America: My Time

Chapter 1197 Pressure
Chapter 1187 Pressure

If the Chinese film market weren't currently sluggish and lacking in influence, John would have been keen to invest in a fashion film to promote luxury brands! John knows how much influence a film can have on a brand; Hollywood has its own experience with this, but nowadays no film company is willing to do such a thing. They won't do anything without benefits, even Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and MGM.

Although John has always had this idea, he has never been able to put it into action. He has plans for not only luxury brands, but also cars and other things, but nothing is easy. The interests involved are too great, and he needs to be fully prepared. Otherwise, it is easy to make mistakes and waste time and money.

"Boss, this matter has been completely handed over to us, which puts a bit of pressure on us. I'm afraid we won't do a good job!" Wang Jinhua also had a wry smile on her face. She didn't expect things to turn out this way. The boss would entrust her with the task of promoting a luxury brand. Although there would be financial support, she really had no experience in this area!

"Don't worry or feel pressured. I understand the situation in China. If all else fails, gather all the signed artists together and discuss whose style is more suitable. This time, apart from Chanel, the other brands don't have many requirements. They just want people to know and understand the brand! It's not that they don't value the Chinese market, but they don't have much energy. After all, they went through a split and have just stabilized. They are now focused on their own expansion and development, so the publicity in China can only be handled by Phoenix Group!"

Although Wang Jinhua wasn't familiar with this business, she had some understanding of the overall environment in China, making her more reliable than sending personnel from luxury brand companies. Of course, major brands weren't entirely without a presence here; they had brand stores in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

However, this was not their achievement, but rather John's. John had prepared those brand stores in advance. He had invested in so many industries in China and made a lot of profits every year. A small portion of those profits was invested in retail in advance. John would naturally not let go of those important locations!
Compared to Europe and America, and even South Korea and Japan, John preferred to invest in China. The reason was simple: here, he didn't have to worry about investment obstacles or anyone hindering his efforts. Precisely because of this, in the more than ten years John has invested in China, he hasn't transferred any profits out of the country; they've all been reinvested. For a vast and resource-rich country like China, John's investment is insignificant. However, John's investment has brought about tremendous changes in China. At least with John's example, those investors no longer worry about the security of their investments.

"Boss, why don't you take charge? I really don't have the confidence to do it alone!" If she does it well, she will be credited; if she does it poorly, she will be affected. Since the boss is there, Wang Jinhua naturally doesn't want to shoulder this heavy responsibility alone, even though John has said so beforehand.

Wang Jinhua still had a slight resistance to business she was unfamiliar with, worrying that doing it poorly would be detrimental to her future development. Moreover, she didn't have that much time. With the rapid expansion of Phoenix Group, she was under considerable pressure, so making this choice at this time was understandable.

“Okay, we’ll oversee it together, but you need to understand that the promotion is still your responsibility. You also need to increase your efforts in the Phoenix Group’s projects. Don’t worry about anything, and don’t care about short-term gains or losses!” John reminded Wang Jinhua not to care about short-term gains or losses, but to have a long-term vision.

Nowadays, these luxury brands are not profit-driven, but only aim to cultivate the market. If Phoenix Group makes exorbitant demands, it will affect the cooperation between the two parties. Even if John is the boss of both parties, it will be difficult to handle this matter! In promoting these luxury brands, John has chosen artists signed by Phoenix Group, which can be considered as resource sharing.

Phoenix Group already wields considerable influence. Although this was just an internal selection process, it had a significant impact on the entire Chinese entertainment industry and on the actresses in question. These actresses were potential spokespeople for top global luxury brands. Regardless of the endorsement fees, the mere influence of their fame was enough to make many people envious.

Naturally, this situation attracted many people who wanted to collaborate with Phoenix Group and recommend themselves. This significantly impacted Wang Jinhua, with many people in the industry approaching her, eyeing these brand endorsements. Fortunately, Wang Jinhua was prepared and pushed all the blame onto John. Her boss was still in Beijing, and the decision was his; she had no say in it. Even though many knew this might just be an excuse, they couldn't do anything about it. After all, he had a valid reason, and Phoenix Group was not something they could challenge. As for approaching John, they simply didn't have the qualifications; their status and position weren't enough to make them even consider it.

Of course, some people saw this and had the idea of ​​joining the Phoenix Group, thinking that this would give them a chance. Unfortunately, even if they had this idea, the Phoenix Group would not accept it. When they invited these guys before, none of them were willing to agree. Now that they saw this opportunity, they had the idea again. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Moreover, Wang Jinhua would not agree. If she did that, she would be slapping herself in the face!
John didn't pay much attention to this matter; after all, it was just a trivial matter, and it wasn't the time for luxury brands to run rampant yet. John's focus now was on dealing with the provocations and tests from Soros and his cronies. Behind these actions were many more figures, and if he did nothing, they would become even more unscrupulous. However, bringing this matter into the open was somewhat inappropriate.

At this time and under these circumstances, making a big fuss about it and bringing it into the open would be a slap in the face to everyone. Even John, a tycoon of the American financial group, would not want to see such a situation happen, as it would mean that he would be on the opposite side of everyone. Therefore, he needed to find a reasonable way to give the other party a warning, but it could not be too obvious and the public could not notice it. Everything had to be kept out of the open!

This will test John's wisdom: how to warn Soros and his backers without alerting the public or letting others notice, so they will restrain themselves and not go too far.

Directly issuing a warning is impossible, sitting down for a discussion is also out of the question, and even using Morgan to issue a warning is inappropriate, given Morgan's involvement this time. Faced with isolation from everyone, John is unable to use many of his methods, and he cannot even leverage Morgan, with whom he has a close relationship.

Of course, John had considered asking the old man for help. After all, the old man was one of the bigwigs at Donkey, and if he spoke up, Donkey would naturally react, and the message would be passed up the chain of command. However, John decided against it. This was his own matter and he couldn't involve the family. If the old man got involved, it would inevitably be linked to the family, creating unnecessary problems for them, since this matter had nothing to do with the family!
"Tomima, Sachiko, you two help me think of a way to warn those guys discreetly, without letting outsiders know, and ideally, only those who are familiar with them should know about it!"

When they heard John's words, both Lee Boo-jin and Sachiko Kamachi were surprised. It was far too difficult; how could anyone possibly meet such conditions? Sachiko Kamachi didn't know much about the matter, but Lee Boo-jin understood why John was asking this. It was a financial war, and although it hadn't yet ignited a full-blown conflict between them, she could tell from John's words the seriousness of the situation!
"You overestimate our abilities. You can't even find a solution yourself, so how can we offer any good suggestions? If all else fails, find a middleman to relay the message. After all, those guys will be wary!"

John shook his head and said, "This won't work. Middlemen are unreliable, and they're hard to find anyway. I've already made arrangements; Naoko's trip was my way of showing them that I'm serious. But those guys clearly didn't take my warnings seriously, otherwise, the Standard Chartered situation wouldn't have happened. Although this gives Standard Chartered a reason to act recklessly and reap some assets, it's not the result I wanted, and it's a bit of a loss!"

John wasn't exaggerating. Unlike Soros and his ilk, he was in the real business, so it was best not to operate in the open. If those guys hadn't gone too far, John wouldn't have had Standard Chartered Bank step in and come out of the shadows, as that conflicted with his plans!

If possible, John would prefer that Standard Chartered Bank continue to act more mild-mannered and less intimidating, ideally blending into the local environment. However, this time, due to Soros's scheming, Standard Chartered Bank's operations in Southeast Asia have been significantly affected, and may even impact its overall operations across Asia. How could this not infuriate and worry John?

(End of this chapter)