Chapter 65: The First Wave Of Publicity
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After going to his grandparents’ place to offer his New Year’s greetings, Chen Jin had given away five of the 10 robots that he possessed. He needed one for his house, and Mom needed one for her house. He would have three robots left on him.
This was his arrangement for the three remaining robots. Chen Jin drove to Director Dong’s house. She worked at the Bureau of Industry and Commerce and had provided him with a lot of help. Under the pretense of grat.i.tude and offering his New Year’s greetings, he gave a “Wa-Wah” robot to her.
“Xiao Chen, why be so polite? According to the laws, civil servants are forbidden to accept gifts. However, since you said that the production cost of this robot is only around $2,000, which is within regulations; I’ll accept it.” Dong Lei accepted the robot and pulled Chen Jin into the house, “Xiao Chen, have a meal in my house before you go.”
“No, no. Thank you, Auntie Dong. I still have something I need to do, I’ll be going back.”
Dong Lei could not get him to stay as Chen Jin repeatedly declined her invitation.
“Eh ~ That mommy’s boy? Why is he here?” At that moment, as Yuan Lin was walking down from the upper story, she saw Chen Jin standing by the entrance. With a particularly strong impression of him still in her mind, her expression changed dramatically in an instant. What’s this fellow doing at my home? She watched her mom carrying a cardboard box over, and quickly inquired about the situation.
Dong Lei smiled as she shook her head. She narrated a blow-by-blow account. “Daughter, that boy is a theatrical genius. Last time, you were duped by him….”
“What?” Yuan Lin’s pretty eyes widened and she gritted her teeth. “B*****d, how dare you deceive me!”
…
Chen Jin’s next stop was at Forever Jewels. “Auntie Chiu, this “Wa-Wah” robot is for you. It can be used to clean the floor. It’ll help you clean your home until it’s spotless.” Chen Jin gave one “Wa-Wah” robot to the store manager of Forever Jewels, Chiu Wan-Ting. By chance, he had overheard some of the talks between the staff. He knew that Chiu Wan-Ting’s husband got wind that his wife’s monthly salary was $60,000, which was 10 times his salary. Thus, her husband started to make trouble for her again. For example, he demanded that Chiu Wan-Ting make three meals a day for him. When she was halfway to work, he would call and demand that she go back home to clean the house. In any case, he created a lot of trouble for her. His torment caused her to feel mentally and physically exhausted.
When Chen Jin heard this, he was greatly angered. “What do you want this kind of man for? He’s incapable, shameless, and a useless b.u.m! Besides that bit of pitiful ego, what else does he have?” Of course, he did not actually say those words. He only criticized silently in his mind. It was his intention to help lessen her burden by giving her a “Wa-Wah” robot.
“Boss, you’ve given me more than enough rewards….” Chiu Wan-Ting accepted the robot with tears spilling out of her eyes. Just a few days ago, the boss told her that she had put in great effort for the shop and gifted her with a bank card that had a value of $100,000. He firmly reminded her not to tell anyone and to use it discreetly for herself. It was her year-end bonus. Today, he gave her yet another gift again, in the form of a cleaning robot to help lessen her burden. Naturally, she became aware that the boss had understood her situation at home. However, he did not point any fingers. On the contrary, he even provided some help.
The young boss even urged, “Auntie Chiu, your personality is too giving. There are so many good men in the world. Why must you tie yourself to a perfectionistic chauvinist? I don’t think you should tolerate this any longer.”
Chiu Wan-Ting started to nod in agreement. Then, she shook her head. Divorce….. She had thought about this 10 years ago. But because her son was still young at that time, she never went through with it. Now, her son was in his third year of university. Once he graduated, went for some matchmaking sessions and found his partner, she would not tolerate and give in to that man anymore!
…
Just like that, Chen Jin was left with one last remaining “Wa-Wah” robot.
Who should he give this to? After some consideration, Chen Jin drove to Zhao Xin’s home. Under the pretense of offering his New Year’s greetings, he gave the last remaining “Wa-Wah” robot to the couple, Zhao Xin and Zhang Nan.
“This is amazing! I need something to help me keep the house clean. Zhao Xin suggested hiring a housekeeper. I told him it wasn’t necessary. What great timing for you to give me this robot now!” Zhang Nan was almost five months pregnant and her belly was obviously showing. But, she still feared to get a housekeeper or nanny to serve her needs. Recently, she had heard on the news about an arson case in Hang Hu City that was started by a housekeeper, as well as cases of children abused by their nannies. This information had caused a lingering fear in her. She would rather do the household ch.o.r.es on her own than to trouble others.
