Restart life

Chapter 586, Section 0574: [Promote Anytime, Anywhere]

Stepping out of the library and standing in the square, Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "I have something good to show you all."

Yang Shuo, who had been holding the box, took out the drone and handed it to Chen Guiliang.

Everyone watched curiously, with no idea what he was doing.

Chen Guiliang said, "This is a DJI drone that I invested in. It is equipped with DJI's self-developed Zenmuse gimbal and a GoPro action camera. The flight time is over 20 minutes, and it can transmit images to a mobile phone in real time within 300 meters."

DJI's development accelerated thanks to investment from Chen Guiliang.

Take gimbal motors as an example. In another time period, DJI was still using motors from other companies, but now it uses motors designed by DJI itself.

"Buzz buzz~~~"

Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, the drone flew over the square, then over the bustling playground, filming the teachers and students participating in the fun sports meet.

People crowded behind Chen Guiliang, watching the live footage on their phones, as if they were watching a science fiction movie.

Dumbfounded.

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "This thing is pretty good, isn't it? The base alone costs over 4000 yuan, the gimbal costs over 2000 yuan, and the action camera is from another brand. Including the camera, the whole set costs between 8000 and 10000 yuan, and you can easily do high-quality aerial photography."

While others were simply shocked, the reporters at the scene were practically going crazy.

With this drone equipment, journalists will be able to take photos or videos that were previously very difficult to capture, for less than 10,000 yuan.

For journalists, this is absolutely a groundbreaking product.

Chen Guiliang retrieved the drone and handed the remote control and phone to the principal: "Teacher Zhong, this drone is a gift for the school. You can use it to film any activities you organize in the future."

The phone is a HarmonyOS Yaoguang, brand new, not the one Chen Guiliang used himself.

Principal Zhong looked completely bewildered: "How do I do this?"

Chen Guiliang took out the instruction manual from the box: "It's very simple, you can learn it in no time by following the instructions."

One reporter couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Chen, is this a domestic or foreign product? Have you invested in a foreign company?"

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "DJI is a Chinese company, headquartered in Shenzhen. This drone was launched at the end of last year. DJI's sales in the first half of this year were close to 10 billion yuan, and its net profit was 2.2 million yuan."

The reporters looked at each other.

How come there's not a single word about a Chinese company that made a net profit of 2.2 million yuan in the first half of the year?
Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "DJI drones are mainly sold to Europe and America, but their sales in China are not high. It's mainly because those guys at DJI are all focused on high technology and don't know how to promote themselves. As an investor, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I'm helping them promote their products today."

Without Chen Guiliang, DJI wouldn't have become famous in the country until the end of the year.

When distributing year-end bonuses to employees, ten Mercedes-Benz cars were given out, instantly attracting nationwide media attention.

In other words, DJI initially gained fame in China not because of its drones, but because of the Mercedes-Benz cars it awarded as prizes...

Having already toured most of the school, everyone gathered in the square in front of the building to watch the principal handle the drone according to the instruction manual.

Several city and county leaders were envious, and the principal very sensibly handed it over to the secretary.

The Party Secretary operated the drone, flying high and low, sometimes near, sometimes far, with the excitement of a child who had just received a toy.

Taking advantage of the filming, the principal introduced, "This is the century-old wisteria tree we visited, and next to it is the 'Remembering Our Roots' monument donated by alumni..."

After playing with it for a while, the Party Secretary handed the remote control to other leaders, and it eventually ended up in the hands of alumni and reporters.

Reporters, unable to get a close enough presence, surrounded Chen Guiliang for interviews.

"Mr. Chen, are there similar drones abroad?"

"Multi-rotor drones are not advanced technology; the important thing is the flight control system, gimbal, and other components. These are all developed by DJI and have technology patents. They are the only ones in the world, and there are no competitors at all."

"In which year did you invest in DJI?"

"It's been several years. Back then, they hadn't even started making multi-rotor drones yet, but their flight control system was already quite good. I thought it was interesting, so I invested."

What are your thoughts on the market prospects for drones?

"The potential is limitless. I believe that DJI's annual revenue will exceed 100 billion yuan in at most three years."

"Annual revenue of 100 billion?"

"This is just a conservative estimate."

Not to mention the reporters, even the leaders present were stunned.

How can an unknown company achieve annual revenue exceeding 10 billion in the next two to three years?
Just outrageous!
A reporter looked at the young and handsome Chen Guiliang, then at the drone that had just had its spare battery replaced, and three words instantly popped into his mind—Iron Man.

A handsome, wealthy tycoon who plays with cutting-edge technology naturally reminds people of Iron Man.

Guo Xiaosi asked in a low voice, "Where can I buy this kind of drone?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Search for DJI drones on JD.com."

"Thank you." Guo Xiaosi wanted to get himself a set.

……

After leaving a large group of people playing with drones in the square, Chen Guiliang chatted and laughed with Xie Yang and Qin Shanshan as they headed towards the teaching building.

Many alumni returned this year, and ordinary alumni were accompanied and guided by teachers and students.

The alumni, ranging from those in their fifties and sixties to those in their seventies and eighties, spanned a span of twenty or thirty years. They were led on a tour of the campus by teachers and students, and then found a classroom to sit down for tea, where they excitedly reminisced about various old stories.

There are slightly more younger alumni, mostly gathered according to their year of study, though some also wander around in small groups. Even if several graduating classes were to come together, there might only be a dozen or so alumni.

