Giant of the times

After the meeting, Li Zetian assigned various tasks. Tian Shuai led a team mainly responsible for issuing cooperation invitations to many large record companies around the world, such as Universal Records, EMI Records, Warner Records, BMG Records, CBS/ Sony record company and so on.

Li Zetian was personally responsible for contacting advertising photographers to discuss advertising plans.

Soon, people from the advertising photography company came over.

Li Zetian took out the Walkman, showed him its functions, and then stated his request directly.

“My idea was to shoot in New York’s Central Park, in sunny weather, with a group of young and beautiful girls holding beautiful Walkman tapes in their hands and headphones on their heads, singing and dancing! The focus of the shooting was to reflect the functionality and practicality of the Walkman, followed by beauty and fashion!”

"Well, your request is very simple. Our company will definitely complete it well. Don't worry, Mr. Li!"

"Okay, but hurry up!"

The man thought for a while and said, "I promise to complete the advertising shooting task within half a month!"

Li Zetian nodded with satisfaction.

After the people from the advertising photography company left, Li Zetian immediately contacted ABC, CBS, and NBC TV stations to prepare for a comprehensive promotion on American TV! !

The next day, people from the three TV stations came to Apple's headquarters at the time agreed by Li Zetian.

Li Zetian invited them to the office and said: "Apple plans to spend huge sums of money to advertise on three TV stations at the same time, and they will all be in prime time!"

People from these three TV stations rushed to the scene and were shocked.

James Qiao, the head of the advertising team from ABC TV station, asked: "Mr. Li, are you sure you are advertising on three TV stations at the same time?"

It is rare for a company with such deep pockets to advertise on the three largest TV stations in the United States at the same time. When representatives from the three TV stations just met, they thought they were three companies competing for Apple's advertising.

Li Zetian nodded and said: "Yes, the three TV stations will jointly advertise!"

After receiving the confirmed answer, James Joe nodded, and then glanced at the representatives of NBC and CBS TV stations. At this moment, the three people seemed to have a clear understanding and formed an alliance.

James Qiao said: "Mr. Li, I don’t know what Apple’s advertising products are?"

When Li Zetian heard this, he looked at a female assistant on the side.

Later, the female assistant brought three Walkmans, including tapes and headphones.

"This is Apple's product," Li Zetian introduced. "It's called the Walkman. It's a tape player that users can take outdoors to listen to classes. You can put on your headphones and give it a try. Press the rectangular button above. You can sing now.”

The three of them followed Li Zetian's instructions, put on their headphones, and pressed the buttons to listen to the music.

Immediately, the faces of the three people showed shock.

"Mr. Li, this product is so cool!" James Qiao praised.

"Yes, I also think it is extremely cool, but record companies don't really approve of it. They feel that its existence will impact the vinyl record market and lead to a decline in profits!" Li Zetian shrugged, with a hint of helplessness in his tone.

James Qiao smiled softly and said: "Walkman will definitely be loved by users. When record companies see profits, they will naturally compromise. However, as the saying goes, if the wine is good, the alley will be deep, and if you play on a TV station Advertisements can increase Walkman exposure as quickly as possible and attract users' attention."

"Yes," Li Zetian said, "so we have invited all three TV stations here today. Then let's start talking about the price of advertising!"

"How much does it cost to broadcast 12 seconds of prime time content for one year?"

Li Zetian thought for a moment and asked.

James Joe, a representative of ABC TV station, was the first to answer: "$8 million!"

Representatives from NBC agreed that the answer was $8 million!

CBS was a little weaker, with a representative offering a price of "$7.5 million."

“Wori, it’s so expensive!”

Li Zetian had already noticed that the three TV stations had formed a partnership. However, this was originally part of his plan.

He became silent at first. The Walkman was a symbol of an era and had created huge profits for Sony in its previous life. It should be similar in this life. The more advertising there is, the higher the Walkman's exposure will be, and the sales will naturally be greater. However, advertising fees are so expensive, which is a huge pressure for Apple right now. He must find a way to reduce advertising costs. .

After a while, Li Zetian raised his head, glanced at the three of them, changed his words, and said calmly, "Apple's capital chain is very tight, so its advertising budget is limited. I reconsidered and decided to only advertise on one TV station!"

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the three people on the opposite side changed slightly, and the "unreliable alliance" they had just formed instantly broke down.

James Joe smiled and was the first to speak again.

He said: "Mr. Li, Apple has cooperated with ABC TV station, and the price is easy to negotiate. Although the TV station clearly lists the price at 8 million US dollars, the advertising fees will be different for different products. For products like the Walkman ABC TV has always had preferential policies for high-tech products. You know, if it is an advertisement for a junk product, it will definitely cause very serious damage to the brand image value of ABC TV, thus reducing the credibility of ABC TV and making the advertising price no longer valuable. !”

