Reborn: I'll Never Fail My Childhood Sweetheart Again-Chapter 343 - 140: Zhejiang University Branch Opens, Birth of an Internet-Famous Store!
A few more days passed, and the renovation of the Zhejiang University branch was completed.
The Zhejiang University store covers an area of over 300 square meters. Since it was a newly built store, Su Zelin could make some modifications to its appearance to make it more attractive.
Basically, whether from the outside or the inside, it looked like a flagship experience store for a brand from the future, transported back in time and placed in Zhejiang University.
Just like before the opening of the Finance Institute store back in the day, the renovation sparked the curiosity of countless people. After all, within Zhejiang University, there were no other stores of such considerable size, decorated with such style.
On the opening day, the Zhejiang University branch held a promotional event where everyone visiting the store would receive a small gift.
The gift was simple, a specially customized, very kawaii plastic fan.
It was essentially an advertising leaflet disguised as a fan.
If you distributed leaflets, people might throw them away immediately upon receiving them.
But hardly anyone would discard such a little fan, especially in the scorching summer where it’s incredibly practical.
This tactic is quite common in the future, but it’s quite rare in the current era.
Moreover, Su Zelin further upgraded this tactic a bit.
One side of the plastic fan was printed with the New Era logo, Xiaoxin, and the digital store’s brand culture and business philosophy.
The other side featured some interesting phrases.
"I thought I grew taller when I got up in the morning, but actually the blanket was just placed sideways!"
"Time is like a net; where you cast it is where you’ll gather your harvest!"
"I thought about the phrase ’exceptionally able to endure hardship’ and realized I’ve achieved the first four words!"
"Not for others, just to become someone even I admire!"
"The most unforgettable thing isn’t the person, but the feelings and who you were at that time!"
"If goodbye can’t bring tears, can it at least bring a blush?"
"..."
They are either witty, literary, or full of positive energy.
This is Jiang Xiaobai’s advertising tactic from the future, using nostalgia as a theme.
Moreover, this sentiment is especially effective on today’s university students.
The digital store advertised these as gifts, never admitting they were ads, and these nostalgic phrases made it seem higher-end, more like a real gift.
This promotional strategy is a few notches higher than issuing paper leaflets.
The Zhejiang University branch opened aggressively.
Because this university has a large population, they directly customized 20,000 of these little fans to give away during future events.
This alone cost 3,000 yuan, but the wealthy tycoon is much more financially stable now, so they handed them out freely.
After all, these fans are not one-time-use, and it’s expected many people will keep them, making it a very good investment.
Of course, besides offline marketing activities and promotional blitzes, soft articles on Zhejiang’s BBS are indispensable. In any case, they aimed to make a splash.
On the day of the opening, the old actors from last time reappeared, each wearing suits and arriving in small cars, presenting banners and flower baskets, giving the impression that this digital store knew countless peers, appearing incredibly impressive.
Su Zelin, as the behind-the-scenes owner, did not attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony. After all, in name, he was just the manager of the Finance Institute branch, but he weaved through the crowd to witness this important moment.
Then he witnessed the grand spectacle of the Zhejiang University branch with streets packed with people.
The queues just to receive the small fans stretched into several long lines!
Because summer had arrived, these university students indeed needed such a little fan. It was light and compact, easily fitting into a canvas school bag to be carried anywhere, not taking up space, and the phrases on them were also very intriguing.
Furthermore, the sentences seemed randomized, amazingly diverse, with nearly each fan being different.
"’If you don’t read for a day, no one can tell. If you don’t read for a week, your speech becomes crude. If you don’t read for a month, your IQ falls behind a pig!’ Hahaha, this digital store is too clever!"
"Huh, mine is different. ’As a child, the most hated things were eating and sleeping. Thinking back, it really was stupid not to treasure happiness back then 55555...’ It hits right home, youth and ignorance 55555..."
"’Others eat fried chicken and so do I, others drink milk tea and so do I, others buy cakes and so do I, others weigh 90 pounds and I keep my mouth shut,’ pfft, this perfectly describes me!"
"I’m crying, as someone from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, I feel like the owner of this digital store has more talent, could he be a graduate from Peking University’s Department of Chinese Language and Literature?"
"..."
Students quickly realized that many of the words on the backs of the fans were different, yet all were interesting, either amusing or philosophical.
As university students with excellent grades, they valued sentiment even more.
Upon realizing this, the Zhejiang University students got excited.
There was a nostalgic excitement akin to collecting cards as children or picking out different styles of spoons from sour plum powder, or even opening a blind box – similar to the thrill of fishing.
People who received the fans even eagerly shared and discussed the golden phrases on their fans with each other.
Of course, these golden phrases couldn’t have come from Kang Baohong; New Era’s general manager only graduated from middle school and lacks any real education.
They were the painstaking work of Su Zelin, written from memory, mostly drawn from online sources in the previous life.
He wrote a total of several hundred phrases!
No choice for the sake of advertising effect.
When the doors of the Zhejiang University branch opened, and students poured in like a tide, a smile crept up on Su Zelin’s lips.
