November 7th, Wednesday.
Meng Chang sat at his workstation, racking his brains about the promotional campaign.
He had already roughly found a direction earlier, but after pondering over the specific details for more than a day, he still couldn’t figure it out clearly.
The key issue was that he wasn’t very familiar with this industry.
Meng Chang had been quite successful since graduation, with a high starting salary, so when renting apartments, he always directly looked for high-end neighborhoods with high prices, and had basically never been scammed by real estate agents.
Encountering unreliable agents was, after all, a probability event—people with more money were less likely to encounter such problems.
Moreover, even people who had been scammed by agents wouldn’t necessarily meet Meng Chang’s current requirements.
The so-called scams usually involved being sweet-talked by agents into renting an apartment they weren’t satisfied with, or the agent making all sorts of promises that were disavowed once the contract was signed, or problems arising in the middle of the lease leading to disputes, and so on.
These experiences alone were not enough to support Meng Chang in making this promotional video.
The effect Meng Chang wanted was that on the surface, the promotional video would seem perfectly normal, but upon closer inspection, something would feel off.
Yet if someone were to say it felt off, after some time, looking back at it, they would feel that there was nothing wrong with the video.
Only this approach would meet the requirements of Mr. Pei’s promotional method, but obviously, this would be quite challenging.
Without a deep understanding, it would be difficult to grasp the right balance.
Meng Chang himself was definitely not up to the task, so he asked several colleagues in the Advertising and Marketing Department, but generally didn’t get the answers he wanted.
Because Tenda’s employee benefits were too good, newly recruited employees could stay in the Sloth Apartments employee dormitories, and after working for a period, their financial conditions improved, and most chose to buy their own homes.
At most, before joining Tenda, they might have been scammed by some unreliable small agencies once or twice, but this was obviously far from enough.
Meng Chang needed someone like this: they must have a deep understanding of the industry, be able to dig into the essence of why this industry was disliked by people, and be very familiar with the details.
Only in this way could the promotional video achieve the effect Meng Chang wanted.
After failing to find such a person in his own department, Meng Chang turned his attention to the department heads’ group chat.
At Tenda, if you encountered a problem that your own department couldn’t solve, seeking help from other departments would often result in full cooperation and strong support.
As long as departments collaborated, there were few problems that couldn’t be solved.
Meng Chang was well aware of this and immediately sent a message in the department heads’ group chat.
“Everyone, the Advertising and Marketing Department’s new campaign is facing a little difficulty, and we need your help.”
“Could you please ask around if there’s anyone in your departments who is particularly familiar with the rental agency profession, or has personally worked as a rental agent?”
“If there is, I’d like to have an in-depth chat. This is very important, thank you all for your help!”
It must be said that Tenda’s department heads’ group was very active, and everyone was very enthusiastic.
Shortly after Meng Chang sent this message, he received many replies.
Zhang Yuan: “I asked, but our department doesn’t have anyone.”
Ma Yiqun: “Most of our people were directly recruited from schools, so no.”
Yu Fei: “We do have people who have been scammed when renting, but as for deep understanding or having worked in the agency industry… no.”
Liang Qianfan: “Sloth Apartments has similar positions, but they probably don’t match your requirements at all.”
The department heads replied one after another, all giving negative answers.
If it was just about having been scammed when renting, there might be quite a few, but having a deep understanding was too difficult.
Because Tenda as a company had developed quite smoothly overall. The early employees aside, most of those who came later had gone through exams and layers of selection, all with strong abilities, which didn’t intersect with the type of people Meng Chang needed.
Sloth Apartments was related to housing rental, but everyone knew that Sloth Apartments’ model was completely different from traditional rental agencies.
Some department heads didn’t respond, and it was the acting heads who replied.
After all, these department heads were still suffering in Shennongjia and couldn’t respond.
Meng Chang was a bit dejected; he hadn’t expected to get stuck at this step.
Did he need to go outside the company and find a rental agent to understand the situation?
But people outside the company might not be trustworthy, cooperation might not be smooth, and confidentiality could also be an issue.
It would be best to find someone within the company.
As he was struggling with this, someone replied.
Tian Mo: “I actually worked as a rental agent for a while, but… I don’t think I was a competent agent. I’m not sure if I meet your requirements.”
Meng Chang’s eyes lit up.
Tian Mo?
Wasn’t that the head of the Sales Department?
The Advertising and Marketing Department and the Sales Department had similar functions, so they should get closer to facilitate future cooperation.
Tian Mo had previously worked as a rental agent? That was perfect!
How could someone who had become the head of Tenda’s Sales Department possibly have been an incompetent agent?
This must be suitable!
Meng Chang immediately replied: “No problem, where are you now? I’ll come find you!”
Someone in the group asked: “Isn’t Tian Mo in Shanghai?”
Tian Mo: “I returned to Jingzhou the day before yesterday. There are some things I need to handle here, and I’m currently at the experience store.”
Meng Chang was delighted: “That’s perfect! Wait a bit, I’ll be right there!”