"So..." Li Zetian stared at him and asked.

James Joe laughed: "ABC TV station can reduce the advertising fee by US$500,000, which means the advertising fee is only US$7.5 million."

Peter Alick, the representative of NBC TV station, immediately said: "NBC TV station can reduce the price to US$7 million!" This is a direct reduction of US$1 million!

When James Qiao heard this, he immediately glared at him unhappily.

This is not over yet. CBS TV station representative Riley Chamberlain also said that the price would be reduced, and it would also be reduced by US$1 million, and it would only cost US$6.5 million.

James Qiao was furious when he heard this. You are paralyzed. I only reduced the price by US$500,000, but you actually reduced the price by US$1 million. Damn it!

So, James Joe shouted again: "ABC TV only costs $6.9 million!"

Seeing them competing for bids, Li Zetian felt happy. It seemed that competition between TV stations would be the most beneficial to him!

So, he pretended to be thoughtful and hesitant and did not reply.

The prices of the three people shouted lower and lower, but neither ABC nor NBC's offer was lower than US$6.5 million. Li Zetian secretly thought that this might be their bottom line, while CBS's offer was not lower than US$6 million.

"I already know the quotations of the three TV stations. I will make a serious decision after thinking about it! Please come back first!"

The three of them nodded and said goodbye.

Leaving Apple headquarters, the three were able to accuse each other.

James Qiao had an angry look on his face and complained: "Why did you two lower the price so low all of a sudden!"

"Hey, James Joe, this is business. I won't lower the price than you. Why would Apple choose to advertise on our TV station? You know, this is a big one-year contract!"

James Qiao snorted coldly, walked away angrily, and got into a black Ford sedan.

Not long after, James Qiao stopped the car, walked to the public phone booth and dialed the number of Li Zetian's office.

"Hello, Mr. Li, I am James Joe from ABC TV!"

"Hello, James Qiao. Didn't you just leave? Why did you remember to call me right away?" Li Zetian asked, secretly guessing that James Qiao was about to show his trump card.

In fact, it is.

James Qiao said in a deep voice: "Mr. Li, the minimum offer from ABC TV station is US$6.5 million. This is already our bottom line!"

Li Zetian didn't say much this time, and simply said, "Mr. James Qiao, please come to Apple again right away!"

"Okay, okay, I'll be here right away!" James Qiao said excitedly.

After saying that, he hung up the phone, feeling very proud in his heart, "Haha, Peter Alick and Riley Chamberlain, these two idiots, I'm afraid they still don't know that I'm using tricks behind my back! Haha..."

Soon, James Qiao rushed to Apple and then came to Li Zetian's office!

However, what surprised and shocked him was that this guy Peter Alik was actually here.

NBC TV station representative Peter Alick also had a look of surprise on his face when he saw James Joe.

Li Zetian explained with a smile: "Mr. James Qiao and Mr. Peter Alik just called me. I am very satisfied with the quotations from ABC TV station and NBC TV station. So I decided to advertise on the two TV stations together." !”

When Peter Alik and James Qiao heard this, they couldn't help looking at each other and smiling bitterly, saying in their hearts, even though Li Zetian is young, we have both been tricked by him.

Soon, Li Zetian signed advertising contracts with ABC TV and NBC TV on behalf of Apple!

"Mr. Li, please send the commercial short film to ABC Company as soon as possible, so that we can help you arrange the time as soon as possible." James Qiao said.

"The same goes for NBC."

"Okay!" Li Zetian nodded.

Apple invested $13 million in TV advertising. However, there are also various offline advertisements. This time, the entire advertising budget has reached 20 million US dollars, which is bound to allow most people in the United States to see the Walkman!

…

Things about the Walkman didn't go very smoothly, and the key was the record company.

The news that Apple was rejected by Polygram Records has spread throughout the industry. When Apple came to seek cooperation, many record companies, like Polygram Records, were worried that tapes would impact the vinyl record market, so they hesitated. forward!

Warner was even more straightforward. Apple came to negotiate and refused outright.

The above reasons are certainly one of them, and the other is that the founder of Apple is Li Zetian, and he is also the founder of Sunbird. At the beginning of this year, Warner planned to acquire Atari. Unexpectedly, Cheng Yaojin came out halfway and acquired Atari. Now, Atari has become a hit because of its transplantation of the Sunbird game, making a lot of money. The huge amount of money made Warner jealous.

Therefore, Li Zetian accidentally became enemies with Warner.

Tian Shuai said to Li Zetian with a sad face: "None of the world's major record companies are willing to cooperate with us, but fortunately some small record companies are willing to cooperate and authorize us to produce music tapes, which gives us a little comfort..."

