Lei Yu stayed in Qingzhou for another two days, and then Wen Liang bought a plane ticket and sent Chang Cheng to take him back to Beijing. Before leaving, he told him not to secretly check Shangguan Shenxue's whereabouts and to study at ease. As Lei Yunhai's only son, as long as he didn't make any big mistakes, he would naturally rise to prominence when the time came. By then, the two might meet again, but now it's different, and I'm afraid things have changed.
After that, the situation calmed down on the surface, but conflicts continued secretly. It was just that Zhuang Shaoxuan failed to catch Shangguan Shenxue, so his attack on Yan Qixiu could only be superficial. He successively cheated Huaneng Investment in several major projects in Mingzhu City, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Yan Qixiu retaliated by stillbirth of a major hydropower project he was building in the southwest. The two sides had a lot of exchanges and were full of tension. Foye also and Luo Yun attacked each other in various places in Jiangdong. The situation on the road was once again turbulent, and many people were caught in chaos, overwhelmed, exhausted, and miserable.
Putting aside the political chaos, the purified water market has also entered a three-way melee. Although the gentle Yishanshui took the initiative and occupied the market, Baida also officially launched Baida purified water a few days ago. As expected, it continued the strategy of the previous life and signed the newly emerging young idol Wang Leehom. With the classic phrase "I only have you in my heart", it brought the breath of youth and caused a huge impact on young consumers. At the same time, Leshi also began to make efforts after Yishan and Baida, focusing on the technological gimmick of 27 layers of purification, and conquered its base camp in the south, with unparalleled momentum.
A careful comparison shows the differences in marketing direction among the three companies. Yishan took advantage of the trend of the return of Pearl City in 1997 and used Andy Lau's "Chinese" to inspire people's pride. The slogan of "Be Chinese, Drink Yishan Water" played the national card. It was the right time, right place and right people, so it was able to achieve excellent results in the market. Baida still adheres to its usual people-friendly style and captures the support of the younger generation with its fresh and natural youthful campus style. As for Leshi, it takes a different approach and emphasizes its own technological content. The slogan of "27 layers of purification" can also make many consumers feel at ease, thus generating a desire to buy. The three have their own focuses and achievements. Yishan wins in the first place, and Baida and Leshi win in the foundation. It is difficult to tell the winner for the time being, but it is not so easy for many mineral water factories.
Yishan is just a newcomer in the food industry, so we can ignore it. However, Baida and Roche have long been the top two in the industry. They joined the pure water war and almost instantly destroyed the mineral water factory that had been beaten by Yishan. To use a professional term, it is called "the autumn wind sweeps the fallen leaves without mercy." The mineral water that was still powerful at the beginning of the year and occupied 90% of the drinking water market has withdrawn from the stage of history in just half a year. In the past, it was almost unimaginable, but in today's era, competition is becoming more and more fierce, and the speed of survival of the fittest is far faster than the sum of the past hundred years. Whoever can't keep up with the times will be abandoned by the times.
In fact, if we summarize it carefully, the failure of mineral water is accidental and inevitable. The accident refers to the sudden emergence of Yishanshui. If Wenliang's move was not too sharp, mineral water would not have collapsed so quickly. The so-called inevitability refers to the following aspects: First, mineral water resources are scarce and most of them are far away from cities, so the transportation cost is too high. Second, due to the first reason, it cannot be mass-produced, and the insufficient supply leads to excessively high prices. Third, the quality problems cannot be avoided. Whether it is the government's inadequate supervision or the companies' own carelessness and blind pursuit of profit maximization, by the mid-1990s, the quality of mineral water had reached a point that was unbearable to look at. The pass rate of random inspections was less than 1%, which means that the entire industry has entered a doomsday carnival of counterfeiting. Fourth, continuous quality problems exposed the illegal behavior of companies such as selling inferior products as good ones, which affected the credibility of the entire industry and seriously damaged its image. Coupled with wanton speculation, a box of mineral water was hyped up to 60 yuan, which was simply shocking. Fifth, the rigid and outdated marketing system did not leave a reasonable profit margin, resulting in low profits for terminal retailers and unwillingness to sell the product. For all these reasons, if there were no strong emergence of new products, mineral water might still dominate the domestic drinking water market for several years. But once someone seizes this breakthrough, like Wen Liang, he not only proposes new products, new concepts, and new ways of drinking water, but also has the ability and courage to put all of this into practice. The result is obvious, that is, the new generation replaces the old generation!
