit the factory as his exams were around the corner.
