Chapter 143 The Real Battlefield
Kaede Shirakawa hurried back to Ota Ward from Yoyogi-Uehara.
At the entrance of Shirakawa Electric, I happened to meet Kotaro who was checking the list and preparing for shipment.
"Xiao Feng, did you spend the night at Xiaolin-san's place last night, or at Tanaka-san's place? Or was it the girl who accompanied you to shoot the commercial last time?"
Shirakawa Kaede did not return to his apartment in Asakusa last night, and considering the heavy drinking during the celebration, Kotaro naturally guessed that he might have gone to see a certain young lady.
Looking at his winking expression, Baichuan Feng waved his hand.
"You are such an ignorant fellow, can't we just be together?"
"Ah?" Kotaro was stunned.
"Kotaro, you still have a lot to learn. Keep working hard."
Baichuan Feng patted his shoulder, looking like an experienced person.
After a few words, Shirakawa Feng ignored Kotaro who was in a daze, and went straight to his office.
"Assistant Komatsu, please call Hasegawa-san, Yamaguchi-san, and Yasuda-san."
"Hayi"
Looking at Assistant Komatsu's back as he left, Shirakawa Feng began to think about the next plan for Shirakawa Electric.
The Walkman has just been on the market for less than two months, and the next generation of products is also under intensive development.
According to the plan, Flashman's second-generation products will be released in the second half of the year, and there will be two models: low-end and mid-to-high-end.
Currently, Shirakawa Electric's product line is too thin, so Shirakawa Feng plans to further differentiate its products in order to enrich the company's product lineup.
Doing so will not only help increase sales, but also increase the company's ability to resist risks. Only by constantly bringing forth the old and introducing the old can the vitality of the enterprise be guaranteed.
"President"
While Shirakawa Kaede was lost in thought, Hasegawa and the others had already entered the office one after another.
"Please take a seat, everyone." Baichuan stood up and walked to the reception area in front of the desk, motioning for everyone to sit down.
There is a long coffee table surrounded by several sofas.
After everyone was seated and Assistant Komatsu served everyone a cup of coffee, Shirakawa Feng spoke carefully.
“The obstacles ahead of Shirakawa Electric have been cleared, and the next stage will be the best time for us to develop with all our strength.
The Walkman on the market for less than a year, and there is still a large gap in the market. If we don’t occupy it, others will.
Therefore, Shirakawa Electric's current primary goal is to further promote Flashman to the market.
Our sales network has just been established and we must make full use of these resources.
The ultimate goal for this year is to achieve at least 40 billion yen in sales of Walkmans! The net profit margin should be no less than 28%! "
Hearing the goal set by Baichuan Feng, everyone felt pressured and unconsciously excited.
For a company that has only been established for less than a year, such a goal is indeed ambitious.
But this is not an extravagant wish. The sales of Flashman and earbud headphones in the first month combined reached nearly 3 billion yen.
It is only February now, and the market for portable players will continue to grow. By the end of the year, 40 billion is not an unrealistic expectation.
"President, please rest assured that the marketing department will complete the task!" Hasegawa was the first to speak out. When it comes to sales, he is undoubtedly the first person responsible.
"Okay." Shirakawa Feng nodded with satisfaction. Although Hasegawa was a little eccentric sometimes, he still had the necessary responsibilities.
"I'll also leave the production capacity of the manufacturing department to Mr. Yamaguchi. If necessary, we can adopt our New Year's strategy and keep the machines running without stopping."
Kazuo Yamaguchi nodded seriously and agreed. Now the fourth production line of Shirakawa Electric is being planned.
Once everything is properly configured, if we run at full capacity, thousands of portable players can be produced every day.
After setting the overall goal for this year, Shirakawa Feng also communicated with the heads of several key departments.
If everyone has no objection, he will formally issue the order at a formal meeting later.
"Okay, now that we've talked about long-term planning, let's talk about short-term plans."
"Short-term plan?" Yasuda and the others looked at each other.
"What's wrong?" Bai Chuanfeng looked at them and laughed, "After being severely embarrassed by Sony once, have you forgotten your bold words of defeating Sony?"
Hasegawa's eyes suddenly lit up with fire, "President, what do you think we should do?"
If we were to say who among those present wanted to make Sony look good the most, it would definitely be Hasegawa.
How can I describe his personality? He is a bit immature, but also has a certain adventurous element. When he first received the letter from Sony's lawyer, he was the one who was most eager to try.
“Although the patent issue has been settled, the real area where Shirakawa Electric competes with Sony is the market.
Just imagine, as the first to launch the Walkman, it was overtaken by a new company, and it was a newly established company.
Gentlemen, is there anything more exciting than this? "
Not to mention Hasegawa, even Yasuda and the others widened their eyes.
The underdog defeats the strong? The warrior slays the dragon?
Wonderful~
In the past, they subconsciously believed that a giant like Sony would be difficult to surpass.
But if this thing is really done, who can resist such a pleasure?
"So," before they could ask, Shirakawa Feng added, "In addition to achieving our annual goals, we also aim to beat Sony in the market."
