Chapter 875 – Not winning a single bid

“Oh, Manager Feng… It’s been a while since you drop by my office.” Station Chief Jia laughed.

“Stop joking. After you become the TV Station Chief, you are always not in your office. Here… Cuban cigar. I bought it for you. You can smoke it for fun when you are free.” Feng Yu placed a cigar on Station Chief Jia’s desk in front of his secretary.

This cigar is not gold or cash, and it’s hard to gauge the value of it. Even if the government wants to investigate, there is no evidence. This is just a small gift between friends. Of course, the gifts given out by Feng Yu are the best and the most expensive!

Station Chief Jia laughed and did not reject the cigar. “It’s an honor to smoke a cigar given by you.”

Tomorrow will be the advertisement time slots auction for next year. There’s no need to ask. Feng Yu must be here to talk about his purchase of the time slots. This time Feng Yu had come over personally, and he should be targeting the best timings.

Feng Yu said. “Chief Jia. I will not beat about the bush. I need more advertisement slots this year, and I will buy whatever slots Tongyi, Kang Shifu, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson and all other Japanese companies bid!”

Station Chief Jia’s hand, which was holding his teacup, trembled. “You want to buy all the slots these companies bid? Did I hear this correctly?”

Feng Yu had mentioned many companies, and all of them are from different industries. Some of the companies are international companies and they have a high advertising budget. How much is Feng Yu going to spend this year?!

“You think I will joke about this? I don’t care how much they bid. But if they are the highest bidder, I will add 5%. Chief Jia, this year’s advertisement fees will surely hit a record high.” Feng Yu laughed.

Last year, Tai Chi was the top bidder with 66.66 million RMB, and their annual profit was more than 900 million RMB. China is an alcohol loving country and people are used to having a few bottles of expensive alcohol on their dining tables during business meetings.

It doesn’t matter whether if the alcohol tastes good or not. The expensive bottles of alcohol are there to impress their clients.

Based on Feng Yu’s previous life, Tai Chi Alcohol will become the top bidder this year again, and the total advertising fees collected will be 5 times more than last year! All businessmen believe that becoming the top bidder in CCTV’s advertising slots auction will bring them high profits.

The bids by the companies should be based on the company’s own assessment. For example, Wind and Rain humidifiers and super fans will not be advertising this year. Even if they were to advertise and become the top bidder, the profits could not cover the amount spent on the advertisement slot.

Anyway, there are only two brands of humidifiers and super fans in China. Wind and Rain and Ya Du. Ya Du also has no intention of buying advertising slots, and there’s no need for Wind and Rain to do so.

Moreover, the main share of profits from humidifiers and superfans are from western countries now.

But this year, many of Feng Yu’s products, like cordless phones, Songjiang Motors’ motorcycles, and cars, Bing City Pharmaceutical’s newest medicine, need to be advertised. Lehaha, Jianlibao, and the rest also will have new products introduced. That’s why Feng Yu requires more advertising slots.

If the MP3 player is successful, the new DVD player is developed, or the voice recorder is going to be launched this year, the advertisements can be switched to promote these products.

Although China has lots of satellite channels, within the next few years, advertising on CCTV is the most efficient.

……

“Manager Feng, don’t you think your bid is a bit low?” Li Jingwei asked. The advertisement slots auction is about to start, and it’s the same close bidding systems as the previous years. But Li Jingwei was puzzled. Manager Feng had said this year’s advertising fees will be much higher and why is the amount he wrote the same as last year?

Zhong Qingxian poked Li Jingwei, signaling to him to stop asking. Zhong Qingxian knew Feng Yu and Station Chief Jia are very close, and Feng Yu could change the advertisements as and when he likes. If another company had violated the regulations and got their ads removed, CCTV would approach Feng Yu to ask if he wants to take over that slot first. The price offered is also a discounted price.

Lehaha had benefited from this in the past.

This time, Manager Feng is here to bid personally, and Zhong Qingxian believes that Manager Feng will be the highest bidder.

Zhong Qingxian could feel some people looking at him, and he turned towards that direction. Hmph! You all think that you all can get the market just by grouping up? Manager Feng had said that you all will not win any bids at CCTV!

“Jianlibao Group is the winner for this slot, and the winning bid is 10.05 million RMB.”

Li Jingwei’s eyes opened wide. What was going on? He saw Manager Feng writing 8.88 million RMB with his own eyes. How come the bid becomes 10.05 million?

Kang Shifu’s Deputy CEO waved his fist in anger. He thought his bid of 10.01 million will be good enough to win the slot and did not expect Jianlibao to bid less than 5% more than him!

5 minutes later, the result of another slot is announced. The winning company is Lehaha Group, and the bid amount is also more than what Feng Yu had written.

Tong Yi’s representative beat his chest in anger. He saw Kang Shifu losing their bid earlier and increased his bids. But why did he lose?

The companies that won the slots they bid for are their competitors, and this was what made them most frustrated.

The slots Pepsi and Coca-Cola bid were also won by Lehaha.

Kang Shifu made another bid for a different slot, and this time the winning company is not Lehaha or Jianlibao. It’s Bing City Pharmaceutical.

The representatives of these 4 companies turned and stared towards Zhong Qingxian’s direction and saw Zhong Qingxian, Feng Yu, and the rest smiling happily. These are not coincidences!

The Japanese companies’ representatives were also frustrated as not a single Japanese company had won a single slot.

This is discrimination. We must make an official complaint through our Ministry of Foreign Affairs! Both our countries had signed a mutual aid agreement, and this is against the terms of the agreement!

The telecommunication companies from Europe and North America did not win any slots either. They had noticed the telecommunication market is on the rise and want to increase their advertisements for the market share and branding. But why can’t they win a single advertisement slot in this auction?

Also, why are the winning companies of the slots we bid, Wind and Rain Electronics, Aiwa Electronics, Wind and Rain Home Appliances, Aiwa Home Appliances, etc.?

Are these really all coincidences?

Before the morning auction ended, the slot before the evening news was sold for 330 million RMB, and the auction will continue after the lunch break.

As Feng Yu and the rest were leaving, they walked past the representatives of Kang Shifu and the other companies, Li Jingwei said sarcastically. “Some companies are so pitiful. They can’t even win a single slot!”

Kang Shifu and the other companies’ representatives were furious. They looked at Li Jingwei’s expression and knew this auction was rigged. They must complain to the authorities and let CCTV give them an answer!!