Reborn since 1993

Chapter 369 Drinking poison to quench thirst
Upon hearing that the health care product company, which was a big dog manufacturer, was raising its prices, even the tobacco company, which had been arguing with them just now, glared at the staff of the health care product company.

But the company representative of Fengtian Feilong was calm about this. The scene before him was nothing but a small matter to him. Not to mention being glared at, which would not hurt him at all, he would not be afraid even if a knife was used!

In recent years, those who make health care products have tried to seize the market share not only by advertising but also by using strong fists to sell their health care products to other companies’ territories.

Otherwise, what are the reasons for the tens or even hundreds of thousands of offline promotion personnel employed by companies such as Sanzhu, Sun God, Fengtian Feilong, Angli, Chinese Turtle Essence, and Brain Gold?
These tens of thousands of promoters not only need to be good at talking, but also need to know a little about martial arts and be able to fight with a machete at critical moments.

Ignoring the representatives of the tobacco companies, the representative of Fengtian Feilong waved a bag of money and said to the marketing staff of Torch Group, "As long as you are willing to give us lighters and print our advertisements on them, the price is negotiable!"

In the health care product industry, price wars have reached their peak. Of course, some people will say that it is too shameful for a health care product company to advertise on lighters. The Torch Group’s advertising platform, which uses the lighter body as a platform, is certainly not high-end, but it is better than a pigpen, right?

Sanzhu Oral Liquid, which has an annual revenue of 8 billion, has been advertising to a crazy degree in order to increase sales. It uses TV stations, newspapers, magazines, and has health experts and professors endorse its products. Are these advertisements considered high-end?

There are also more high-end advertisements. Some health care product companies have begun to sponsor football teams, sports events, sports delegations, etc., claiming that by drinking their health care products, you can win the championship!

But it is a new tactic for a health care product company to do this. Almost all health care product companies are following suit, so the advertising effect begins to be greatly reduced, and they have to use some primitive methods.

In order to promote themselves, Sanzhu Oral Liquid painted their slogans on the outside walls of farmhouses, even the pig pens were not spared!
Is it possible that Torch Group’s lighter advertising platform is not as good as the advertising platform of Sanzhu oral liquid used in the village?

Besides, no one can say how effective advertising is on TV shows, in newspapers, or in pig pens, but the effectiveness of Torch Group’s advertising is visible to the naked eye.

The Pingyang Cigarette Factory, which has cooperated with the Torch Group, is now sold out of stock. This is a real case. The fact that tobacco companies of all sizes in more than a dozen provinces are rushing to cooperate with the Torch Group is the best proof of this.

Furthermore, the Torch Group’s lighter body advertisements do make people think a lot. How many lighters that cost one yuan each can be sold in the country in a year? A conservative estimate is over 100 million, or even ten or thirty times that!
The scale of a lighter advertising platform with such sales volume is already enough to make people think. If a nationwide advertisement is placed on it, the influence will probably exceed that of some provincial TV stations and local newspapers. It is enough for health care product companies, which are now going crazy with advertising, to give it a try.

The health care product industry has now entered a period of frenzy, with people spending money madly on advertising to sell health care products. However, once the advertising stops, the revenue drops to zero, and the bulk of the hard-earned money goes to advertisers such as TV stations, newspapers, and spokespersons. They also have to pay salaries to the huge number of field sales staff. In the end, the profits from health care products are actually far less than imagined.

All health care product companies know that continuing in this way is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst. However, they can continue to make money through advertising, and even have the opportunity to go public like other health care product companies such as Sun God, Angli, and Taitai Oral Liquid. That would truly be the pinnacle of life.

But without advertising, you won’t make any money at all, let alone going public. All your employees may run away, and the health care product company may go bankrupt. In this case, what should a health care product company choose?

If you are a human being, you will probably choose a path and go to the end. It is better to live a miserable life than to die. What if you can turn things around?
This is also the reason why major health care product companies would rather use the money for product research and development on advertising than stop advertising even though their profits have begun to decline. They simply cannot afford to lose!
Just like the representative of Fengtian Feilong Company who is waving a bag of cash now, he came here this time and clamored to pay a higher price to buy three million lighters. In fact, it cost less than 3.6 million. Is this expensive for Fengtian Feilong, which spent 100 million yuan on advertising last year?
It’s simply too cheap. If it really wants to be effective, it wouldn’t be a problem for Fengtian Feilong to take out tens of millions or even more in advertising funds!
People from Yuzhang Tobacco, Hongtashan and other companies all glared at the people from Fengtian Feilong Company. In terms of revenue, these tobacco companies almost beat the health care product companies, but most of them were state-owned factories and their budget funds needed approval. It was impossible for them to increase prices at will like the health care product companies. For a while, they really could not do anything to Fengtian Feilong.

But just because these tobacco companies can't do anything about it doesn't mean other companies can't do anything about Fengtian Feilong.

On the side, Gu Xiguang, He Heng, Li Weimin and others who came from the provincial capital saw a scene that left them dumbfounded.

