Restart life

Chapter 182 0179 [General Manager Chen is the Image Ambassador for the Yuanpei Training Program]

This year, Peking University's freshmen military training started a week earlier than last year.

I completely missed the top three rounds and the final of "Super Girl"!
It's only August 12th, and the new students have already arrived to register. They will be going to participate in military training on the 15th.

The small restaurant outside the South Gate was packed with people; the national top five competition of "Super Girl" was about to begin.

Chen Guiliang, Jiang Junlai, Xie Yang, and Yang Shuo were eating at a table against the wall. They were surrounded by new students and their parents, chatting and watching television.

"Who do you think will make it into the top five?" Jiang Junlai asked.

Yang Shuo buried himself in his food; he couldn't even recognize all the contestants.

Xie Yang said, "Li Yuchun, Zhou Bichang, Zhang Liangying, He Jie... it's hard to say who the last one is."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "That's right, great minds think alike."

“I’ve done some research on this,” Xie Yang said.

He studied Super Girl purely for work purposes.

Kaixin.com has had its microblogging function enabled for some time, but currently it can only be posted using a computer.

The WAP website, with significantly reduced functionality and page layout, is scheduled to officially launch for testing tomorrow. Only with this will you be able to post on Weibo using your mobile phone.

Currently, celebrities who have joined Kaixin.com are used to writing long blogs of several hundred words and do not like to post microblogs of only a few dozen words.

Even if a WAP website is launched, it's unlikely that user habits will change anytime soon.

We must use celebrities to promote and guide the public, turning sending and receiving microblogs on mobile phones into a new trend.

The top choice for a celebrity is, of course, Jay Chou.

However, 2005 was the year when Jay Chou's endorsement fees were at their highest: his non-exclusive endorsement fee in mainland China was over 1200 million yuan a year, and he had to pay extra for shooting commercials.

The currently popular Super Girl contestants are the most suitable for Kaixin001.

Chen Guiliang asked, "Have you had someone find out the advertising endorsement fees for the top three Super Girl contestants?"

Xie Yang had already done his homework: "For similar products, the package deal for the top three is 600 million yuan for a one-year term. An exclusive endorsement would cost an additional 200 million yuan. In addition, the advertising shooting fee is calculated on a daily basis, with the package deal for the three of them costing 160 million yuan per day. Currently, the advertising shooting schedule is already full, and if you want to invite them to shoot an advertisement, you will have to wait until after the competition."

"It's quite expensive." Chen Guiliang regretted not securing the endorsement earlier.

The problem was that before the Super Girl competition started, Chen Guiliang himself was short of money and didn't know where to find specific contestants.

Chen Guiliang then asked, "If we only hire the third-place winner, and also have her film the advertisement, what would the price be?"

Xie Yang said, "At most 160 million, maybe we can negotiate to 100 million. The price fluctuates a lot; their agencies always like to ask for exorbitant prices."

Although the competition is still ongoing, Chen Guiliang knows who came in third place.

Zhang Liangying is quite suitable for endorsements.

The champion, Li Yuchun, is controversial. Although she has a lot of fans, she also has a lot of haters.

"Are you really going to hire Super Girls for advertising? TV advertising fees are very expensive," Xie Yang said.

Chen Guiliang said, "I don't advertise on TV."

"A video website?" Xie Yang immediately realized.

"Smart," Chen Guiliang praised.

Currently, there are six video websites in mainland China.

These are: LeTV, Sohu Video, Tudou, 56.com, PPTV, and PPS Video.

These websites are seeing their user base grow daily. However, apart from Sohu Video, the advertising revenue from these other websites is extremely low.

Take Sohu Video, which has the most users and the highest prices, for example. Running pre-roll ads in the popular drama "Chinese Paladin" costs only 35 yuan per 1000 impressions. The more impressions you buy at once, the cheaper the overall cost becomes.

LeEco and 56, which barely receive any advertising, are easily satisfied with a small sum of money.

Tudou.com's prices are moderate.

Especially on video websites that primarily rely on user-generated content (UGC), Chen Guiliang could upload the full-length advertisement without spending a penny. The website might even be quite pleased, as the advertisement featuring the Super Girl contestant might increase their traffic.

Hearing their conversation, Jiang Junlai exclaimed in shock, "Holy crap, you guys are really going to hire a Super Girl as your spokesperson?"

Chen Guiliang said, "The champion and runner-up are too expensive, we can only afford the third place."

“That’s still pretty awesome!” Jiang Junlai said.

Xie Yang asked, "Do we need to hire a professional advertising company to plan the advertising content?"

Chen Guiliang shook his head: "I'll plan it myself. You find a promising new director and a top-notch stylist."

"Row."

Xie Yang has a professional team under him. Although his own abilities are limited, he is good at learning and listening to opinions.

Progress is rapid.

Almost every task completed brings significant improvement—not much in theoretical knowledge, but progress in thinking and perspective.

To be honest, if we only consider management and execution, Xie Yang's potential far exceeds that of Chen Guiliang, who is not a reborn person.

Chen Guiliang's strength lies in his personal charisma. Even without his rebirth, anyone who has been in contact with him for a long time will find him trustworthy. He can easily gather a group of friends and even have followers.

Because Chen Guiliang always takes responsibility at crucial moments, never backs down when faced with difficult situations, and will do his best even if it means getting hurt.

……

I woke up early in the morning.

Chen Guiliang had already gotten up and washed up, while Jiang Junlai was still fast asleep.

With the end of his freshman year, this guy has become lazy. You know, last winter break, he was determined to get up early every day to study.

"Goodbye, I'm going to have breakfast and go to work!" Chen Guiliang said as he rinsed his mouth.

Jiang Junlai mumbled incoherently, "Goodbye."

