Chapter 7

Mars, one of the world's largest food producers, owns many world-renowned brands, and Dove is one of them.

In the early 1990s, Mars entered China and established Aifeng Food (China) Co., Ltd., as its wholly-owned subsidiary in China. Competing with Golden帝 and Cadbury for the chocolate market, Aifeng rapidly became the leading chocolate brand in China in the mid-1990s, thanks to heavy advertising and relentless brand promotion.

In recent years, Golden帝 has started to gain momentum, surpassing Cadbury and challenging Dove for the top spot.

To solidify its leading position in the Chinese market and widen the gap with Golden帝, Aifeng Food has invested heavily in a new advertising campaign, causing a stir in the advertising industry.

Aifeng places great importance on this advertisement. To create a buzz and expand its influence, unlike previous bidding processes, any legitimate Chinese advertising, media, or film company can bring their creative proposals to the company for discussion within a set time limit.

This move immediately became a focal point of public opinion.

"Boss, can we really do this? We're not professionals!"

Outside the Aifeng Food (China) Co., Ltd., a Volvo was parked on the street, with Mai Xiaoyu and Yang Xiaoxing sitting inside.

Yang Xiaoxing was unsure.

In his view, shooting advertisements was even less reliable than managing artists. The latter could at least rely on luck, but the former... damn, they were really not professionals!

Mai Xiaoyu stroked his chin: "The time is indeed a bit tight."

"I'm still not professional. As a con artist, I actually got conned... Bastard, 20,000 yuan down the drain!"

Yang Xiaoxing was cursing Liu Lei, who had promised a sure thing, but it was all BS!

Today was the last day of the deadline. Yesterday, Liu Lei notified Liu Tao to audition. If the creative proposal from Huan Yu was as great as he claimed, why wait until the last day to negotiate? Clearly, they lacked confidence and were still refining it!

"Don't worry, 20,000 yuan for a piece of information, not a bad deal."

"But we have to win the contract."

"I think we can."

"Think we can..."

Boss, you haven't done anything since last night, where does your confidence come from?

On the last day, many companies came to Aifeng for negotiations, mostly small local and nearby companies in Yanjing, hoping for a miracle.

What if they got lucky?

Cars were coming and going in front of Aifeng, with teams dressed in business attire entering and exiting, making it quite lively.

"Boss, aren't we going in?" Yang Xiaoxing asked.

"Let's wait a bit longer."

They had already waited for over half an hour. What were they waiting for?

Another half an hour passed, and it was already 3 PM. Yang Xiaoxing yawned out of boredom, then suddenly his eyes lit up, and he cursed: "Bastard!"

The Huan Yu team arrived, led by Liu Lei.

"Let's go in together!"

So they were waiting for Huan Yu!

The two just got out of the car, preparing to confront Huan Yu, but unexpectedly, Huan Yu started arguing with someone else first.

"Hey, Shengshi's people are here!"

"Do third-tier advertising companies have the right?"

"Liu Lei, don't go too far!"

"Without Mr. Gu, where would you be today?"

...

The two groups seemed to have deep-seated grudges, arguing loudly in front of Aifeng, completely disregarding their own image.

Mai Xiaoyu and Yang Xiaoxing listened closely and figured out the history between the two companies.

Shengshi Film and Advertising Company was once well-known in the Yanjing advertising circle, a top-tier advertising company with clients from various domestic and international brands. The company's CEO, Gu Hongzhou, was a professional in advertising and promoted many talented young people with little experience, including Liu Lei.

Liu Lei was weak in advertising skills but was very articulate and had strong business acumen.

Gu Hongzhou valued him highly, promoting him from a low-level salesperson to the company's vice president, second only to the CEO.

However, Liu Lei always felt he was underpaid. Using the platform provided by Shengshi, he accumulated enough connections and then left the company with a group of people to start his own business.

This is a common occurrence, and Gu Hongzhou could understand the entrepreneurial spirit of young people, but he didn't expect Liu Lei to not only take away a large number of key personnel but also defame Shengshi in the industry, aiming to steal Shengshi's clients and quickly expand his own business.

Gu Hongzhou, being a technical expert, found it difficult to deal with such underhanded tactics. In less than two years, the clients he had accumulated over many years were almost all poached by Huan Yu, and the company was demoted to a second-tier status.

With increasing competition in the advertising industry and Huan Yu's constant pressure, Shengshi's decline continued, and it was now a third-tier advertising company with only a third of its peak workforce.

"Mr. Gu, you're old and can't keep up with the times. You should change careers and not waste these young people's time," Liu Lei said, feigning concern.

Gu Hongzhou, in his forties and still in his prime, was not old. He glared at Liu Lei and said coldly, "Don't push me too far. What goes around comes around!"

"Hah, what goes around comes around? I only know that Shengshi's business is shrinking, while Huan Yu is overwhelmed with contracts."

Gu Hongzhou grunted and led his team into Aifeng. Liu Lei shouted from behind, "Mr. Gu, it's useless for you to go in. I'm doing this for your own good. With Shengshi's current strength, can you win the Dove contract? Don't make a fool of yourself!"

"Do you think your company can win it?" Mai Xiaoyu walked over, mocking.

"It's you!" Liu Lei's face flushed, remembering the two slaps from last night, "Did you follow me?"

"Hey, you're taking yourself too seriously!" Yang Xiaoxing sneered, "Last night, I thought you were a pig, but today I realize you're worse than a dog. You're worse than both!"

"Say that again!"

"What, want to fight?" Mai Xiaoyu protected Yang Xiaoxing.

"Hmph, I won't stoop to your level!"

Liu Lei led his team into the company. Seeing Mai and Yang following, he raised an eyebrow, "If you follow me, I'll call the police."

"Hah, hah, what a joke. Can only you come to Aifeng? Who left the cage door open, letting out such an ugly bird?"

"... Are you here for the Dove contract too?"

Mai Xiaoyu's lips curled, "Didn't you say you'd blacklist us? We have to come and negotiate the contract ourselves. If we win it, we'll thank you."

"With you? If you can win it, I'll eat a rock!"

"You said it."

At the reception, they registered their personal information and submitted a copy of their company's business license for Aifeng to verify. Then, they followed the receptionist to the waiting room. Several groups were already waiting to meet with Aifeng.

Each group was a team, with at least four or five people. Only Mai Xiaoyu and Yang Xiaoxing were a team of two, drawing more attention from the others.

A few minutes later, a secretary came in, "I'm sorry, everyone. Due to the large number of advertising companies today, each company's presentation time has been shortened to three minutes. Fangzhou Culture, please follow me."

The secretary left, and the waiting room erupted.

Three minutes?

What a joke!