At the time when the Three Kingdoms were fighting fiercely, Lingqu Liquor, which was once stuck in the quagmire, was planned by Phoenix Bird. First, through the leader of the Media Department of the Press and Publication Administration, that is, Deputy Director Liu who was present when Bencao Ruolan signed a cooperation agreement with Beijing Medical University, he had a private contact with the reporter of "Economic Observer". After a frank discussion, the two sides reached a consensus. The Observer admitted that the previous report was inappropriate, and Lingqu said that it would not pursue it and would cooperate with the Observer in advertising for the next three years, with an annual advertising volume of no less than two million. Then the newly established public relations department of Lingqu Distillery invited major media from all over the country to visit Lingyang, inspect the new factory and advanced production lines, and invited well-known experts and scholars in the industry to appear on TV to make scientific explanations and explanations on the rumors of blending to eliminate adverse effects.
Then there was an apology letter to consumers. The content of the apology letter was strictly checked, which not only made people feel that Lingqu Factory was sincere, but also weakened the mistakes, shifting the focus from "fake wine" to the opacity of "blending" information, thus avoiding the main issue and reversing the impression of consumers. After doing this, the overwhelming condemnation began to disappear. From Xue Sheng on, all the management went to various places and visited dealers one by one, promising to compensate dealers for their losses in five aspects and make huge concessions in the future distribution of benefits. The dealers responded positively and maintained the sales network well.
After this series of positive and effective crisis public relations, Lingqu Liquor was pulled back from the brink of ruin. Xue Sheng witnessed the powerful magic of Phoenix Bird for the first time, and also showed great interest in its modern marketing concept and corporate execution under the management system. Later, Zuo Jing came forward, and Wen Liang instructed Meng Fan to give a friendly price. Lingqu Factory formed a strategic partnership with Phoenix Bird with an annual commission of 5 million. The two sides will have more in-depth cooperation in many aspects such as marketing, management, promotion and organizational structure.
Xue Sheng was also deeply grateful to Wen Liang and visited him in Qingzhou many times. He talked with Wen Liang about their ideas for their respective business empires. He was deeply impressed by the young man's incredible foresight and profound knowledge, and admired him from the bottom of his heart. After returning to Lingyang, he changed his previous arrogance and praised Wen Liang whenever he met people.
"I heard that Xue Sheng wants to become your sworn brother?"
In Zuo Jing's study, Wen Liang sat on the sofa next to the desk, concentrating on making tea. This was a must-do for him every time he came, and it was also customary to pack two more bags before leaving. The bottom of the cabinet was originally full of tea bags, but now it was almost empty. He shamelessly asked Zuo Jing to restock it quickly. His face was so thick that it was hard to penetrate.
Zuo Jing finished writing a piece of calligraphy, looked at it and was not satisfied, so he crumpled it up and threw it into the trash can. Suddenly he asked this question. Wen Liang didn't even raise his head and said unhappily, "That's right, Uncle Zuo, you have to say something to tell Old Xue not to be so stubborn. How old is he, and how old am I? Do you want to be laughed at if we become brothers?"
Zuo Jing spread out another piece of rice paper, dipped the tip of his purple brush into ink, and wrote a big "Ming" character. He said, "Xue Sheng has received such a great favor from you this time, and he is also convinced by you. With his temper, my words will not work. You should find a way to solve it yourself."
"Okay," Wen Liang agreed reluctantly, and brought Zuo Jing a cup of freshly brewed tea, saying, "But there is one thing you must not just ignore."
"Just tell me, I knew you had no good intentions when you came here today."
"The crude oil terminal has already signed a contract with Hengsha Mining, but the infrastructure contractor has not yet been decided, right? Otherwise, I can recommend one to you?"
Zuo Jing stopped writing, looked at Wen Liang with a half-smile, and said, "You opened another construction company? Xiaoliang, as the saying goes, you can't chew too much, don't try to get involved in everything..."
Wen Liang smiled and said, "It's not my company, it's a friend's, a friend's."
"Friend?" Zuo Jing lowered his head and continued writing. "If it's your company, I can still think of a way to make an exception, but since it's a friend, let him participate in the bidding according to the procedures."
"The bidding materials have been submitted to the project department, but they are unsure and know that I am nosy, so they asked me to ask..."
For a project as large as the crude oil terminal, there are countless state-owned enterprises bidding. Even if you think about it, you can understand that many people have already reached Zuo Jing. If Wen Liang had not been entrusted by a friend and could not refuse, why would he come to join in the fun
Zuo Jingqi asked, "It seems that your friend has a very important background. Otherwise, with your cleverness, you would not have embarrassed me like this. Which company is it?"
