Like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each demonstrated their unique powers.
After half a month of online voting by Shanchi Tech, the locations for the three celebrity spokespersons' offline fan meetings were finally determined.
Driven by online astroturfing, the chosen cities for the spokespersons aligned with Tan Jincheng's wishes; besides Yicheng which sparked some controversy, there were no major disputes elsewhere.
Perhaps motivated by the dangling hook of contract renewal, Tianyu was quite cooperative this time, posing no particularly difficult challenges.
Hu Xiaoyong had been quite excited these past few days.
Although it wasn't the idol Jay Chou coming to Yicheng, Brother Chun's popularity was also considerable, and he himself had voted for Super Girl.
Having connections at the top really makes things easier.
Such a good opportunity landed in his brother-in-law's store.
Although Hu Xiaoyong liked to lie flat, he was absolutely dedicated to this task.
The aura of celebrities was still very strong in this era, and ordinary people took pride in getting close to stars.
"Be diligent, don't mess it up,"
Tan Lixin cautioned.
He had also been in the store these past few days.
His nephew, unaware that he had already expanded the storefront, had provided such an excellent publicity opportunity.
This year, his store in Yicheng was going to become famous.
A celebrity endorsement was like being granted a small fortune; this store would definitely be popular in Yicheng from now on.
This nephew was reliable; when it came to benefits, he truly looked out for his family.
"Brother-in-law, don't worry. Shanchi Tech's marketing team is handling things. I'm just cooperating with them; I won't mess it up."
"You still need to pay attention. After this event, our store will probably become quite well-known in Yicheng. You'll be busy from now on, so you can't be so sloppy anymore. Do things seriously."
"Got it, got it. Brother-in-law, when will there be a chance to take me to visit your nephew's company? You haven't been there either, right?"
Hu Xiaoyong was genuinely curious about Tan Jincheng now.
He was incredibly impressive.
Three spokespersons, nine cities for promotion, all highly popular celebrities – how much would that cost?
Moreover, this nephew of his brother-in-law was several years younger than him, yet already worth a billion yuan.
He had never met a billionaire before and wondered what kind of life they led.
Tan Lixin was also a little tempted, but this wasn't something he could decide.
It was truly difficult to meet this nephew now.
Should he try to persuade Brother Lihua to go to Beicang again?
There weren't any holidays recently, so it would be hard to ask him to take time off.
"You should learn how to do business properly, and work diligently. If you perform well, it's not impossible."
He couldn't show weakness in front of his brother-in-law.
"Okay, okay, I'll definitely work hard,"
Hu Xiaoyong said happily.
Meanwhile, in Yongcheng and Shanghai, two large electric vehicle dealerships, like Tan Lixin's, were preparing for the celebrity on-site promotion scheduled for two days later, July 2nd.
Unlike Tan Lixin's store, these two large dealerships were Shanchi Tech's direct-operated stores.
The first round of celebrity fan meetings was set for Yongcheng, Shanghai, and Yicheng; the second round for Hangzhou, Jiangcheng, and Chengdu; and the third round for Nanning, Didu, and Xiangcheng.
Each round was a week apart, with three cities holding events on the same day.
The promotions created a chain effect, also encouraging a sense of competition among fans. In those years, fan culture wasn't as extreme, but genuine fans still cared about whose idol had more prominence.
Shanchi Tech innovated once again by using celebrity fan meetings to boost regional popularity and drive fan consumption, thereby increasing sales during the peak season for electric vehicles, following Liu Yifei's act as a salesperson at the Shanghai Auto Show.
Other manufacturers were equally unwilling to lag.
Xinri launched its "2006 Xinri Electric Vehicle Sunshine Strategy: Jiangnan Chapter" on June 28th, starting in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, with promotions radiating across the entire Yangtze River Delta region.
Yadea also launched large-scale promotional activities in the western Sichuan-Chongqing area and the Yangtze River Delta region.
Lvyuan, which was a step behind in marketing and publicity, was also unwilling to stand still, attempting to solidify its existing market by integrating suppliers.
The most competitive region was arguably the Jiangnan area, led by Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.
The four major brands in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, which were also currently the top four best-selling brands nationwide, invested heavily in regional marketing.
Only the bosses of brick-and-mortar businesses were relatively restrained; selling electric vehicles merely involved offering some discounts and promotions.
If this were the internet industry, four leading companies concentrating their marketing in one region would lead to a spending war.
