giants of the era

Chapter 119 Huge Money Promotion! (seeking subscription)
After the meeting, Li Zetian assigned various tasks. Tian Shuai led a team to send cooperation invitations to many large record companies around the world, such as Universal Music, EMI, Warner Music, BMG Records, CBS/ Sony Records and more.

Li Zetian was personally responsible for contacting the advertising photographers to discuss the advertising plan.

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 New York's Central Park as the shooting location, in sunny weather, a group of young and beautiful teenagers and girls are holding beautiful Walkman tapes in their hands, wearing headphones on their heads, singing and dancing! The focus of the shooting is to reflect the function and practicality of the Walkman, followed by beauty and fashion!"

"Well, your request is very simple, our company will definitely fulfill it very well, please rest assured, Mr. Li!"

"Okay, but hurry up!"

The man thought for a while and said, "Within half a month, I promise to complete the commercial shooting task!"

Li Zetian nodded in satisfaction.

After the people from the advertising photography company left, Li Zetian immediately contacted three TV stations, ABC, CBS, and NBC, and prepared to carry out a comprehensive promotion on American TV! !
The next day, people from the three TV stations came to the Apple headquarters at the time agreed by Li Zetian.

Li Zetian invited them to the office, and said: "Apple plans to spend a huge sum of money to advertise on three TV stations at the same time, and they are all prime time!"

People from the three TV stations rushed to the scene in shock.

James Joe, the person in charge 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?"

It is rare for such a rich and powerful company to advertise on the three largest TV stations in the United States at the same time. When the representatives of the three TV stations met, they thought that the three companies were competing for Apple's advertisements.

Li Zetian nodded and said, "Yes, the three TV stations jointly advertise!"

After getting the confirmed answer, James Joe nodded, and then glanced at the representatives of NBC and CBS TV stations.At this moment, the three seemed to have a tacit understanding and formed an alliance.

James Joe said: "Mr. Li, I don't know what Apple's advertising product is?"

Hearing this, Li Zetian gestured to a female assistant beside him.

Later, the female assistant brought three Walkmans, including tapes and headphones.

"This is Apple's product," Li Zetian introduced, "it's called Walkman, and it's a kind of tape player. Users can take it to listen to lectures outdoors. You can put on the earphones, try it out, and press the rectangular button on it. You can sing."

The three followed Li Zetian's instructions, put on the earphones, and pressed the buttons to listen to the song.

Immediately, the faces of the three showed shock.

"Mr. Li, this product is so cool!" James Joe praised.

"Yes, I also think it's very cool, but the record company doesn't recognize it very much, thinking that its existence will impact the vinyl record market and cause a decline in profits!" Li Zetian shrugged, with a hint of helplessness in his tone.

James Joe smiled slightly, and said: "Walkman will definitely be loved by users. When the record company sees the profit, they will naturally compromise. However, as the saying goes, the wine is good but the alley is deep. Advertising can increase the exposure of Walkman at the fastest speed and attract users' attention."

"Yes," Li Zetian said, "so today we have invited all three TV stations. Then let's talk about the price of the advertisement!"

"12 seconds in prime time, how much is it for a year?"

Li Zetian thought for a while and asked.

ABC representative James Joe was the first to answer, "$800 million!"

Representatives of NBC Television agreed the answer was $800 million!
The strength of CBS TV station is slightly weaker, and the representative of the station gave a price of "$750 million".

"Wori, it's so expensive!"

At this time, Li Zetian had already noticed that the three TV stations had formed a partnership.However, this was originally in his plan.

He began to remain silent. The Walkman is a representative of an era, and it created huge profits for Sony in its previous life.It should be similar in this life. The more advertisements are played, the higher the Walkman's exposure rate will be, and the sales will naturally increase.However, the advertising fee is so expensive, which puts great pressure on Apple at the moment.He must find a way to reduce advertising costs. .

After a while, Li Zetian raised his head, glanced at the three of them, changed his words, and said calmly, "Apple's financial chain is very tight, so the advertising budget is limited. I reconsidered and decided to only advertise on one TV station!"

As soon as this remark came out, the faces of the three people on the opposite side changed slightly, and the "unreliable alliance" that had just been formed instantly broke down.

