Chapter 0739: Poaching

Zhao Fusheng chatted with Dong Chenxi for a while when the front desk called, saying that Manager Zhou from Uni-President had arrived.

"Let's go meet Manager Zhou in the conference room."

Zhao Fusheng stood up and said to Dong Chenxi.

Dong Chenxi nodded. Since things had come to this point, she naturally had to support Zhao Fusheng. Besides, it was just a change of lead actor—a trivial matter, in her view, nothing significant.

The two walked out of the office together. When they reached the conference room, Bai Jie and a deputy director from the planning department were already chatting with Manager Zhou.

"Director Dong, hello." Manager Zhou naturally knew Dong Chenxi and greeted her with a smile.

Dong Chenxi smiled back, walked over, and shook hands with Manager Zhou. "Manager Zhou, sorry for the trouble."

"You're too kind. It's mutually beneficial." Manager Zhou smiled and then hesitated. "Um, has the teacher arrived?"

The 'teacher' he referred to was, of course, Lucifer.

Bai Jie and Dong Chenxi exchanged glances, then suddenly burst into laughter, their eyes naturally turning to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng touched his nose, looking helpless.

There was nothing he could do; he was too young. This was also why he often preferred not to appear in public. In many people's eyes, a young man with no beard was unreliable—a youth didn't inspire trust.

"And this is?"

Manager Zhou was no fool. Having reached his current position in the corporate world, reading people was instinctive. Seeing Dong Chenxi and Bai Jie's reactions, along with Zhao Fusheng's response, a bold guess formed in his mind.

Perhaps the legendary planner Lucifer was not a middle-aged man.

"Hello, Manager Zhou. I'm Zhao Fusheng." Zhao Fusheng smiled and greeted him, extending his hand. "Also known as Lucifer."

"Oh!" Manager Zhou was pleasantly surprised. To be honest, he hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to actually show up.

He had thought it was all just an excuse from Future Advertising, but he never expected it to be true.

"I'm sorry for the trouble this time, Manager Zhou." Zhao Fusheng said very politely.

Manager Zhou smiled and waved his hand. "You're too kind, Teacher. It's no trouble at all. Actually, it was our mistake for not executing your plan properly."

Praise begets praise. Since Zhao Fusheng was so gracious and humble, Manager Zhou was happy to show his enthusiasm.

"That's not entirely true. There were some communication issues between us. But it's okay; we still have a chance to make up for it." Bai Jie said with a smile.

Speech is an art, especially in business—how to speak is even more nuanced.

Both Manager Zhou and Bai Jie were smart enough to know how to talk so that neither side lost face.

With a harmonious atmosphere, things naturally went smoothly.

Everyone sat down in the conference room. Manager Zhou spoke first. "Thank you for your trust, Teacher Lucifer. Uni-President places great importance on this collaboration and hopes that through this advertisement, Uni-President Ice Tea can quickly capture the market."

Bai Jie and Dong Chenxi exchanged glances. Logically, they should be the ones speaking now, but both of them looked at Zhao Fusheng.

Others might find it strange, but those familiar with Future Advertising's internal affairs knew that for years, whenever Zhao Fusheng was present, even General Manager Zheng Yao would defer to him or let him take the lead.

To the old employees who had followed Dong Chenxi and Bai Jie to Beijing, this was nothing new.

But to Manager Zhou and his Uni-President colleagues, it signaled many different things.

Manager Zhou and his assistant exchanged silent glances. In their view, the status of this top planner within Future Advertising might have been underestimated.

"Manager Zhou, everyone, let me explain the situation. Originally, according to my plan, Uni-President would gain huge visibility among young people by sponsoring this original song contest. However, I'm not sure if my plan was unclear, but there were some deviations in your selection of the ad song. Frankly, neither the theme song, the singer, nor the ad produced reflect my requirements."

Zhao Fusheng looked at the people in the conference room and slowly continued, "What is the characteristic of ice tea? It's a great summer drink to cool down. We want consumers to think of our Uni-President product first when they want a drink in summer. But the ad song you chose—frankly, it's really mediocre."

"Well..." Manager Zhou smiled bitterly. It was actually his fault. Because of a relationship with a deputy general manager in the marketing department, he had casually pulled strings for Chen Sicheng, never expecting Zhao Fusheng to tear it apart.

"That's not fair, is it? Your company didn't specify requirements for the ad song or the singer in the proposal. We selected from the original song contest according to the plan." A manager from Uni-President's marketing department stepped forward.

Clearly, even if Zhao Fusheng was an authority in planning, they couldn't negate all previous work just because of his words.

Most importantly, Manager Zhou knew that this person was loyal to that deputy general manager.

"Heh, so I say, when it comes to business, I might not be your match, but in advertising planning, frankly, everyone here might not keep up with my thinking..."

Zhao Fusheng glanced at that person and said flatly.

These words made almost everyone's faces fall, but no one dared to speak.

There was no way around it; Zhao Fusheng was essentially telling everyone that in advertising planning, he was the authority, and everyone present was worthless.

But the problem was, his achievements were clear for all to see. Until Zhao Fusheng's ad plans started failing, no one could question his authority in this field.

Glaring resentfully at that marketing manager, Zhou Zhijie felt quite frustrated. As the head of marketing, he knew that the guy's words weren't wrong, but the planner was Zhao Fusheng, Lucifer, with his golden reputation. Even if both marketing departments combined, they probably couldn't guarantee they could do a better job with this season's ice tea ad without using his plan.

Others might not know, but Zhou Zhijie was well aware that Dingxin had also been trying to get Lucifer to create their new season's ice tea ad.

In other words, the war between Dingxin and Uni-President had moved from the instant noodle market to the beverage market. If, due to their mistakes, they pushed this top planner to the competitor, and if his ad succeeded—well, needless to say, everyone from Uni-President in this room would be packing their bags.

Business is like a battlefield; losers deserve no pity.

So Zhou Zhijie dared not take that gamble. He was doing well at Uni-President and hadn't considered switching companies.

"Um, Teacher Lucifer, I have an impertinent request. Would you consider personally producing our ad this time?" After a moment of silence, Zhou Zhijie slowly said.

Zhao Fusheng frowned, glanced at Bai Jie and Dong Chenxi, then at the expectant Zhou Zhijie, and finally nodded. "Alright, since that's the case, I'll do it myself. You all cooperate with me."

He said this as if it were only natural.

Then he looked at the Uni-President staff and said flatly, "I'll reselect the ad song, the singer, and the spokesperson. Manager Zhou, send a fax to your headquarters and ask them: if I can poach Dingxin's spokesperson, how much are they willing to pay?"

At that moment, everyone felt a shift in Zhou Zhijie's demeanor.

Dingxin and Uni-President were archrivals, like Mars hitting Earth!

Poaching from Dingxin—Zhou Zhijie suddenly felt that his choice had been right.