Chapter 0268: Selling Like Crazy!

Zhu Yushi now really wanted to tell Zhao Fusheng, I'm not here for you to comfort me; I wanted to mock you.

But unfortunately, Zhao Fusheng didn't give him a chance. His first words asked Boss Zhu if he was scared.

Sighing, Zhu Yushi said to Zhao Fusheng, “Planner Zhao, are you really only twenty-one?”

Zhao Fusheng smiled. “Although I'd love to go back to eighteen, that seems pretty hard, Boss Zhu.”

Humans are the strangest creatures; they love to reminisce about the past, like posting a bunch of photos of themselves at eighteen and sighing about how they were back then. Come on, back then you were just an ignorant kid.

Whether post-70s, post-80s, or post-90s, do you really not know what you looked like at eighteen?

Only losers want to go back to the past, because a successful life moves forward, not backward.

Zhao Fusheng was a loser in his previous life, so he was happy to return to the present. He knew very well that if his life had been perfect, he wouldn't have wanted to go back.

A heart that remains young is true happiness—facing the sea, with spring blossoms—not sentimentally saying, “When I was eighteen, I was like this and that.”

Zhu Yushi sighed helplessly and said to Zhao Fusheng, “You should know, not only the people around me, but according to the news I've received, everyone who sees this ad is cursing. Even on internet forums, people are discussing it. Now the reputation and word-of-mouth of Brain Gold are completely ruined.”

Zhao Fusheng laughed. “Since that's the case, why are you here to comfort me, President Zhu? Just call President Zheng and demand compensation.”

“You…” Zhu Yushi paused, then snorted twice. “I'll wait and see what happens. I'm telling you, if sales are bad, you're in trouble.”

Zhao Fusheng smiled. “Since President Zhu is willing to wait, shall we wait and see?”

Zhu Yushi was silent for a moment, then nodded. “I understand.”

Hanging up the phone, Zhu Yushi sat in his office chair thinking for a long time, then ordered his subordinates, “Notify everyone, work overtime and increase production by thirty percent.”

The group of assistants was dumbfounded, looking at each other. Had President Zhu gone mad with anger?

…

…

Zhao Fusheng didn't know if Zhu Yushi had gone mad, but he could be sure that Zheng Yao was about to go crazy with anxiety.

“What do I do, what do I do? I want to kill you right now!”

After breakfast, Zheng Yao called Zhao Fusheng's phone.

Zhao Fusheng was amused. “President Zheng, it's New Year's Day. You can eat whatever, but you can't say whatever. Shouting about killing—you're a lady, you need to mind your image.”

Zheng Yao said irritably, “It's already like this, what image do I need?”

Zhao Fusheng smiled. “To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure if this ad would take off. But seeing so many people's reactions, plus your own reaction, I'm basically ninety-nine percent sure it'll be fine. We're not afraid of being cursed; the more vicious the curses, the better. The more people who curse, the better.”

Zheng Yao was stunned. “What do you mean?”

Zhao Fusheng didn't say much, just calmly replied, “If I were you, I'd go to the mall right now. No matter what people say outside, for any product, sales are king. What do you think?”

Zheng Yao was taken aback, because that's exactly what her father had said. She was a hundred percent sure that Zhao Fusheng and her father had never met, not even seen each other. So why were their opinions so strikingly similar?

Before she could say anything more, Zhao Fusheng had already hung up.

With this doubt, Zheng Yao tidied up, told her mother she had to go out, and headed straight for the department store.

As soon as she entered, she bypassed the clothing and jewelry counters and went directly to the Brain Gold counter.

There weren't many large shopping malls in Ninghai, and the Department Store was undoubtedly the first choice for many.

Right before Zheng Yao's eyes, a dozen people were gathered around the Brain Gold counter, picking up products and looking at them.

“This was the one this morning, right?”

"Yes, Brain Gold."

"Hmm, looks decent. Look at the packaging, not bad."

"Exactly. My dad even said the ad slogan is well written—'Filial piety to parents.'"

"Haha, right. My mom even taught my son to sing it: 'This holiday, no gifts accepted...'"

"Hmm, pretty expensive."

"Come on, you only buy it a few times a year. Are you really that short on cash? When you buy stuff for your parents, you never complain about the price."

"Alright, alright, I'll buy it, okay? Look at you..."

People were saying all sorts of things. After all, it was New Year's, and everyone was visiting relatives and elders, so they just bought it on a whim.

Zheng Yao stood there, watching the Brain Gold shelves get cleared out again and again. Many people who found it out of stock would rather wait than check the nearby counters. The staff were also running around in a daze, constantly restocking.

A smile crept across her lips, and Zheng Yao's mood lifted considerably.

She finally understood why Zhao Fusheng had asked her to come to the mall.

Pulling out her phone, Zheng Yao called Zhao Fusheng directly.

"So, do you get it?"

Zhao Fusheng asked with a light laugh.

"I get it." Zheng Yao nodded, then asked, "You knew all along, didn't you?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled but said nothing.

Competition in the health product industry wasn't that fierce yet; people still didn't fully grasp the power of advertising. A decade later, it would reach a fever pitch. For now, the most heated competition came during holidays.

Chinese people have a habit of buying gifts for their elders during holidays.

What do you give the elderly? Naturally, health products.

Most health products have similar effects—after all, if they were useless or harmful, the state wouldn't approve them. The key issue was their exorbitant price, often costing half a month's salary, making them unaffordable for ordinary families.

Thus, people's understanding of health products was generally superficial.

And Zhao Fusheng's ad targeted precisely that.

Advertising, advertising—it's about making it known!

Where does an ad's success lie? In product promotion. For instance, many top fashion designers avoid using A-list celebrities as runway models. Why? Because they're selling clothes, not faces. If you hire a star, will people watch the star or the clothes?

By the same logic, the more people criticized the Brain Gold ad, the more people knew about it.

The lines might be brainless, but as long as the product isn't, that's fine.

Zhu Yushi—what kind of man was he? Since he dared to approve Zhao Fusheng's ad, he must have had his preparations. In the proposal, Zhao Fusheng had also stated that airing the ad was just the first step. Next, Brain Gold would launch a nationwide blitz of various promotional stunts to make the lines 'This holiday, no gifts accepted; if you give, give Brain Gold' known to everyone.

In short, you curse the ad as brainless, but you still obediently fork over your money to buy the product.

Simple: because everyone around you is buying it, because it's the only good product everyone knows about everywhere.

Gamers always think they've weathered the storms, but they're just learning to walk. They think they've grasped the secrets of competition, but they're not even qualified to sit at the table. The human civilization in The Three-Body Problem is like that, and so are many of us.

Zhao Fusheng knew very well that for any product, quality and sales volume were king. As for reviews—well, those were always manipulated by people.

It sounds strange, since many say 'gossip is a fearsome thing,' but in the advertising world, that's exactly how it is. Consumers are hypocritical: whether it's a werewolf, a reverse werewolf, or a yin-yang reverse werewolf, they talk a big game with righteous indignation, but when it's time to vote, they always pile on.

In his past life, when summarizing some classic ads in the industry, Zhao Fusheng had heard someone say that Brain Gold's success relied on this kind of overwhelming, brainless advertising. Otherwise, why would Zhu Yushi never change the slogan after more than a decade?

Today, it seemed that was indeed true.