The second branch of New Era is going to be a hit again!
On the other side, Yang Fen also witnessed the grand event with his own eyes.
He let out a long sigh.
The marketing tactics of New Era have been upgraded compared to when the Finance Institute branch opened.
Gotta admit, my partner really is creative and imaginative.
Teaming up with such a strong ally, perhaps I truly made a wise choice!
...
The opening of the New Era branch caused an even bigger sensation at Zhejiang University than it did at the Finance Institute.
It’s even trending towards becoming a viral hit.
The sentimental little fan played a big role, bringing significant buzz and traffic on Zhejiang University’s BBS.
"’The forest is so big, yet I can’t find a tree to hang myself,’ I got this little fan at New Era’s opening, does this mean I’ll remain single until graduation? No way, boo hoo!"
"Hey, I’m not much better, ’Single today, start wearing two pieces tomorrow,’ that’s so heartbreaking!"
"’Is your love life smooth? Yes, it’s smooth, because there’s no one along the way,’ my fan is simply perfect!"
...
A wave of exchanging witticisms happened on Zhejiang University’s BBS, almost dominating the forum.
Those who didn’t get a fan at New Era’s opening even regretted it. It’s like when you were a kid and everyone else had an anime card except you, making you feel left out, while others were showing off quotes on the BBS and you weren’t even part of the conversation, feeling super bummed.
The other hottest topic was figuring out the true identity of New Era’s owner.
The number of clever quotes was overwhelming. According to a rough count by rumor enthusiasts, more than three hundred were shared just on the campus BBS!
Many even suspected that the owner was a graduate from Peking University Department of Chinese Language and Literature, with profound literary background, rich life experiences, and someone who has weathered many storms to create such philosophical sayings.
Night.
On the Zhejiang University campus, inside the girls’ dormitory.
Yan Qiuwen was browsing through those clever quotes on the BBS with great interest.
She just got a new computer, configured at New Era’s Zhejiang University branch.
Being a genius girl extremely interested in philosophy and psychology, these witty yet philosophical quotes undoubtedly held great appeal for her.
She knew Su Zelin would surely pull off something interesting on the store’s opening day, but didn’t expect the mischief would work so well.
Not only did New Era dominate the BBS, it also became the hottest topic at Zhejiang University on that day.
Quite interesting!
If the sentences were created by her, Yan Qiuwen could think of a few, but she felt she couldn’t come up with so many, and with such diverse styles, which was even more remarkable.
Seeing even Yan Qiuwen enthusiastically engaged in checking out the quotes on the BBS, the other girls in the dormitory were even more surprised.
Not much could pique Qiuwen’s interest, while she usually spent most of her time reading, now she’d been sitting in front of the computer for at least an hour without losing interest, it was like the sun unexpectedly rising in the west.
After browsing through all the related posts, Yan Qiuwen logged onto QQ, and Su Zelin happened to be online too.
Wen: "Well played!"
The genius girl’s online name was as simple as her usual speaking style, just one character, and there aren’t many people with such short usernames.
One Year Old and Handsome: "Admired!"
Wen: "Saw them all, looking forward!" (I’ve seen all those quotes of yours, looking forward to more in the future)
One Year Old and Handsome: "Absolutely!"
"..."
As "Lu Xiaofeng" and "Ximen Chuixue" were exchanging words, other women in the dorm were chatting. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"What do you think the owner of this digital store is like?" Deng Xiaoman couldn’t help but bring up the topic, which was also the most popular on the BBS: "Many people say he’s a top student from Peking University Department of Chinese Language and Literature!"
"I even think he seems like a philosopher, but philosophers generally don’t do business, and they aren’t so witty either!"
Chen Zi analyzed.
"Yes, some sayings are quite cheeky, while others are thought-provoking, look at these words on my fan, ’Life is only three days long, those who live in yesterday are confused, those who live in tomorrow are waiting, those who live in today are the most grounded,’ it’s so true!"
Xiao Yue took out her fan and couldn’t help but praise it.
The girls in the dorm were chatting away, some speaking without much thought, while others were listening intently.
Qin Shiqing already knew Su Zelin’s real identity, and now these witty quotes confirmed Yan Qiuwen’s speculation again.
Ever since they were kids, her childhood sweetheart would always come up with bizarre yet interesting things to say.
For example, "Life is like constipation, sometimes you’re trying so hard, but all that comes out is a fart!", "There’s no peaceful years, it’s just someone is carrying the burden for you!"
Only, at the time she didn’t expect these interesting sentences to result in such a highly successful marketing event.
However, it seems those words he’d said to her weren’t seen on the BBS, likely because her childhood sweetheart deliberately didn’t print them on the fans, otherwise, she would’ve suspected he was the owner of New Era instantly.
This guy, he’s really going all out to make sure I don’t find out that he’s the boss behind all this.
Qin Shiqing pouted a little, feeling slightly unhappy.
Yet, with everyone in the dorm discussing her childhood sweetheart, even thinking he was a top student from Peking University Department of Chinese Language and Literature or even a philosophy professor, she couldn’t help feeling secretly proud.
