This director is vindictive.

Chapter 546 Chen Mo: I'm not interested in money, because the more you spend, the more you earn!
"Your grandpa will always be your grandpa, Chen Mo is awesome!"

"Although I'm a little envious of Chen Mo using such methods to obtain profits beyond expectations, he deserves to earn that money!"

"What the luxury goods alliance should do most is invite Chen Mo to be their chief marketing strategist. What kind of marketing is that 399 yuan silk scarf?"

"The key issue is, they can't afford it!"

In contrast to the soaring stock prices of Shengshi Pictures and Huayun Apparel in China, the stock prices of luxury goods groups participating in the alliance collectively fell due to negative public opinion, especially brands with a high proportion of business in Greater China, whose market value evaporated by more than 10 billion yuan in a single day.

The matter has escalated significantly.

Overseas media outlets have been paying close attention to this counterattack by the luxury alliance from the very beginning.

But no one expected that they would completely mess things up before they even started.

For capital, no matter how noisy the public opinion is, it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't affect my interests. But now it's having a real impact.

Overseas media outlets quickly began reporting and analyzing the incident.

The Financial Times of London ran a report titled "Eastern Marketing Revolution: When 'Spending Money' Becomes the Smartest Investment."

"The showdown between the Chinese brand 'Huayun' and the luxury alliance has completely overturned the arrogant logic of traditional luxury goods."

Chen Mo, the amazing marketing master from China, not only benefits consumers with his "welfare economics" but also creates a closed loop by feeding back into the stock market—for every 1 yuan he invests, the capital market returns 10 yuan.

In contrast, the luxury goods alliance's billion-dollar budget only resulted in widespread ridicule for its "Yiwu scarves," proving that in the digital age, "scarcity" without sincerity will only become a laughing stock.

The American edition of The Wall Street Journal ran a story titled "From 'Buying a Maserati' to 'Silk Scarf Mop': How Chinese Consumers Use Meme Culture to Counterattack Luxury Goods."

"The act of Chinese netizens tying a 399 yuan silk scarf from a luxury goods alliance to a mop signifies a shift in global consumer discourse power."

The younger generation used meme wars to deconstruct the 'high-end narrative' of century-old brands, while Chen Mo's 'free wedding dress' strategy proved that in the eyes of Generation Z, 'participation' is more important than 'class symbols'.

I suggest LV's parent company learn a lesson—when your 'limited edition' items are used to clean range hoods, the problem isn't with the consumers, but with the pricing logic.

The French newspaper Le Figaro directly titled its article "The Price of Arrogance: How Luxury Goods Suffer a 'Welfare Downgrade' in China?"

French luxury brands once thought the secret to the Chinese market was "more expensive logos," but Chen Mo revealed a new rule with a wedding film: "You have to make users feel like winners, not beggars."

Huayun's "Wear Chinese Clothing, Get Free Movie Tickets" campaign was essentially designed to make consumers key figures in brand communication, while the luxury goods alliance's silk scarf campaign left winners feeling humiliated—this can be considered one of the most failed user education cases of the 21st century.

Japanese media commented: "Chen Mo's 'free traditional Chinese clothing' strategy cleverly transforms traditional culture into social currency. In contrast, the luxury alliance's 'Oriental aesthetics show' was exposed by a mass-produced silk scarf—their understanding of the Orient remains at the 'exotic sticker' stage. Japanese brands should take heed: the future Asian market belongs to those players willing to 'share the pie' with consumers rather than 'make empty promises.'"

The luxury goods alliance's statement, using the phrase "artistic value is not a cost-based calculation," exposes its cognitive gap with the new generation of consumers. Chen Mo's victory lies in turning perks themselves into "social capital"—young people dressed in traditional Chinese attire aren't flaunting their movie tickets, but rather the sense of superiority derived from "choosing the right side." This farce proves that in the Chinese market, "generosity" is the new "high-end."

Some things can be said to have far-reaching consequences, like a single hair affecting the whole body.

Amid stock market turmoil and widespread media attention, the luxury goods alliance has also initiated internal accountability measures.

Wu Yue, the president of Greater China, was urgently summoned by headquarters, but Wu Yue is also in a difficult situation.

In fact, he wasn't the one who planned this event. Despite being the president of the Greater China region, he never had the final say because this fashion show involved a multi-brand alliance.

Even though he was an opponent from the very beginning, it was all in vain. This is probably a common problem for many overseas companies.

With such a big problem arising, someone had to take the blame, so the event planning team was immediately dismissed.

Goetsu finally gained decision-making power.

Emergency public relations efforts were launched to address this incident.

However, before he could even begin to act...

However, the external influences are still unfolding.

For example, commemorative silk scarves have dropped to 0.5 yuan each on second-hand platforms, and some merchants have even bought them in bulk and remade them into "satirical masks" with words like "certified leek" and "victim of oriental aesthetics" printed on them, which have become a phenomenon-level trendy product.

Overseas Chinese spontaneously organized the "Wearing Chinese Style to Watch 'The Wedding in Qipao'" event, and Hanfu-wearing movie-watching groups appeared in cinemas in New York, London and other places. Foreign media reports emphasized that "Chinese brands are replacing religious luxury worship with welfare benefits."

