Chapter 24: Publicity War

“How many days are left until we open?” Ye Feng asked over the phone.

“Maybe next week.”

Zhao Zhen replied to him.

“Yeah.”

Ye Feng nodded.

This period of time was the exam period in Quan City University, so Ye Feng was focused on revision.

Therefore, it could be said that college students were indeed the smartest people in the world. They could learn the content of the entire semester in a month.

This was the pinnacle of their lives.

“What about Prosperous Flavor?”

Ye Feng was also concerned about the progress of his competitor. “I think their renovations are about to come to an end.”

Zhao Zhen said, “Yes, they are going to open at around the same time as us.”

“Okay, keep an eye on them. Also, please hire a professional management company to handle the pollution from the renovation.”

Many companies cut corners on the management of pollution from renovation in order to profit. In fact, some companies did not even do it at all.

However, Ye Feng didn’t plan on doing that. As long as it was within his capabilities, he still wanted to run a business with a conscience.

“By the way, I transferred two million yuan into the company’s account. If there’s anything you need to spend in the early stages, you can decide for yourself as long as it’s less than 500,000 yuan. You don’t have to seek approval for everything.”

After interacting with him for some time, Ye Feng discovered that Zhao Zhen was a rather reliable person. Thus, he loosened the restrictions on Zhao Zhen’s financial authority slightly.

Over the phone, Zhao Zhen was a little surprised. Although 500,000 yuan was not a lot, it was a huge sum compared to two million yuan.

After hanging up, Ye Feng continued to look at his revision notes.

He was not in a hurry to do the publicity. After all, it would not be too late to do it three days before the opening of his store.

The plan was to start from the university campus and hire some university students to distribute flyers. The salary was set at 50 yuan a day.

In 2010, handing out flyers for 50 yuan a day was a reasonable price.

There was a saying that…

One couldn’t hire a migrant worker for 50 yuan, but one could definitely hire a university student.

…

However, things always went beyond his expectations. Just as Ye Feng was about to start his publicity plan, he suddenly realized that Prosperous Flavor’s flyers were already flying everywhere.

He asked the university student beside him for a flyer and looked at the content.

“Prosperous Flavor, a first-rate chain in Quan City…”

“Major opening! Our opening date is…”

“For our returning customers, we will give free credits for each top-up. If you top-up 700 yuan, we’ll give you 100 yuan. If you top-up 1,000 yuan, we’ll give you 200 yuan…”

“It’s a hotpot restaurant owned by the people of Quan City. We’re waiting for you to taste it.”

It had to be said that the promotional flyers for Prosperous Flavor were quite good. Giving away free credits for each top-up was extremely important in this era.

However, what Ye Feng was really concerned about was the opening date.

It was 20 July.

“They’re actually a full four days faster than us?”

When he saw this date, Ye Feng was somewhat surprised.

Ever since his exams ended, Ye Feng had placed all his attention on his new store.

Because of this, he had even specially applied to remain at school during the vacation.

It could be said that he had four to five hours a day to check the renovation progress of his new shop.

Hence, he was very clear about the renovation progress of Prosperous Flavor. No matter what, they couldn’t possibly be fur days faster than Hedilao.

Thus, Ye Feng hurriedly called Zhao Zhen.

“Brother Zhao, have you seen Prosperous Flavor’s flyer?”

“Yeah.”

Unexpectedly, Zhao Zhen seemed to have already known about this. “He’s going to open his shop four days earlier than us. That Li Xin!”

Zhao Zhen’s tone was very gloomy and he seemed to be in a bad mood.

Ye Feng’s eyes darted around. “So, you know why Prosperous Flavor can open early?”

If he knew the reason, he might be able to imitate them.

“Yes!” Zhao Zhen replied. “They have canceled the pollution management segment. I think their shop has already started the final cleanup!”

Zhao Zhen was furious as he spoke.

This Li Xin really had no limits in order to earn money!

In the past, when he was around, there were still people who could persuade Li Xin. Now that he was no longer around, he could predict that the future Li Xin would only become more and more excessive.

Ye Feng smacked his lips.

There was no way to imitate this.

No matter what, Ye Feng would not yield when it came to managing pollution.

However, Ye Feng still could not figure out why Prosperous Flavor was attacking their own brand like this.

Was Prosperous Flavor competing with him?

Was there such a huge grudge between them?

Or could it be that people who could become great businessmen were inherently evil and greedy?

“Indeed, business is like a battlefield. I can’t be careless in the future.”

When Ye Feng thought of this, his heart felt slightly heavy.

In the past, he had thought too simply of commercial wars.

Not everyone was willing to make money through amicable means.

“Then, it’s time to change my publicity plans as well.”

After adjusting his mentality, Ye Feng decided to make huge adjustments to his publicity plan.

The goal was to compete with Prosperous Flavor.

…

On 20 July, Prosperous Flavor opened for business.

In order to prepare for the opening ceremony, Prosperous Flavor had organized a grand event, and Tianda Plaza had cooperated accordingly.

It was just that in the morning, before the shop opened, the entrance of the shop was already surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.

Meanwhile, Ye Feng and Zhao Zhen stood at Hedilao while watching the lively scene opposite them.

“This Prosperous Flavor…” Ye Feng rubbed his chin. “Regardless of whether these people are genuine onlookers or not, at the very least, this scene is very realistic.”

Prosperous Flavor was packed with people. In fact, there were already two rows of people waiting outside.

“You’re still in the mood for jokes,” Zhao Zhen said. “I’ll see what you’re going to do when our customers are attracted to them and become their members instead.”

The membership system would cultivate an individual’s consumption habits.

“I’m already prepared.”

Ye Feng said confidently as he held a Prosperous Flavor flyer in his hand.

Prosperous Flavor’s flyer was indeed quite good, but it was too stingy.

“Let’s print 5,000 flyers that follow Prosperous Flavor’s typesetting. However, the content has to be changed.”

“We’ll change the amount of credits given to match the top-up amount. If customers top-up 100 yuan, I’ll give them 100 yuan. If they top-up 1,000 yuan, I’ll give them 1,000 yuan!”

Zhao Zhen was shocked by Ye Feng’s generosity.

Was Ye Feng actually… so bold?

However, Ye Feng secretly laughed.

It should be known that in his previous life, providing a 50% discount was a common practice. Furthermore, unlike those people who made a loss by promoting themselves, his hotpot base had been given to him by the multiple-choice question. Thus, it did not cost him anything.

“This way, we will lose a lot of money.”

Zhao Zhen said.

“Investments in this area cannot be measured by a temporary loss.”

Prosperous Flavor had already taken the initiative. If Ye Feng didn’t make a move now, it would be very difficult to turn the situation around.

Zhao Zhen glanced deeply at Ye Feng before he nodded.

Unlike Li Xin, although this young man was young, his charisma far surpassed Li Xin’s.

Furthermore, most importantly, Ye Feng had his limits.

“I can get 5,000 copies done by tomorrow.”

Zhao Zhen said.

Ye Feng asked again, “Sure. Oh right, have you made our membership cards? Give me 200 cards tomorrow.”

The membership card was the second trick he planned to use.

After doing all this, Ye Feng looked at the group of people opposite him and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

This publicity war had just begun.