Reborn Industrial Tycoon

Chapter 481 This face makes me jealous to death!

Section Chief Xiao Lin also rejected Li Weidong, obviously looking down on Chinese brands.

Li Weidong still wanted to save something, so he hurriedly said: "Director Xiaolin, I have found an excellent spokesperson for this product, and the commercial I filmed will definitely be a hot seller after the commercial is aired.

It will also bring huge profits to Yamada Denki."

"Spokesperson? Is he Japanese?" Xiao Lin asked.

"He is Japanese, it is the most popular Kimura Takuya." Li Weidong replied.

Kimura Takuya is Li Weidong's trump card. Now in order to find sales channels, Li Weidong can only move Kimura Takuya out.

When it came to Kimura Takuya, Section Chief Kobayashi frowned and thought for a while, then said with some disdain, "The person you are talking about seems to be an idol! As for an idol, he is not an excellent spokesperson."

There is a very clear chain of contempt in the Japanese entertainment industry.

Of course, the one at the bottom is Teacher *****, and above Teacher *****, there are the idols.

Idols are divided into music idols and photo idols. Among them, music idols have a higher status than photo idols. After all, music is a talent, and for photo shoots, all you need is a good face and a good figure.

Many well-known Japanese celebrities also started out as photo idols. Those who are lucky and capable can climb up the ranks. If they cannot climb up, many become teachers.

Above idols, there are entertainers, who are called "yunren" in Japanese, specifically referring to comedians.

The status of Japanese comedians in the entertainment industry can only be regarded as middle-class, and some are even lower than middle-class. Unlike China, those who live longer are cross-talk performing artists, and they are full of talent.

Above the artists, there are singers. The singers here are not the kind of singers from idol groups, but musicians who truly rely on their abilities.

Above the singers, there are regular actors, which are called "yu" in Japanese.

In Japan, the ultimate goal of an idol is to act. If an idol can transform into an actor and win a few awards, it is basically the ultimate goal of completing his acting career.

South Korea also has a similar chain of contempt in the entertainment industry. Therefore, most fans in China who chase Korean stars do not know that the idols they are chasing are actually at the bottom of the Korean entertainment industry. If they see any movie star, they have to bow quickly.

Call me brother.

For Korean stars, success is considered a success if they can sneak into the Busan Film Festival or the Blue Dragon Film Awards ceremony and have the opportunity to walk the red carpet alone.

Kimura Takuya debuted at the age of sixteen. Of course, at this age, he has to follow the route of an idol.

But idols are at the bottom of the Japanese entertainment industry, so when Li Weidong mentioned Kimura Takuya, Section Chief Kobayashi looked disdainful.

Li Weidong understood what Xiaolin meant, and he quickly said: "Kimura Takuya is now an actor, and has appeared in several TV series and a movie."

"It is normal for idols to play a few small roles in movies and TV dramas. This level cannot be called an actor." Section Chief Kobayashi curled his lips, obviously not recognizing Kimura Takuya.

At this time, Kimura Takuya was not playing a small guest role in a TV series, but he was the number one supporting actor in the TV series, and he also won a Newcomer Award.

But it is not easy for idols to gain recognition from the audience for their acting skills.

What's more, Kimura Takuya's image is too outstanding. When you see his face, you will most likely think that Kimura Takuya relies on his face to make a living, thus ignoring his acting skills.

Seeing Xiao Lin's firm refusal, Li Weidong sighed helplessly.

Now Li Weidong really wants to turn into Liu Huaqiang and say arrogantly: "I gave you a chance, but you are useless!"

…

After being rejected by Yodobashi and Yamada Denki in succession, Li Weidong was not discouraged and looked for Bike Camera again.

Bike Camera is also Japan's top home appliance seller. It also follows the route of a hypermarket. In Bike Camera's stores, it not only sells home appliances, but also sells cameras, mobile phones, alcohol, cosmetics and other daily necessities.

