America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 463 Where there are people, there is a world of martial arts.

Leaving the technical department, Ernst asked as he walked back, "Where's Ake? How's he doing? Has the rollout plan been finalized?"

Many of the executives at Flash Sale were around me; we just watched the online store together.

But some are not here, such as Dahlzel and Vidal, as well as marketing director Ak Meir.

"He's been traveling between several universities in California lately, and he went to Stanford yesterday. I don't know if he's back yet."

Upon hearing this, Ernst abruptly stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at Affili, his eyes filled with an unfathomable depth. After a moment, he resumed his steps and continued walking towards the office.

He understood what the other person meant; it wasn't about trying to sow discord, but rather a reminder and a sign of concern.

Within Google, the existence of the Stanford clique is an open secret.

Although this group does not have a clear organizational structure, a significant proportion of its management, middle-level managers, and core business positions are filled by Stanford University graduates.

This kind of implicit group formed based on alumni relationships inevitably develops some special emotional connections in daily work.

From a human nature perspective, this emotional connection formed by a shared educational background is difficult to change easily.

Within Google, employees who graduated from Stanford University often have a natural affinity for new employees who also come from Stanford, and unconsciously offer them subtle conveniences in terms of work collaboration, resource allocation, and opportunity provision.

For example, when recruiting or selecting candidates for promotion, when two candidates have similar professional skills, work experience, and other hard qualifications, emotions become the key factor influencing their decision.

Ake Meir, the head of marketing for Flash Sale, may not have come from Google, but he is a Stanford graduate.

He was Marissa's senior colleague at Google, and it was she who recommended him to Ernst.

Clearly, Affili doesn't want a Stanford clique to form within Flash Sale.

When subordinates are united, it's not necessarily a good thing for the leader.

Ernst's company maintains a very close working relationship with Stanford University and his alma mater, USC, a fact widely known throughout Silicon Valley and the American business community.

This cooperation extends beyond talent recruitment to include collaborative research projects, technology transfer, and practical training for students.

Several Silicon Valley tech companies have publicly sued Ernst's company, arguing that it monopolizes top tech talent in California, which constitutes unfair competition and severely stifles the development of other tech companies.

Both USC and Stanford University are currently ranked among the top five in the United States for computer science.

This has created a strange phenomenon that makes other tech companies resent Google: top talents trained by these two universities often give priority to joining Ernst's companies.

Media reports have also revealed that Ernst's companies always receive special treatment at the annual campus recruitment fairs held by USC and Stanford University. They are allowed to enter the campus first to conduct recruitment, and the university only allows other companies to enter the campus to recruit after Ernst's companies have completed their recruitment process.

However, after the incident was exposed, both USC and Stanford University publicly denied the existence of preferential recruitment and adjusted their campus recruitment policies, establishing a unified recruitment period.

Even so, some people have discovered that Ernst's companies received some implicit preferential treatment during the campus recruitment process.

Other companies typically hold their recruitment events in public spaces designated by the school, while Ernst's companies always hold their campus recruitment events in a separate auditorium on campus.

The school explained that the venue arrangements were due to the shortage of venue resources during the campus recruitment season, and that the venues for some companies were optimized and adjusted in order to improve recruitment efficiency.

But whether they are students at Stanford University or USC, they all know tacitly that as long as that fixed dedicated auditorium on campus is opened and used for campus recruitment, the companies that will be recruiting there will inevitably be Ernst's companies.

For businesses, doing this is definitely beneficial.

It can attract more top talents and cooperate with schools to train technical personnel who are more in line with the needs of enterprises, so as to achieve a precise match between talent training and enterprise needs and reduce the subsequent talent training costs of enterprises.

However, there are also downsides. Just like Google today, it has formed the Stanford faction and the USC faction.

However, Ernst completely disregarded Affili's concerns, as he did not consider it a problem at all.

In the current context of a shortage of skilled technical personnel, this may be a problem.

In a few years, the supply of talent in the market will exceed the demand, and there will be plenty of them.

