Top of the big era

Finally, after some selection, the plan of a team of designers from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, was determined. Then, we will cooperate with Germany's Leshun Shipyard to turn the drawings into reality.

After the plan is determined, how to name it?

Zhou Buqi was very casual, "I can do it, you have the final say. Senior Sister Zhen Yu, do you have any good ideas?"

"I?"

Zhen Yu was slightly startled.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "I think you are good at naming names, and Jieyu Media is quite nice."

Zhen Yu rolled her eyes at him.

"Jieyu" is a title given by the emperor to his concubines. What's so nice about this name?

However, she really didn't want to miss this naming opportunity.

"How about...how about calling me 'Sea King'?"

"Sea King? Ahem..."

"What's wrong?"

"Stop teasing me."

Zhou Buqi felt guilty and looked suspicious. He glanced at Sister Bao and thought to himself, she must have let it slip in private, right? Senior Sister Zhen Yu misunderstood that she was really the King of the Sea.

But the concept of "Neptune" is not popular at the moment, and Zhen Yu is a little surprised, "Don't you think Neptune sounds good? The king of the sea, how suitable for a yacht. And, isn't your private equity fund also called Neptune, how fitting."

Zhou Buqi blinked and said tentatively: "Senior Sister Zhen Yu, since you have a request, then I will really become the King of the Sea?"

Zhen Yu said: "It's the name given to this ship."

"It's all the same, it's all the same."

Zhou Buqi laughed, his heart was racing, but he didn't know how to start. Although the goal has been set, this is Senior Sister Zhen Yu, so she can't just rush up like a dazed young man.

You can't force yourself to ask her: "Senior Sister Zhen Yu, are you a yellow flower girl?"

This is too rude.

well!

It's easy to be a scumbag, but it's hard to be a good person. If I were really a Neptune and a scumbag, that would be great, I could rush forward without any psychological burden.

For the sake of the stability and prosperity of the family, it is really not easy to play with a sister who has been very respected in the past few years and has helped her a lot in her career.

I'm going back to my country tomorrow.

Zhou Buqi had other things to be busy with, so he didn't delay much.

In the afternoon, continue the interview.

I met Gilbert Lawrence again, and with the support of Zhu Jun and Chen Wenhao, I made a decision on the spot to hire him, invited him to join the board of directors of Manchester United, and became the chairman and president of the Manchester United Commercial subsidiary.

Chen Wenhao is Zhou Buqi's confidant from China. He was hired from Focus Media. He will be the vice president of Manchester United's commercial affairs and be in charge of sponsors and advertising business.

There is still a shortage of a vice president in charge of peripherals and derivatives markets, so we have to find one from Hollywood.

One is the vice president of consumer and international business at Time Warner's HBO, named Brandon Henke; the other is the director of Disney's business development department, mainly responsible for market development, named Joseph Delap.

Both of them are British and both are senior fans.

During the economic crisis, Time Warner and Disney are also laying off employees. They are not on the layoff list for the time being, but who knows whether they will be laid off in the future?

Another very important point is that under the economic crisis, there is a lot of chaos in the United States, and many shooting incidents have occurred one after another. If there is a chance, it would be good to go back to work in China.

This interview was relatively easy. Zhou Buqi, Zhu Jun, San Dezi, Zhen Yu, Xue Baoshan, Gilbert, Chen Wenhao and others spent an hour together for the interview.

The overall feeling is similar.

One is 37 years old and the other is 38 years old.

Resumes, experience and industry backgrounds are also equally matched. This is not surprising. These are the two candidates that Heidrick \u0026 Struggles screened out from a list of hundreds of people and finally stayed.

After the interview, Gilbert recommended Joseph Delap from Disney.

The two had known each other before.

HBO is a subsidiary of Time Warner, and the music business must be left to Warner Records. Disney is different. It has a deep business relationship with EMI Records.

After discussion, everyone supported Joseph except Chen Wenhao, who had a different view.

The reason is simple, he comes from Disney!

Disney's peripheral product development is not as good as Warner's, but Disney's derivative development is definitely the first in the world. It is also a derivative operation. Warner's DC comics, "Superman" and "Batman" are so popular in the market, they are the two most beloved superheroes in the United States.

However, the sales of Superman and Batman derivatives were not as good as expected.

Not to mention compared with the ace Disney Princess series, the derivative income of "Superman Returns" and "The Dark Knight" is not even as good as Disney's original "Pirates of the Caribbean" series.

There must be gaps in operating mechanisms, platform experience and market awareness behind this.

Joseph Delap comes from Disney and has such an advantage.

As a club, Manchester United's biggest peripheral copyright is the broadcasting rights. This thing is owned by the Premier League and cannot be operated even if it wants to.

Warner is best at peripheral development and has little use for Manchester United. The most it can do is shoot some documentaries and produce a few songs for release.