…
More than half an hour later, Meng Chang arrived at the Tenda Experience Store and found Tian Mo.
Tian Mo had previously received orders from Mr. Pei to open experience stores in first-tier cities across the country, with one each in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
The requirements were quite flexible; they just needed to open one store by February of next year.
Tian Mo could have chosen to prepare two stores simultaneously, but felt that would be risky, so he chose to start with Shanghai.
After all, Shanghai was considered an economic center, with a developed economy, and there was prior groundwork laid by physical industries like Slackin’ Internet Café, Headwind Logistics, and Tuoguan Fitness, so setting up this experience store could get some support from other departments.
Tian Mo’s attitude was to actively prepare with ample lead time, not rushing to open the store quickly, but ensuring it was done properly.
Although the Jingzhou experience store had been handed over to Zhuang Dong, Tian Mo was still a bit concerned about his good friend, so he returned to Jingzhou every now and then to ensure there were no problems with the experience store, and also to visit his parents.
After all, the Jingzhou store was the headquarters, and future sales personnel would all be dispatched from here.
This return to Jingzhou happened to coincide with Meng Chang’s matter.
Meng Chang and Tian Mo didn’t stay in the experience store but chose a café in the Yuanda World Mall across the street, selecting a window seat to chat over coffee.
This was because there were too many people in the experience store, making it difficult to have a quiet conversation.
Meng Chang couldn’t help but remark: “The experience store has been open for so long, and it’s still so popular?”
Logically, an experience store couldn’t remain popular forever; at most, it would be crowded when new products were released.
Normally, the flow of people should gradually stabilize.
But Tenda hadn’t recently released any new products, with all departments in a state of preparing something big, yet the experience store was still packed, which was a bit extraordinary.
How could it be so popular?
Tian Mo smiled: “This is mainly due to the location.”
“Because the GPL tournament venue is right across from the experience store, spectators who come from all over the country to watch the matches will drop by the experience store in their spare time, so the foot traffic has remained at a relatively high level.”
Meng Chang asked: “But there shouldn’t be any GPL matches recently, right? The Global Invitational seems to be starting soon.”
Tian Mo nodded: “Indeed, there are no GPL matches, but there are offline viewing activities.”
“The E-sports Business Department gave advance notice this time and arranged offline viewing activities in many locations, allowing spectators who couldn’t go to Europe to still experience the atmosphere of watching live.”
“The GPL venue, the large screen outside the experience store, and some theater chains, including Shenhua Films’ cinemas, have all organized offline viewing activities.”
“This screen is the largest, and the square outside can accommodate many people, so it’s naturally an important location for offline viewing.”
Meng Chang nodded, once again recognizing the power of interdepartmental collaboration at Tenda.
Even though GOG was holding its Global Invitational abroad, the enthusiasm in China hadn’t diminished at all, thanks to the solid foundation laid by Mr. Pei.
After some brief pleasantries, they got down to business.
Meng Chang briefly introduced his needs, essentially saying that he needed to understand what was most annoying about rental agencies, as he wanted to incorporate these elements into the promotional video.
He needed to create an effect of apparent praise but subtle criticism, while also leaving room for an alternative interpretation to facilitate a future reversal.
This requirement was actually very complex, with multiple layers of nuance. Any mistake in the details would cause the entire promotional campaign to go completely off track.
And if it went off track, the promotional campaign would naturally fail.
After hearing Meng Chang’s requirements, Tian Mo frowned slightly, his expression serious.
“The requirements are so high?”
“I was only the most incompetent rental agent before, closing just two deals in total. One was due to luck, and the other was given to me by someone else…”
Meng Chang was surprised: “What?”
That couldn’t be right. Wasn’t he the head of Tenda’s Sales Department?
The head of the Sales Department, and he only closed two deals when he was a rental agent?
“You didn’t just work for half a day and then leave, did you?” Meng Chang asked.
Tian Mo shook his head with some embarrassment: “No, I actually worked for over a month.”
“I’m very introverted, and at that time, I couldn’t even speak smoothly, so of course I couldn’t close deals. The reason I can hold this position now is entirely due to Mr. Pei’s discovery and cultivation.”
“If it weren’t for Mr. Pei, I would probably still be handing out flyers on the street.”
“Well… it’s also possible that I would have been fired for not being able to hand out the flyers.”
Meng Chang was stunned as he listened.
Goodness, fired for handing out flyers?
How ridiculous would that have to be!
His first reaction was that Tian Mo was being modest, but looking at Tian Mo’s expression, it didn’t seem like it. He appeared to be speaking sincerely.
Moreover, what was the need to be modest about something like this?
If this was true, it was quite remarkable.
According to Tian Mo, he was previously handing out flyers on the street and had worked as an agent for a month, closing a total of two deals—one due to luck, the other with someone else’s help.
Yet Mr. Pei had managed to discover such a person and cultivate him into the head of the Sales Department?
Either Mr. Pei had a keen eye for talent, immediately seeing his potential, or Mr. Pei was an excellent mentor, painstakingly turning a stone into jade.
Whichever possibility it was, it was certainly impressive!