[Chapter 569: Promotional Model]
Thanksgiving is a rather special day for many people. On this day, they usually liked to eat turkey, chomp on corn on the cob, and if there were a few cranberry pies, they would feel very happy.
But for William White, he always hated that damned turkey.
Well, on this special day, he couldn't be too out of the ordinary. He made a bit of an effort, though it was clear his sons and daughter weren't fond of this food either. They preferred to dip cranberry pie into various sauces instead.
Thanksgiving was sowhat similar to Christmas, with the distinction that it lacked so religious rituals. Instead of showing gratitude to the Native Aricans, it was more about rembrance. After all, the native inhabitants of this continent were few and far between.
"Athena, if you don't like it, just pretend to enjoy it and don't overdo it next ti. Not eating is fine, but wasting it isn't good," he said.
"Okay, Daddy, I want to eat Wagyu beef," she replied.
"Hmm, that's fine. I want so too. Just have the kitchen grill up two portions," he agreed.
Suzuki iko shot him an annoyed glance. His daughter was becoming spoiled, and this guy just went along with whatever the kids wanted.
"Daddy, Daddy, can we pardon two turkeys? They are so pitiful," his son chid in.
Cough cough, "Sweetheart, whoever the president pardons is just a formality. He doesn't have any real criminals to pardon; that's why he rembers the turkeys. That's the President's prerogative, and we shouldn't step in," William explained patiently.
"Oh, that's so unfair," his daughter pouted.
"Ha! In this world, there's no such thing as true fairness. What we call fairness is just relative. Even in primitive society, fairness doesn't exist. Think about it, the stronger always get more food. That's what they call survival of the fittest."
William White wasn't sure if his daughter understood, but he still felt it necessary to instill this concept in her. It wouldn't be too much trouble for a rich girl, but if she turned out to be a naive airhead, that'd be a different story.
...
Dinner wrapped up, and the kids entertained themselves. As for William White, he had so matters to attend to.
Thanksgiving fell on the fourth Thursday of November each year, and the day after Thanksgiving beca known as Black Friday.
On Black Friday, stores across Arica rolled out a series of special sales. The earliest promotions started at midnight with early bird specials. The first two or three hours when stores opened offered the lowest prices, after which the prices would go up. That's why, at the crack of dawn, most stores had long lines.
This year, Motorola tead up with carriers for a massive promotional event.
Digital mobile phones were going to be the mainstream in the coming years, and for those analog phones that would soon be obsolete, William White decided to go for broke.
...
"Andy, it's understandable for people to line up outside the mall. But why are there so many people here at a mobile phone store?"
"Hurry up! I heard they prepared a million mobile phones, and the prices are crazy low," Andy replied.
"Tsk, what's the use of that? I have a pager."
"Co on, phones are super convenient! The only problem is they're too expensive, over a thousand bucks. Let's wait here and then head over to Walmart; they'll have discounts on PS2 gas too."
"Ah, my poor wallet," he lanted.
...
The sales performance on Black Friday largely reflected the public's consur enthusiasm. If the numbers looked good, the economy for the following year would look bright. Conversely, if the figures were poor, everyone would have to prepare for a tough ti.
"Nani? Are you serious? He's gone mad?"
"Yes, sir, five hundred bucks. He really has lost it," ca the response.
"That price is pretty close to the cost, right?"
"Yeah, if they were made in a Japanese factory, that's accurate. These phones seem to be from United Microelectronics, about the sa quality," he explained.
"That won't do. We at Sony also need to set up a mobile phone division. If we can empty out a million phones, that'll an hundreds of millions in sales. Is this guy really willing to work with such low profits?"
Many IT manufacturers, including Sony, were keeping an eye on the live situation. When they heard that 1.05 million phones sold out, their expressions were priceless.
Man, this is outrageous! Their annual sales figures are asured in the 100 millions, while you're counting by the day.
They realized William White wasn't simply trying to lose money for the sake of publicity; it was true that the retail price was close to cost. If carriers didn't scratch their pockets at all, why should he help expand their user base?
Looking at their annual reports, those guys were in deep trouble, all reporting massive losses. Yet, these folks seed to know how to play the ga, basing their current valuations on user numbers.
One million new users -- what does that an?
In just one day.
As long as those two data are recognized by the market, their valuations would skyrocket. It made sense to shell out a little cash to subsidize the producers.
...
Video gas, toys, comics, mobile phones.
This Black Friday, William White's companies were in the lilight.
Typically, everyone ramped up their promotions. But if you didn't have the muscle, then don't even think about it. Black Friday always ended up chaotic; it seed to be a tradition.
If, in any year, there weren't reports of soone getting hurt on Black Friday, then everyone might as well prepare for tough tis the next year.
Ten billion US dollars were cut in one day.
When NBC released that figure, everyone was shocked.
Oh my God, that's enough to buy several 747s! Are you sure this started with a video ga business?
The Arican public's spending power was pretty reliable. They often went a little crazy during sales seasons, buying heaps of stuff they didn't really need. The fact that won couldn't apply for credit cards made a lot of sense.
Well, that limitation was no longer in place. So don't doubt it -- from here on out, the shopaholic movent was born. This kind of blind consurism was spreading globally.
William White knew how to make money, and that much was no longer in question. The recently released GoldenEye from the 007 franchise grossed over six hundred million worldwide. Such figures left all of Hollywood speechless.
Just look at those box office records; aside from E.T., all the rest were films produced by White Films.
As for Jurassic Park for the next year, Hollywood's big shots were skirting around it like it was a poisonous snake. This project was a collaboration between William White and Steven Spielberg, with George Lucas as producer.
Let's be real; they were pretty certain this movie was going to stomp all over the competition. Whoever faced it would be toast.
"Co on, your mobile phone industry is much more profitable. Please stop bothering us in Hollywood. Look, in six months, we barely hit six hundred million; you make more than that just selling phones in a day. So why don't you just stick to selling phones?"
The explosion of user numbers alerted a bunch of mobile network operators to an important issue. William White was right; today's devices couldn't handle so many users. Upgrading to digital communication was just a matter of ti.
These guys faced a dilemma: whether to keep issuing junk bonds or find a way to finance an IPO. It was unrealistic to keep burning cash; no one had that capability anymore.
Even the richest man was hesitant to burn money in Arica -- that says a lot. By the way, when exactly would digital mobile communications start operating in Hong Kong? We definitely need to send soone over there for an inspection. Hell, couldn't you have kept it in Hawaii? Crossing half the globe just to figure this out? Unbelievable!
*****
spatreon/Sayonara816.
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