Two other Japanese home appliance retail brands, Kojima Electric and Soft Picture, are also owned by Bike Camera. Calculated in this way, Bike Camera is the second largest home appliance retailer in Japan, second only to Yamada Denki, which has more than 10,000 stores.

.

However, the result was the same as before. Bike Camera also rejected Li Weidong. They also made it clear that they would not sell Chinese brands.

Next, Li Weidong went to KSHD, Shangxin Electric, EDION and other home appliance retailers, and the answers he got were the same. They were unwilling to sell Chinese brands. Some home appliance retailers even made it clear that they only sell Japanese brands.

This result made Li Weidong a little frustrated, but it was not completely unexpected.

In the home appliance industry, it is absolutely hellish for foreign brands to gain a foothold in the Japanese market.

What's more, this was still in the 1990s, when the Japanese home appliance industry was at its peak. Many Japanese home appliances were selling well all over the world. They were beating Whirlpool in the United States and kicking Siemens in Europe. There was no room for foreign brands to survive in Japan.

Japanese citizens are extremely confident in their own home appliance brands. They believe that Japanese home appliances are the best in the world. Even if they are more expensive, they will only buy Japanese brand home appliances and not other brands.

products of the country.

Of course, if Puppy Electric is an American brand, it might have a chance to enter Japanese home appliance stores. After all, American dads don’t dare to refuse things.

But as a Chinese brand, no matter how excellent the products of Puppy Electric are, they will be rejected by Japanese home appliance stores.

In the eyes of the Japanese, China is a poor and backward country, and the products produced must be of poor quality and inferior. How can it be qualified to enter Japanese home appliance stores?

Even more than 20 years later, Japanese people still look down on products made in China. Many Japanese still think that products made in China are inferior products, let alone in 1996.

The Japanese are very stubborn, and changing their mindset does not happen overnight.

Since Japanese home appliance stores do not accept facial steamers for puppies, Li Weidong had no choice but to find another way

Li Weidong set his sights on Japanese drugstores.

Drugstores are a unique feature of Japan. Among the major cosmetics systems in the world, only Japanese regulations recognize the category of "cosmeceuticals." China, the United States, Europe and other countries do not have the concept of "cosmeceuticals."

Therefore, if you see so-called drug stores outside Japan, they are just borrowing a name and will not sell "cosmeceuticals" in the true sense. Otherwise, it will be an illegal operation.

The concept of cosmeceuticals was proposed by dermatologists in the United States. However, the FDA itself does not buy it and does not recognize the category of "cosmeceuticals."

The US FDA has a clear definition of drugs. As long as they are claimed to have "therapeutic properties", they must be registered as drugs.

Therefore, any product that claims functions such as whitening, wrinkle removal, acne removal, dandruff removal, or even sun protection are all "therapeutic properties" and must be drugs. In other words, buying a sunscreen in the United States is actually a

Buy medicine.

In the EU regulations, this type of products are managed as cosmetics. The EU has a special category of "active cosmetics", which is a green light for this type of cosmetics.

The reason for this is that in the European Union, especially France, there are many cosmetics companies, such as L'Oreal, Lancôme, Dior and other brands, all of which are French.

If the supervision of cosmetics is stricter, it will harm the EU's own cosmetics brands, and France has one of the best voices in the EU, so it will naturally give the green light to its own industry.

Japan's regulations in this area are actually similar to those in the United States. The only difference is that Japan recognizes the concept of "cosmeceuticals." According to Japanese regulations, cosmeceuticals exist in the name of "external medicines."

Now that the Department of Regulations has given the green light to cosmeceuticals, there are drug stores in Japan.

In addition to cosmetics, drugstores in Japan also sell over-the-counter medicines and health care products.

As for prescription drugs, you need to go to a specialized pharmacy to buy them with a doctor's prescription.

In addition, Japanese drug stores also sell a variety of daily necessities and food, such as toilet paper, toothpaste, laundry detergent, snacks, vegetables, eggs, drinks, etc. It is completely like a small supermarket.