If these Stanford and USC cliques dare to cause trouble, Ernst could fire them all and immediately find suitable replacements.

There will absolutely be no situation where a collective coup occurs, or where the power becomes too great to control.

When they arrived at Affili's office, Ak Meier was already there, sitting and waiting.

The reason for calling them over was to have a meeting between management to discuss the promotion of the upcoming flash sale.

Even the best wine needs advertising; good marketing is essential for a product to gain wider acceptance.

Later internet companies that targeted ordinary users all spent huge sums on promotion in the early stages, and even the acquisition of each user was clearly priced.

In this day and age, hoping to develop quietly and accumulate a good reputation is simply impossible.

Later, a very important metric for investment institutions investing in internet companies was the cost of acquiring a single user.

Simply put, it's the cost per user calculated by dividing the various advertising expenses of this internet company by the total number of users.

The lower the cost, the more attractive the company is, the better its reputation, and the better it can retain users.

Why is marketing becoming increasingly important in the overall environment?

Companies that value technology also value marketing, but companies that value marketing may not value technology. However, there are certainly no companies that value technology but not marketing.

Even if the product itself isn't great, a well-executed marketing strategy can still attract a large number of consumers and significantly boost sales.

What's with the "No gifts this holiday season, except for Brain Gold" slogan?

And then there's "Huiyuan Kidney Tonic, it benefits him and me."

The success of these products in the market fully demonstrates the importance of marketing strategies. A simple yet impactful phrase can be deeply imprinted in consumers' minds, making it unforgettable.

This strong brand impression can create a misconception in consumers' minds, making them believe that these products are better than similar products and should therefore have a higher price.

Although many consumers complain and question the high prices and marketing methods of these products, judging from the sales data, these complaints and questions have not had a significant impact on the market performance of the products.

On the contrary, these products continued to create new miracles in sales, with sales revenue increasing year by year, becoming a classic marketing case in business history.

Ernst also planned to launch a nationwide brainwashing campaign with flash sales, but the plan was rejected by Ak as soon as it was proposed.

He doesn't deny the importance of masturbation, nor does he think there's anything wrong with masturbating on TV and in the media, but he feels there's a problem with the scope of masturbation's influence.

"Outdoor advertising is fine, and traditional offline media promotion is also possible, but do we really need to invest such a large amount of effort?" Ak questioned.

"Flash sales primarily target urban customers, and our online-offline integrated model can only cover cities. It's impossible to cover sparsely populated rural towns, it's never going to happen."

That's true. Some towns only have a population of three to five hundred people. Are they going to arrange deliverymen to connect with offline stores?

This is simply unrealistic. No company in America would ever do this, not in a lifetime. It's a business destined to lose money.

"Therefore, I believe our sales focus should be on cities, specifically medium to large cities with populations exceeding 2. As for cities with populations under 2, I don't think they have much potential, and there's really no need to invest in offline advertising; online Google coverage is sufficient."

Affili nodded in agreement with Acker's statement, but Ernst still had a different opinion.

Do you know how many people live in small towns in the United States?

Acker was well-prepared for Ernst's question and answered fluently: "The population of towns with fewer than 5000 people is about 4200 million, which accounts for about 16.5% of the total population of the United States."

Ernst was pleased to find that Acker had actually done the research.

The United States does not have a concept of rural population, nor does it have professional statistics on this.

Even in rural towns, the population varies greatly, ranging from tens of thousands to just a few hundred.

However, these are mostly towns with a population of over a thousand, so what Ak was referring to was the population of towns with a population of less than 5000.

"Do you think they have a choice?" Ernst asked again.

Ak frowned, and Ernst continued, "In these places, you might not make money offline, but there is a vast market potential online."

"Their basic needs for food, clothing, housing, and transportation are likely limited to a few fixed stores, unlike urban residents who have more choices. Therefore, online shopping will open a new door for them."

"When they find that products are cheaper online, I believe the conversion rate for these 40 million people will be higher than that for the urban population."