Chapter 479: The "Copper Pot" at a Friend's House
Chapter 479: The "Copper Pot" at a Friend's House
Just had a short meeting.
If only a few people are late, you can try to use the "killing the chicken to scare the monkey" approach, but if everyone is late, it is equivalent to teaching everyone a lesson, which is too easy to make employees disgusted.
Fan Wumian didn't want to be seen as a strict and demanding boss, which would confirm the rumor in the fashion industry that "Asian-run companies like to exploit their employees", so he left the matter of offending people and restoring order to the high-paid management.
From beginning to end, he never mentioned the fact that many employees were late. He just calmly learned about the process and final planning of the press conference. He was also mainly concerned about the production, marketing and sales of new products.
As for the expansion and site selection for opening new stores, since we have already started considering placing the actual office location in Australia, which has a tax-free policy for overseas profits, the European employees in Milan and Rome do not need to worry about it for the time being. We can find a dedicated team to take charge of it then.
Compared with drastic measures, it may be easier for people to accept corporate reforms in a subtle and imperceptible way, so as to avoid affecting the subsequent expansion plans. If the company is in chaos, it will also have a certain negative impact on Valentino's image in the outside world.
Even if large-scale layoffs are not an option.
As long as we don't continue to recruit people in Italy, once the number of employees in other places reaches a certain scale, the Rome headquarters will naturally become a branch.
After a cursory consideration of some things, we will find that there are many areas where costs can be saved through reform.
For example, for clothing, shoes, bags and accessories designers, being able to create one or two good works does not necessarily mean that they will be able to launch other good works in the future. Instead of keeping many formal employees for a long time, it is better to buy out some design plans from outside at a high price, which can prevent the design department from becoming bloated.
In addition to marketing promotion, the company spent too much money on offline events and advertising with European magazines.
A group of high-quality middle-aged and elderly customers have already formed their consumption concepts and subconsciously feel that well-known and popular brands such as Chanel, Dior, Gucci, LV, etc. are more upscale than Valentino.
Instead of spending a lot of time and money to win these difficult customers, it is better to spread the net through low-cost online advertising and cultivate consumers from the young group.
The original shareholders may pay more attention to short-term gains.
Fan Wumian's appetite was much bigger than others from the very beginning. As long as the scale of long-term benefits was large enough, he could still accept it even if he had to spend money for 5 or 10 years like an Internet company.
now.
Fan Wumian sat at the oval conference table.
Alessio Mannici, the operations director, said:
"Last time, Miss Zuo served as a model to publicly promote our limited edition new products, and achieved very good marketing results on the Internet and media in many countries."
"Recently, a group of media and guests contacted our company and expressed their desire to attend our press conference, looking forward to seeing the new designs firsthand. Most of the feedback expressed support for the arrangement of product series renewal."
"Yesterday, a promotional poster for the 'Bronze Age' series of leather goods was released and was reprinted by thousands of media outlets around the world. Mr. Fan, your celebrity status has been a great help."
The main reason why European luxury goods are so popular is that they have extremely high added value and strong cultural influence.
Countless media outlets desperately promote European romance, luxury, elegance, etc., invisibly creating a high-end image and prompting a group of brands to enter a virtuous circle.
New batches of leeks appear one after another, and there is no shortage of buyers in the market, turning consumer goods into luxury goods with strong value-preserving properties and even occasional appreciation.
Wait for the translation to finish.
A deputy director of the design department also spoke up:
"The designs that integrate with Chinese culture are great, but aren't there too many new products launched this year? The more product lines, the better. Hermès's Birkin and Kelly bags have not changed much since their birth, and Chanel's 2.55 series has also lasted for half a century, which makes them more classic."
There is a language barrier, so communication is difficult.
After listening carefully to the translation, Fan Wumian nodded and said:
"Just like the Porsche 911 and the Beetle, I know this is more conducive to the product's value retention in the market." "This year is a new beginning for the company. As long as it proves that users are willing to accept it, the 'Bronze Age' series will become our company's flagship product and will be retained forever."
“Valentino’s leather goods were not popular before, so I came up with the idea of starting over. In the next two years, we can launch more new products, and then select the series that customers like to continue for a long time and make them the main featured products of our company.”
Fast-moving consumer goods brands prefer to win by quantity, while luxury goods companies focus on heritage and classics.
Since most of Valentino's previous performance was supported by women's clothing and high-heeled shoes, Fan Wumian made such a big move. He set up a separate "Women's Bags and Leather Goods Design Department" right after completing the acquisition, hoping to open up the market and make more profits by selling women's bags, men's bags, belts, wallets and the like.
Apart from the distinctive rivet bags, other products have been proven to be unpopular in the market, and he has cancelled several series. He tried to use the patterns on bronze ware to create a classic monogram logo for Valentino, like LV and Gucci.
Last year, Valentino suffered a loss of more than 2000 million euros, so much so that the entire design department had no confidence to speak out.
Glancing at his colleagues with a gloating look, Operations Director Alessio Mannichi then expressed his opinion:
"It is true that the new design is more beautiful this time, incorporating bronze patterns from thousands of years ago, giving the product a unique cultural charm."
"More than a decade ago, I saw such a large bronze pot in a friend's home. There were many ancient Chinese characters carved into it. Although I couldn't read them, the patterns were so beautiful."
“There are very few great innovations in the fashion industry. Perhaps incorporating cultures from other countries can produce some wonderful chemical reactions and win the support of customers.”
"???"
After listening to the translation again, Fan Wumian raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Imitating Alessio Mannici, he made a large circle with his hands and asked:
"Are you sure it's such a big pot? There are words engraved inside? I'm very interested in these things. Where is your friend?"
Director Alessio Mannichi was stunned for a moment when he realized that Fan Wumian's focus was off. He replied:
"He immigrated to New York a few years ago. We even held a party for him at that time. I haven't seen him for a few years."
".The meeting is over. Come with me."
Everything that needs to be prepared has already been prepared, and the meeting is just a formality.
Fan Wumian hooked his finger at Alessio Mannichi, then went to his office, turned on the computer and asked the translator to help search for "Xi Jia Pan".
This national treasure-level bronze ware became extremely famous on the Internet in later generations, because it was said that a couple once treated it as an ordinary copper pot and used it to make pancakes, but it was eventually sold at a sky-high price of 2 million yuan.
Fan Wumian was not sure whether it was true or not, but when he heard Alessio Mannichi mention the bronze fruit with inscriptions, he successfully associated it with the Xi Jia plate.
With the idea of being prepared for the worst, he pointed to the replica of the Xi Jia Plate in the picture, which was said to be kept in the island country's museum, and asked:
"Is this the bronze vessel you saw at your friend's house?"
Alessio Manicci is 45 years old. After taking a closer look, he shook his head uncertainly:
"It seems similar, but it's been so long and I was drunk at the time, so I can't remember clearly. It was probably like this: a pot with words inside, and it felt very heavy in the hand. My friend said that this pot was in his grandfather's house when he was a child."
I feel that it is most likely just a replica, just like the replicas collected by the island country in the picture. They may even have only a few decades of history and cannot even be considered a "high-quality replica".
But considering that the Kingdom of Italy was one of the eight countries that entered China a hundred years ago, it is obvious that they may have taken advantage of the chaos to plunder some treasures. Fan Wumian smiled and said:
“Call your friend and ask him what price he is willing to sell it at. Designers are just lacking inspiration. If you put a real object in the office, it will help stimulate them to generate new inspiration.”
(End of this chapter)