According to information obtained by Shirakawa Kaede, Sony's Walkman sales in the past six months were approximately 500,000 units.
Only tens of thousands of units were sold in the first few months of its release, and most of the sales came in the following months.
Because Shirakawa Electric took advantage of Sony's success and it was the end of the year, it was able to achieve an astonishing sales result of 110,000 units in the first month.
However, it can also be seen that Flashman's potential should not be underestimated, and it is not a wishful thinking to bring Sony down if we work harder.
"And now is the right time. Maybe it will be the turning point for our Flashman to surpass the Walkman."
Sure enough, after hearing what Baichuan Feng said, several people's eyes were filled with curiosity.
Baichuan Feng smiled and took out a prepared newspaper and placed it in front of them. Several people stretched their necks.
"If you love someone, give them chocolate."
"Hey, what is this?" Hasegawa felt like he had grasped something.
"This is Morinaga's Valentine's Day advertisement this year," Shirakawa Kaede gave the answer for him.
Japan celebrates Valentine's Day on February 14th, which is the Western Valentine's Day, but it is different from the West where men do romantic things for women.
Japan went the other way and swapped roles, making this day a day for women to confess their love.
But in 1980, the tradition hadn’t really caught on yet. Only a few candy companies were promoting it.
Hasegawa understood Shirakawa Kaede's plan. He raised his head and asked, "President, do you mean that we should also do something like this?"
"That's right," Baichuan Feng nodded, "Although there have been cases of women confessing their love to men on Valentine's Day before, it has never caused a sensation.
So we at Shirakawa Electric can add fuel to the fire and sell this concept to more people.
If the effect is good, it may become a regular annual event in the future.”
"I think it's okay. Girls nowadays are much bolder than before."
When Hasegawa said this, everyone laughed. They were all men and understood.
"Our advertising slogan can also be bolder." Baichuan Feng patted the newspaper on the table.
"It's even bolder than that, such as 'once a year, women can express their love', 'Valentine's Day exclusively for women', etc."
“Since time was limited, we placed advertisements in various newspapers and produced posters on related topics.
Although we may not be able to launch new models in time, we can still make some changes to the surface printing of Flashman."
Shirakawa looked at Yasuda and said, "Mr. Yasuda, is it possible to add some printed patterns to the shell in a short time?"
Masaaki Yasuda thought about it for a moment, then nodded in the affirmative. "No problem, it's not difficult to just print or code the surface without changing the design."
"Okay." After getting a positive answer, Baichuan Feng became more confident, "We can launch limited couple models in different time periods, pink & blue, pink & silver, so that they can be matched in pairs.
The boys' version will be launched on February 14th, and the girls' version will be launched on March 14th, White Valentine's Day. This way, men and women can give each other gifts, and finally the couple's version will be complete.
Print some romantic and cute images on the shell, or even confession words. Some girls are too shy, so we can confess words for them.
Of course, the most important thing is marketing.
The exclusive name of the limited couple edition is "KISS TALK".
The first two letters of these two words together form the Shirakawa Electric logo - 'KITA'. We can then add colour to 'KI' and 'TA' to further promote our brand.
In addition, anyone who purchases a couple's version of a Walkman can enjoy a certain discount.
If you finally get a couple's set, it means your confession is successful. With the unique number, we at Shirakawa Electric will give you an extra "candlelight dinner".
You can contact the restaurant for cooperation at that time, and if it doesn't work, you can reimburse a certain amount of the expenses.
But we need to add a top prize and a gimmick, such as a "romantic trip to Hawaii", where Shirakawa Electric will reimburse the entire trip, and there is only one quota.
You can also put some coupons in the packaging box, ranging from 100 to 500 yen.
Occasionally there may be one or two pictures of the noble Prince Shotoku, which can give consumers the pleasure of opening a blind box or a lucky bag.
We can contact Keio Department Store and Tokyu Department Store to sell them together. I think they will be interested.”
After talking for a while, Baichuan Feng felt dry in the mouth and stopped to drink some coffee. When he looked up again.
Yasuda and Yamaguchi were both staring at him in amazement, while Hasegawa was writing something down with excitement on his face.
"President, there are too many, really too many." Hasegawa looked at Shirakawa Kaede with shining eyes, "Don't take out all these good things at once, one or two will be enough."
Hasegawa in the 1980s had never seen such a marketing method. It was like a knife stabbing his butt and it opened his eyes.
In his opinion, with so many methods, using only one or two each time would be enough to attract people's attention. Good things should be used slowly.
Baichuan Feng waved his hand and said, "You are the head of the marketing department, follow your plan."
Yasuda and Yamaguchi looked at each other and thought that their president was simply a genius.
"Anyway, this is a rare opportunity. We must promote the reputation of Shirakawa Electric and let Sony see what real marketing is."
If technology is not enough, marketing can make up for it.
In terms of technology, Shirakawa Electric is indeed inferior, but in terms of marketing, it is not inferior.
After holding a meeting with Hasegawa and the others and assigning them specific tasks, Shirakawa Kaede began to think about buying land again.
