I became financially independent right after entering college.

Chapter 134 Standing on the shoulders of giants

In the following days, Bai Chou was incredibly busy, mainly dealing with matters at the headphone studio, and occasionally handling some affairs at the short video company.

Artificial ear, APX555B audio meter, listening room setup—all sorts of niche equipment can be bought on Taobao and JD.com. They've been arriving in the past few days and have been placed in the audio studio.

Then there are the three most important positions: acoustic engineer, structural engineer, and marketing. Bai Chou can do both acoustic engineer and marketing positions, as he has the skills he got from the system.

However, considering the long-term development, Bai Chou still hired a person in charge for each of them.

The acoustic engineer previously worked at Harman Kardon, the structural engineer was a new hire, and the marketing staff was poached from Edifier. The combined annual salary of the three was over 400,000 yuan, all of which were long-term contracts. Including various subsidies, the annual expenditure exceeded 500,000 yuan.

All three had previously worked in either Shanghai or Suzhou, and none of them were from Nanjing. However, they were not far from Nanjing. After agreeing on their salaries online, they arrived in Nanjing one after another. After inspecting the studio in person, they were very satisfied with the working environment and signed contracts on the spot.

Small workshops have their advantages too. The studio is comfortable enough in the university. Baichou's salary is no lower than that of big companies, and all kinds of subsidies are comparable to those of big companies.

Kim Hyo-joo's side also prioritized setting up one of her offices as the office space for Eclipse Headphones Audio Studio.

The core team of the headphone studio was officially formed. Bai Chou, Jin Xiaozhou, and the three newly recruited core team members immediately began product seminars in the studio located on the campus of Nanjing University of Communication.

Bai Chou turned on his computer, connected it to the projector, pulled out the PPT he had worked on overnight, and began explaining his plan to several core members of the studio.

"In the early stages, the company plans to launch three product lines: entry-level, flagship, and reference-level. The three product lines will be developed and promoted simultaneously, which will save on some marketing and publicity costs."

The retail price of entry-level headphones is expected to be between 1500 and 1800 yuan, using a dual-unit design with a single dynamic driver and a single balanced armature driver...

The flagship-level terminal is priced between 3000 and 5000, and uses a single dynamic driver and a triple balanced armature driver...

Reference-grade units are priced between 8000 and 12000, using a two-dynamic-wound, four-balanced-armature driver unit…

"I plan to add a feature to all products across the entire line that allows for one-button adjustment of the sound signature with a small switch. The flagship and reference models will focus on handcrafted customization, targeting the high-end market..."

Bai Chou was rambling on in front of the computer, while several employees sat quietly listening, mentally calculating various aspects based on Bai Chou's initial plan.

After finishing his explanation, Bai Chou put down the wireless mouse, took a sip of water, and asked everyone, "I've covered the preliminary planning. Does anyone have any questions?"

"Me!" Kim Hyo-joo, who was in charge of logistics and finance, raised her hand high.

"Speak," Bai Chou gestured that it was time to speak.

"Are our projected prices for our three product tiers too high?"

Kim Hyo-joo asked with some concern, "The entry-level ones start at 1500, and the top-of-the-line ones may cost over 10,000. Apple's Bluetooth headphones only cost one or two thousand. Don't set them so high that they won't sell."

"That's why it's priced so high—because they can't sell it." Bai Chou shrugged.

"Huh?" Kim Hyo-joo's eyes widened. What did this mean?
The marketing staff member who previously worked at Edifier explained to Bai Chou with a smile: "HIFI wired headphones and TWS, which are true wireless Bluetooth headphones, are two completely different products that are positioned in different markets."

Compared to the latter, all Hi-Fi wired headphones can be considered unsellable products. Low sales volume means costs cannot be spread out, resulting in higher retail prices.

Regarding our studio's current situation, the problem isn't that the pricing is too high, but rather that it's too low. I think we could even cut the entry-level price of a little over a thousand and focus solely on high-end custom-made items..."

Both the vocal engineer and the structural engineer nodded slightly in agreement. It was too risky to start with entry-level products costing a little over a thousand yuan. It would be safer to stick to high-end custom products costing several thousand or tens of thousands of yuan.

"Huh?" Kim Hyojoo continued with a question mark on her face. I don't understand what you're doing. What do you mean by saying that products costing a little over a thousand yuan are too risky, and it's better to just do high-end customization costing several thousand or tens of thousands?
Bai Chou, along with three core team members, explained the studio's operating model to Kim Hyo-joo.

