Chapter 1404
Eating
They stayed in the island nation for four or five days, until their burps smelled like stewed chicken with mushrooms, before finally ending their trip and boarding their return flight.
After visiting the site and learning about the other party's existing technology and future research and development direction, Jun'er wanted to sign a long-term cooperation agreement for many years.
Zhang Yuan nodded in agreement and translated into Japanese.
However, it was not translated entirely accurately.
Why not hire a translator? He came in person.
Besides demonstrating his sincerity and ability, he can also have the final say on this trip.
You say it's a long-term partnership, so you just sign an agreement like that?
You should ask me too!
I'm helping out, but I'm not doing it for free. After all, you're not my relative, nor are you the one who serves me to bed at night.
If I help with everything to the very end, and do everything I can, what will I do then?
Justification by faith?
No problem, but if I can do it, can others do it?
A famous scene from "Ming Dynasty 1566": Three emperors jointly interrogating Hai Rui.
Emperor Jiajing promised the young Emperor Wanli that he would not kill Hai Rui, but Hai Rui was determined to die. Emperor Wanli cried bitterly. What did Emperor Jiajing say to his grandson?
"Zhu Yijun, do you think your grandfather is lying to you?"
"Let me tell you, nothing anyone promises you goes unrewarded."
"Only things that you can decide for yourself count."
It is pathetic and foolish to place all your hopes on the character of others.
So he deliberately acted as a translator, relaying messages between them.
The other party didn't even consider that possibility.
Seeing him working so hard and running around, I never imagined he was acting as a "translator"—a real "translator."
Like those comedies about the War of Resistance against Japan.
A complete double lie.
Xiaomi told the Japanese that it wanted a 20-year cooperation agreement, which startled them.
Jun'er saw the surprise and helplessness on Xiao Rizi's face.
I told Jun'er that the other party thought our company was too young, less than a year old, and it would be difficult to reach a multi-year cooperation agreement.
No problem, 20 years is still a lot of years.
He told Jun'er that people here value century-old businesses, and the longer a company has been around, the more trust they have.
The three Chinese nodded repeatedly, agreeing.
At that time, the Chinese people's understanding of island nations was still that an employee could work for a company for life, without promotion or salary increase.
This is loyalty!
Actually, these are all things that happened to men during the Showa era. When the Heisei era came, the Plaza Accord occurred, not to mention the Reiwa era that followed.
Young people in island nations, just like young people in China, are incredibly envious of their parents' generation, who had guaranteed jobs after graduating from school and could work for a lifetime.
Finally, with Zhang Yuan's "help," a screen supply cooperation agreement was tentatively set for one mobile phone, for this one product only.
In this way, Zhang Yuan felt more confident.
It's not because I need to contact him again for the next negotiation.
If Xiaomi can succeed and achieve sales of several hundred million to tens of millions of units, it won't need to negotiate with Sharp itself.
Zhang Yuan's actions were mainly to ensure that even if he couldn't destroy the enemy, he would still have the ability to cause trouble for Jun'er.
If I don't get any benefit from him after putting in the work, I'll let you know that I can not only make things happen, but also ruin them.
If I sign a long-term agreement, how can I cause trouble?
You need to leave yourself a back door.
Hopefully, things won't get to the worst possible outcome.
Because Jun'er is considered relatively mild-mannered among the bosses, but only relatively mild-mannered.
No one who can become the boss of such a large company is not ruthless.
Those who weren't tough enough were killed by their own men long ago.
Killing someone in a physical sense, like the owner of Yoozoo.
It was because of his indecisiveness that he failed to thoroughly purge the corrupt brothers and instead resorted to measures such as pay cuts and job transfers, giving the other side the opportunity to take action.
Just like Lenin's assessment of Dalinzi was "weak".
Most people know about the "Great Purge," so how could they think that Dalinzi is associated with the word "weakness"?
But why did this massive purge happen?
Just like how Bian Que described himself and his two elder brothers.