Once upon a time, Chinese pharmacies also sold various daily necessities. Many people would swipe their medical insurance cards and go to the pharmacies to buy various tobacco, alcohol, sugar and tea. Selling daily necessities once became the main business of pharmacies.

Later, the medical insurance department took action, strengthened supervision, and did not allow pharmacies to sell these miscellaneous things, so this trend was stopped.

In Japan, drug stores sell more than just medicine.

…

Matsumoto Kiyoshi is Japan's largest drugstore chain store, with more than 600 stores across Japan, and many stores are located in bustling areas such as stations and business districts.

In terms of sales channels, Matsumoto Kiyoshi is not inferior to those well-known home appliance chain stores, but Matsumoto Kiyoshi sells cosmeceuticals and various daily necessities, which are not as good as home appliances in terms of quality.

After Li Weidong was rejected by several major home appliance retailers, he planned to use drug stores to sell facial steamers for puppies. He found Matsumoto Kiyoshi first.

Matsumoto Kiyoshi sent a deputy commander named Inoue to receive Li Weidong.

Among the positions in Japanese companies, the deputy chief is one level higher than the section chief.

After the guests and hosts were seated, Inoue asked directly: "Mr. Li, I heard that your product wants to be sold in our Matsumoto Kiyoshi. What kind of daily necessities are you?"

Inoue probably regarded Li Weidong as an international trader promoting daily necessities.

Li Weidong is not Japanese, so it is impossible for him to promote over-the-counter drugs and cosmeceuticals. These two types of products are regulated by the Japanese Food and Drug Administration and have special co-sourcing channels. The only products that can be directly imported from outside Japan are daily necessities.

Li Weidong immediately took out the facial steamer and began to introduce it.

"This product is called a hot and cold dual-jet facial steamer. Different from other products on the market, my facial steamer can not only spray hot air, but also spray cold air.

Hot air can open and unclog pores, help detoxify the skin, speed up blood circulation, eliminate dirt, and reduce dark spots and wrinkles;

The air conditioning can shrink the pores, allowing the detoxified skin to retain moisture and become firmer, making it look white, smooth, healthy and plump..."

Director Ino suddenly interrupted Li Weidong's introduction: "Mr. Li, the product you brought should belong to household appliances, right? To be honest, although our Matsumoto Kiyoshi sells various daily necessities, we have never involved household appliances.

field."

"How can this be considered a household appliance? This is clearly a skin care product!" Li Weidong said with a smile.

"Skin care products? You Chinese call these things skin care products? Although I don't have much education, you can't blindly deceive me!" Inoue complained in his mind.

Li Weidong continued: "Chief Ino, the definition of skin care products is products that can protect the skin. My hot and cold dual-jet facial steamer can protect the skin, so it should be considered a skin care product.

"

"Uh... Even so!" Faced with Li Weidong's sophistry, Inoue nodded speechlessly.

Li Weidong continued: "Captain Ino, what I brought is a new type of product that has never appeared on the market, and the profit is much higher than ordinary daily necessities."

Inoue nodded again. Of course, the profit of household appliances is much higher than that of toilet paper, toothpaste and laundry detergent.

"As for the quality of the products, I don't have to worry about the quality of the products. My factory started as an OEM, and my customers include famous Japanese home appliance brands such as Nishiba and Panasonic. Our products fully meet Japan's product quality requirements.

"Li Weidong then introduced.

Inoue pondered for a moment and then asked: "Mr. Li, I have a question, why don't you go to a retailer of household appliances instead of coming to our drug store?

Although the skin care effect of this product is very consistent with the positioning of our drug store, it is a household appliance after all, and it should appear on the counters of home appliance chain stores."

Li Weidong instantly understood Inoue's intention. He smiled slightly and said, "President Inoue, are you worried that if Matsumoto Kiyoshi sells the facial steaming device, you will be mistakenly thought that he is entering the home appliance retail industry, thereby offending those home appliance retailers?

"

Inoue did not expect that Li Weidong could see through his intentions at a glance. He did not hide it, but admitted: "I do have this worry. We don't want to cause unnecessary trouble because of a product."