"One dollar and fifty cents a cigarette, three strains of oral liquid cost five million lighters!"

"The Sun God offers one dollar and sixty cents!"

"We, 505 Yuanqi Bag, are going to take over Torch Group's lighter advertising this year!"

A bunch of health care product companies suddenly appeared, and they were arguing about the prices. You should know that Weicheng, one of the ten cities in the western part of Han Dynasty, was known as the capital of inland health care products two years ago. It gave birth to more than 505 health care product companies of all sizes, including Yuanqi Bag and Qinlongzhuang Yuanshen Bag. At the peak, not only the health care product companies made a lot of money, but also the vendors who resold these health care products and sold snakeskin bags of health care products made a fortune.

Even in his previous life, the founder of one of the hundreds of health care product companies made it onto the Hurun Rich List within a year and became the richest man in Hanxi. However, when facing media interviews, the richest man in Hanxi who came from the health care product industry was also at a loss. He didn't even know where the 7 billion worth of products on the Hurun Rich List came from and how it was calculated!

Gu Xiguang, He Heng and others looked at each other in bewilderment when they saw these companies waving money and wanting to purchase a large number of lighters and advertise through the Torch Group's advertising platform.

Before Torch Group started operations, Gu Xiguang and his colleagues were worried that the lighters they produced would not be in demand or would not be accepted by users. But now it seems that they were worrying too much. The Torch Group's lighters are not unsaleable, but are in short supply!
In the few minutes that Gu Xiguang and his companions stood here, the orders for lighters placed by tobacco companies and health care products companies with Torch Group had already exceeded tens of millions. They had long heard of the huge profits in the tobacco, alcohol, health care products and other industries, and today they had witnessed it.

When the Torch Group's reception staff came over to lead Gu Xiguang and others into the Torch Group's office building, Gu Xiguang and He Heng heard that there was a liquor company and also came over to join in the fun.

Big liquor brands may be concerned about their brand influence, or if they want to operate high-end liquor brands, they may not advertise through the Torch Group, but small, affordable liquor brands don't care.

The alcohol they sell is what most ordinary people in the area drink, and they don't care about brand influence or anything like that. As long as they can sell more alcohol and earn more income, that's enough.

Lighter advertisements are exactly what these liquor brands want. They can help them expand their influence locally, especially in towns and rural areas. This is enough!

When they saw this scene, the inspectors from the Economic and Trade Commission, the Foreign Exchange Department, the Development and Reform Commission, the Industry Department, the Industry and Commerce Department and other departments who had rushed over from Yanjing actually already had an idea in their minds.

In the early stage, the three major industries of tobacco, alcohol, and health products almost completely monopolized the lighters and advertisements produced by Torch Group, so there was no need to worry about orders!
"Director Gu!"

"Director He"

"Bureau Li!"

When Gu Xiguang and others arrived at the conference room, Yao Zhengru and other Pingyang Municipal Government personnel who had been staying in Torch Group for the past few days came forward to greet Gu Xiguang and others.

Since Torch Group began to receive a surge in orders, Yao Zhengru has transferred a group of people from various departments of Pingyang Municipal Government to Torch Group. Basically, special matters are handled on a special basis. As long as Torch Group needs help or problems from Pingyang Municipal Government to be solved, it will be handled on the spot, just to enable Torch Group to increase its production capacity as quickly as possible.

Pingyang's local city banks have set up a special business point at the Torch Group to handle the tens of millions of revenue that the Torch Group sends in from all over the country every day, as well as transactions, salary payments and other businesses between hundreds of upstream and downstream companies in the lighter industry chain, to ensure that incidents such as the robbery of New Oriental's Yu Minhong will not happen.

"Senior Brother Gu!"

Li Dongling also shook hands with Gu Xiguang, who also graduated from Hanxi Jiaotong University. Unlike others, Gu Xiguang treated Li Dongling as a family member. He put his hand on Li Dongling's shoulder and became more and more satisfied with his junior brother who graduated from the same school as him.

Ever since Li Dongling made his debut and was noticed by the Economic and Trade Commission, Gu Xiguang has regarded Li Dongling as a foreign aid. Not to mention the foreign exchange earned by Dongling Hi-Tech, the Torch Group is definitely a great gift. For Gu Xiguang, now Gu Xiguang is the most influential, powerful and most promising candidate among all the directors of the Economic and Trade Commission. All of these are inseparable from Hanxi.

"Junior Brother Li, you must have had a hard time during this period!" Gu Xiguang said to Li Dongling.

"The hardest-working people are Manager Zhang and the staff of Torch Group. The municipal government, provincial government, and Hanxi State Investment have spent much more time, energy, and resources on Torch Group!"

The sedan was carried by many people in front of so many people from Yanjing, especially with the staff from the Propaganda Department obviously recording in the back. Even though Dongling Hi-Tech was the largest shareholder of Torch Group with a 40% stake, Li Dongling still shared the credit with those who supported Torch Group's projects in Pingyang City and Hanxi Province. People in official careers like Yao Zhengru needed this credit even more!
(End of this chapter)