Reinventing the Millennium

In early April, Yike President Fang Zhuo followed Marketing Director Yu Hong on the road to channel development.

It's embarrassing to say that since entering overseas until now, Fang Zhuo has not left the city of New York. Only the rest of the Yike team flew into this vast market like a goddess scattering flowers.

Yu Hong was not surprised by this: "The division of labor in the team is different. You are the boss, and you have to make decisions and raise funds. If I were in your position, I guess Yike's products may have just been launched."

"Oh, Mr. Yu thinks very highly of me." Fang Zhuo was very happy as he sat in the car driving to the city below New York State.

"I'm just telling the truth, can I still not believe Mr. Fang?" Yu Hong was in a good mood and raised her eyebrows at Fang Zhuo.

Fang Zhuo nodded and said smoothly: "So, Xiao Yu, you must believe that me looking for a professional manager here is not a denial of your ability, it is purely for the good of the company."

Yu Hong curled her lips: "Yes, seize my domestic power first, bring me here, and then find a professional manager to share some of my power. This double negative is equal to affirmation."

Fang Zhuo praised: "Xiao Yu has a broad mind and is worth learning from."

Yu Hong exclaimed, "How can someone like Mr. Fang, who criticized Fang Qiu on TV, want to learn from me?"

"Hmm, is the domestic program broadcast?" Fang Zhuo knew the elegant meaning after hearing Xiange. The sudden mention of TV by Xiaoyu must have "happened".

Yu Hong nodded: "I was chatting with Weiwei the night before yesterday. She said that the response to the show was very good, and President Fangda is quite like Zhuge's style back then."

"I really don't want to go, if I don't want to recognize people from Sina." Fang Zhuo shrugged, "Besides, I don't want to see others being bullied. Ding Lei is sitting there obediently and being spit on. The key is not yet If it hits the spot, I'll get angry and bully an honest person."

"It's like giving face to the Internet." Yu Hong tilted her head.

"It's just a show. Why does the Internet need me to have a face? The times are developing tremendously, and it will soon be proven to everyone that just like what we are doing now, the development of digital music is also tremendous." If Fang Zhuo hadn't sat there, You have to be proud in the car.

Yu Hong has heard similar words many times and has become immune to this: "Okay, let's start from New York State first."

New York is the first stop for Yike to enter overseas markets.

As one of the most economically developed states in the United States, New York State has a huge user base, and it is also one of the states with the largest number of Chinese international students.

A considerable number of international students cannot afford to live in the United States simply with scholarships. According to Fang Zhuo's idea, instead of doing the repetitive work of going to Chinatown and washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant at extremely low cost, it is better to participate in the development of new products of Yike.

What Yu Hong has done since arriving in New York during the Spring Festival is to combine part-time international students with sinking channels, which not only facilitates communication but also reduces costs.

But it is obviously unrealistic to only use part-time workers. They are a unique supplement to the system and can bring different vitality.

A total of three groups of people came to Yike in the United States, and the last group of new people came after the Spring Festival. Compared with the previous grouping of them to be responsible for the development of a city's market, now they are brought up to become the backbone, responsible for half a state or More.

The job promotion was very fast, and it was quite a bit of a rush. However, the assessment cycle set by Yu Hong was not long. Although it was a rush to the shelf, he had to work hard to grow himself.

The current overseas market is only exploring the United States. Purchases in other regions can be ordered through Amazon online, but I don’t know if it is the setting of website push. There are not many orders from Europe.

Fang Zhuo's April work plan, in addition to the framework of channel sinking, also involves communicating with Amazon, a unique e-commerce website during the Internet bubble, and doing his best to expand the market margin.

The market is huge, and we can’t stop traveling across state lines to the countryside.

While Yi Ke's overseas work was in full swing, the broadcast of "Win in China" made some old viewers of the show smile knowingly at the young CEO under the camera, and also made some new viewers surprised by the judge's distinctive style. Outstanding.

How would you describe Mr. Fang?

It's not just his appearance that makes him stand out, he's really that kind, that rare kind... He doesn't follow the rules, and his words are unexpected but make sense after careful consideration.

In particular, he behaved quite magnanimously when faced with questions from the contestants on the show. He should obviously be young and energetic and proud of his career, but he just had a strong heart and a calm face.

According to the young president himself, Yike has achieved sales of 200 million in less than a year since its establishment, which is really amazing.