As leading companies launched major promotions to welcome the first peak sales season since the industry's major explosion, manufacturers in the lower ranks would not sit idly by.
Necessary promotional activities had to keep up, and some retail terminal businesses would even launch their own store events.
In industry terms, this summer in the Yangtze River Delta was going to be a dogfight.
And for the internet during the summer, Tan Jincheng also had a plan ready.
At this moment, Tan Jincheng was intently playing on a computer in the CEO's office at Orange Tech.
That's right, Tan Jincheng was conducting internal beta testing for Kaixin001.
Cheng Hao and Gu Yanling, standing behind him, were somewhat nervous.
Cheng Hao was nervous because Tan Jincheng, as an investor, usually barely bothered with company matters.
He was anxious about whether Kaixin001 and Happy Farm would satisfy Tan Jincheng, and whether the product, once launched, would be accepted by netizens.
Besides the Happy Farm project, Gu Yanling was also a bit curious.
Accompanying her "brother-in-law" Tan Jincheng, besides Gu Qingqing who was already on holiday, was a lady who was heavily wrapped but had a slender figure.
After entering the office, the lady removed her disguise, and Gu Yanling realized it was Liu Yifei.
Of course, she was so excited she nearly jumped.
Her mood had calmed down a bit now, but she was still curious how her "brother-in-law" had brought Liu Yifei here.
Compared to Gu Yanling, Cheng Hao was better off.
On one hand, he was already 34; on the other, he was a tech guy and had served as an executive.
In the prosperous years of the "Pig Factory" a few years ago, celebrities were often invited to annual meetings and such.
Although impressed by Liu Yifei's looks, he wasn't overly excited.
"Both of you register too. We'll add each other as friends, then I'll test the features,"
Tan Jincheng said with a smile to Gu Qingqing and Liu Yifei, who were sitting on either side of him, after he finished fiddling with his registration information.
Gu Qingqing showed no particular reaction; she was also busy with her registration information.
Liu Yifei, however, asked warily,
"You won't use my registration information for publicity, will you?"
Due to flight schedules, Liu Yifei returned to China a day early.
After arriving in Yongcheng and going over tomorrow's promotion schedule with the Shanchi Tech marketing department staff, she had a brief window of free time.
Not wanting to return to the hotel, she heard that Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing were coming to Orange Tech today for network testing, so she curiously tagged along.
Liu Xiaoli knew her daughter had been under immense pressure recently, and with the intention of letting her relax, she didn't object, only asking Tan Jincheng to be careful not to expose Liu Yifei's whereabouts.
"You underestimate me too much. I have strong contractual ethics, okay? As long as you don't agree, I certainly won't expose your information. Besides, even if you used your real name, someone would have to believe it. Who would believe a celebrity would join a website that's just in internal beta?"
Liu Yifei thought about it and indeed, it was true.
Although this guy liked to take advantage, he never seemed to act on his own initiative.
On the contrary, she had once taken the initiative to use him for publicity.
"You're right. I'll just register to play and see if that 'friend trading' game you mentioned is fun."
Kaixin001 had more than just Happy Farm built-in; "Friend Trading" was Kaixin001's initial marketing strategy.
In addition, there were plans for other social mini-games such as Parking Wars.
Having just registered and with no friends, Tan Jincheng naturally couldn't experience Friend Trading.
Besides Gu Qingqing and Liu Yifei, Tan Jincheng also added Gu Yanling and Cheng Hao as friends.
Gu Qingqing had been in touch with the project development team earlier, so she got started quickly.
To be honest, she was also a bit nervous.
Although she hadn't managed much, she was still the CEO of Orange Tech and had also applied for a university student entrepreneurship project.
Her father had also invested 3 million yuan.
Orange Tech was not only about whether Cheng Hao could start anew, but also Gu Qingqing's first truly meaningful venture.
The success or failure of the Kaixin001 project was equally important to her.
While Liu Yifei was still bewildered, Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing had already gotten the hang of it.
Although Tan Jincheng hadn't been deeply involved in this project, in his previous life, he was one of those who set alarms to "steal vegetables," so he was very familiar with Kaixin001.
It was as if he had suddenly returned to those carefree, wealthy, and bored youthful days, fresh from selling lunchboxes.
"What is this website for? Just adding friends and playing games?"
Liu Yifei roughly understood after exploring for a while.
The interface was simple, and it didn't seem difficult to get started.