Bluetooth headsets priced at tens or hundreds of yuan are mass-market products that follow a low-profit, high-volume model. If you're not just an OEM manufacturer but genuinely want to create a company that focuses on this type of product, the initial investment would be at least tens of millions of yuan.

High sales volume also means higher upfront investment. You'll need to hire more production line workers, product quality inspectors, repairmen, customer service staff, and even set up production lines or build factories.

Even if the company is successfully established, it will still have to compete with Bluetooth headphones from major manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and OPPO/Vivo. A new brand has virtually no chance of winning.

If we only consider wired HiFi headphones, the mainstream price range is 200 to 2000 yuan. Their sales volume certainly cannot compare with Bluetooth headphones, but it is not small either.

A pair of headphones priced at over a thousand yuan can sell tens of thousands of units a year if it sells well. This would require hiring a lot of production line staff, quality inspectors, and customer service representatives for repairs, resulting in a high initial investment.

For ultra-high-end products in the thousands or tens of thousands range, only a few hundred or even fewer may be sold a year. They follow the strategy of not making any sales for three years but making enough to live off for three years. A studio with a dozen or so people can just handle it.

If Bai Chou only produces ultra-high-end products costing a few thousand or tens of thousands, they can easily manage by simply recruiting a few people to fill the gaps and assist them.

However, Bai Chou deliberately set up a product line with the highest-priced segment in the mass market, which meant that they needed to invest more in the early stages.

"Focusing solely on the ultra-high-end market is too conservative and won't generate much profit. To grow, we need to target the mass market. My plan is to first establish the ultra-high-end market, build a strong brand image, and ensure that people associate our brand name with words like 'top-tier,' 'flagship,' and 'pleasant to hear.'"

Then, leveraging the image established in high-end products, they gradually scaled down to wired headphones and even TWS headphones in the mass-market price range…

Bai Chou gave a brief overview of his development plan.

The three core team members nodded slightly, indicating their agreement with Bai Chou's long-term development strategy, which is a very effective development approach in the headphone industry.

As for whether they can design truly good-sounding headphones, that's a question that doesn't need to be considered. As long as the headphones they design aren't terribly bad, then they are the best-sounding headphones.

Bro, does anyone really think Beats headphones sound good?

To most audio enthusiasts, Beats' sound tuning is utter garbage. And to most audio equipment enthusiasts who aren't die-hard Sony fans, the sound tuning of all Sony products in recent years is equally utter garbage.

Beats' explosive popularity was purely fueled by sports stars from the NBA, World Cup, and Olympics. It wasn't just headphones; it became a fashion item. Sony headphones and players, despite being terrible, still sell well because Sony is an established manufacturer that has produced some excellent products in the past, cultivating a large number of Sony enthusiasts.

Whether a sound is pleasant or not is a very subjective matter, much like the sense of luxury in a car. So there's no need to dwell on it too much; the most important thing is promotion and marketing.

This world has never been about how much you're worth and how much you can sell for.

With effective publicity and marketing, and by telling the brand's story well, a 1.5T domestic car that could originally only sell for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of yuan can easily rival the century-old luxury brand Mercedes-Benz, which sells for hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan.

The only problem is...

"To establish a top-tier, luxurious, high-end, and heavenly brand image, our marketing costs will be very high." The marketing representative glanced subtly at Bai Chou, as if to say, "Boss, do you have enough money?"
"It's hard to say what will happen in the future, but at least in the early stages, I have enough money. Assuming the company's development prospects meet expectations, I can allocate at least 20 to 30 million yuan to marketing every year."

Hundreds of thousands spent on R&D equipment, and tens of millions invested in marketing. Okay, that's very HiFi.

The marketing manager was taken aback: "That's not necessary. For now, a marketing budget of one million is enough in the initial stage."

After defining the general product line and discussing the company's ambitious future, Bai Chou and the core team worked enthusiastically to calculate various costs and data.

For entry-level headphones, the cost of a single dynamic driver, a single balanced armature driver, or a composite driver unit is between 10 and 20 yuan. The mold opening fee is tens of thousands of yuan, the headphone cable costs more than ten yuan per piece, and the packaging plus a custom headphone case costs 100 yuan...