"You should have heard of it too. The CEO of Guanshan's Golden Dragon Industry is called Qu Donghai..."
"So it's Donghai," Zuo Jing smiled and said, "If I remember correctly, you and Qu Donghai met through Yuxi, right?"
This is true. Qu Donghai should have had dealings with Zuo Jing in the past, so Zuo Yuxi could talk to him. But things are different now. The relationship between Qu and Zuo is obviously not enough to support a project as large as the crude oil terminal, and it is not as reliable as Wen Liang personally taking action.
"Yes, Brother Qu always mentioned you, saying that when you were still in Qingzhou, we had dinner together many times..."
"Yes," Zuo Jing said sadly, "At that time, in order to attract more investment for Qingzhou, I often met with the top CEOs in Guanshan one by one. However, after coming to Lingyang, I was busy with official duties, and many old friends became unfamiliar."
Wen Liang secretly complained that Lingyang was indeed rich and powerful. In Qingzhou, Zuo Jing had to obey the merchants, but now that he came to Lingyang, the merchants had to rely on him.
"How much does he want?" Zuo Jing put down his pen and looked at the word "Mingde" on the paper with a satisfied expression.
Wen Liang said at the right time: "A 2 billion project is not something that Jin Long's family can afford. He probably doesn't have such a big appetite. 300 to 500 million is enough!"
"Okay, three hundred million, I'll arrange it."
Wen Liang thought about it, and suddenly asked in a sneaky way: "Hey, this kickback..."
Zuo Jing glared at him, and Wen Liang quickly raised his hand and said, "Just pretend I didn't say anything! Uncle Zuo, please continue writing. I'm going to chat with Aunt Huo..."
When Wen Liang stuffed a tea bag into his pocket and walked away humming a song, Zuo Jing shook his head and laughed, but he also felt a rare sense of complete relaxation of body and mind. This kid is really a treasure.
At the same time, Teng Jinglin, with a large filming team and with sufficient financial support, traveled to the impoverished mountainous areas in the west and shot a large amount of video footage reflecting the living conditions of the local people. After professional editing, they made three episodes of a 90-minute documentary called "Care for Girls."
In this era, the audience for documentaries is extremely low, and they are generally of a purely public welfare nature. No TV station is willing to introduce them. In the end, it was thanks to Phoenix Bird's good media relations, the intervention of the top leaders of the Radio and Television Bureau, and the strong promotion of CCTV's major customer Lingqu Winery that these three episodes of documentaries were finally broadcast on CCTV's Children's Agricultural Science and Technology Channel in the evening at the end of July. The reason why the final negotiation was successful was mainly because the theme of this documentary just happened to fit the direction of the popular "Hope Project", but the details were deepened, the unique factor of "girls" was extracted, and it not only focused on education and dropout issues, but also included all aspects of daily life.
Unexpectedly, just after the first episode was aired, the TV station received many calls from enthusiastic people. Some asked for the contact information of the girls in the film, some were willing to donate, and some suggested that the documentary be broadcast on TV to increase its influence. Without exception, all praised the documentary. Whether it was the selection of materials or the shooting techniques and editing effects, they were all deeply touching and could arouse the most primitive emotions from the bottom of their hearts.
After urgent consultation, CCTV temporarily decided to adjust the schedule and move the last two episodes of the documentary to 8 o'clock on Channel 1, which had a huge impact on society. In particular, the scene of an eight-year-old girl who lost her parents and right arm in a car accident, carrying her two-year-old brother on her back to collect grass for pigs in the rugged mountains was comparable to the most famous "big eyes" photograph of the Hope Project, and brought countless people to tears on the screen.
Immediately afterwards, Yishan Pure Water announced that it would launch the "One Cent" plan, which means that for every bottle of water sold, one cent will be donated to the "Care for Girls" Foundation to help poor, orphaned, injured and disabled girls in mountainous areas change their lives. At the appropriate time, consumer representatives will be selected to visit the mountainous areas to test the implementation of this plan.
As soon as the news came out, Yishanshui's sales volume immediately skyrocketed. Relying on the strong strength of the old brand, it had gradually caught up with Yishan's Pata and Leshi, but was now left far behind.
This is a marathon. Those who run at the back may not lose, but as long as you can keep running in front until the finish line, you will definitely win! (To be continued)