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 marked the price of 800 million US dollars, the advertising fee will vary for different products. ABC TV station has always had preferential policies for high-tech products. 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 station, thereby reducing the reputation of ABC TV station and making the advertising price no longer valuable !"

"So..." Li Zetian stared at him and asked.

James Joe laughed: "ABC TV can reduce the $50, that is, the advertising cost is only $750 million."

NBC TV station representative Peter Alik immediately said: "NBC TV station can reduce the price to 700 million US dollars!" This is a direct drop of 100 million US dollars!
Upon hearing this, James Joe glared at him unhappily.

This is not over yet. Rayleigh Chamberlain, the representative of CBS TV station, also said that the price will be reduced, and it is also a sharp drop of 100 million US dollars, only 650 million US dollars is OK.

James Joe felt anxious when he heard that, you are paralyzed, I only cut the price by 50 US dollars, and you actually cut the price by 100 million US dollars, fuck!
So James Joe shouted again: "ABC TV only needs $690 million!"

Seeing them vying for prices there, Li Zetian felt happy. It seems that the competition between TV stations will be the most beneficial to him!

So, he pretended to be contemplative and hesitant, but didn't reply.

The prices of the three became lower and lower. However, neither ABC nor NBC offered less than US$650 million. Li Zetian secretly thought that this might be their bottom line, while CBS did not offer less than US$600 million.

"I already know the quotations of the three TV stations. After thinking about it, I will make a solemn decision! Everyone, please go back first!"

The three nodded and said goodbye one after another.

Leaving Apple headquarters, the three can point fingers at each other.

With anger on his face, James Joe complained, "Why did you two lower the price so low all of a sudden!"

"Hey, James Joe, this is a business, I don't lower the price than you, why would Apple choose to advertise on our TV station. You know, this is a big one-year contract!"

James Joe snorted coldly, walked away in anger, and got into a black Ford sedan.

Not long after, James Joe stopped the car, went to the public phone booth and called Li Zetian's office.

"Hi, Mr. Li, I'm James Joe from ABC TV station!"

"Hello, James Joe. Didn't you just leave? Why did you immediately think of calling me?" Li Zetian asked. He secretly guessed that James Joe was going to show his cards.

In fact, it is true.

James Joe said in a deep voice: "Mr. Li, ABC TV's offer can be as low as $650 million. This is already our bottom line!"

Li Zetian didn't say much this time, but simply said, "Mr. James Joe, please come to Apple again immediately!"

"Okay, I'll be right there!" James Joe said excitedly.

After finishing speaking, he hung up the phone, feeling complacent, "Hehe, Peter Arric and Rayleigh Chamberlain, these two idiots, I'm afraid they don't know that I'm playing tricks behind my back! Haha..."

Soon, James Joe rushed to Apple, and then came to Li Zetian's office!
However, what surprised and stunned him was that Peter Alick was actually here.

NBC television representative Peter Alik was also surprised when he saw James Joe.

Li Zetian explained with a smile: "Mr. James Joe and Mr. Peter Alik just called me. I am very satisfied with the quotations of ABC TV and NBC TV. So I decided to advertise on the two TV stations together." !"

Peter Arik and James Joe couldn't help but looked at each other with wry smiles when they heard the words, and said to themselves, don't think Li Zetian is young, but both of us have been tricked by him.

Soon, Li Zetian signed advertising contracts with ABC TV and NBC TV on behalf of Apple!

"Mr. Li, please send the commercial video to ABC Company as soon as possible, so we can arrange the time for you as soon as possible." James Joe said.

"NBC TV too."

"Okay!" Li Zetian nodded.

TV advertising, Apple invested 1300 million US dollars at once.However, there are also various offline advertisements. This time, the total advertising budget has reached 2000 million US dollars, which is bound to make Walkman visible to most people in the United States!

……

Things didn't go very well with the Walkman, and the key was the record company again.

The news that Apple was rejected by Polygram Records has spread in the industry. When Apple came to seek cooperation, many record companies, like Polygram Records, were worried that tapes would impact the vinyl record market, so they hesitated. forward!
Warner was even more straightforward. Apple came to negotiate and refused directly.