After calculating the cost of each individual material for the entry-level product, and then adding R&D costs (labor, equipment), tax rates, rent and utilities, repair and maintenance budgets, etc., the final calculation shows that the total cost of a single pair of headphones, excluding marketing and promotion, is more than three hundred yuan.

With over 300 yuan in marketing and promotion costs disregarded, investing heavily in marketing and promotion, setting the retail price at 1799 yuan is very reasonable.

Kim Hyo-joo's voice just doesn't sound right. The driver unit and headphone cable only cost a few dozen yuan, and the packaging and headphone case cost a hundred yuan. The retail price is 1799 yuan. What are you guys doing?
After calculating the costs of the entry-level product, the group continued to calculate the overall costs of the flagship and reference products...

The group talked about this topic for less than an hour. Headphones are all pretty much the same thing; all headphone brands basically use the same driver unit. It's just a matter of how each brand tunes and markets it.

Most of the time, they talked about publicity and promotion.

First, all regular publicity and promotion plans must be based on profitability, unless the publicity effect is so good that it can push the company out of its niche ahead of schedule.

Internet companies can hype up concepts and lose money in the early stages to gain publicity, but this doesn't work for HiFi headphones. The market is too small to support the concept, unless they officially enter the Bluetooth headphone field.

In addition to regular publicity, there is unconventional publicity, and these two types of publicity are calculated separately.

All profits will be invested in promoting and publicizing the company's brand image, preparing for future expansion into the mass market. If the results are good enough, Bai Chou can increase the budget.

As for specific publicity and promotion methods, Bai Chou shared several ideas he had previously conceived with everyone and asked if they were feasible.

First, engage in a few innovations for the sake of innovation, register more patents, and market the company as a technologically advanced, innovative, and enterprising company, completely different from our stupid competitors.

Bai Chou could handle this himself. He had electroacoustic skills obtained from the system. If it weren't for making better sound, but simply for the sake of innovation, Bai Chou could probably come up with at least seven or eight patents.

Once the products for the three lines are finished, we'll fly all over the world to participate in headphone exhibitions, regardless of whether they're amateur or not; we'll try our best at any headphone exhibition with awards.

Regardless of whether they can secure an award, they will do their utmost to market it in a way that promotes national pride.

Winning this award signifies that China's audio industry has finally stood up, breaking the monopoly of traditional headphone giants like Sennheiser, Harman Kardon, Burmester, and Bayer in audio equipment. From now on, Chinese people can also enjoy their own heavenly sound...

Win!

If they can't win awards, they'll buy articles and hire online trolls to manipulate public opinion, implying that foreign headphone exhibitions discriminate against Chinese companies. Of course, this claim is completely unfounded, because before this, some domestic headphone brands had won awards at foreign headphone exhibitions.

Therefore, when conducting this kind of marketing operation, the company's account cannot be used, and the company cannot personally handle the matter. The company must remain pure and untainted, neither admitting nor denying anything in the face of various opinions.

If possible, I can tell some other stories.

The company was planning to obtain several patents, but they hired online trolls to claim that large foreign companies in traditional industries were suppressing our company and trying to forcibly buy out our patent ownership to establish a technological monopoly...

Barbara.

"How did you come up with so many ingenious ideas, boss?" The marketing staff member who had previously worked at Edifier was amazed.

"I'm just standing on the shoulders of giants, having a good teacher," Bai Chou smiled slightly, without revealing the company's name.

Bai Chou has a very clear vision for the products he wants to make: luxury goods, or at least accessible luxury.

For luxury goods, the most important thing is not historical heritage or technology, but "story." A compelling story is essential to attract consumers who appreciate your brand and command higher prices for your products.

Technology and history are essentially just stories, merely tools used to build brand power.

Generally speaking, the best stories are "history," as people assume that successful people will continue to succeed and are more willing to believe in people and companies that have succeeded in the past.

Besides the history, the technology story is also excellent; otherwise, Bai Chou wouldn't have bothered to get several patents.

Even so, it remains a very difficult task for Eclipse Studio, as a new company, to quickly build a brand image and compete with many other companies.

Fortunately, Bai Chou has a good teacher. Doesn't know how to promote and quickly build a high-end luxury brand?

Take a look at how that company, which is considered the epitome of human marketing, does it, and then just copy the promotional methods that you can learn and use.

(End of this chapter)