After the meeting, Li Zetian assigned various tasks. Tian Shuai led a team mainly responsible for issuing cooperation invitations to many large record companies around the world, such as Universal Music, EMI Music, Warner Music, BMG Records, CBS/ Sony Records and more.
Li Zetian is personally responsible for contacting advertising photographers to discuss advertising plans.
Soon, people from the advertising photography company came over.
Li Zetian took out the Walkman, showed him its functions, and then directly stated his request.
"My idea is that in Central Park, New York, as a filming location, in sunny weather, a group of young and beautiful teenage girls with beautiful Walkman tapes in their hands and headphones on their heads, singing and dancing! The focus of the shoot was on the functionality and practicality of the Walkman, followed by beauty and style!”
"Well, your request is very simple, our company will definitely fulfill it well, please rest assured, Mr. Li!"
"Okay, but hurry up!"
The man thought about it and said, "Within a week, we are guaranteed to complete the advertising shooting task!"
Li Zetian nodded in satisfaction.
After the people from the advertising photography company left, Li Zetian immediately contacted ABC, CBS, and NBC three TV stations to prepare for a comprehensive promotion on American TV! !
The next day, people from the three TV stations came to Apple's headquarters at the time agreed by Li Zetian.
Li Zetian invited them to the office and said, "Apple is going to spend a lot of money to advertise on three TV stations at the same time, and it's all prime time!"
People from the three TV stations rushed to the scene in shock.
James Joe, the head of the advertising team from ABC TV station, asked: "Mr. Li, are you sure you are advertising on three TV stations at the same time?"
Few companies with such deep pockets advertise on the three largest TV stations in the United States at the same time. When the representatives of the three TV stations first met, they thought they were three companies competing for Apple's advertising.
Li Zetian nodded and said, "Yes, the three TV stations jointly advertise!"
With a confirmed answer, James Joe nodded, then glanced at the representatives of NBC and CBS. At this moment, the three seem to have a good heart and form an alliance.
James Joe said: "Mr. Li, don't know what Apple's advertising products are?"
Hearing this, Li Zetian gestured to a female assistant beside him.
Afterwards, the female assistant brought three Walkmans, including tapes and headphones.
"This is Apple's product," Li Zetian said. "It's called Walkman. It's a tape player. Users can take it to the outdoors to listen to lectures. You can put on your headphones and try it out. Press the rectangular button above. It's time to sing."
According to Li Zetian's instructions, the three put on headphones and pressed the button to listen to the song.
Immediately, shocked expressions appeared on the faces of the three of them.
"Mr. Li, this product is so cool!" James Joe praised.
"Yes, I also think it's very cool, but the record company doesn't approve it very much. I feel that its existence will impact the vinyl record market and lead to a decline in profits!" Li Zetian shrugged, with a hint of helplessness in his tone.
James Joe smiled lightly and said: "Walkman will definitely be loved by users, and when the record company sees profits, it will naturally compromise. However, as the saying goes, the fragrance of wine is good, but you are afraid of deep alleys, so you can play on TV. Advertising can increase the Walkman's exposure at the fastest speed and attract users' attention."
"Yes," Li Zetian said, "so we invited all three TV stations today. Let's start talking about the price of advertising!"
"12 seconds in prime time, how much does it cost to play for a year?"
Li Zetian thought for a moment and asked.
ABC representative James Joe was the first to respond: "$8 million!"
A representative for NBC Television agreed that the answer was $8 million!
CBS was a little weaker, and the station representative gave a price of "$7.5 million."
"Wori, it's so expensive!"
At this time, Li Zetian vaguely noticed that the three TV stations had formed a partnership.
He began to remain silent, thinking to himself, the Walkman is a representative word of an era, and in his previous life it created huge profits for Sony. This life should be similar. The more advertisements are played, the higher the exposure of the Walkman, and the greater the sales. However, advertising fees are so expensive, which is extremely stressful for Apple at the moment.
After a while, Li Zetian raised his head, glanced at the three of them, and said lightly, "Apple's capital chain is very tight, so the advertising budget is limited. I reconsidered it and decided to only advertise on one TV station!"
As soon as these words came out, the faces of the three people on the opposite side changed slightly, and the "unreliable alliance" that had just been formed was instantly broken.
James Joe smiled and was the first to speak again.
He said: "Mr. Li, Apple has cooperated with ABC TV station, and the price is easy to negotiate. Although the TV station clearly lists the price of 8 million US dollars, the advertising fee will be different for different products. High-tech products, ABC TV has always had preferential policies. You know, if it is an advertisement for junk products, it will definitely cause very serious damage to the brand image value of ABC TV, thereby reducing the credibility of ABC TV and making the advertising price no longer valuable. !"
