Chapter 541 - 285: What Kind of Liquor Is This? Dumbfounded
He truly felt he was about to become a top-tier streamer with this stunt. After all, not many people on Tiao Yin could break 100,000+ viewers for two consecutive streams.
In his live stream, he had already pulled up Chen Jincheng’s homepage. "Don’t worry, everyone. 1 PM is almost here. Chen Jincheng’s product launch video is about to drop."
"But, I’ll say it again: the beer market is hard to break into right now. We’re in an era of high brand concentration and severe product homogenization. Adding another beer to the mix won’t excite consumers much."
"Latest news is that the major beer brands are about to start another price war. Chen Jincheng’s 300 million investment is his entire net worth. If he enters a price war, he’s dead in the water."
These words once again won the approval of many people.
"That’s right. The beer industry must be one of the worst when it comes to price wars."
"Teacher Lin’s analysis is spot-on. I don’t know why Chen Jincheng just can’t accept it."
"..."
"Chen Jincheng posted an update!"
"Chen Jincheng posted an update!"
"..."
Lin Hongxiao immediately saw many notifications pop up about Chen Jincheng’s update. He quickly refreshed Chen Jincheng’s homepage.
Sure enough, he saw that a new video had been posted on the other man’s homepage: *Second-Life Star, 37.2°C Soda’s Official Debut!*
"Soda?" Lin Hongxiao froze for a second.
’Isn’t it supposed to be beer?’
’What kind of alcohol is Soda?’
For some reason, he suddenly had a bad feeling and hurriedly clicked on Chen Jincheng’s video.
The filming style and quality of this video were completely different. It was clearly ad-quality.
The video began to play, and Chen Jincheng appeared on screen. He was walking down a street when he came across a girl with a beautiful smile. He went up to hit on her but was ignored.
Seeing this, many people were a little confused.
’What does this have to do with alcohol?’
Lin Hongxiao felt the same. Just as he was wondering, the scene suddenly changed. Chen Jincheng was now in a bar, drinking with friends, and he once again saw the girl with the captivatingly beautiful smile.
He was captivated and clearly wanted to try hitting on her again.
Suddenly, he seemed to think of something and waved over a waiter.
The waiter nodded in understanding before carrying a case of alcohol over and delivering it to the girl’s table.
When he saw the drinks being set out, Lin Hongxiao was stunned. It really wasn’t beer. The drinks came in various colors like red, yellow...
In that instant, everyone in Lin Hongxiao’s stream was captivated by the video.
The drink’s packaging was stylish and cool, looking absolutely stunning under the dim lights of the club. It was as if, in that moment, a dreamlike atmosphere was created.
The viewers were all amazed:
"I’ve never seen this drink before. It looks really appealing!"
"It’s a new drink Chen Jincheng just came out with, so of course we haven’t seen it. But it really is super appealing!"
"What kind of drink is this ’Soda’? Just based on the packaging’s aesthetic, I’d be willing to try buying some."
"..."
In the video, when a bottle of red Soda was opened by Cai Xiaoyi and poured into a glass, everyone was captivated once again. They watched as the drink produced fine, rich bubbles in the glass.
On camera, the bubbles continuously rose and popped, shimmering under the lights like countless tiny diamonds dancing in the liquid, creating a dreamlike beauty.
It was impossible to say how many young people were drawn in by this scene. Many even got the feeling that this was the kind of visually artistic drink that young people should be drinking.
Soon, Cai Xiaoyi became tipsy. She went over to thank Chen Jincheng, and a scene of the two of them dancing intimately on the dance floor appeared.
As they watched the video, the viewers started to get a certain implication.
The girl went from ignoring him when he hit on her to dancing intimately with Chen Jincheng after drinking the Soda. Wasn’t the message self-evident?
When the final slogan appeared—"37.2°C Soda, letting you feel the ’temperature of love’"—the video blew up.
Lin Hongxiao’s stream blew up, too.
"Teacher Lin, it looks like Chen Jincheng isn’t making beer."
"Teacher Lin, I kind of want to buy this drink. It doesn’t look like Chen Jincheng’s investment is going to fail like you said."
"What a bullshit investment teacher. He couldn’t even guess that Chen Jincheng would make a different kind of alcohol after buying a brewery."
"..."
Lin Hongxiao saw the change in the stream’s comments, and his expression turned ugly.