His two elder brothers were more skilled than him; one could treat illness before it manifested and the other could treat illness as it began to develop, while he was only good at treating illness.
Da Linzi was skilled at treating illnesses, but due to his weak character, he was unable to treat illnesses before they manifested or when they were about to manifest.
It wasn't until his close friend Kirov... the Kirov from Kirovsky Court, and his old buddy was assassinated, and the guy who came to testify was also killed, that he realized something terrible had happened.
This is equivalent to Liu Bei discovering Guan Yu's sudden death, being unable to determine the cause, calling Zhang Fei back, only to have Zhang Fei inexplicably fall from his horse and die on the way—what the hell would that do?
Everyone says Liu Bei was a crybaby, but the Imperial Uncle was not weak at all; he defeated Lü Bu with just one sentence.
Benevolence and weakness are two different things.
Jun'er is a ruthless person, not easy to deal with.
There's a saying in Chinese business circles: "A company doesn't need to do any work for three years after it goes public."
In other words, after a company goes public, the executives who reap the benefits, and the boss who wants to enjoy himself for three years, will often become complacent and relax their guard.
Xiaomi has never had this problem, because those who didn't work were all "invited" away by Jun'er.
So when he was initially rejected, Zhang Yuan was not discouraged.
You are useless to them, so it's normal for them to ignore you.
Picking up girls requires patience, and the smarter the girl, the harder she is to win over, especially a business elite.
On the other hand, Lei is a man who values relationships, but only if he treats you like a brother.
Duowan Games and Vancl later encountered very unfavorable operational situations, but Jun'er did not give up on these two companies and continued to provide assistance.
It's because of his personal relationship with the company owner.
Most investors, especially someone like Li Huanggua, would have withdrawn long ago if things had turned sour.
After analyzing the situation, Zhang Yuan realized that he had two things to do.
First, establish sufficient personal relationships.
Secondly, to prove that they are "useful".
This time, we're trying to get both things done at the same time.
On the return flight, Zhang Yuan rubbed his stomach and sighed.
"Finally, I can go home and eat normal meals."
"Thank you for your hard work, you've been with us for so long." Jun'er leaned forward, showing his signature Lei-style smile, and expressed his gratitude.
"Hey." Zhang Yuan waved his hand: "We're all friends, we're family, we don't say things like that."
At the same time, he waved to his assistant, who brought out an ice bucket filled with ice and a champagne glass from the food preparation compartment.
"Come on, let's celebrate!"
"Open a bottle." Zhang Yuan handed the bottle to Jun'er: "Here's a bottle, Mr. Lei."
"No, no, no, you deserve the most credit this time, you do it."
"It's not about who deserves more credit. This is your company, you're the boss, so ultimately it's up to you to manage it." Zhang Yuan forcefully pushed the wine back to him.
Jun'er opened his mouth, understood what he meant, and nodded with a smile.
"Then I'll drive. Don't laugh at me if I don't drive well."
boom!
The cork bounced lightly before falling to the ground.
On the plane, don't do anything fancy or shake the champagne like crazy; you might hit the glass and get scared.
They all drank the golden, bubbling liquid in their tulip-shaped glasses in one gulp.
Zhang Yuan smacked his lips; his mouth had been so bland these past few days.
Jun'er glanced at him secretly, once again marveling at how a man should be treated with new respect after three days of separation!
Thinking back to our first meeting, it all seems a little blurry now.
I only remember that I didn't take this celebrity seriously at first.
What impressed him, however, was the other party's firm refusal when Tencent made an offer to acquire Duowan.
Looking back now, it was a kind of foresight.
He is the kind of person who prefers long-term investing rather than short-term speculation.
Oh... so it makes sense that Tudou CEO Wang Wei sold his shares and switched to Youku because of his bad personality.
For long-term investment, partners are very important. If you just want to go public, make a quick buck, and leave, why bother with these things?
Instead, it saved him from disaster.
This is called timing, luck, and fate.