"President Ino, you don't have to worry about this. The sale of this facial steamer by Matsumoto Kiyoshi will definitely not cause dissatisfaction among home appliance retailers."

Li Weidong continued: "To be honest, before meeting you, I have already visited major electrical appliance retailers in Japan, such as Yodobashi, Yamada Denki, Bike Camera, KSHD, Shangxin Electric, and Aiden

Wang, etc., I have searched for them all.

But unfortunately, without exception, they all rejected me. So even if Matsumoto Kiyoshi sells my facial steamer, major electrical appliance retailers will not mind."

"That's it! Mr. Li, you are very courageous and dare to face your own failure, which I admire very much." Inoue bowed slightly towards Li Weidong.

Japanese culture is not only unwilling to admit mistakes, but also unwilling to admit failures. If you make a mistake, you must first find an excuse to clean it up. If you fail, you must quickly find someone to take the blame.

In short, it was not me who made the mistake, it was all caused by objective factors; it was not me who failed, I am also a victim!

For the Japanese, admitting failure does require courage.

…

The profits of household appliances are much greater than those of ordinary daily necessities. Driven by profits, Matsumoto Kiyoshi Drug Store finally agreed to allow the Puppy brand's hot and cold dual-jet facial steamer to enter the store.

Drugstores are the most down-to-earth existence in the Japanese retail industry. A place that even sells eggs is naturally not like a home appliance retailer that does not sell non-Japanese brands.

On Monday, Li Weidong officially signed a contract with Matsumoto Kiyoshi Drug Store.

It was also at nine o'clock in the evening on this day that the first episode of Fuji TV's prime time TV series "Long Vacation" aired.

Japan's Fuji TV and TBS TV stations are the main forces in Japanese drama production. Most of the high-quality Japanese dramas are produced by these two TV stations.

The broadcast frequency of Japanese TV dramas is also different from that in China. Japanese dramas only broadcast one episode a week, so Japanese dramas generally only have about ten episodes.

If the length of Chinese TV dramas were to be followed, which would easily be thirty or forty episodes, and some "masterpieces" would have seventy or eighty episodes, the audience would have run away impatiently.

The rhythm of Japanese dramas is often tight, and they rarely fill in the air. If the rhythm is too slow, the audience's expectations will drop, and if they don't watch it for a week or two, they will give up on the drama.

In this regard, I have to admire the loyalty of the viewers of "Naruto". The animation is released one episode a week, and each episode lasts only twenty minutes from beginning to end. It often includes some original plots that are crazy and entertaining, but the audience can still persist in watching it.

The most prime time period for Japanese TV dramas is not weekends, but Monday nights at nine o'clock, which is the so-called "Month Nine".

Probably because Japanese people are tired after going to work on Monday after relaxing and playing on the weekend, so they will stay at home and watch TV after get off work, so the ratings during this time period will be relatively high.

It is precisely because of the high ratings of "Month Nine" that major TV dramas will be broadcast in the "Month Nine" time period. In turn, "Month Nine" has become a symbol, indicating that the quality of this drama is very good

.

Based on the broadcast schedule of Japanese dramas, one episode per week, only four TV dramas can be broadcast on "Month Nine" a year, so every drama broadcast will attract more attention.

"Long Vacation" was played on "Month Nine".

The starring roles of this TV series are Kimura Takuya and Yamaguchi Tomoko.

Looking at it from today's perspective, one would think that the selling point of this TV series is the young and handsome Kimura Takuya, but in fact, most viewers go there for Tomoko Yamaguchi.

At that time, Yamaguchi Tomoko was a well-known actress in Japan and the well-deserved "Queen of Japanese Dramas". With her status, she deserved to appear in "Yuejiu".

Moreover, Yamaguchi Tomoko is also a famous ratings queen. After entering the 1990s, the ratings of the works she starred in have always been very good.