In that short time, he watched his viewership drop below 100,000+, then quickly fall past 50,000+, and it was still decreasing.
’Those people must have gone to watch Chen Jincheng’s video.’
This made him start cursing furiously in his mind.
Then, he immediately pulled out another phone, logged into Chen Jincheng’s homepage, clicked on the video, and checked the shopping cart link. He instantly saw the selling price of this Soda.
Second-Life Star 37.2°C Soda, 104 yuan/case (24 bottles), choice of flavors...
That was right. Chen Jincheng had set the wholesale price for the Soda at 80 yuan per case, but in this promotional video, it was 104 yuan per case because of the 30% markup for distribution channels and retailers.
At 104 yuan a case (24 bottles), it was way cheaper than brands like Heineken or Corona.
At this moment, it wasn’t just viewers from Lin Hongxiao’s stream flooding to the video. Many people online who had seen Chen Jincheng’s teaser had come early to join the excitement.
Chen Jincheng’s fans, in particular, had already clicked on the shopping cart in his video the moment it went live.
Many fans had already made up their minds to support Cheng, even if he was making beer.
Whether Cheng succeeded or failed with the beer didn’t matter. They weren’t going to let him suffer a humiliating defeat with his video sales. After all, Cheng rarely exploited his followers for money, so paying for a product he was promoting once in a while was no big deal.
But now, Cheng had come out with this never-before-seen Soda. They had to admit, the packaging alone made them want to buy it. And after seeing the ad, they absolutely had to get some.
Besides, a case was only 104 yuan.
Many fans bought it without hesitation, with some even buying several cases at once.
Those who had already been drawn in saw the 104 yuan price tag and decisively paid to give it a try. The main reason was that the ad was just so well-made that it created a real desire to buy.
Most importantly, many people could tell that the drink Chen Jincheng created had great aesthetics. With his popularity, it was probably going to become an internet-famous drink instantly.
Buying a case was a perfect excuse to invite a girl over to try it.
So, they paid and bought it one after another.
Even Lin Hongxiao couldn’t resist paying for a case. ’Even if it’s not beer, this new drink of his won’t necessarily take off, right?’
Many new drinks failed, some launching without anyone buying them. But after watching that ad, his confidence immediately vanished.
’Chen Jincheng doesn’t play by the rules.’
’The guy didn’t even make beer.’
The key thing was, he had been insisting that Chen Jincheng’s beer venture would fail, yet the guy hadn’t refuted it at all.
’It was definitely on purpose.’
Just then, his assistant rushed over. "Teacher Lin, quick, look at the shopping cart rankings! Chen Jincheng has instantly parachuted into first place again!"
Hearing this, Lin Hongxiao subconsciously opened the two shopping cart leaderboards.
1. Total Sales Volume: 16,062,904 yuan.
...
There were two leaderboards. This week, no one from Second-Life Star had done a promotional video, nor had any major influencer videos appeared, so Chen Jincheng had easily parachuted into the number one spot for total sales volume.
When Lin Hongxiao saw the sales figure of over 16.06 million, his expression became incredibly grim.
’In other words, in that short amount of time, Chen Jincheng sold over 150,000 cases of his drink?’
’And this is just the beginning. By the time the hype for this dies down, how many will he have sold?’
’Is this a joke?’
’It’s just a new drink he came up with.’
Even an idiot would understand by now. This was all part of Chen Jincheng’s plan. He had been the one eagerly glomming on, trying to ride Chen Jincheng’s coattails, thinking he was getting the better end of the deal. He never imagined that Chen Jincheng had been orchestrating everything from the start.
He suddenly felt like a fool. But who could have predicted that Chen Jincheng’s scheme could be this terrifyingly effective?
The silver lining was that he had gained a lot of fans from riding the hype this time, and his course sales had also been very good.
But just as he was thinking this, a notification popped up on the phone in his hand.
When he saw the message, an ugly expression instantly spread across his face.
It was a refund request for his course.
And it wasn’t just one or two refunds—it was a huge number of them.
He immediately understood. It was because his judgment about Chen Jincheng’s investment had been wrong, and these people no longer trusted him.
’But that’s because Chen Jincheng played dirty! It doesn’t prove my analysis was wrong!’
The next moment, he suddenly saw his own stream get shut down. The screen went black, and then a notification popped up.
"Why is this happening?!" Lin Hongxiao shot to his feet as if a bomb had gone off, his expression the ugliest it had ever been.