It also wows some companies.

In April 2002, Lenovo Group held several product analysis meetings in a row and believed that consumer electronics products were a worthy entry point, and MP3 music players had very good prospects.

Lenovo has production lines that can be modified, brand value that can be added, and ready-made channels that can be used. In addition, after disassembly and research on MP3 players, there is no technical threshold. So what reason is there not to enter this market?

There are basically only two brands in the current domestic and foreign markets, one is domestic Yike and the other is Apple in the United States. Other older brands such as South Korea have basically lost their vitality. Lenovo has sufficient resources to compete.

As the vice president of Lenovo Research Institute, Lin Tianhua had contact with Fang Zhuo, the president of Yike, and heard personally that he was optimistic about overseas markets. He proposed a product strategy proposal that combines both Chinese and Western products at a group meeting.

There are many reasons, but in the end it boils down to one. Even a small company like Yike can do it, why can't Lenovo?

In mid-April, Vice President Lin Tianhuaji of the Research Institute added the title of director of a newly established subsidiary, Lenovo Music Electronics.

Soon, product teams codenamed F100 and F200 were established. The former will compete with Yiko M1 and Apple Ipod, and the latter will compete with Yiko J1 and will strive for mass production in June.

At the same time, due to the upcoming competition, several departments of Lenovo began to analyze Yike's market strategy, pay attention to the news of competitors, and look for flaws in this small company.

On April 17, a Lenovo employee saw the RIAA's statement and lawsuit against Yike for infringement while browsing competitors' overseas news, and immediately reported it to the public relations department.

The public relations and publicity team of Lenovo Group, which was assigned to its subsidiaries, was very pleased with the news and believed that this news would help undermine the brand awareness of competitors.

Recently, I have been studying the brand marketing of Yike, and the market feedback is that the bundling effect of "Blue and White Porcelain" is really troublesome. Now that I can take advantage of the other party's deep lawsuit to eliminate the bad reputation, it will undoubtedly get twice the result with half the effort.

On April 20, more news about Yike’s alleged infringement overseas was made into news and reported in the Beijing Youth Daily.

That evening, the official website of Beijing Youth Daily, Beiqing.com, published the original article online.

However, the lack of influence of newspapers and websites caused little waves.

Two days later, a small tidbit suddenly came in, which caused some wonderful changes in the reputation of the president of Yike Technology.

With the popularity of the single "Blue and White Porcelain" in the mainland market, Jay Chou, the product spokesperson of Yike Technology, launched his third album "Octave Space", which was originally scheduled to be released in the second half of the year, ahead of schedule.

As a result, this album was not very popular. The first two albums "Jay" and "Fantasy", which were originally small hits in the mainland, became popular. BC"……

Fans discovered a treasured singer from Treasure Island. The songs he originally sang became more widely circulated, and the charm of the singer who was originally not very famous was discovered.

Under such circumstances, Jay Chou appeared on a mainland variety show and was interviewed.

As a qualified spokesperson, he naturally hung the sky-blue J1 around his neck, thinking that he could promote the product more. He was also asked about the "Blue and White Porcelain" that was resounding in the streets this year.

Jay Chou smiled and described the cause and effect of the song, which shocked the host.

"Really? I don't believe it."

"Really, half of this song comes from Mr. Fang of Yike." Jay Chou said this seriously, "Isn't it said in ancient Chinese literature that articles are made in nature, and it's not uncommon for good songs to be dreamed up. "

"Do you really believe it? The song in the dream? It sounds very romantic." The host asked.

Jay Chou laughed to himself for a while, and then said honestly: "I believed it at the time. Later, when I returned to Taipei, they all said that Fang always dealt with me... When I think about it, it's probably true."

He continued: "When I come to the Mainland, one thing I have to do is to ask him face to face whether the origin of this song is true or false. Even if he treats me perfunctorily, I will not be angry."

The host asked again: "Then why do you think he is perfunctory with you?"

"I also wanted to ask him, but Yike Company said that he went abroad." Jay Chou discussed the reasons with Fang Wenshan and the others, and guessed, "Maybe he doesn't want to participate in this field. After all, he can make hundreds of millions of dollars in his own company. The main business is industry, and Mr. Fang may prefer this."

The host was amazed, and the audience knew for the first time that there was such a story behind this popular song.