Li Zetian was very helpless about this and said: "Wait and see, Walkman's advertisement will be on TV soon. In addition, Walkman has done advertising placement in the movie "Star Wars". Once it is released, it will have an impact on Walkman's sales." Helps a lot!”

"Mr. Li, are you so sure that "Star Wars" will be a hit?"

"It should be popular, that's my intuition!"

Tian Shuai didn't agree with this in his heart. The science fiction movie market was in a sluggish state, and he had yet to see a big-selling work.

On February 20, Thomas Rockefeller arrived at Apple.

"Hello, Mr. Thomas Rockefeller, welcome to Apple!"

Thomas Rockefeller nodded and said, "Apple seems to be in big trouble recently?"

"It's no big trouble, it's just a small matter. It will be solved soon."

Apple is indeed in big trouble, but if you tell investors this, wouldn't you allow them to succeed and lower Apple's valuation?

Therefore, Li Zetian firmly refused to admit it.

The two then came to the office, sat on the sofa chairs and started talking.

Thomas Rockefeller said: "According to the information I have inquired about, Apple's new product Walkman is a tape player product, but it does not receive support from record companies."

"As long as it's profitable, the record company will support it. That's not a problem! They will realize this sooner or later, I bet!" Li Zetian said firmly, with a confident smile on his face.

Thomas Rockefeller smiled noncommittally, and then said: "Maybe, but no one can be 100% sure about the future. Polly Lane introduced the Walkman to me in detail, and I also think this product is indeed very good. Great. If Apple chooses to raise capital at this time, I am willing to raise the price! The Rockefeller family has a very professional appraisal agency, and they estimate Apple's market value at US$2.5 billion!"

Li Zetian frowned. The US$2.5 billion was far from what he expected.

Thomas Rockefeller saw Li Zetian frowning and couldn't help but said: "Apple's profit model is too single. The main product is the Apple-ll personal computer. However, now personal computer manufacturers are springing up like mushrooms after a rain, attacking Apple's leading position. A fierce charge. If Apple does not get huge funds to speed up its development, it will be overtaken sooner or later! And as far as I know, IBM is also developing personal computers. Apple is about to face the biggest challenge in its history! In fact, The Rockefeller family's investment in Apple requires taking huge risks, so the company's valuation cannot be too high. The valuation of US$2.5 billion is already the most appropriate value in our opinion..."

"Mr. Thomas Rockefeller, once Walkman becomes popular all over the world, Apple will be worth more than 2.5 billion US dollars!!!" Li Zetian argued that Apple indeed needs funds to develop rapidly, but the valuation of 2.5 billion US dollars is too low.

"Chronos, you are assuming that the Walkman will be popular in the future. What if it does not become popular in the future?" Thomas Rockefeller said, "If the Walkman does not become popular, then Apple will suffer very serious losses because of this. And if it goes bankrupt, I might give up investing in Apple..."

Li Zetian's expression changed slightly and he said in a deep voice: "Thomas Rockefeller, let's wait and see. I believe that Walkman will become popular all over the world!"

Thomas Rockefeller shook his head and sighed slightly, "Okay, then I'll just wait..."

The two quickly ended this unpleasant conversation.

Tian Shuai saw that Li Zetian's expression was not quite right, so he couldn't help but ask, "Did the talks collapse?"

"Yeah!" Li Zetian nodded.

"Investors are like this, just get used to it! By the way, the commercial short film has been shot and the video tape has been sent over. Would you like to come over and watch it and make suggestions for modifications?" Tian Shuai said.

"OK."

So, the two came to the screening room.

Turn on the TV and VCR, insert the video tape, and then the commercial begins.

The first picture that appeared was the Central Garden of New York under the blue sky and white clouds, which was shining and full of vitality. A girl was lying on her back on the grass holding a Walkman, listening to the song with great enjoyment. There was a Walkman playing music on a wooden chair not far away. A group of boys and girls gathered together and swayed to the rhythm of the music played by the Walkman. After a while, people around them joined in, and the scene was complete. Crowded. At this time, when the short film was about to end, Apple's silver LOGO appeared on the screen, with a line of small words "Walkman" written underneath.

Bang bang bang!

Li Zetian clapped his hands and said: "This commercial short film is very well shot and can fully demonstrate the fashion and practicality of the Walkman!"

"Mr. Li, since you are satisfied, then I will send the videotape directly to ABC TV station and NBC TV station?"

"Well! If you send it earlier, Walkman can broadcast it one day earlier, and it will become easier to negotiate cooperation with the record company." Li Zetian said.

Tian Shuai nodded and said: "Well..."