At the dinner table, Zhao Xin spoke. “Chen Jin, why did you decide to manufacture robots? Didn’t you come to my auto center to learn how to repair cars? I’d thought you wanted to open a car repair shop.” Zhao Xin was filled with doubt. He could not get a handle on the movements and plans of this fellow.
“How could I open a car repair shop when that would mean competing with you and your wife for business? Even if I wanted to start a business related to cars, I would open a car manufacturing factory. I won’t get involved in a small business like a car repair shop.”
“Manufacturing cars?” Zhao Xin rolled his eyes at him. “Anyway, it doesn’t cost anything to bulls.h.i.+t. You can bulls.h.i.+t all you like.”
“Chen Jin, have more food! I wish you a successful business. If you meet any money troubles, don’t stand on ceremony and speak freely!” Zhang Nan’s generosity, openness, and forthright manner made her very favorable.
Zhao Xin was also nodding. “This robot is good. If you meet with any money problems, you can always. .h.i.t me up as long as it’s not more than $50,000,000.”
“Nah, it’s ok. I don’t have any problems with funding. Thank you, Zhao Xin, thank you sis-in-law.” Chen Jin only had a small circle of friends. Zhao Xin was his only confidant. However, his heart was warmed and he felt content.
…
After he was done with making his rounds of offering his New Year’s greetings, on the fourth day of the lunar new year, Wa-Wah’s promotions and marketing had to proceed with twice as much power!
Liang Ying was 28 years old and had 10 years of experience in marketing. More than a month ago, Chen Jin had recruited her via the internet to be the main supervisor of the sales department. In addition, he had hired another 20 salespersons. They would be placed under Liang Ying’s supervision. Thus, he had built a “sales department” specializing in handling marketing and promotions.
When he recruited the sales staff, he had said to them, “Don’t go home for this lunar new year. When the product’s promotion is launched, I’ll immediately give you one month of paid leave. And I’ll also reward each person with a bonus between $50,000 to $500,000.”
In other words, if these salespeople could achieve a viral count of one million fans, they would be rewarded with $10,000! Or even if it was only a particularly small fan count, if the c.u.mulative fan count was over a million, they would also be rewarded with $10,000!
That’s right. Chen Jin had decided on using the short video platforms as the entry points for Wa-Wah’s publicity campaign. Such platforms had been wildly popular since two years ago. For his first wave of publicity, he would start with the short video platforms!
For example, Dou Yin Videos, which was described as “brainwas.h.i.+ng,” had more than 500 million active users all over the globe. Kuai Shou Videos, which started trending in the northern areas, also had users in the millions. In addition, Pumpkin Videos, Volcano Videos, and We Videos were all platforms with over tens of millions of users. Chen Jin planned to break into the market via these short video platforms. He would strongly promote “Wa-Wah” by working with celebrities on these platforms!
“Manager Liang, how many celebrities from those platforms have agreed to work with us? And what are their fan counts?”
Liang Ying said, “Currently, there are 379 celebrities who have been confirmed to work with us. Their average fan count is 310,000 and their total fan count is 1.1 billion. But, after eliminating the users with multiple accounts and the inactive accounts, the number of audiences that we can realistically reach may only be 10 million”.
“10 million is enough. This is only the first wave of publicity.”
Liang Ying asked, “Chief Chen, the salespeople are arranging the deliveries all over the country right now. 185 robots have already been delivered to about half of the celebrities. We never thought that after using the product for a few days, some of the celebrities suddenly increased their fees. They are demanding a new advertising fee of $100,000 when previously they had only asked for $10,000! What should I do, Chief Chen?”
Chen Jin frowned, “The ‘Wa-Wah’ robot is a very good content source for the videos. It can provide plenty of creative content and give them a lot of new fans. This was supposed to be a victory for both sides. But since some people are way too greedy, they can forget about this agreement! Release them from the contracts and tell them to return the robots. Blacklist them and never work with them ever again!”
“Ok, Chief Chen. When will the videos be circulated en ma.s.se?”
“Tomorrow; the fifth of the new year!”
“Ok! I’ll arrange it immediately.”