"So..." Li Zetian stared at him and asked.
James Joe laughs: "ABC TV can cut $500,000, or $7.5 million in advertising."
NBC TV representative Peter Alick immediately said: "NBC TV can reduce the price to 7 million US dollars!" This is a direct drop of 1 million US dollars!
When James Qiao heard the words, he immediately gave him a displeased look.
It's not over yet. Rayleigh Chamberlain, the representative of CBS TV, also said that the price was cut, and it also dropped by 1 million US dollars, only 6.5 million US dollars is OK.
James Qiao was in a hurry when he heard the words, you are paralyzed, I only cut the price by 500,000 US dollars, but you guys actually cut the price by 1 million US dollars, fuck!
So James Joe shouted again: "ABC only needs $6.9 million!"
Seeing them competing for bids there, Li Zetian was very happy. It seemed that the competition between TV stations would be in his best interest!
So, he pretended to be thoughtful and hesitant, and didn't answer. [Zero ↑ Nine △ Small ↓ Said △ Net]
The price of the three people kept getting lower and lower. However, neither ABC TV nor NBC's offer was less than $6.5 million, Li Zetian thought secretly, this may be their bottom line, while CBS TV's offer was not less than $6 million.
"I have already understood the quotations of the three TV stations. I will make a solemn decision after thinking about it! Please come back first!"
The three nodded and said goodbye.
Leaving Apple's headquarters, the three can blame each other.
With an angry look on James Joe's face, he complained, "Why did you two drop the price so low all of a sudden!"
"Hey James Joe, it's business, I'm not lowering the price than you, how could Apple choose to advertise on our TV station. You know, it's a big one-year contract!"
James Joe snorted coldly, walked away angrily, and got into a black Ford sedan.
Not long after, James Joe stopped the car and walked to the public phone booth to call Li Zetian's office.
"Hello, Mr. Li, I'm James Joe from ABC!"
"Hello, James Joe. Didn't you just leave? Why did you immediately remember to call me?" Li Zetian asked, secretly guessing that James Joe was going to show his cards.
In fact, it does.
James Qiao said in a deep voice: "BC TV's offer can be as low as $6.5 million, which is already our bottom line!"
Li Zetian didn't say much this time, he simply said, "Mr. James Qiao, please come to Apple again soon!"
"Okay, I'll be right there!" James Joe excitedly said.
After he finished speaking, he hung up the phone and said proudly, "Hehe, Peter Alic and Riley Chamberlain, these two idiots, I'm afraid they don't know what I'm doing behind my back! Haha..."
Soon, James Joe rushed to Apple, and then came to Li Zetian's office!
However, to his surprise and astonishment, Peter Alic was actually here.
NBC representative Peter Alick was also surprised when he saw James Joe.
Li Zetian explained with a smile: "Mr. James Joe and Mr. Peter Alic just called me, and I am very satisfied with the quotations of ABC TV and NBC TV. So I decided to advertise on the two TV stations together. !"
When Peter Alic and James Qiao heard the words, they couldn't help but look at each other with a wry smile, and said in their hearts, don't look at Li Zetian's youth, but both of us were calculated by him.
Soon, Li Zetian signed an advertising contract with ABC TV and NBC TV on behalf of Apple!
"Mr. Li, please send the commercial clip to ABC as soon as possible, and we can help you arrange the time as soon as possible." James Joe said.
"It's also here on NBC."
"Okay!" Li Zetian nodded.
TV advertising, Apple suddenly invested 13 million US dollars. However, there are also various offline advertisements, this time all advertising budgets reached 20 million US dollars, which is bound to make the Walkman visible to most people in the United States!
…
Things didn't go smoothly with the Walkman, and it was the record company that mattered.
The news that Apple was rejected by Polygram Records has been heard in the industry. When Apple came to seek cooperation, many record companies, like Polygram Records, were worried that the tapes would impact the vinyl record market, so they hesitated. Don't go forward!
Warner is even more straightforward, and Apple came to negotiate and refused outright.
The above reasons are of course one of them, and the other is that the founder of Apple is Li Zetian, and the founder of Sunbird is also him. At the beginning of this year, Warner planned to acquire Atari, but never thought about it. It took Cheng Yaojin halfway and acquired Atari. Now Atari is selling well because of the transplanted Sunbird game. The pours are full, making Warner jealous.
Therefore, Li Zetian inadvertently formed a feud with Warner.
