Chapter 47

Part Two: The Allure of Business. Chapter 47: An eye-catching advertisement

Jiang Wei's husband was indeed quite capable. By the next day, he had sorted out the advertising space in the Haizhou Daily.

As for the advertisement's format, Zhang Ke had already given it some thought. He went to Dingming Graphics Studio, which had made Xu Si's business cards for free a few days earlier, and had them produce the layout. He also had business cards printed for Liu Minghui, Zhou Yiping, Yang Yun, and Jiang Wei, giving them all the title of sales engineer, which was still quite fashionable in 1994.

On September 10, a huge picture advertisement appeared on page three of the Haizhou Daily. A Motorola "brick phone" hung against a slightly gloomy blue ocean backdrop, with a column of large red lettering beside it: "Brick phones are about to become obsolete!" The contact address and telephone number of the Haizhou office of Haiyu Trading Co., Ltd. occupied only a tiny spot in the lower-left corner of the image. There was no other information.

Teaser advertisements would become commonplace a dozen or so years later, but Zhang Ke believed that in 1994, this was still an extremely novel advertising format, making full use of people's curiosity to create suspense and attract public attention.

In 1994, the trendiest urban sight was the succession of "big spenders," "big shots," and "would-be big spenders" holding brick-sized mobile phones on motorcycles, beside cars, at banquets, and in karaoke dance halls. Sometimes they spoke softly, sometimes they shouted, all looking terribly businesslike. If you went closer and listened, they could often give you a shock: "Hello, Mr. Liu? I've got a hundred Baos and sixty Mercedes-Benzes here..." They made it sound as though every luxury car on the streets had passed through their hands. You would have been a fool to believe them.

But this also showed that in the early nineties, brick phones symbolized wealth and status and signified success. Wednesday's Haizhou Daily devoted an enormous half-page spread to the news that brick phones were about to become obsolete, immediately catching readers' attention and becoming a topic of conversation that very day. His mother made some nice dishes that day and called Zhang Ke home. He even heard her using the advertisement to tease his father: "You even put that thing on the table while you're eating. It's about to become obsolete. Aren't you embarrassed?"

The Motorola brick phone Zhang Zhixing had was nominally on loan from Zhang Ke's youngest uncle. He had no understanding of digital communications at all and said with a smile, "How could that happen? This thing cost more than twenty thousand, including getting the number set up. How could it just become obsolete like that? Someone at the city offices called the Haizhou Daily today to ask about it. They said it was an advertisement from a company. It's only an advertisement. You can't take it seriously. You say brick phones will become obsolete, but what's going to replace them?"

Liang Gezhen brought over that day's Haizhou Daily, pointed at the address below, and asked Zhang Ke, "Is Haiyu Company Zhitong's mother's company?"

"I think so," Zhang Ke said vaguely.

"Then ask about it when you call tonight. What exactly is going on?"

"At your age, why are you still so curious?" Zhang Ke glanced at his mother and paid her no further attention.

The next day, Thursday, September 11, another huge picture advertisement with the same background appeared on page three of the Haizhou Daily. Against the blue ocean backdrop, the brick phone was gone. There was only a line of large red lettering: "What will replace brick phones and become the new darling of modern communications?" The address and telephone number of Haiyu Company's Haizhou office were left in the lower-right corner.

While maintaining the suspense, it made clear that the answer would soon be revealed, further increasing public attention.

Ye Xiaotong, Shengxin Company's business representative, was coming to Haizhou the following afternoon. Otherwise, with another two or three days to build the suspense more fully, the advertisement would have worked even better.

Once again, Jiang Wei used the connections of her husband, who worked in the municipal publicity department, to have the city radio station add a last-minute phone-in program that afternoon, offering prizes to residents who could provide the answer to the teaser advertisement. It required only a small sponsorship of gifts, yet ensured that the suspense would be heightened further in the shortest possible time.

Although Jiang Jing, Yang Yun, and the others already knew the answer that would be unveiled the next day, they were still excited. It was the advertisement itself, and the enormous impact it had made in such a short time, that excited them. Zhou Yiping had previously worked in a technical role, while Jiang Wei had worked in administration. Yang Minghui and Yang Yun were both familiar with advertising production, but they had never encountered an advertising format like a teaser advertisement.

They had previously doubted whether three days of advertising could establish the concept of digital mobile phones in residents' minds. Although the answer had not yet been unveiled, judging from the current level of public attention, it no longer seemed so difficult.

Zhang Ke, however, felt that he had made a slight miscalculation. Having published the office telephone number, they received calls from curiosity-tormented residents from morning to night, while people or organizations that might genuinely become retail dealers were very likely unable to reach the office because the line was busy.

There was also Xinhaitong Building, where the office was located. It was a recently constructed office building in Haizhou, with dozens of companies crammed inside. Many people followed the address and came straight to the office to ask for the answer. Fortunately, after seeing how well the advertisement worked on the first day, Xu Si had realized this might happen and urgently hired six students from Haizhou Teachers College as temporary workers to help Yang Yun, Jiang Wei, and the others deal with the intensely curious crowds.

Naturally, the answer would not be revealed early.

At the rented apartment, Zhang Ke and Xu Si compiled the information on those who had called or visited with inquiries that day. A considerable proportion were organizations and individuals dealing in pagers, which also matched the findings of later research into the development of the digital mobile phone market.

Before 1998, mobile phones were still expensive luxury goods. As a type of mobile communications device, pagers were their main substitute, so organizations and individuals dealing in pagers were naturally the most sensitive to the business opportunities digital communications held.

Zhang Ke told Xu Si, "These are the partners I can find at present. You need to identify them and make them our priority targets. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll find time to go to the office..."

Xu Si was still a little worried. "Running advertisements like this will make people think we're Ericsson's distributor. Isn't that a little inappropriate?"

Zhang Ke smiled without addressing her concern and said, "Nowhere in the advertisements do we explicitly identify ourselves as Ericsson's distributor, so it doesn't count as fraud..."

"How can you say something so irresponsible?" Xu Si complained.

On the third day, Friday, September 12, the Haizhou Daily stopped keeping residents in suspense. In the huge picture on page three, the brick phone had been replaced by an Ericsson GH388 digital mobile phone, with a column of large lettering beside it: "Ericsson digital mobile phones will become the new darling of modern communications!" This was followed by a brief list of technical information about digital communications networks and digital mobile phones. Unsurprisingly, the office address and contact telephone number occupied the lower-right corner.