Just like Miss Elizabeth, as long as you are successful enough, after entering the pass, great scholars will naturally come to debate with you.
Now that things have been settled and the ordeal is over, Jun'er naturally finds him very agreeable.
I think back to these past few days.
Fluent in Japanese, he communicated with important figures with politeness and composure.
This is a skill that ordinary celebrities, who fawn over rich people, don't possess.
He's seen celebrities before; he's seen them at all sorts of company annual parties.
The obsequious manner with which those people met the boss is hard to describe in words.
Let alone ordinary minor celebrities, even A-list stars like Zhang Ziyi are no exception. She recently danced for Zhang Yuan in front of everyone at his house.
Why were entertainers considered the lowest of the low in ancient times? Because they had to exert all their strength to please people.
In other words, the new China saved these scoundrels, and they even turned around and became arrogant.
They've already gone to such lengths to help, not only putting in so much effort but also braving the radiation risks to go with us.
As the Sharp factory owner said, we are the only Chinese company that has dared to come to the island nation recently.
He remembered this kindness.
Moreover, it's hard to believe that an actor would read "Engineering Cybernetics" without even reading the script.
This shows that his intelligence is not that of an ordinary person.
He had a good grasp of both his mind and his demeanor, and Jun'er was quite impressed after this trip.
Now, let's talk about other things.
This is also what Jun'er is most worried about.
Zhang Yuan asked his assistant to refill his champagne glass, while he moved closer to chat with President Lei.
"Now that this matter is almost resolved, let's talk about what happened before."
"It's about publicity."
"Actually, besides celebrity endorsements, I came to see you this time with something."
Zhang Yuan took two documents out of his bag.
"Please take a look first, this is the first one."
Have you seen the Fast & Furious movie series?
"It doesn't matter if you haven't seen it. This movie is the hottest car chase movie right now, and young people love it."
“I own shares in the production team, and after discussing it with the producers, we were able to free up the mobile phone sponsorship from the movie for Xiaomi to use.”
"Because of the success of the previous film, the new film is scheduled to be released in more than 30 countries around the world, including China, Japan and South Korea."
"When the movie is released, audiences around the world will see the main characters using mobile phones from Chinese brands."
Jun'er touched his chin with his fingers, listening carefully.
To promote globally through Hollywood blockbusters.
Although they only plan to sell the product in China, I don't need it and don't really need it!
This can be used to brag and has a great promotional effect.
We can recall Jun'er's promotional tactics, especially regarding pricing.
He must have first set a high price to create expectations, and then continuously hyped it up to deepen everyone's impression before finally revealing a real price, which would definitely be lower than everyone's expectations.
The phone is constantly being advertised as costing 4000 yuan, and we are already 500 yuan cheaper than our competitors.
Finally, the PPT presented a price, which was written in large letters: 2999.
Then you won't blow it up.
That's why Zhang Yuan spoke up at this moment.
"We can say that when the product is launched."
"We originally planned to release it globally, and we even prepared the promotional materials."
"But production capacity is really limited. After careful consideration and a difficult decision, we decided to supply domestic consumers first."
Ah!
Jun'er raised his head.
That's a good point!
That's how it has to be said.
"There's more." Zhang Yuan handed him the second document.
“I mentioned this to you guys when I went to the island nation before.”
"Recently, I have not only been studying aerodynamics, but also practicing and conducting field research."
"Especially through the Mercedes F1 team."
"I forgot to mention, I'm also a shareholder in the team."
Jun'er shook his head.
Such a thing? You've even gone abroad?
“I have a stake in the company, which allows me to use the vehicle advertising space.”
"Mr. Lei, you can imagine it."
"A silver-gray Mercedes race car was speeding through a sharp corner at 280 kilometers per hour."
"As the car sped along, the audience saw a flash of orange at the front of the car."
"I only noticed it upon closer inspection."
"On the sharp, smooth nose cone of the car, there is an orange logo with the words 'Xiaomi' written on it."