Tian Shuai frowned and said to Li Zetian: "The world's major record companies are unwilling to cooperate with us, but fortunately some small record companies are willing to cooperate and authorize us to produce music tapes, which gives a little comfort..."
Li Zetian was very helpless about this, and said, "Wait a minute, Walkn has placed advertisements in the movie "Star Wars". Once it is released, it will greatly help Walkman's sales!"
"Mr. Li, are you so sure that Star Wars will be popular?"
"It should be able to fire, this is my intuition!"
Tian Shuai did not agree with this in his heart. The sci-fi movie market was sluggish, and he had not seen any works that sold well.
A few days later, on February 14th, Thomas Rockefeller came to Apple.
"Hello, Mr. Thomas Rockefeller, welcome to Apple!"
Thomas Rockefeller nodded and said, "Apple seems to be in big trouble lately?"
"It's no big trouble, just a small matter, which will be resolved soon."
Apple is indeed in big trouble, but if you tell investors this, won't you let the other party succeed and lower the valuation of Apple.
Therefore, Li Zetian refused to admit it.
The two then came to the office and sat on the sofa chair to start a conversation.
Thomas Rockefeller said: "According to my inquiries, Apple's new product, the Walkman, is a tape Walkman product, but it is not supported by the record company."
"As long as it is profitable, the record company will support it. This is not a problem! Sooner or later, they will realize this, I bet!" Li Zetian said firmly, with a confident smile on his face.
Thomas Rockefeller smiled noncommittally, and then said: "Maybe, but no one can be 100% sure about the future. Polly Lane gave me a detailed introduction to the Walkman, and I also think this product is indeed very good. Great. If Apple chooses to raise funds at this time, I'm willing to raise the price! The Rockefeller family has a very professional appraisal agency, and they value Apple at $2.5 billion!"
Li Zetian frowned, the $2.5 billion was far from what he expected.
Seeing Li Zetian frown, Thomas Rockefeller couldn't help but say: "Apple's profit model is too single, and its main product is Apple-ll personal computers. However, at present, personal computer manufacturers are springing up like mushrooms after a spring rain. Fierce charge. If Apple doesn't get huge funding to speed things up, sooner or later, it's going to be overtaken! And as far as I know, IBM is also developing PCs, and Apple is about to face its biggest challenge ever! In fact, The Rockefeller family needs to take huge risks to invest in Apple, so the company's valuation should not be too high, and the valuation of 2.5 billion US dollars is already the most appropriate value in our opinion..."
"Mr. Thomas Rockefeller, once Walkman is popular all over the world, Apple will be more than $2.5 billion!!!" Li Zetian argued that Apple does need funds to develop rapidly, but the valuation of $2.5 billion is too low.
"Chronos, you are assuming that the Walkman will become popular in the future, what if it doesn't become popular in the future?" Thomas Rockefeller said, "If the Walkman doesn't become popular, then Apple will cause a very serious loss because of it, even as a result. And bankruptcy, I might give up investing in Apple…”
Li Zetian's face changed slightly, and he said solemnly: "Thomas Rockefeller, let's wait and see, I believe that Walkman will be popular all over the world!"
Thomas Rockefeller shook his head and sighed slightly, "Okay, then I'll wait..."
The two quickly ended this unpleasant conversation.
Seeing that Li Zetian's face was not quite right, Tian Shuai couldn't help but ask, "Have the conversation collapsed?"
"Yeah!" Li Zetian nodded.
"Investors are like this, just get used to it! By the way, the short commercial has been filmed and the videotape has been sent. Would you like to come and watch it and suggest revisions?" Tian Shuai said.
"OK."
So, the two came to the screening room.
Turn on the TV and VCR, insert the videotape, and the short commercial begins.
The first picture that appears is the Central Garden of New York under the blue sky and white clouds. It is shining and full of vigor. A girl is lying on her back on the grass holding a Walkman, listening to the song with great enjoyment. On a wooden chair not far away, the music rhythm of a Walkn playing a song swayed, and after a while, people all around joined in, and the scene was very lively. At this time, when the short film was about to end, Apple's silver LOGO appeared on the screen, and a line of "Walkman" was written below it.
clap clap clap!
Li Zetian clapped his hands and said, "This commercial is well shot and can fully demonstrate the fashion and practicality of the Walkman!"
"Mr. Li, since you are satisfied, then I will send the video directly to ABC TV and NBC TV?"
"Yeah! Send it early, Walkman can be broadcast one day earlier, and it will be easier to negotiate with the record company after that." Li Zetian said.
Tian Shuai nodded: "Well..."