Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

Chapter five hundred and seventy

A woman is picking out curling irons at a Yamada Denki chain store near a university in Japan. This woman doesn't look very old, only about twenty years old, she should be a college student at a nearby university.

Moments later, the female college student selected a Puppy brand curling iron.

Curling sticks are not high-tech, and the production process is not complicated. Puppy Electric has been successfully developed early.

Simple small household appliances like this are not expensive, have a simple structure, do not have high added value, and have no technological content, and rely entirely on small profits but quick turnover.

Products with low added value are obviously not suitable for production in Japan. After all, Japan's labor costs are too high.

The labor cost in China is much lower than that in Japan, and the price of curling irons produced in China is naturally lower.

Relying on the lower price, the curling iron of Puppy Electric has achieved very good sales after it was launched on the market, and quickly occupied a place in the Japanese market.

This is also thanks to the fact that Puppy Electric has Yamada Denki as an important sales channel. If it is replaced by other Chinese brands, even if it produces high-quality and cheap products, there is no channel to enter the Japanese market.

After all, it is difficult for non-Japanese brands to enter Japanese home appliance retailers.

In an era dominated by brick-and-mortar stores, the real kings of the retail industry are those offline retailers. As long as the products are highly praised by retailers, they will often have good sales.

In the era of the rise of e-commerce in later generations, offline physical retailers have become less important. If you have money, it is more cost-effective to get hundreds of thousands of positive reviews than advertising.

Of course, the situation in Japan is quite special. Even in the era of the Internet, e-commerce companies in various countries have begun to rise, and Japan is still in an era dominated by the physical retail industry.

As the end of school time approached, there were more and more shops in the store. Most of them were female college students who were studying nearby. What they chose were curling irons, face thinners, and other simple beauty equipment.

Thank you for your patronage, please go slowly! The store manager Hasegawa sent a female customer to the door, and kept bowing until the female customer walked away, then straightened up and returned to the store.

Manager, the sales of this hair curler are very good, we should order another batch. The young clerk Kawata Taro said.

Store manager Hasegawa nodded: Our customers here are mainly female college students, and this kind of small beauty equipment will be more popular. As far as I know, in those shops near the living area, the customers are all married wives , they are more inclined to buy some more expensive beauty equipment.

Of course, housewives control the family's financial power, so they naturally have the money to buy expensive products. For college students, many of them need to work part-time to earn tuition fees. To buy a curling iron, you need to save money!

Kawata Taro sighed, and continued, It's a pity that I don't have the opportunity to go to university, and I can't experience university life. Looking at these college students, I really envy their lives!

Yeah, college life is great! the store manager Hasegawa said with emotion.

Shop Manager, have you ever been to college? Kawata Taro asked.

No. I'm like you. I've been out to work since I graduated from high school. The store manager Hasegawa shook his head.

Taro Kawata suddenly asked with a puzzled look on his face: The store manager has never been to college, so how does he know that college life is good?

I also know that I'm not clingy! Manager Hasegawa laughed strangely.

The Asian financial crisis naturally had a severe impact on Japan's economy, especially in the two years of 1997 and 1998, Japan's economy suffered a severe contraction.

However, the economic downturn has not affected the women's consumer market, and the sales of some products specifically aimed at women have risen instead of falling.

This is a very peculiar economic phenomenon. The more depressed the economy is, the more women will dress up to show off their beauty.

In the Japanese market, the sales of cosmetics and beauty products have risen instead of falling, and the business of hair salons has also improved a lot.

Puppy Electric entered the Japanese market by relying on beauty equipment at the beginning, so in this wave of economic downturn, it has achieved very good sales results.

What's more, Puppy Electric also has the advertising support of Takuya Kimura.

Johnny's is the most famous brokerage firm in Japan, and it is also the brokerage firm that excavated Takuya Kimura.

Inside the office, President Kitagawa looked at the TV, and there was a TV advertisement of Kimura Takuya on it.

I saw Takuya Kimura holding something similar to an electric razor in his hand, but the position of the blade was a red metal ring.

At this time, the narration advertisement sounded: Puppy ace skin beautifying instrument, a professional anti-aging expert, can effectively solve dry and loose skin, sagging and expanding the face, and eliminate static wrinkles, making the skin more moist, firm and smooth. Resilient, overall improved skin texture...

The advertisements were nothing more than bragging about how useful this skin beautifying instrument is, but President Kitagawa didn't pay attention to these advertisements. He kept his eyes on the TV screen and looked at Takuya Kimura on it.

