usatvline Chapter 207 The Aftermath of the Wedding (1)
Chapter 207 The Aftermath of the Wedding (1)
Shen Wancheng and Gu Jinxing's wedding was reported by Hong Kong media for several days, and the discussion remained heated for a whole week.
If this happened in later generations, it would dominate Weibo's trending topics.
This is partly because the affairs of the wealthy are naturally fodder for public gossip, and partly because Shen Wancheng deliberately fueled the flames.
The Gu and He families wanted to hold this wedding in a high-profile manner, and Shen Wancheng certainly didn't want to miss such a good publicity opportunity.
Hong Kong media reports focused on the extravagance of the wedding, with everything from the exorbitant dowry, the entire cruise ship, and the private island to the wedding rings, couple's starry sky watches, and the bride and bridesmaids' dresses being repeatedly discussed.
Among the individual items, the wedding ring and the couple's starry sky watch were the most discussed, which was partly due to Shen Wancheng's deliberate guidance.
Originally, the media only noticed the wedding ring from the photos and videos provided by the Gu family, focusing on the "star" diamond on the bride's ring. The auction price of 3500 million yuan was also revealed.
What Shen Wancheng did was to get one or two media outlets to publish sarcastic comments about her, implying that only the Gu family and Gu Jinxing were making sacrifices for the wedding, and that Shen Wancheng, this gold digger, had finally figured things out.
Meanwhile, other media outlets also launched discussions about what other valuable items were involved in the Hong Kong Island wedding of the century.
Soon after, the media discovered that Gu Jinxing was wearing the same expensive starry sky watch that Li Shaojie had almost lost some time ago during the wedding two days prior. The media further noticed that during the toasting ceremony, Shen Wancheng was wearing a matching watch with Gu Jinxing.
Li Shaojie said he would have to pay his entire fortune to compensate for the loss of just one starry sky watch, so how much would two couple watches cost?
Immediately, the focus of reports from many media outlets naturally shifted to the starry sky watch.
The next day, Shen Wancheng instructed Li Su to begin launching advertisements across the board.
Overnight, all the large advertising screens in Victoria Harbour and Central on Hong Kong Island were replaced with advertisements for Starry Sky Watches.
During prime time on all major television stations in Hong Kong Island, advertisements for the Starry Sky Watch were broadcast, each lasting 5 minutes.
Shen Wancheng's requirements for the Starry Sky Watch advertisement were that the time slot be good, but it could only be broadcast once a day on a single TV station.
A five-minute advertisement can easily become tiresome.
However, Shen Wancheng's starry sky watch advertisement does not rely on brainwashing lines to deepen the audience's memory like traditional watches, but rather increases the watchability of the advertisement.
Because starry sky watches are not affordable for the general public; they are high-end luxury items. Therefore, while expanding their brand awareness, it is also necessary to deepen the public's impression of them as noble and sophisticated, rather than vulgar.
Shen Wancheng was very clear about these key points. When shooting the advertisement, she emphasized that the advertisement should have the quality of a movie. Shen Wancheng also personally reviewed every shot.
The advertisement didn't deliberately introduce the starry sky watch; instead, it told a love story of a watchmaker's family. The story was made up by Shen Wancheng based on melodramatic plots from later online novels. While telling the story's twists and turns, it also showcased the craftsmanship of watchmaking and the preciousness of diamonds.
Once this novel advertisement aired, combined with the existing popularity of the Starry Sky Watch, it immediately sparked a nationwide craze for watching the ad.
The terms "Oriental Elegance" and "Starry Sky Couple Watches" became household names in Hong Kong.
The general public simply follows the advertisements and speculates about the price of the starry sky watch, while wealthy individuals with means are all looking for ways to purchase it.
Oriental Song's stores also opened at this time.
Shen Wancheng plans to open stores in both Central and Victoria Harbour. However, given the limited production of watches, she has opened the Victoria Harbour store first.
The stores are divided into two floors, one for jewelry and the other for clothing. The clothing stores are not open yet; currently, only one floor is open to support the sale of the Starry Sky Watches.
The first batch of watches produced by Oriental Song was planned to be 20 pieces. Apart from the couple's watches for Shen Wancheng and Gu Jinxing, the other 18 watches used diamonds from the batch that Shen Wancheng purchased on her first trip to South Africa. Shen Wancheng divided the watches into two grades based on the quality of the diamonds.
A series called "Peak of Time" is priced at HK$2.6 million per piece, including three casual watches, three business watches, and two pairs of couple watches.
A series called "Honors of Glory" is priced at HK$3.5 million per piece. The number of casual and business watches remains the same, while there is only one couple's watch.
In addition, during the period before Shen Wancheng's marriage, the factory also rushed to produce a batch of ordinary luxury watches, a total of 30, with an average price of HK$50.
These watches used up all the diamonds that Shen Wancheng had purchased in South Africa, meaning the cost of the diamonds was over HK$800 million.
The total selling price of these watches is over 69 million. If only the material cost is considered, the profit margin is over 800%. Even after deducting sales and production costs, the profit margin is still 700-800%, which is more than double the profit margin Shen Wancheng had previously estimated.
In addition to these watches, Shen Wancheng and Gu Jinxing's watches are special couple's watches. If anyone wants to purchase them, they need to make a special appointment for customization. The price of each watch is at least HK$3000 million.
The Starry Night Watches advertisement did not disclose the value of Shen Wancheng and Gu Jinxing's watches, but the TVs in the Oriental Elegance stores will explain in detail the preciousness of the diamonds used in their watches, and also announce that the total price of their couple's watches is HK$1.6 million.
The two exquisite two-tone diamonds used on these two watches were originally purchased by Shen Wancheng from Kelin for US$999 million, which is about HK$50 million. Considering only the profit margin, compared to the 800% above, Shen Wancheng felt that she was still quite conscientious.
In fact, the average price of luxury watches in the current market is around HK$30, and even flagship models are only around HK$100 million. Shen Wancheng's Oriental Song not only doubled the price of ordinary luxury watches, but also raised the upper limit by dozens of times.
Surprisingly, while the general public felt they couldn't afford the Starry Night watch, no one thought the price of the Oriental Elegance watch was unreasonable.
This series of marketing efforts ultimately achieved a PUA effect that even surprised Shen Wancheng, the producer of the marketing plan.
For a time, the standard for measuring a person's wealth in Hong Kong became whether or not they owned a Starry Night watch from Oriental Elegance, and what level of Starry Night watch it was.
Of the 48 watches that Dongfang Yasong opened, half were sold within three days, and they also received two orders for top-tier custom watches.
The total revenue for the three days reached 100 million.
This number not only surprised Shen Wancheng, but also shocked Gu Jinxing and Xu Pingtao when they found out.
It's not that they've never seen so much money before; not to mention the companies they control, their personal assets far exceed this figure.
But with a turnover of 100 million yuan and a cash flow of 100 million yuan in just three days, they asked themselves if any of their group's subsidiaries had ever achieved such performance.
Xu Pingtao immediately asked Shen Wancheng.
Is it too late for Grandpa to invest in your company now?