As Zhang Yuan gestured with his hands, he described the scene vividly.
Jun'er, influenced by what he said, seemed to have already seen all of this.
Does your brand have a slogan?
"We discussed it and decided that it's mainly aimed at enthusiasts, showcasing the ultimate performance," Jun'er explained.
To put it simply, it boils down to two words: piling on materials.
"Oh, okay, then we can come up with an advertising slogan like this."
"Xiaomi, together with the Mercedes-Benz team, is born for extreme performance!"
"Hey!" Jun'er's eyes lit up.
This is great!
Very good!
This perfectly aligns with the image our brand wants to project.
Especially with the partnership with a high-end brand like Mercedes-Benz, we're really going to be something else!
I'll just say that Mercedes invited us to participate in the team's work, and Xiaomi is providing technical support to the Mercedes team.
This is high-end.
"Could we print the Mercedes logo on our phones, or on the boot screen?" Jun'er asked excitedly.
"This... is negotiable, but the Germans are difficult to deal with, so I dare not make any definitive statements."
Zhang Yuan thought to himself, "You're not satisfied with taking advantage of others, are you!"
Who would use Xiaomi if they were driving a Mercedes right now? The target customers are not the same.
Xiaomi's target customers know that the phones they use are a collaboration with Mercedes-Benz, which is a positive psychological boost.
The reverse is not correct.
In this day and age, anyone who wants to flaunt their wealth and sophistication uses an Apple product.
Even in later generations, many people felt that using millet was beneath them.
In China, only Huawei can compete with Apple for market share.
This is also Zhang Yuan's dilemma.
Ultimately, the domestic mobile terminal market will only consist of Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, and others.
OV is backed by BBK Electronics, so they're not short of money.
Hua Zi is certainly not short of money!
It's important to know that Huazi's mobile phone business is not its most profitable business, and the company has no plans to go public and does not welcome external investors.
Hua Zi is basically a semi-family business.
Do I not want to collaborate with high-end brands?
It's not that they look down on me!
Xiaomi is still in its early stages of development. If we don't buy it during infancy, are we going to wait until after our coming-of-age ceremony?
The Mercedes-Benz car team advertisement piqued Jun'er's great interest.
But the question remains: what will be the cost?
After calming down a bit, Jun'er suppressed her smile and looked at him.
"Whether it's product placement in movies or advertising on car fleets, it must be very expensive, right?"
"Product placement in a movie, according to market prices, should be worth around 500 million US dollars."
Jun'er remained calm and composed.
"For the Mercedes team, since it's an advertisement on the front of the car, it would cost at least £1000 million."
"Actually, it's impossible to get it for that price. It would cost £1000 million, and we would need to provide strong support in terms of materials and technology to make it possible."
"To put it simply, Shell Oil previously approached us, offering to provide all the lubricants and other fluids, as well as unlimited fuel for the fleet's engine testing."
"To get a car body advertisement, we'll have to pay another £3000 million."
Zhang Yuan held up one finger as he spoke: "It's 3000 million pounds a year."
"If it's a title sponsorship, like Oracle sponsoring the Red Bull Racing team, then it would cost 6 to 7000 million pounds a year, and that would increase year by year."
Jun'er raised his eyebrows.
He had heard that racing, especially Formula 1 racing, was considered a game for the elite.
Without even needing to do the mental calculations, a quick total comes to at least £1500 million, and that's the bare minimum.
The company doesn't have that much money for marketing and promotion right now.
If I had hundreds of millions of dollars, it would be more worthwhile to invest it in research and development and production.
"We don't think we can afford this," Jun'er replied bluntly.
“I didn’t expect you to spend any money,” Zhang Yuan replied with a smile. “I can provide these two sponsorships for free.”
"You just need to treat me to a meal."
"What kind of food... can be worth so much money?" Jun'er thought to himself, "I'll go catch a dragon for you."
Zhang Yuan patted his shoulder with a warm smile.
"I just want a bowl of millet porridge." (End of Chapter)