I haven't seen this advertisement, is it Kimura-kun's new advertisement? Murura-kun looks so young, like a few years ago! No, this seems to be Kimura-kun from a few years ago! President Kitagawa frowned Suddenly wrinkled.

Takuya Kimura is the number one cash cow of Johnny's Office. President Kitagawa is naturally very familiar with him, so he recognized him after a closer look. This is Takuya Kimura from a few years ago.

Judging from Kimura-kun's age, this should be an advertisement filmed four or five years ago. Why is the advertisement four or five years ago aired now? Kitagawa was puzzled.

After hesitating for a moment, he picked up the phone and called Iijima Sanchi.

Mitomo Iijima is Takuya Kimura's agent, and also the most powerful man under President Kitagawa's command. President Kitagawa even plans to train Mitomo Iijima as his successor.

Thanks to Kimura Takuya's popularity, Iijima Sanchi is also known as Japan's number one female agent. However, fans of Takuya Kimura don't like this person.

There are many reports in the Japanese media, saying that the relationship between Iijima Santomo and Kimura Takuya is not good, and they are squeezing Kimura Takuya.

For example, it was reported that Sanchi Iijima deliberately refused to let Takuya Kimura take over the film, and asked him to shoot more commercials. It wasn't until the film director personally found Takuya Kimura that Takuya Kimura knew that he had the opportunity to be the leading actor in the movie.

In the entertainment circle of any country, movie cafes are a level higher than TV drama cafes. Deliberately not allowing Takuya Kimura to make movies is obviously not good for his career development.

There are also reports that Santomo Iijima is very opposed to Takuya Kimura's relationship, and even tried every means to break up Takuya Kimura and Shizuka Kudo.

If it wasn't because Takuya Kimura was too famous, maybe the moment he announced that he was going to marry Shizuka Kudo was the moment when he was hidden by the snow.

Similar to the black news about Sanzhi Iijima, the media reported a lot, but the specifics were true or false, but the parties did not respond, only the revelations and interviews of the so-called media people, and various rumors.

Iijima Sanzhi came to President Kitagawa's office, and President Kitagawa pressed the repeat button, allowing Iijima Sanzhi to see Kimura Takuya's advertisement.

This should be the commercial that Kimura-kun shot a few years ago? President Kitagawa asked.

Mitomo Iijima looked at the ad and answered, This should be an ad shot by Kimura-kun in 1995.

The advertisement filmed in 1995 was already four years ago. Why did it only air now? President Kitagawa asked.

Iijima Sanchi recalled it carefully, and then answered: I remember Kimura-kun filmed several commercials for this brand at that time, but none of them were aired immediately. The fastest broadcast was also in 1996.

The reason given by the client at that time was that their products had not yet entered the Japanese market, and they were negotiating channel agency issues with retailers, so the advertisements had to be broadcast later.

Hasn't entered the Japanese market? Is this a foreign brand? President Kitagawa immediately asked.

Mitomo Iijima nodded: It's a home appliance brand from China.

Chinese home appliances? Can they also be sold in Japan? Why do we accept advertisements from Chinese people? By the way, I remembered, they seemed to have given a double price!

Chairman Kitagawa finally recalled what happened four years ago.

At that time, Li Weidong came to invite Takuya Kimura to shoot an advertisement with double the quotation. Mitomo Iijima also personally asked President Kitagawa for instructions. Since President Kitagawa was greedy for money, he agreed and felt that he finally caught a winner. , If you don’t make money, you don’t make it for nothing.

The double price allowed Johnny \u0026 Associates to make a fortune, but President Kitagawa never imagined that the commercials shot back then would not be aired until now.

But now, when President Kitagawa saw the advertisement, he immediately realized that he had lost a lot!

How can Takuya Kimura four years ago compare with Takuya Kimura now?

Takuya Kimura four years ago was just a rookie with some achievements in the film and television industry, at best he could be regarded as a potential future star.

Today's Takuya Kimura is the top superstar in Japan. His influence in Japan is unprecedented!

There is a huge gap in commercial value between the two.

For Takuya Kimura back then, shooting an advertisement was only a few million yen in advertising fees. And now for Takuya Kimura, the advertising endorsement costs 100 million yen.

Puppy Electric suppressed the advertisement until today, which is equivalent to spending millions of yen in advertising fees to hire top celebrities worth hundreds of millions of yen. This must be a big profit.

For Johnny \u0026 Associates, this sale must be a huge loss.

President Kitagawa only felt that he was very unbalanced in his heart. Why should I, a superstar with hundreds of millions, only earn you a few million in advertising fees?

