Chapter 371: Wealth Moves People's Hearts

Inside the conference room of the Pingyang Cigarette Factory, a meeting had just concluded. Xu Boen, the marketing manager of the Pingyang Cigarette Factory, looked at the document just handed out at the meeting and shook his head helplessly.

Wei Minghui, the production section chief on the side, saw this and said to Xu Boen with a smile, "What's wrong, Old Xu? Do you have thoughts on this document?"

"How could I dare? These words can't be spoken carelessly!"

"However..."

Xu Boen suppressed his temper and didn't say the words "blindly messing around." "The cigarettes in our Pingyang Cigarette Factory don't worry about selling at all, yet the Pingyang Municipal Government is requiring us to cooperate with the Torch Group and also requiring us to subscribe to 500,000 lighters. It would be better to just give the Torch Group a sponsorship of 500,000 directly!"

Over the years, the market promotion and advertising of the Pingyang Cigarette Factory had been Xu Boen's responsibility. The several new cigarettes launched by the Pingyang Cigarette Factory had received quite good feedback. Although they hadn't sold to southern provinces and cities, the sales volume within Hanxi Province and surrounding provinces were considered quite good.

Now, they had to cooperate with the Torch Group, and it was euphemistically called letting the Pingyang Cigarette Factory's "Golden Monkey" and other cigarette brands be sold jointly with the Torch Group's lighters to increase sales.

Regarding this, the old hand Xu Boen was somewhat dismissive; he didn't believe this cooperation could increase sales by much.

"Who told the Torch Group to be the apple of the eye for the Pingyang Municipal Government and the provincial level? In these few days, how many leaders from the provincial capital have come down to inspect the Torch Group? I heard there are even people from Yanjing!"

Xu Boen snorted through his nose, his words carrying dissatisfaction and a bit of disdain. The Pingyang Cigarette Factory was also a major local taxpayer in Pingyang, yet now they had to play second fiddle to the Torch Group. Xu Boen naturally knew that this was more because the Torch Group could provide far more employment positions than the Pingyang Cigarette Factory.

After all, the Pingyang Cigarette Factory was very profitable, but it could only provide a little over 2,000 employment positions, and that was already the result of stuffing quite a few people in.

The Torch Group, however, had just started trial production, and its personnel had already soared to 4,000 or 5,000. If it were fully operational and production capacity were increased, the personnel scale could soar to 50,000 or 60,000. The wage level of the Torch Group certainly couldn't compare to the cigarette factory, but the number of people an upstream and downstream industrial chain of lighters could accommodate was simply too large!

"Don't forget about Dongling Gao Ke. Dongling Gao Ke is the Torch Group's largest shareholder. The city, the province, and even Yanjing have to give them face regardless of anything else!"

Wei Minghui shook his head and said. He also felt that the "demonstration cooperation project for lighter advertising between Pingyang Cigarette Factory and Torch Group" issued by the Pingyang Municipal Government at the meeting just now was actually just sending money to the Torch Group.

But this cooperation was related to the employment positions provided by the Torch Group, and there was also the reason of Dongling Gao Ke, the biggest local snake, so the Pingyang Cigarette Factory definitely had to subscribe to these 500,000 lighters for promotion.

Xu Boen sighed, muttered "blindly tossing about" under his breath, picked up the teacup on the table, and walked outside with his hands behind his back. He held no hope at all for this cooperation between the Pingyang Cigarette Factory and the Torch Group.

And as the Torch Group's lighter transport vehicles arrived in Hanxi and surrounding provinces and cities, lighters began to appear in prominent places on the counters of supply and marketing cooperatives, followed by shopping malls, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels, and small supermarkets at train stations and other places.

In a county-level supermarket under Shangzhong City, Qiao Caidan was organizing the shelves. This supermarket was a husband-and-wife shop run by Qiao Caidan and her husband. Her husband was responsible for stocking and hauling goods, and she was responsible for calculating money and settling accounts.

This supermarket was built bit by bit by the couple. In the early stages, it relied entirely on her husband using that human-powered tricycle to haul goods, sometimes even having to run to other cities. Later, they had a motorcycle, and this year they just switched to a van.

Because they hauled the goods themselves, cost control was good, so business was quite good. Compared to other supermarkets, especially in terms of vegetables and some household goods, they had a price advantage, which accumulated some old customers.

"Get me a pack of cigarettes!"

Just after putting away the vegetables her husband had hauled back, Qiao Caidan heard someone buying cigarettes.

Seeing the person who came, it was also an old regular customer of Qiao Caidan's. Without the other party saying anything, Qiao Caidan knew what cigarettes they wanted.

Cigarettes nowadays, different brands, the price can differ by several times. Like the Pingyang Cigarette Factory's "Monkey King," there are three-yuan and five-yuan ones, and there are higher-end seven-yuan ones, usually bought for weddings or funerals at home, or when treating guests. Of course, those with high incomes don't care about these.

But for most people smoking themselves, they would choose some small-brand cigarettes, about 1.5 yuan, or even lower.

The person who came to Qiao Caidan's to buy cigarettes today had mostly bought 1.5-yuan cigarettes before, sometimes accompanied by a pack of matches for a few cents to light the cigarettes.

Qiao Caidan, as usual, took out a pack of 1.5-yuan cigarettes, then saw the lighters her husband had hauled back today on the table. Qiao Caidan didn't pay attention to which company the lighters were from, but her husband told her that for every lighter sold, their supermarket could get a 20% commission; the more lighters sold, the higher the commission!