I don't know how much time passed, but the dormitory door was opened and a parent came in with their child.

My roommate is changing!
Min Wenyu and Guo Feng moved to another dormitory room, where they were replaced by two freshmen from the Yuanpei Class.

"Hello, student," the parent said first.

Jiang Junlai rubbed his sleepy eyes as he got out of bed: "Sorry, I went to bed too late last night."

The parent asked, "Are you a returning student?" "Yes, I'm a sophomore in the Yuanpei Class. My name is Jiang Junlai," Jiang Junlai replied.

The new student came over and shook hands: "Hello, Senior Brother Jiang, my name is Tong Zhihong. I'm from Lingnan."

Parents, out of curiosity, inquired: "Aren't the dormmates from the same grade?"

Jiang Junlai explained, "The Yuanpei Class is different. After the freshmen enroll, some live with second-year students and some live with third-year students. The arts and sciences are also interdisciplinary. This facilitates communication between different majors and grades."

"This is a great approach," the parent praised.

As they were talking, another new student arrived, without any parents accompanying him.

"Hello, my name is Li Heng, I am from the Central Plains."

"Hello."

The four chatted as they made the bed.

Li Heng asked, "What's the name of the senior student in the bunk above me?"

“Chen Guiliang,” Jiang Junlai said.

"Chen Guiliang?!?!"

A parent and two new students exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

Jiang Junlai asked curiously, "You all know him?"

The parent said, "When Director Zhu called my son Zhihong for admissions, he gave a detailed introduction to Chen Guiliang. Later, I also looked up Chen Guiliang's information on Baidu and felt that the Yuanpei Class was indeed very impressive, so I discussed with my son about applying to the Yuanpei Class."

Li Heng said, "Me too."

Well, Chen Guiliang has no idea that he has become the recruitment ambassador for the Yuanpei Class this year!

Director Zhu is indeed skilled at deceiving people.

……

Chen Guiliang ate breakfast at the school cafeteria and then rode his bicycle to the company.

A car pulled up in front of the science park, and a senior executive from Qingniao shouted at him, "Mr. Chen, are you still riding a bicycle?"

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "We can't exactly drive all the way from the dorm, can we?"

"That's right. Goodbye, let's grab coffee sometime."

"Goodbye."

Chen Guiliang's dilapidated bicycle with six locks has become a peculiar sight in Peking University Science Park.

People would greet him from time to time.

Even if you don't know him personally, you can recognize his car at a glance.

Good morning, Mr. Chen.

"Hi boss."

"Hey, good morning, junior brother."

"..."

A group of people were standing there waiting for the elevator. When they saw Chen Guiliang arrive, they all greeted him warmly.

Xu Fengyin stood silently at the very back of the crowd, wishing she could stick herself to the elevator door.

Her photos are still circulating widely. Naturally, the number of her followers on Kaixin.com is increasing daily.

But she didn't dare log into her account.

Some people are alive, but they are already dead!

However, the game "Three Kingdoms Kill" gained wider recognition online thanks to the viral spread of cosplay photos. Many anime fans, in particular, became fans because of it!

……

In the early morning, Chang Zhongxiang, who was in charge of finance, knocked on Chen Guiliang's office door.

"Mr. Chen, are you going to hire Super Girls to shoot an advertisement?" Chang Zhongxiang asked.

Chen Guiliang nodded: "I have that plan."

Chang Zhongxiang said, "We need to be careful with our spending. Weibo is just a feature attached to Kaixin.com, and it's the least noticeable one. It's hard to say whether we can make money from wireless value-added services. We should let users get used to it and accept it gradually. There's no need to invite Super Girls to promote it aggressively."

“I know what I’m doing,” Chen Guiliang said.

Chang Zhongxiang said urgently, "Our current financial situation is very dangerous."

"Hmm," Chen Guiliang said.

Chang Zhongxiang continued, “Our total expenditure in July, including office administration, personnel costs, marketing, server rentals, and bandwidth, has reached 2.8 million yuan! If you keep going like this, the $5 million you got from venture capital will only last for another year at most. You’re too hasty, with one project after another.”

ByteDance is still renting servers, and its plan to build its own data center has been temporarily shelved.

First, it's too expensive; the budget is 2000 million yuan.

Secondly, the approval process is cumbersome and involves land acquisition.

Anyway, Chen Guiliang will build it himself once he has the money; training a team in advance is one aspect. In ten years or so, the land he bought for the server room will appreciate more than 15 times!
Chen Guiliang said, "It is precisely because of the imbalance between income and expenditure that I am eager to expand my Weibo business to generate revenue."

Chang Zhongxiang said, "I've been paying close attention to the Weibo feature. Although Kaixin001's user growth is very fast and its activity level is very high, among all the features Kaixin001 has, Weibo is the least popular with users. Very few people use it, and it's even considered completely redundant."

"Old Chang, don't be impatient. Let's sit down and talk it over." Chen Guiliang smiled and began to coax his financial manager.

“You’re too hasty, I couldn’t dissuade you no matter what,” Chang Zhongxiang said. “First you invested in Bailian Technology to develop online games, then you invested in Tudou.com to develop a video website. Not only did you create Kaixin.com, but you also wanted to create a free advertising website called Kaixin Market. Fortunately, the plan to build our own data center was shelved, otherwise, I don’t know if that $500 million would have survived until the end of the year. My boss, startups can’t withstand such turmoil!”

Chen Guiliang called out, "Secretary Hu, where's President Chang's coffee?"

"I'm coming right away," Hu Yuexia replied.

"That's all I have to say. You can decide for yourself." Chang Zhongxiang turned and walked away.

Chen Guiliang sighed; he didn't know if the Weibo function would be accepted.

Let's give it a try.

(End of this chapter)