The above reasons are certainly one of them. 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 was planning to acquire Atari, but it never occurred to me that Cheng Yaojin, who was on the way, acquired Atari. Now Atari has become a big seller because of the porting of the Sunbird game, earning a lot of money. The pours and pours made Warner jealous.

Therefore, Li Zetian inadvertently became enemies with Warner.

Tian Shuai said to Li Zetian with a sad face: "The world's largest 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 us a little comfort..."

Li Zetian was very helpless about this, and said: "Wait and see, Walkman's advertisement will be on TV soon. In addition, Walkman has placed advertisements on the movie "Star Wars". Once it is released, it will increase the sales of Walkman." Very helpful!"

"Mr. Li, are you so sure that "Star Wars" will be popular?"

"It should be able to fire, this is my intuition!"

Tian Shuai didn't agree with this in his heart, the science fiction film market was in a slump, and he hadn't seen any blockbuster works yet.

On February 2th, Thomas Rockefeller came to Apple.

"Hello, Mr. Thomas Rockefeller, and welcome to Apple!"

Thomas Rockefeller nodded and said, "Apple seems to be in big trouble recently?"

"It's not a big problem, it's just a small matter, and it will be resolved soon."

Apple is indeed in big trouble, but if you tell investors about this, wouldn't you let the other party succeed and lower the valuation of Apple.

Therefore, Li Zetian firmly refused to admit it.

The two then came to the office, sat on the sofa chair and started talking.

Thomas Rockefeller said: "According to my information, Apple's new product Walkman is a tape player product, but it does not get the support of record companies."

"As long as it is profitable, the record company will support it. This is not a problem! They will realize this sooner or later, 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 Walkman, and I also think this product is indeed very Great. If Apple chooses to raise funds at this time, I am willing to raise the price! The Rockefeller family has a very professional appraisal agency, and they value Apple at $25 billion!"

Li Zetian frowned. The $25 billion was far from what he expected.

Seeing Li Zetian frowning, Thomas Rockefeller couldn't help saying: "Apple's profit method is too single, and its main product is Apple-ll personal computers. However, the current personal computer manufacturers are springing up everywhere like mushrooms after rain, and challenge Apple's leading position." A fierce charge. If Apple does not get huge funds to speed up its development, it will be overtaken sooner or later! And as far as I know, IBM is also developing personal computers, and Apple is about to face the 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 25 billion US dollars is already the most appropriate value we think..."

"Mr. Thomas Rockefeller, once the Walkman becomes popular all over the world, Apple will be worth more than $25 billion!!!" Li Zetian argues that Apple does need funds for rapid development, but the valuation of $25 billion is too low.

"Chronos, you are building on the assumption that the Walkman will be popular in the future, what if it doesn't become popular in the future?" Thomas Rockefeller said, "If the Walkman is not popular, then Apple will cause very serious losses because of it, and even because of it And bankruptcy, I might give up investing in Apple..."

Li Zetian's face changed slightly, and he said in a deep voice: "Thomas Rockefeller, let's wait and see, I believe Walkman will become popular all over the world!"

Thomas Rockefeller shook his head and sighed slightly, "Okay, then I'll just wait..."

The two quickly ended this unpleasant conversation.

Tian Shuai saw that Li Zetian's face was not quite right, so he couldn't help asking: "The conversation has collapsed?"

"En!" Li Zetian nodded.

"Investors are always like this, just get used to it! By the way, the commercial video has been filmed, and the video tape has also been sent over. 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 scene that appeared was the New York Central Garden under the blue sky and white clouds. It was shining brightly and full of vigor. A girl was lying on the grass with her Walkman in her arms, listening to the song with great enjoyment.On a wooden chair not far away, there is a Walkman player playing songs. A group of teenagers and girls gathered together and swayed to the rhythm of the music from the Walkman. After a while, people around them joined in, and the scene Crowded.At this time, when the short film was about to end, the silver LOGO of Apple 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 video 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 videotape directly to ABC TV and NBC TV?"

"Huh! If you send it earlier, Walkman will be broadcast one day earlier, and it will be easier to discuss cooperation with the record company." Li Zetian said.

Tian Shuai nodded, "Mmm..."

(End of this chapter)