"Do you want to change your taste? Today, Monkey King cigarettes are having an event. Buy a pack of five-yuan Golden Monkey cigarettes and get a lighter for free. This lighter sells for over a yuan individually!" Qiao Caidan said to the person with a smile, then picked up a lighter and pressed it.

Looking at the flame that appeared, the person buying cigarettes looked at the matches on the side and instantly felt they weren't fragrant anymore. Which smoker could refuse a lighter?

In his past life, eating a meal and gathering with friends and relatives, the lighter in his pocket might disappear and end up in someone else's pocket!

"This lighter is one yuan?" The person looked at the flame of the lighter and couldn't help but ask.

Nowadays, the cheapest lighters outside cost five or six yuan, not to mention those metal lighters sold from Japan, Germany, and America. Now, on counters like Pacific Department Store, they can sell for over a thousand yuan.

"If sold individually, the lighter sells for one yuan!"

Qiao Caidan glanced at the purchase order under the table and resisted the urge to raise the price. She felt that even if she raised the price by a few cents or even a yuan, it might still sell. But her shop did business with acquaintances, and for a little profit, she might lose a regular customer, so Qiao Caidan resisted.

"Give me a pack of Golden Monkey!" The man didn't hesitate anymore and took out five yuan directly.

After leaving the supermarket, the man pressed the lighter. Looking at the flame that came out, the man played with the lighter for a long time before remembering to light his cigarette. When putting away the lighter, the man saw the advertisement on the lighter; it was actually a newly opened restaurant in the county. It said that with the advertisement on the lighter, one could enjoy a 20% discount when going to the restaurant to eat. The man didn't pay much attention to this advertisement.

In the county where Qiao Caidan was located, a newly opened restaurant officially opened after a burst of firecrackers. The restaurant owner, Qi Minghai, couldn't help but nervously look outside, wondering how business would be today.

Qi Minghai's restaurant was not small in scale. For this restaurant, he had poured in all the income he had accumulated over these years. If business were really bad, his hard work over these years would all go down the drain.

For the opening of this restaurant, Qi Minghai had put a lot of thought into it. He had advertised in the county newspaper and distributed quite a few flyers.

But seeing that after the boisterousness, not a single person came, it would be a lie to say he wasn't anxious. After Qi Minghai sat down, he saw the box containing lighters on the cashier counter and remembered that a few days ago, people from the Torch Group's advertising department had come to him for cooperation.

Qi Minghai had even spent a few thousand yuan to buy a batch of lighters to give to customers who came to eat, and also advertised through the Torch Group. He didn't know if this money would go down the drain.

A morning passed, and Qi Minghai's mouth was already blistering with anxiety. He had already paced at the door I don't know how many times, but still, not a single shadow came in.

The sun had already passed noon. Qi Minghai wasn't anxious anymore; he felt somewhat disheartened, feeling that the money he had invested in the restaurant would really go down the drain.

Just when Qi Minghai was ready to let the kitchen staff and the waiters he had hired rest first, three men walked in together.

Looking at the restaurant's decoration, the three seemed quite satisfied. One of them took a lighter out of his pocket, looked at it, and then said to Qi Minghai, "Give us a few signature dishes!"

"No problem, our master chef here is an old master of Qin and Sichuan cuisine. You'll know once you taste it!"

Qi Minghai greeted them, and then the whole restaurant suddenly became busy.

Finally, someone came in, and Qi Minghai let out a long sigh of relief. But before he could sigh, people behind them started to arrive continuously.

This busyness lasted until closing time in the evening. After sending off the last table, Qi Minghai finally relaxed. After the shop door closed, Qi Minghai started to calculate the accounts.

But halfway through, Qi Minghai suddenly looked at the box on the cashier counter that originally held lighters but was now empty. Only then did he seem to remember something.

Ignoring the accounts, Qi Minghai hurriedly picked up the phone, found a number, and dialed it in a hurry, regardless of what time it was.

"Who is this?"

Hearing the phone connect, Qi Minghai hurriedly said to the other side, "Give my restaurant another month—no, three months of lighter advertising!"

Qi Minghai had inquired with the customers who came to eat today about how they saw the news about his restaurant. Some knew from the newspaper advertisement, and some were passersby. But what Qi Minghai heard most was that more than half of them saw the advertisement for his restaurant's 20% discount on the lighter and came with the idea of tasting the food.

And the batch of lighters his restaurant bought was also given away completely today when others finished eating and left!

In this situation, which advertisement is most effective and can attract the most customers? For Qi Minghai, does it still need to be said?

Inside the Torch Group, after laying out the goods starting yesterday afternoon, Zhang Xiaocheng was almost unable to sleep all night. Not only him, but the people from the Pingyang Municipal Government, the Hanxi Provincial Government, and the Provincial Department of Industry were also guarding the conference room, just waiting for the sales volume of lighters from various places to be calculated.

Every time the phone rang, except for Li Dongling, who was working on electronic dictionaries and repeaters, everyone else immediately looked eagerly at the person answering the phone.

"Ding-a-ling"

The landline on the table rang again. The Torch Group's sales manager immediately answered the phone, then his expression changed, and he said to the other side, "The sales volume hasn't been calculated yet. Once there is a result, we will report to you immediately!"

After putting down the phone, the manager said to everyone in the conference room, "It was a call from the Yanjing Economic and Trade Commission!"

Li Dongling put down the pen in his hand, stretched, and after checking the time, prepared to go eat. He had waited here for quite a long time today, and Li Dongling's stomach was a bit empty.

Just as Li Dongling stood up, the phone on the table rang again. The sales manager who answered the phone made a surprised sound, "What? The supply and marketing cooperative in Gui City sold out of lighters?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 372 =====