Manchester United's commercial promotion mainly relies on derivative income, such as stationery, shirts, sweatshirts, footballs, training supplies, and sports goods authorized by the Manchester United brand. It can even cooperate with car companies to launch customized Manchester United collections, and mobile phone companies to launch Manchester United. special edition.

The most important thing that has been put on the agenda is the blind box.

After many comparisons, Joseph Delap is still more suitable for Manchester United's business.

Zhen Yu had already been promised to be a director of Manchester United. She was waiting for the next official appointment of the board of directors, so she asked: "How is Manchester United's current derivatives income?"

Santoku coughed slightly, "He is the best in the Premier League."

Zhou Buqi hummed: "The Premier League is the best, but it's not necessarily that good."

Santoku said: "It is estimated that this season, Manchester United's jersey sales can reach 1.2 million pieces, and Manchester United-related authorized products can sell 800,000 pieces."

Then, he couldn't help complaining: "The sales of jerseys are okay, only 300,000 less than Real Madrid. But the authorized derivatives are too far behind. If I were to do it, the number of authorized products in a single season would be at least Breaking through 2 million pieces. I proposed it last year. There was a local wig company in Thailand that wanted to put the Manchester United logo on it, and we could get a 5%-8% commission. But this plan was rejected by David Gill. ."

Zhou Buqi said in a deep voice: "Even if you do derivatives, you can't have no limit. What the hell is a wig? Is it related to Manchester United? David Gill's decision is right. Even if you do commercial development, you can't squander Manchester United arbitrarily. s brand."

Gilbert obviously thinks so, which shows the gap between real masters and fake masters like Santoku. He said lightly: "When developing derivatives, we rely on brand value. The higher the brand value, the higher the derivatives." The higher the authorized scope and sales volume of the product. Therefore, when developing derivatives, you must not do anything that harms the brand. You must not destroy long-term goodwill for short-term benefits. The Disney Princess brand series has been in operation for a hundred years and has given birth to Hundreds of derivatives have been produced. But each derivative must conform to the values ​​of the Disney Princesses. No matter how much you pay for sex toys, it is impossible to obtain the authorization of the Disney Princesses."

Zhen Yu nodded lightly, "Disney's brand attributes are what all companies should learn from."

In the past few years, Disney has become the Whampoa Military Academy, providing a large number of talents to media, entertainment, and brand application companies around the world. Even the presidents of Yahoo and eBay were poached from Disney, and even the global president of TikTok in later generations was also poached from Disney.

In the field of commercial operations and market-oriented operations, Disney is ranked first in the world.

Sandoku was a little embarrassed.

Zhou Buqi still wanted to reuse him, so he smiled and said: "Manchester United's poor business development has nothing to do with you. You will have to be at the helm in the future. By the way, the jerseys and authorized products you just mentioned can be How much income is there?”

Santoku said: "The sales of jerseys are probably... about 70 million pounds. If it is sold through a third party, we can get about 12% of the licensing fee. If it is sold through Manchester United's direct stores or official website, All sales will go to Manchester United. A total of... approximately 15 million pounds can be harvested. Including derivative income, the expected income this season is 20 million pounds."

The third-party platform is equivalent to a Nike store.

Fans go to Nike stores to buy a jersey for 70 pounds, and Manchester United can get 12% of the licensing fee, which is about 8 pounds.

If it is the official Manchester United store, all the 70 pounds will belong to Manchester United, and only a "production fee" of about 30 pounds will be paid to Nike. At the same time, Nike will also pay a 12% licensing fee to Manchester United... which is equivalent to the purchase cost of a jersey being 22 pounds. Selling a piece of autumn clothing in a directly-operated store, if it is not a discount version, Manchester United's net income is equivalent to 48 pounds.

Excluding the water and electricity bills, rent, employee salaries, and value-added tax of directly-operated stores... a piece of autumn clothing should be able to make a net profit of 20 pounds.

Looking at it this way, it is better to open a directly operated store.

However, offline stores are asset-heavy, with high returns but also high risks. Once the economy slumps, or the location is chosen incorrectly, sales may be too low and the store may be forced to close. It will waste huge renovation costs, store rent and employee layoff compensation.

Although the revenue from only 12% of the licensing fee is less, it is better to be safe and transfer the risk to sports brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma.

The operations here are relatively complex, requiring detailed market research and risk assessment, and a model to calculate Manchester United's maximum revenue expectations before making decisions.

This has nothing to do with Zhou Buqi.

Everyone has been chosen.

"Then let's take Joseph Delap. We can accept his annual salary of 1.8 million pounds and let him resign from Disney as soon as possible. I want to see him take up his post in March!"

Zhou Buqi made a decision.

No sloppiness.

He will return to China tomorrow, so there is no need to engage in second-hand affairs. Get this thing done before you leave England!