There were a lot of students returning to school this year, with over 30 from Chen Guiliang's class alone. It's obvious who they came for.

Halfway there, Xie Yang said, "Damn, that drone is pretty awesome. How come I've never heard you mention it before?"

Chen Guiliang laughed, "After I made additional investment in DJI last year, I didn't check on the company's situation at all, and I didn't even know they had upgraded their drones and gimbals. It wasn't until half a month ago that I found out their sales reached over 9 million yuan in the first half of the year." "Didn't those people ask you for help with promotion?" Xie Yang found it incomprehensible.

Chen Guiliang said, "Because their production capacity is insufficient and they have mature sales channels overseas, they don't care about the domestic market at all. Now that their production capacity has increased slightly, they finally called me to let me know. To this day, they still don't have any plans for domestic promotion."

Xie Yang remarked, "Having the technology is what makes you awesome; advertising and promotion are just a side effect."

Qin Shanshan had been learning marketing operations from Ye Peng: "DJI's situation is quite unique. It's a niche market plus an emerging market, so no matter how much advertising resources you invest, it may not be useful. Focusing on R&D to improve technology and gradually cultivating and expanding the market is actually the right choice."

"Master Chen!"

As soon as the group reached the front of the teaching building, someone on the third floor leaned on the railing and shouted.

Chen Guiliang looked up and couldn't remember the person's name at all. He guessed they were from the same year.

As soon as he shouted, a large number of voices poured out from various classrooms.

Alumni had already come out of the classroom on the first floor and quickly went up to shake hands with Chen Guiliang. It turned out that they were from the class of '99, a full five years ahead of Chen Guiliang, and that they owned their own company.

"Mr. Chen, my company does advertising design. I hope we can have the opportunity to cooperate in the future," the guy said, handing over his business card.

Chen Guiliang did not offer his business card, but simply accepted it and politely said, "I'll definitely do it if I have the chance."

This person wanted to have a deeper conversation, and several more alumni came over to shake hands.

Seeing that more and more alumni were surging over and Chen Guiliang was about to be surrounded, Xie Yang sent a WeChat message to Xu Haibo: "Bobo, let's find another place quickly, we can't have fun at school anymore."

Xu Haibo replied, "Then let's go to the place where we're having dinner tonight in advance."

“Okay,” Xie Yang said.

Tao Xue, however, was led to another classroom by a junior member of the student council.

She stood at the classroom door and looked inside. There were more than ten people sitting there, but only one of them was her classmate. The others were either in the same grade or a year or two below her.

Not interesting.

"Someone shouted that Master Chen is here?" The classroom became lively, and people got up and went outside.

Tao Xue quickly stepped aside and retreated to the side of the classroom door.

She looked at Chen Guiliang, who was surrounded in the distance, feeling both annoyed and amused, and also a little melancholy.

She also wanted to catch up with her old classmates.

……

There were many activities at school tonight, including fireworks that lasted for a full half hour, and lanterns lit up the entire campus.

Chen Guiliang's class, however, had already left early.

At the same time, some videos related to Chen Guiliang appeared online.

Drone videos are incredibly popular!

"Holy crap, what kind of high-tech is this?"

"Is the whole package really under 10,000 yuan?"

"Haha, I searched for DJI drones and found they're available on JD.com. I've already sold everything I own to buy one!"

"Old Master Chen is awesome, he created this thing without making a sound."

“I know DJI. A few years ago during the economic crisis, DJI couldn’t pay salaries, and more than half of its employees left. At that time, I went to apply for a job with my classmate, but the salary was too low, so I didn’t take it. My classmate, on the other hand, got the job. Damn it, I regret it so much. If I had stayed, I would definitely have been a veteran.”

"I hereby officially declare that Mr. Chen is the number one person in China's high-tech industry!"

"What nonsense are you spouting? There are plenty of these products overseas, they've been used to death by them, they're nothing high-tech."

"It's not even high-tech. If you're so good, why don't you do it yourself?"

"..."

Pengcheng.

Wang Tao was having dinner at home when he suddenly received a call from his best friend.

"Old Wang, sales on JD.com are skyrocketing!!!"

"what's the situation?"

"Mr. Chen used our drone in front of many reporters. Some alumni recorded the video and uploaded it online."

"This will cause sales to skyrocket?"

"You really don't know Mr. Chen's influence? From 7 pm to now, in just over an hour, more than 800 sets of bare machines and gimbals have been sold."

"Then we need to continue expanding production capacity."

DJI's overseas sales channels were built on selling flight control systems. Over the years, they have accumulated a large number of loyal users. At the end of last year, they launched the Phantom 2 Vision, which attracted a lot of attention from existing users and resulted in supply falling short of demand.

A few months ago, you had to wait in line to buy a DJI drone!

With demand exceeding supply in overseas markets, why would Wang Tao be in a hurry to expand into the domestic market? He only opened DJI's online store on JD.com a month ago, and without any advertising or promotion.

For the past six months, Wang Tao has focused his main efforts on building his own factory.

When DJI first chose the site and acquired the land, the sales of DJI drones had not yet exploded. It was only with additional investment from Chen Guiliang that the factory was built.

Without Chen Guiliang's investment, DJI would have had to seek venture capital, which truly allowed Sequoia Capital to get a great deal.

(End of this chapter)