Portal websites and music magazines published this surprising and suspicious thing. Although "Win in China" is a financial and entrepreneurial program, it is broadcast on the CCTV platform after all.

Therefore, many viewers, while watching the young CEO's sincere speech on the entrepreneurial program, thought of his conclusive statement to the Baodao singer that he dreamed of half a song...

Suddenly I felt very interesting.

Because Fang Zhuo interacted with the three major portals on "Win in China", the portals followed the trend and made this entrepreneurial history, and the number of views was quite high.

At this time, the litigation dispute between overseas Yike and the American RIAA, which had been published in newspapers and periodicals, was brought to the public with added fuel to the flames, and many small-scale paper media reported on it.

On the Internet, Sina, China's largest portal, took the lead in reprinting news from Beiqing.com, the official website of Beijing Youth Daily, after reporting on Yike Fangzhuo's entrepreneurial history.

It was reprinted, and other websites that followed it received a lot more analysis and outrage.

"Yike's infringement overseas will damage our image, won't it?"

"Fang Zhuo uses all the principles on TV shows. What does his company practice?"

"Not only is the RIAA suing Yike, but also SESAC, both well-known institutions in the United States!"

"Chinese enterprises want to go abroad, not go abroad and become defendants!"

"Enterprises have to be held accountable, whether legally or morally."

If some articles on the portal website are just that, then a simple reprint from the "Beijing Daily" made Xiong Xiaoge, who subscribed to this newspaper and read it every day, a little unable to sit still.

He originally wanted to watch the excitement, but it was a bit unsettling that a newspaper with the largest circulation in the capital area was also involved.

Xiong Xiaoge called Fang Zhuo abroad.

"Mr. Fang, do you know that there are reports in China about Yike's lawsuit in the United States?"

"I know." Fang Zhuo replied calmly.

"Then did you know that the Beijing Daily also reported it today?" Xiong Xiaoge asked again.

Fang Zhuo gave a negative answer: "I don't know about that. It's freshly baked. What does it say on it?"

"It's just a piece of tofu, without any analysis or conclusion. It's basically a simple paraphrase." Xiong Xiaoge described the report, but was afraid that his words would be misleading, "Although it is not long, the Beijing Daily is a city newspaper after all. , commission and newspaper, don’t let it get worse.”

Fang Zhuo pondered for a while on the other end of the phone and asked, "I heard people in the company report the situation the day before yesterday. Is this too hot?"

Xiong Xiaoge asked solemnly: "You mean there's someone behind the scenes?"

"It stands to reason that no, my business is not big." Fang Zhuo wondered, "I haven't offended anyone, I just do the market honestly, who has nothing to worry about like this? And they accused me of doing it in the United States. Litigation, crazy."

After what he said, Xiong Xiaoge recalled the recent situation and felt that something was not right.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it. Things on the Internet are quite strange, and a lot of people pay attention to them all of a sudden." After thinking about it, Fang Zhuo still thought it might be a coincidence.

It is normal for portal websites to track hot spots, and sometimes there is no particular pattern in what netizens like to read. As for print media, well, this is a problem.

"Old Xiong, please help me. I will return to China early next month. You can ask Hu Meng to see if you can get an interview from CCTV."

Xiong Xiaoge frowned and said, "CCTV interview? Financial channel?"

"Let's see if it can be bigger. I'll do something fun here first." Fang Zhuo said, "Yike's infringement is not an infringement. We haven't even settled the lawsuit here, and the country has begun to make judgments. This public opinion atmosphere is unacceptable. ah."

"Don't do this nonsense." Xiong Xiaoge was afraid that this young guy would make a mess without knowing the importance of it.

"I'm not a random person." Fang Zhuo listened to the public opinion report from the company's vice president of marketing in a hotel in Massachusetts the day before yesterday. He didn't take it too seriously, but even Xiong Xiaoge couldn't sit still.

That's probably still a bit serious.

People's mouths make gold, but accumulation destroys bones, so we have to be on guard against it.

In other words, it has just joined the WTO and is trying to integrate into the system of the global village. If time goes further, this will probably not make any waves.

Fang Zhuo had some solutions in mind, and felt that he could continue to get close to Sina through this matter.

It's almost May, and Sina's June shareholders' meeting is not far away.

Continuing the coding session, there will be two chapters tomorrow morning.