In contrast, although Kimura Takuya is a popular young star, he has always played supporting roles before. This time he can appear in the "Moon Nine" as the male protagonist, which can be regarded as having benefited from Yamaguchi Tomoko.

When Fuji TV promoted this TV series, they also ranked Tomoko Yamaguchi at the front and Takuya Kimura at the back.

…

Fuji TV.

The producer took the latest ratings report and said happily: "The ratings of the first episode of "Long Vacation" exceeded 30%! As expected of Tomoko Yamaguchi, as long as she is here, the ratings are guaranteed!"

For the "Yuejiu" TV series, a ratings of 20% is considered passing, a rating of 25% is considered excellent, and a rating of 30% is definitely a hit drama.

The ratings of the first episode of a TV series are directly related to the cast. Because the audience does not know the content of the TV series, they often watch the first episode for the cast.

Therefore, the credit for the first episode of "Long Vacation" having a ratings of over 30% was naturally placed on the "Queen of Ratings" Tomoko Yamaguchi.

The deputy next to him said: "Kimura Takuya's acting skills have also improved a lot. He used to play supporting roles. This time he was the leading actor. I thought he would be nervous, but his performance turned out to be very natural and not jerky."

The producer nodded: "Kimura-kun has a very good image, and it is his image that makes many people ignore his progress in acting. I think he is an actor with great potential."

Being called an "actor" rather than an "idol" by the producers shows that the producers have recognized Kimura Takuya's acting skills.

The deputy continued: "Speaking of Kimura-kun, one of his commercials will be aired next month. I remember it will start in the middle of the month."

"What product is this advertisement for?" the producer casually asked me to get it.

"It seems to be a beauty product, I can't remember the details," the deputy replied.

"Beauty products? Aren't they usually endorsed by female celebrities?" The producer smiled and shook his head, then said: "But Mr. Kimura is more beautiful than women, so he can really endorse beauty products!"

…

When "The Long Vacation" was first aired, the audience really focused on Tomoko Yamaguchi. As far as the first two episodes are concerned, the characteristics of the character played by Tomoko Yamaguchi are indeed more distinctive.

Starting from the third episode, as the plot progresses, the character played by Kimura Takuya begins to show his strength, and the character creation becomes more and more fleshed out.

By the sixth episode, the plot has fully unfolded, and at the end, the male and female protagonists are even more aggressive.

Next, we entered the stage where the male and female protagonists like each other, but they don't tell each other, and there are some misunderstandings from time to time, and then they break up and get back together, which makes the audience most worried.

This is a common trope in romance movies. In short, if you don’t set up a checkpoint to test it, it’s not love!

Kimura Takuya's acting skills also began to explode at this stage, and the ratings of "Long Vacation" also climbed again, causing a sensation all over Japan.

The phenomenon of "not going out on the 9th of the month" has officially appeared!

…

At 9:45 pm, the new episode of "Long Vacation" has just ended. In today's plot, the heroine bids farewell to the hero and is about to move to another place.

This heart-wrenching plot made Mrs. Xiaolin stay by the TV and couldn't bear to leave. Even though the commercials had started, Mrs. Xiaolin was still immersed in the plot and couldn't extricate herself.

At this moment, Kimura Takuya appeared on the TV screen again.

"Sena Hidetoshi is back again? Is there going to be an extra episode?" Mrs. Kobayashi was delighted and immediately looked at the TV.

Sena Hidetoshi is the name of the character played by Kimura Takuya.

In the TV screen, a novel instrument was placed in front of Kimura Takuya. Water vapor was constantly spraying out of the instrument, directly spraying on Kimura Takuya's face.

"It turns out to be a TV commercial! This seems to be a steam beauty device." Mrs. Xiaolin breathed a sigh of relief.

However, the next second, the screen showed a close-up of Kimura Takuya's handsome face.

Mrs. Xiaolin wiped her saliva subconsciously and thought to herself, this face really makes me jealous!

Just because of this face, I want to buy it!

Six thousand three hundred words, thank you all parents for subscribing, thank you all for your monthly votes!