Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 354 Investment Promotion Conference

On the very day that Hogwarts began its summer vacation, the Magic Mirror Club held an advertising sales conference for the Quidditch final broadcast on the roof of the Three Brooms. This was the first time that businesses from the wizarding world had participated in this type of meeting.

The Magic Mirror Club is a relatively loose alliance, with its core consisting of taverns with mirrors in various locations and some video content producers.

Scattered merchants like Honey Duke, Patchi's Crucible, and Tuofan Clothing Store have little opportunity to cooperate with Yingjing and the club. Yingjing's rapid development in the past two years has squeezed the survival space of merchants like teahouses and cold drink shops. Because their business was taken away, they made some accusations against the club.

There are only so many wizards in all of Britain, and the market for wizarding is only so big. Originally, you sold whiskey and champagne, he sold black tea and herbal juice, and I sold ice cream and lemonade, giving wizards a place to chat and date...

These beverage shops were originally just places to pass the time, and each one was doing well. Suddenly, someone brought out a mirror and stole all the customers away.

The drinks were merely icing on the cake; they might have a loyal customer base, but they lacked any irreplaceable qualities. The allure of the Shadow Mirror, however, was real, and all the wizards flocked to the tavern in no time.

The beverage shop owners stared at their empty shops and their employees, eventually taking their grudges against the club.

For hundreds of years, they had been doing business on the same street, living in peace and harmony. But because of this thing that suddenly appeared, they almost had to close down.
The initial enthusiasm for the reflex mirror quickly faded. Unlike ordinary customers, the beverage shop owner couldn't take a calm view of it. Also, because Wright's production capacity was insufficient at the time, he couldn't supply large commercial reflex mirrors in time.

But the situation changed again the following year.

First, their own shops were able to purchase in-home mirrors at affordable prices, and old customers returned. Then, home mirrors were promoted, and the Prophet's newspaper launched video news, thus confirming the initial effectiveness of the advertising.

When the merchants looked at Magic Mirror Club again, the resentment in their eyes turned into affection, and they suddenly became enthusiastic.

It allows wizards throughout Britain to see their products, remember their functions and prices, and instantly hear the advertisements that previously appeared on the mirror whenever someone wants to buy a similar product.

The advertisements for Prophet News are very conservative, almost never appearing in the main content. They only appear briefly after the news, showing details of a product, with narration explaining its effects and benefits, as well as a discount for recent purchases.

This short, ten-second clip was enough to revive a shop on the verge of bankruptcy and even bring it back to life.

This has happened several times before, so it's easy to imagine how attractive this Quidditch advertisement from the club will be to businesses.

Once ordinary businesses can become advertisers for the Quidditch finals, mentioning it briefly or for a few seconds during the Shadow Mirror's broadcast of the finals to wizards worldwide, it's foreseeable that this product will remain the uncrowned king of its kind for a long time to come.

Since receiving the news, many businesses have remained outwardly silent, but secretly they have been trying to contact the club one after another, writing letters to the professor, to the Monk Stanley family, to Ludo Bagman, and even to the widow with three brooms, but all of these contacts have been turned away.

It was from then on that the merchants realized that the club's investment promotion meetings seemed to be genuine, reliable, open and transparent, with no shortcuts.

About two months before the summer vacation, the club sent out invitations to the Chamber of Commerce to hold a meeting on the top floor of the Three Brooms building. Specific cooperation methods would be introduced on-site and discussed in person.

Hogsmeade, three brooms.

In the early morning, the Hogwarts Express had just left the station, and the Three Brooms had only recently opened. There weren't many customers on the first and second floors yet, but the top floor was already bustling with people, many of whom were merchants from Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. They were related to each other, and they greeted each other and clinked glasses naturally, quickly gathering in groups of three or five.

Some were discussing the current situation at the Ministry of Magic, others were talking about the expansion of the Magic Mirror Club and the upcoming summer vacation. Some rivals, however, were even arguing amongst themselves.

"You want to advertise during the World Cup final? What products do you have? Tacroft? A lamp made of hinkpunk. Even if other people find out and place orders, can you handle it all?"

"Pah! Did you eat dragon dung this morning? How can you speak so rudely? Slug and Giggs, what are you doing with your pharmacy advertising again?"

"You're the one who ate dragon dung! You ate Hinkpunk's shit! What's wrong with our pharmacy? We've partnered with Potions Master Damocles Belby to produce an improved version of Wolfsbane Potion, and potion shops all over the world are scrambling to get it!"

"Giggs, stop bragging. Does Master Belby even know you? Everyone else is working with their own relatives from pure-blood families. Everyone knows you've got outdated formulas. Do you think you can compete with them?"

When Hogsmeade resident Taclort heard about the production capacity issue, a hint of sadness flashed in his eyes, but he refused to admit defeat. His curses were mixed with vulgar slang, and with his keen knowledge of the situation, he kept poking holes in other people's throats.

Standing next to him was his old friend Malcolm, his rival from their school days. Knowing that this guy was better at talking than fighting, and worried that if they really fought, the two pharmacy brothers would take on him alone, he grabbed Malcolm's sleeve and dragged him away.

Tacroft was furious, his face flushed. Looking at the two brothers, Slug and Giggs, he felt a hint of mockery in their eyes. Reluctantly, he let Malcolm drag him to a corner.

There was no other way; the production of their own lamps was indeed very low. Sealing them involved some delicate alchemical work, and the only house-elf they had left was getting old. After helping his wife with laundry, cooking, and taking care of the children, he didn't have the extra energy to tend to the lamps.

He himself was a lazy bum who drifted along, working only sporadically.

Tacroft grabbed a chilled beer, leaned against the corridor wall, and gulped it down in one go, letting out a sigh involuntarily: "Sigh..."

"Why did you suddenly decide to start a business? Weren't you just coasting along before? Did you squander the family inheritance?" Malcolm pressed hard on his throat.

“A hundred years from now, I’ll still be able to get you drunk in the tavern.” Tacrot glanced at the guy. He wasn’t just being stubborn; his family was indeed very wealthy. As the only son in his family, the treasury inherited by his pure-blooded family was enough to ensure he would live a life of comfort for the next few decades.

"So what brings you here today?"

“I recently bought VIP box tickets for the World Cup final so the whole family could go. When we went to the vault, we found that half of the vault my father left me was empty.” Taclot said with a deep look on his face. “By the time I pass it on to my children, there won’t be much left. This won’t do. I feel I can’t continue to be so depressed. I have to leave them some inheritance.”

"..."

Malcolm didn't bother to agree. His family could only afford mid-level grandstand tickets, and he had no sympathy for such pure-blooded tycoons; he only wanted to rob them.

"Why are we standing here? Wright is starting to explain the rules for attracting investment. Aren't we going in to listen?"

At some point, a young wizard with black hair and black eyes walked over and casually asked a question.

Taclot and Malcolm were both distracted and didn't seem to care, replying casually, "The rules are all clearly stated in the invitation. There's nothing interesting to hear. We'll get down to business after the speeches."

(End of this chapter)