Chapter 1337 - Blocking the marketing channels
An example will be Jianlibao. Lehaha had taken over Jianlibao as the market leader in China. Still, the netizens voted Jianlibao as their favorite drink last year. That’s because many people grew up drinking Jianlibao.
The simplest way to suppress a brand’s value is to lower its brand awareness. But Feng Yu does not want to dig up those companies’ dark history or tarnish their brands. He has no intentions of destroying those brands. He will just lower the brands’ exposure to let people slowly forget about their existences.
How is Feng Yu going to lower these brands’ exposures?
First, Feng Yu must stop CCTV and those popular websites from airing these brands’ advertisements. But he must pay high compensations to these brands if he forcibly removes their advertisements. He has to make use of the contracts’ loopholes to avoid the compensations.
All along, it was those foreign companies who used loopholes in contracts to take advantage of Chinese companies. But it will be different this time. Feng Yu will let these companies know that they are not the only ones who know how to take advantage of loopholes in contracts!
.......
“Station Chief Jia, I think these brands’ advertisements should be taken down.” Feng Yu passed a list to Chief Jia.
“Manager Feng, these companies’ products are not your competitors, and even if they are your competitors, you also cannot force them to take down their advertisements. We need to compensate them.” Chief Jia frowned. CCTV might have a good relationship with you, but you cannot simply order us to do your bidding.
“Why should you compensate them?! We are the ones who should be getting compensations from them!” Feng Yu replied.
Huh? We are going to take down their advertisements and still seek compensation from them?! They had paid for the advertisements, and we are the ones breaking the contract now.
“How are we going to seek compensations from them?” Chief Jia asked.
“Their advertisements had violated our advertising laws. They are cheating the consumers and doing false advertisings, and we can remove their advertisements. Their advertisements had tarnished CCTV’s reputation, and we can seek compensation from them.” Feng Yu replied.
“Their advertisements had violated the advertising laws? Impossible. We had reviewed their advertisements.”
“That is because you all are fooled during the review and not because you all had not reviewed it thoroughly.” Feng Yu said to find an excuse for Chief Jia. “For example, this Qiaoshou washing detergent advertisement. It states the clothes will be as good as new after washing. But the clothes are still old clothes after washing. Isn’t this false advertising?”
“Look at this advertisement. It states that intelligence will increase after eating their product. Does that mean my kids don’t need to go to school after eating it?”
“This Zhonghua toothpaste claims to be Chinese. But this company had been taken over by a foreign company.”
“This shampoo advertisement claims to remove all dandruff after washing. This is impossible. No shampoo can remove dandruff completely.”
“All these advertisements have problems. They are cheating the consumers, and we can remove their advertisements without compensating them, and even demand compensations from them.”
Chief Jia’s jaw dropped. It’s normal for advertisements to be slightly exaggerated. Everyone knows that clothes will not become new after washing, and you are unreasonable.
But what Feng Yu said made sense too. These advertisements had made exaggerated claims, but what have these got to do with Feng Yu? Do you need more advertising slots for your companies? Tai Hua Holdings is the only company that CCTV allows to change advertisements anytime. Even those state-owned enterprises are not allowed to do that!
You are not satisfied with this benefit and still want to get others into trouble? If they remove these advertisements, who will dare to advertise in CCTV in the future?
“Manager Feng, what do you want from us?” Chief Jia asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? I am helping your TV station to make money.”
“Manager Feng... Stop beating around the bush. Have they offended you? It shouldn’t be. They will not dare to offend you.” Chief Jia asked.
“That’s right. They had offended me. But it’s not what you are thinking. The list of brands I gave you is all advertisements for foreign companies’ products.”
“Foreign companies’ products? These are all our old Chinese brands. Zhong Hua Toothpaste has been around for decades. Doesn’t our Beijing Pharmaceutical factory produce this medicine? This shampoo is from a company in Guangdong. How can they be foreign companies?”
“Furthermore, what has it got to do with you if they are foreign companies? Are you thinking of killing off all the foreign companies in China?” Chief Jia laughed.
“That’s right. I am going after them. Not only will I seal off all the marketing channels, but I will also seal their sales distribution channels. Tai Hua Supermarket Group will remove all these brands from the shelves.”
“It’s fine to be foreign companies, and I am working with several foreign companies. I welcome them to invest in China, but they should not use our national sentiments to make money. They are selling their products under our national brands and taking away all the profits!”
Chief Jia shook his head. “Manager Feng, you are too extreme. You can go overseas to make money, but don’t allow foreign companies to make money in China. Furthermore, if you force these companies to close down, what will happen to those workers and the local economy?”
“I will take over and rebuild their brands. I can also let these companies’ products step out of China. Although I have businesses in several countries, I have never made use of their people’s nationalistic sentiments to sell my products.”
Station Chief Jia hesitated. These companies are quite disgusting. You are a foreign company, and why are you claiming to be our Chinese national brand? This is a scam.
“You might be right, but isn’t it too much to remove these companies’ advertisements suddenly? Furthermore, you still want to seek compensation from them. This will make people think CCTV is unreasonable.”
“We are following the law, and not only China had advertising laws. It is the same everywhere. They should make a disclaimer in their advertisements before airing it.”
“Chief Jia, CCTV will not suffer any losses by doing this. If you all cannot sell your advertisement slots next year, I will buy out all the slots!” Feng Yu announced.
Station Chief Jia looks at Feng Yu. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“We must do it!”