Extraordinary Genius

Wu Zhiganng laughed. “Manager Li, it’s alright. This is an auction, and our bids are higher. You two have won enough slots. I must win a few slots later in the afternoon.” Wu Zhigang was representing Bing City Pharmaceutical to participate in the auction. But actually, he is here to enjoy himself.

“Our Bing City Machinery Factory has enough slots. Our commercials now are enough to keep our brand position and our target this year is to set up sales points in every province.” The Bing City Machinery had already won several slots and it’s enough to promote their new vehicles model.

“We still need 4 or more slots.” Jiang Wanmeng said. The ‘we’ was referring to Wind and Rain Electronics, Aiwa Electronics, Wind and Rain Home appliances, Aiwa Home Appliances, Aiwa Little Tyrant, etc. These few companies had been developing new products together, and when they have a new product, it will be sold under these two brands.

“Lehaha needs at least 2 more for our latest product. We don’t mind even if it’s more than 2 slots.” Zhong Qingxian said.

“Don’t be so anxious. Having too many advertising slots is also useless. I still need to prepare two slots for Lenovo. You all might not get more than what you all have. Anyway, this time I must let them know who is in charge here!” Feng Yu sneered. This is China, my home ground!

The auction continued in the afternoon. Because of the high bids in the morning, the bids in the afternoon increased.

Feng Yu and his men continued to bid like crazy and bid in almost all time slots. They look like there were there to buy out everything.

When the auction was over, Motorola, Sony, Nokia, Tongyi, Kang Shifu, Pepsi, etc. had not won a single advertisement slot.

The representatives from these companies had changed their strategies and increased their bids by 10%. But they still return home empty-handed. It’s not all the slots had increased in prices. Some slots were sold at prices lower than last year. But all the slots these companies bid increased by a lot. It’s too weird!

…….

“Station Chief, the representatives of some companies, refuse to leave. They insist on meeting you and Deputy Station Chief Wu cannot stop him.” Station Chief Jia’s Secretary rushed into the office.

Station Chief Jia slowly replied. “Did they do anything aggressive?”

“They say they will complain to their embassy about us discriminating against them.” The Secretary replied.

“Complain? Go ahead. Hmph! We are auctioning the advertisement slots, and their bids are lower than others, they still want to win the slots? What? They are foreigners and they think they will get special treatments? They have not attended auctions before? Don’t they know the highest bidder will in the slots? They don’t have money to bid and they still want to complain?” Chief Jia said.

The Secretary was speechless. Those companies are all multinational companies, and none of them are poor. How am I supposed to convey your message?”

“Go. Just repeat what I had just said to them!” Chief Jia was waiting for the detail report of the auction and was not interested in speaking to those troublemakers.

Deputy Station Chief Wu was trying his best to calm those representatives, but they just refuse to leave. They demand an explanation from the Station Chief on why they did not win a single slot.

“Secretary Sun, where’s Chief?” Deputy Station Chief Wu looked around and did not see Station Chief. Station Chief Jia wants him to handle these people?

But he can’t handle them!

“The Station Chief is busy right now and had asked me to pass a message to these representatives.” Secretary Sun said and walked to the stage. The microphone is still not removed, and he knocked on it twice.

Everyone heard the knocking and looked onto the stage. Who is this person? Where is the Station Chief? CCTV wants to appease us by sending someone else? It seems like they are not taking us seriously. If we don’t complain about our embassies, you all will not learn this lesson!

“Quiet! What’s the problem now?”

“Who are you to speak to us this way? We want to complain about the auction. This auction is rigged. Call your Station Chief here!” Someone shouted.

“Who says this auction is rigged? Where’s the evidence?” Secretary Sun retorted.

“All of us here had participated in the auction, and we did not win a single slot! You are telling me this auction is not rigged?”

Secretary Sun replied with disdain. “What a joke! This is a closed bidding auction. You all had underestimated the price of the slots and put in lower bids. Of course, you all will not win. In your country, Japan, is it the lowest bidder win the auction? The documents sent to you all had stated the rules of the auction clearly. The highest bidder wins!”

Sony’s representative was furious. Since when did I say the lowest bidder should win the slot? But it can’t be that our bids are always 5% lesser than the winning bid. We had bid 50% more than our intended price for some slots, and we still lost to Aiwa or Wind and Rain by 5%? How can this be possible?

“Then give us an explanation of why it is always those few companies who had the highest bids and no Japanese won a single slot? This is not fair!” Someone asked.

“What do you mean by those few companies? More than 900 companies are participating in this auction and only about 200 companies had won advertising slots. Some companies had won more slots than the rest and there are a lot of companies who did not win any slots like you all. Did those companies create trouble like you all? You all had bid for more than 120 slots and 86 companies won those slots. The companies are from the private sector and some are even joint ventures. They are from different industries like food manufacturing, apparel, electronics, furniture, cosmetics, etc. and some of those companies are from Europe, America, Africa, Asia. Which part is unfair?”

To prevent unsold slots, CCTV had invited some companies which are close to them to participate. If there are no bidders for any slots, these companies will bid for them and then sell it back to CCTV. This year’s advertising slots were selling well, and these invited companies did not need to bid anything.

Aiwa Electronic is also considered one of the Joint venture companies. They do have shareholders from Hong Kong, and AIWA also owns some of its shares. How can you say no Japanese companies win any bids?”

“We had made high bids, why we did not win any slots?”

“Someone had made higher bids than you all. You all had misjudged your bids, who can you blame?” Secretary Sun said.

Deputy Station Chief Wu added. “That’s right. Our slots are more expensive than last year. Just look at the most expensive slot. This year is 330 million compared to last year’s 67 million.”

Secretary Sun purposely grumbled loudly. “You all don’t have the money and still want the slots? How did they get to their positions?”

The representatives were furious, but they could not retort.

When the representatives were leaving, Secretary Sun said sarcastically. “These people don’t even know the rules of an auction and still dare to participate? Remember to tell these companies to send smarter representatives next year!”

Sony’s representative turned back and gave Secretary Sun a stare. He sighed and continued his way out, thinking about how he is going to report to his superiors!