Chapter 375: Soft Advertising!

Li Yi spent the entire day busy at the cotton mill.

In the morning, he discussed the establishment of sales channels with Sun Feng, the head of the sales department at the cotton mill.

For a garment factory, production is certainly important, but sales channels are equally crucial for the factory to grow and thrive.

This is especially true for a company like the cotton mill, which controls its own raw materials and possesses extensive equipment and a large workforce—it must have its own sales channels to ensure sufficient output.

Fortunately, the cotton mill had long recognized this, which is why they established the Sales Department early on.

According to Sun Feng, the sales department currently has over eighty sales representatives, primarily responsible for liaising with fabric-using entities in the capital and nearby counties.

Before the factory’s fabrics began experiencing quality issues, the sales department’s work proceeded smoothly, and there was rarely any surplus of the fabric produced each year.

However, ever since quality issues arose three years ago, meeting their sales targets has become extremely difficult. Eventually, they were forced to resort to deep discounts, effectively turning the sales staff into sales promoters.

After learning about the situation in the Sales Department, Li Yi immediately shared his ideas with him.

According to Li Yi’s plan, the factory’s clothing was primarily aimed at people with considerable purchasing power in large and medium-sized cities.

There were three main sales channels: the first was promoting the products to various department stores in the city; the second was operating branded chain stores; and the third was trade shows.

Subsequently, Li Yi instructed Sun Feng and his team to immediately take the produced samples to promote them at major department stores and clothing wholesale markets in Beijing and the surrounding counties and districts, or to participate in various clothing trade shows.

As for the chain stores, Li Yi planned to have Jiang Longcheng make the local contacts, with Li Yi personally overseeing the process in the end!

Although Sun Feng and his team lacked confidence in this endeavor, the sales department currently had no other work. According to factory regulations, if they remained idle, they would only receive half their original salary.

So, regardless of whether they could actually sell these clothes, having something to do was a relief, and they readily accepted the task of promoting the garments.

Of course, relying solely on these people for promotion wouldn’t be enough. To make these clothes “take off,” he’d need to come up with other strategies!

Fortunately, he already had an idea!

After arranging for the establishment of sales channels, Li Yi rolled up his sleeves and personally designed several styles of wool coats for both men and women.

He then handed the designs to Director Tan, instructing them to begin prototyping immediately!

The coats Li Yi designed were all classic styles common in later times—two styles each for men and women, one long and one short.

Director Tan did not disappoint Li Yi; within three hours of receiving his “designs,” the samples were ready.

After seeing how the wool coats looked when worn, Li Yi was extremely satisfied.

When the beautiful factory beauty surnamed Xu put on the batwing-sleeve top and flared pants, then slipped the wool coat over them, her entire demeanor was completely transformed.

It must be said that these pieces are truly timeless classics.

Even decades from now, they would still be in style!

Immediately, Li Yi instructed Director Tan to organize the factory workers to work overtime to speed up production; if there weren’t enough hands, he could have Jiang Longcheng transfer staff from other workshops.

Since he had plans to meet with Jiang Longcheng’s friend who worked at the newspaper that evening, Li Yi didn’t return to the store.

As the workday drew to a close, he met up with Jiang Longcheng, and they left the cotton mill together!

…….

On the way, Li Yi briefly asked Jiang Longcheng about his friend.

According to Jiang Longcheng, his friend’s surname was Yang; he was an editor at the Workers’ Daily and held a minor leadership position at the newspaper.

They had agreed to meet at a state-run restaurant in the city center, and by the time they arrived, it was already 6:30 p.m.

By the time they entered the restaurant, the other party was already there.

As soon as they met, Jiang Longcheng couldn’t help but tease him: “Hey, Old Yang, you’re still as lazy as ever—you even have to pick a spot near your office just to meet up!”

The portly Editor Yang laughed and said, “That’s not laziness. Do you think everyone has a car like you do?”

He then glanced at Li Yi and asked, “Who’s this guy?”

Jiang Longcheng immediately replied, “Let me introduce you. This is my brother-in-law, Li Yi…”

“Wait a minute, brother-in-law? Where’d you find a sister?”

“Cousin!”

“That doesn’t make sense either. I know your family situation—where did this cousin come from?”

“She’s my third uncle’s daughter. I’ll explain the details later. He’s my brother-in-law—I’m not joking!”

Editor Yang took a good look at Li Yi, then extended his hand and said, “Yang Ling. This guy and I grew up together in the same neighborhood!”

Li Yi immediately replied, “Hello, Brother Yang. I’m Li Yi!”

Jiang Longcheng smiled and said, “You two take a seat first. I’ll go order the food!”

Once they were seated, Yang Ling looked at Li Yi and said, “Brother Li Yi, Old Jiang called me yesterday saying he needed to talk to me. I assume it’s you who’s looking for me?”

“Yeah, I wanted to ask Brother Yang about advertising,” Li Yi said.

“Huh, you want to run an ad?”

“I’ve been thinking about it. I’m wondering how much an ad would cost?” Li Yi asked right away.

Actually, placing ads in newspapers wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

Since the Opium War, Chinese newspapers and periodicals had begun to proliferate, and advertising was naturally the primary source of revenue for newspapers.

However, due to policy restrictions, newspaper advertising had been banned for many years, so at first glance, the idea seemed quite novel.

However, as far as Li Yi knew, restrictions in this area had already been lifted domestically, and the first commercial advertisement had been published in Shanghai’s Wen Hui Bao on March 15, 1979.

The ad featured a Swiss Rado watch; due to printing limitations at the time, it was not a photograph but a hand-drawn illustration of the watch.

Yang Ling paused briefly, then said, “Currently, the Workers’ Daily has not yet launched advertising services. Among central media publications, only the Liberation Daily can run ads at the moment, but the rates are extremely high—no less than 1,800 yuan per ad—and I hear the ad space has already been booked through next year!”

Upon hearing this, Li Yi immediately furrowed his brow and said, “Since other newspapers are already doing this, why doesn’t your *Workers’ Daily* give it a try?”

As far as Li Yi knew, the Workers’ Daily was a newspaper under the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, and its current circulation was still quite high, second only to major papers like the People’s Daily.

“It’s a long story, to be honest. We’ve been arguing about this at our office for nearly a year, but the higher-ups still haven’t made a final decision!” Yang Ling said with a hint of resignation.

“I see. Well then, Brother Yang, could you help us publish a news report?” Li Yi asked again.

“What kind of report?”

“In a few days, the cotton mill’s clothing line will hit the market in large quantities, and all the specialty stores in the city will open. This is part of the cotton mill’s industrial transformation—after all, it’s a major achievement for Old Jiang. I think it’s worth promoting properly!”

“In that case, it does deserve some publicity. Why don’t I send a reporter over when the time comes?” Yang Ling suggested.

“No need for a reporter. My idea is that we’ll provide the press release, and your Workers’ Daily can find a good spot to publish it. How about that?” Li Yi said.

Naturally, he wasn’t just looking to help Jiang Longcheng promote his achievements; more importantly, he wanted to run a soft advertisement.

Since traditional advertising wasn’t an option, he could slip a soft ad into a standard press release. By leveraging the coverage of the cotton mill’s industrial transformation to promote their clothing line, he figured it wouldn’t be a problem.

After all, whether it’s a soft ad or a hard ad, as long as it achieves the promotional effect, that’s all that matters!

“That’s within my authority, so it’s no problem—as long as it’s not an ad!” Yang Ling said.

“It definitely isn’t an advertisement!”

“Then it’s fine!”

……