Chapter 464 – Rigged Auctions
“Eh, is that ugly guy Shi Yuzhu? He also wants to advertise on CCTV?” Feng Yu mumbled to himself. This person will be known as one of China’s pair of “Short, ugly, rich” in the future!
Feng Yu remembered that Shi Yuzhu should have just entered the business and he started with a technology company. Giant Group should not have launched their health products yet. He should still be selling Chinese Language cards. Why was he auctioning for advertising slots? Shouldn’t he be looking for companies to sell his products?
Wait, that’s Coach Ma? He is the Long distance running coach. Why is he here at CCTV? Damn, he still knows the deputy station chief? What is he advertising? The Ma family army wants to do recruitment?
In China, which coach has the best techniques and training for mid to long distance running? Coach Ma!
Feng Yu saw Coach Ma introducing someone to the deputy station chief. It was evident that they were making use of their connections to go through backdoors.
Feng Yu waved to Zhong Qingxian, who was still quite a distance away. Feng Yu noticed that Zhong Qingxian was staring at a man.
“Who is that guy? Why are you staring at him?” Feng Yu asked.
“The boss of Lebaishi.”
People of the same trade are enemies. No wonder Zhong Qingxian was staring at him. It seems that in Feng Yu’s previous life, this was the year when Lebaishi first advertised on CCTV. After this, Lebaishi’s yogurt drinks became famous and their sales multiplied by several folds over the next 10 years. It was considered a miracle!
Wait, why was the boss of Lebaishi shaking hands with Coach Ma? They know each other?
Oh ya, Coach Ma became famous because of this year’s Olympic games. Wang Junxia and many other China’s long distance running athletes were trained by Coach Ma. Because of the excellent performance of his athletes at the Olympic games, Coach Ma appeared on TV several times. The whole China knew who he was.
Feng Yu saw a lot of those successful businessmen who appeared on TV during his previous life during this advertising slots auction. But Feng Yu did not approach them. Most of them will become bankrupt in a few years, and one of them was Shi Yuzhu.
Feng Yu decided to be the angel investor who appears in front of them during their most difficult times. Wahahahaha…….
“Everyone, please quiet down. 1993 CCTV’s advertisement slots nodding will begin soon. This time, some of the advertising slots will be using the sealed-bid auction. All the bidders will write the bid amount on a piece of paper, and each of you will one have one chance. We will tabulate the bids and the winner will ……”
The seal-bid auction was suggested by CCTV top management. They felt that this type of auction can reveal what the highest prices these businessmen had in mind were. They cannot be using Tai Hua Trading’s prices as the benchmark. There might be someone who was more generous than Feng Yu.
The first slot was the 15 seconds slot before the News. Feng Yu looked around and saw everyone scribing on a piece of paper. All of them tried to hide what they were written with their hands and body.
In Feng Yu’s previous life, advertisement slot auction started in 1995. The first slot was sold for 31 million RMB to Kongfuyan Distillery, and their Baijiu’s sales increased by more than 10 times.
Feng Yu thought for a while and wrote 12.02 million RMB. He felt that he should win with this bid. He does not mind even if he lost. If the price was any higher, it will not worth it.
Kongfuyan’s boss was also writing his bid on the paper. He wanted to write 10 million, but he felt that others will also bid this amount. So, he changed the amount to 11 million. Even if he had to get a loan from the banks, he must also advertise on CCTV!
Lebaishi’s boss was also writing down his bid. He wrote 11.01 million.
Pan Ning, wrote down 11.2 million RMB. his company, Ronshen Refrigerator Co. was the company that developed China’s first 2-doors refrigerators. Feng Yu had a hard time selling off his fridges in the past was because Ronshen’s products were already in the Chinese market. Their fridges were of good quality and cheap.
Zhang Ruimin, Li Dongsheng and other businessmen only made a “high” of 7 million RMB. It was apparent that they will not be winning this slot.
Feng Yu had a suspicion that this auction was rigged. If not, why the CCTV did not reveal the bids in front of everybody and they need to go to another room to tabulate the bids?
At this moment, many people were looking at their pagers. Some of them raised their head and smiled confidently, and some were disappointed.
Was there someone inside giving them newest? This should not be possible. These people do not have handphones and how can they change their bids?
After waiting for a while, Cheng Baojun came out smiling and showed a bidding form.
“The winner of this slot is Lebaishi. The winning bid is 12.1 million.”
Lebaishi’s boss stood up and wave to everyone proudly.
Feng Yu frowned. Coincident? He won Feng Yu’s bid by less than 100 thousand?
Feng Yu looked at Cheng Baojun and noticed that he was avoiding looking at Feng Yu. Something must be going on! This was the best slot, and someone had snatched it away from him.
“Next will be the ad slot after the news. This slot is also 15 seconds. All of you can start writing your bids now.”
Feng Yu thought about the effectiveness of this slot and wrote 5.11 million.
Pan Ning wrote 5.02 million, and Kongfuyan’s boss wrote 5.04 million. This time, Lebaishi chose to drop out.
When Ronshen Refrigerator Co. won the slot with 5.21 million RMB, Feng Yu got pissed.
“Chief Cheng, why are you just waving that bidding form and not showing to us?” Feng Yu shouted.
Cheng Baojun’s face changed and smiled: “What is the problem? Don’t tell me that you do not know how much you wrote on the bidding form? Which one of you dares to claim that you had made a higher bid than Ronshen?”
Pan Ning had a proud look on his face. Luckily, he had paid someone. If his bid was slightly lower than the highest bid, he would add 100,000 RMB more than the highest bid to buy the slot.
Feng Yu saw the smirk on Cheng Baojun’s face. CCTV was too shameless to rig this auction. But Feng Yu had forgotten that CCTV had promised him the slots before and after the weather forecast.
Indeed, this time Feng Yu wrote down 2 figures and the winning bid was entirely different from what he had written. But he was the winner.
Damn. If you tell me about this earlier, I will increase my bids for the previous two slots by 1 million or even 10 million. I want to see how you can still rig this auction!
The auction was very fast. Most of the staff at CCTV were there to help. Also, the businessmen did not bid on every slot.
The only person who bid on every slot was Feng Yu.
Lebaishi, Ronsheng, Little Swan and the other companies had won a primetime slot each during this segment of the auction. Feng Yu had won 4 primetime slots. There was a stark difference when compared to the previous years, where he owns most of the primetime slots.
Feng Yu got to change the way he advertises his products. The internet had just started, and very few people in China own PC. There was no internet advertising yet. TV advertising was still the mainstream channel.
Feng Yu was very unhappy over this auction. He wants to speak to Cheng Baojun. If Cheng Baojun refused to help him, he would look for his higher-ups. He will cancel his sponsorship of the Spring Festival Gala night and will work with other TV stations for the next New Year’s Day Gala Dinner Award Ceremony!
Translator’s notes:
China’s star coach Ma Junren for mid to long distance running.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Junren
Wang Junxia, China’s long-distance athlete.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Junxia
Shi Yuzhu was one of China’s billionaire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Yuzhu
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bw/2008-04/28/content_6647181.htm
Ronshen Refrigerator Co.
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=5533448
Zhang Ruimin, CEO of Haier Group.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Ruimin
Li Dongsheng, Founder of TCL Corporation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCL_Corporation