Content creators started digging deep into luxury goods OEM factories and discovered that a certain brand's silk scarves were produced on the same production line as those from Yiwu, with only the packaging boxes being different. The video titles were all the same: "Unveiling the Emperor's New Clothes of XX Brand".

What's even more interesting is that the counterfeit brands that once claimed to "make designer brands affordable for the world" have now been unearthed by many netizens. As a result, many people have come forward to share their experiences.

"You can hardly imagine that the quality of counterfeit products made from the same brand is far superior to the original!"

"That makes sense, otherwise so many foreigners wouldn't be buying them!"

“I remember a friend who made counterfeit goods saying that the A-grade bags they bought cost less than 100 yuan, but they sold for 8000 yuan on Taobao, and they still had many repeat customers because they had bought the genuine ones and found that the quality of the genuine ones was not as good as the ones bought on Taobao.”

"Hehe, that's perfectly normal. Real counterfeit goods can't be washed with water. If they can't be washed, they'll be returned in a heartbeat!"

Then many people started to associate this "billion-dollar scarf" incident with cases of overseas companies failing in their local marketing efforts.

For example, during the online shopping platform wars of yesteryear, eBay initially had a much greater advantage than Taobao, but due to various reasons of not adapting to local conditions, it has now become just a thing of the past.

Even the "Billion-Dollar Scarf" case was used as a negative example. Business schools included the event in their "Collection of Localized Marketing Failures," while Chen Mo's welfare strategy was listed as a "Model of User Expectation Management." The two were compared on the same page with the title "The Distance Between Arrogance and Sincerity."

Interestingly, orders at the Yiwu Small Commodities Market surged due to the "silk scarf incident," with some merchants even displaying banners that read: "Thanks to the Luxury Goods Alliance for making the world recognize Chinese manufacturing again."

However, the luxury goods alliance has come to its senses, and in an effort to salvage its reputation, Wu Yue, the president of the Greater China region, personally took charge of the event.

The first step is to issue a public apology.

Wu Yue, President of Luxury Alliance Greater China, held a press conference. At the conference, he bowed 90 degrees in front of the camera and said: "We have deeply reflected on the mistakes of this event. We underestimated the aesthetic taste and wisdom of Chinese consumers and will re-examine the way we express our sincerity in the Eastern market."

Secondly, they're giving away freebies! However, this time the freebies are very much in line with the theme of scarcity.

"We plan to launch a real 'limited-time traceability benefit'. Benefit one: Each brand participating in this fashion show will release a truly exclusive limited-edition commemorative item."

Items such as Gucci bamboo bags, LV monogram scarves, and Chanel perfumes will be given away in a limited-edition global draw of 1000 pieces!
"

Although such public relations efforts were not able to completely erase the previous blunder involving a billion scarves.

However, the apology and the launch of the campaign did indeed salvage a lot of public goodwill.

With the help of their public relations resources, people quickly began to speak well of them.

"Be content. It's not easy for international brands to bow down like this. This is a perfect example of sincerity! Luxury brands can't give away items on a large scale like Huayun does. Limited editions are the only solution."

"At least this time the attitude is correct. After all, if luxury goods become commonplace, are they still luxury goods?"

"While their sincerity is certainly not as great as Chen Mo's, it's still quite good!"

These sounds began to appear.

However, some ideas are not so easy to eliminate.

Soon, netizens complained: "They've been kneeling for so long that they've forgotten how to stand up. Goodness, they've just been given a few bones, and they're acting like they've received some incredible benefit, starting to grovel again!"

"Hilarious! This PR move is like reaching into a coffin—a desperate attempt to save face! They've already uprooted the leeks, and now they're spreading fertilizer and expecting us to call them 'saviors'? (Image: Luxury brand logos photoshopped into kneeling positions alongside a banner praising 'filial piety')"

"Limited to 1000 pieces? I get it. So out of the 1 billion budget, 999.9 million is reserved for 'high-end users,' and the remaining 100,000 is distributed among ordinary people—it really does 'trace back' to the class consciousness of the colonial era (picking nose)."

"I suggest renaming the commemorative silk scarf 'Indulgence Ticket - China Special Edition,' and giving away a confessional ticket with every bag purchase. Collect all seven scarves to summon the CEO to bow once (doge emoji)."

"Both were apologies, but Chen Mo simply threw money around saying 'I was wrong,' while the Luxury Goods Alliance said: 'Our mistake was being too elegant'—this is like using a Hermès scarf to wipe your butt and then complaining that the public doesn't understand 'the art of the rear end' (lighting a cigarette)."

"Stop cursing upstairs! The CEO's hair wasn't even messed up when he bowed. That '90-degree aristocratic bow' is worth 39999! I suggest that next time, apology event tickets be discounted with silk scarves, and 100 scarves can be redeemed for a 'Forgiveness' yacht tour ticket."

However, they are, after all, a large international corporation, and they do have some tricks up their sleeve. Although many netizens have made sarcastic comments, their brand influence, cultivated over many years, is still very strong.

Moreover, they have a backup plan.

Soon, scalpers appeared on the secondhand market, buying up "commemorative limited edition gifts" in advance at several times the original price.

Although no product has been released yet, the impression it gives is that this thing is really valuable!

You have to admit that quite a few people are buying into this "bullish futures" strategy!
(End of this chapter)