Liu Yifei also added Gu Qingqing and Tan Jincheng as friends, but after exploring for a bit, she didn't feel there was anything special compared to other websites.
"Explain it to her,"
Tan Jincheng said with a smile to Cheng Hao behind him, then introduced to Liu Yifei,
"This is our CTO, our Chief Technology Officer. He developed this website."
Gu Qingqing also introduced Gu Yanling.
The two of them, having just followed them in, didn't dare to ask too many questions.
The boss, his girlfriend, plus a big celebrity – the combination felt a little strange.
When it came to professional questions, Cheng Hao became enthusiastic, and his nervous mood eased somewhat:
"The core of Kaixin001 is social mini-games. Its social attributes are different from the currently popular QQ. In 2006, although QQ also played a role in familiar social circles, more of its attributes were geared towards stranger social interaction."
Chatting in various QQ groups, getting to know a compatible netizen in a game, adding them on QQ, sharing things they didn't know about each other, even without knowing each other in real life, they could chat about anything.
"Kaixin001's social attribute, however, is familiar social interaction, maintaining close ties with friends, colleagues, classmates, and family, expanding and deepening one's circle. For corporate users, it's also a real marketing node, allowing them to interact with their consumers."
"Familiar social interaction? Wouldn't that be very awkward? And wouldn't it involve privacy?"
As expected of a big celebrity, she thought of privacy when familiar people were mentioned, directly hitting the pain point of familiar social interaction.
Just like WeChat Moments, later on, nobody posted much because everyone was familiar, and it felt awkward to post.
Tan Jincheng chuckled and interjected,
"Our website is entertainment-oriented, like good friends playing games together. As you've seen, it only offers sharing of photos, diaries, reposts, and such. These functions are similar to Qzone, so privacy is relatively better."
To use a simple analogy, it's like friends playing games together; they are familiar, but it doesn't involve each other's private lives.
Moreover, in those years, the number of netizens was less than 200 million, and those who accessed the internet were predominantly young people, not as exaggerated as when elders lurked in WeChat Moments during the information explosion era of later generations.
Privacy? What privacy? They were just eager to pull more friends in to play together.
——
Cheng Hao and Gu Yanling were greatly shaken!
The young boss indeed didn't understand technology; if the computer had a problem, he only knew to restart it, and couldn't even install a system.
But he truly understood products! After just trying it out for a while, he brought up a pile of suggestions.
"Boss, you could switch careers and become an excellent product manager,"
Cheng Hao exclaimed.
Could the registration method be simplified further?
Later, after the website officially launched, they should try to discuss one-click login with QQ and MSN to drive traffic from these two software platforms.
Additionally, could the in-game currency for different games be made universal?
This would prevent separate calculations for different games' currencies, which would hinder users' enthusiasm for trying more applications and impede future product integration.
Since entertainment was the differentiating factor from other SNS products, it had to be distinctive, and all product attributes should be designed around the word "entertainment."
The boss's suggestions were all very constructive.
Besides the suggestions, the boss also demonstrated his marketing strategy, renowned in the electric vehicle industry, which was that Kaixin001 would adopt a viral marketing approach.
Kaixin001's main target user group was white-collar workers, making cooperation with MSN crucial.
As for QQ, that would be a matter for after Happy Farm launched.
Although Happy Farm's development was complete, it wouldn't be released all at once.
The essence of the internet is users.
First, there must be a sufficient user base.
With enough users, you can do anything you want.
Cooperation with MSN was particularly critical.
"We must finalize cooperation with MSN. Through MSN, Kaixin001 will obtain user data. After a user registers for Kaixin001, MSN will automatically send invitation links to their MSN friends, inviting them to join Kaixin001."
"We can be a bit shameless; these invitations can be sent multiple times within a day, dozens of links are fine. The point is to find ways to get them to register for Kaixin001. Once registered, this pattern can be replicated, becoming the next propagation node."
Everyone present had an MSN account, and they could imagine the power of Tan Jincheng's rogue marketing method.
Assuming each person had 50 to 100 MSN friends, even if only one friend accepted the invitation and registered for Kaixin001,
The resulting fission would be terrifying!
It must be said that while this marketing method was quite shameless and could easily cause resentment among some MSN users, it was truly very effective.
Liu Yifei's eyes widened, full of disbelief.
"That's too shameless, his heart is black! Is this how marketing is done?"
(End of Chapter)