President Kitagawa took a deep breath and said, Kimura-kun should not have created such a low value. This is also a huge loss for us at Johnny's. We must make up for the loss.

You think of a way to see if you can get another sum of money from this puppy appliance to make up for our loss! Anyway, they have already made a lot of money through Kimura-kun's advertisement, and they should spit out some of it!

President, is it appropriate to do this? The advertising fees are settled immediately, and there has never been a precedent for asking customers for money in the future! And I am worried that if we do this, it will affect the reputation of our Johnny's firm. In the future, other customers They will discourage us! Sanchi Iijima reminded.

President Kitagawa curled his lips in disdain: If it is a Japanese home appliance brand, of course we can't do this, we have to abide by the spirit of the contract. But the other party is just a Chinese home appliance brand, why should we abide by any contract and ethics! It is more important to be able to obtain more benefits for the firm.

I understand! Mitomo Iijima nodded, and continued; This method is not impossible, if it succeeds, we may be able to make a profit of hundreds of millions of yen.

It's just that if the other party refuses to compromise and wants to fight us to the end, we will also lose millions of yen, and may even go to court.

A lawsuit in Japan? President Kitagawa immediately asked.

Of course it's in Japan. Iijima Sanchi nodded.

Then there is no problem! In a lawsuit in Japan, will we still be afraid of a Chinese company! President Kitagawa showed a disdainful expression again, and then said: Since the loss is at most a few million, then you let go go a head!

With a mask on his face, He An'an leaned lazily on the sofa, and Returning the Pearl was playing on the TV in front of him.

This was not the premiere of Returning the Pearl, but a rerun. As the most popular TV series at that time, even if it was a rerun, the ratings were still very good.

Li Weidong came over with a pot of tea, looked at Nanny Rong on the TV screen, and said, Didn't you watch it before?

I skipped and watched before. He An'an put a mask on his face, and his speech was a little slurred, but he seemed a little excited emotionally.

Li Weidong glanced at the TV again, and found that Nanny Rong was resting on the board, and immediately understood why He An'an was so excited.

The villain's beating is indeed a scene that makes the audience feel happy.

Nanny Rong screamed from being hit by the board, the queen finally couldn't bear it and jumped out, protecting Nanny Rong who was being hit by the board.

The queen said, Don't fight any more, let's die, Your Majesty!

After listening to this line, Li Weidong drank the tea in his mouth and almost spit it out. He really wanted to ask Nanny Rong's psychological shadow area.

This is not here to save Nanny Rong, I can't wait for Nanny Rong to die soon!

Aunt Qiong Yao's lines are indeed so magical!

He An'an obviously didn't get this point, she asked, What are you laughing at?

I think this drama is poisonous. Li Weidong replied.

From the perspective of future generations, Returning the Pearl is indeed a poisonous drama. Leaving aside the plot level, several leading actors have more or less accidents, and some are even bad actors and were completely banned.

When I saw Rongmao stab someone with a needle back then, I thought this old woman was really abominable, but if I look at it twenty years later, I find that Rongmao stabbed people right!

At this moment, the phone rang, and Li Weidong hurried to another room and answered the phone.

He said on the phone: Chairman, there is news from the Japanese office that Santomo Iijima from Johnny's \u0026 Associates approached us and asked us to pay an additional advertising fee for Takuya Kimura's advertisement!

When we asked Takuya Kimura to shoot the advertisement, didn't we already pay the advertising fee? And I remember it was double the market price at that time. Li Weidong said.

At that time, Takuya Kimura was not popular, but now Takuya Kimura is the hottest star in Japan, and his commercial value has also increased. Johnny's \u0026 Associates believes that Takuya Kimura made an advertisement at such a low price back then, and it is still being broadcast now. For them It caused a lot of losses, so we are required to compensate part of the advertising fee. The phone continued.

It's really unsatisfactory. Li Weidong snorted coldly.

On the phone, he continued: Johnny \u0026 Associates even threatened to say that if we fail to meet their demands, they will not rule out using legal means.

Li Weidong frowned: Even if this matter goes to court, they won't be able to take advantage of it! After all, when we were filming the commercials, we signed the contract. We didn't pay a penny, and we didn't breach the contract. I don't believe in a lawsuit, they can win!

I think so too, but judging from the attitude of Johnny's office, they are very determined, as if they have other cards! said the phone.

They're not the only ones who have hole cards. Li Weidong snorted coldly, and then said, Well, I'll fly to Tokyo in two days and have a good talk with Johnny's Office!

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