Forcing Me to Be Reborn?!
Chapter 469 - 382 Bold Interview Content_2

Chapter 469: Chapter 382 Bold Interview Content_2

This character interview made Zhou Jianxiong absolutely furious.

"What do they mean by ’Milk Tea 2.0 Era’?"

He felt that Mo Tea was still one of the leading brands in the milk tea industry, still a major trendsetter!

Listening to him, you’d think all us big brands are already ancient history!

These past few days, Zhou Jianxiong already thought all his competitors were total scumbags!

Now, everyone was seizing the opportunity to launch their own Black Sugar milk tea and then leave us, Mo Tea, to attract the firepower ahead.

Quite a move, all of them quietly launching new products.

It only highlighted how his side was loudly accused of copying, looking like a complete fool.

But the real issue was that this situation should never have existed in the first place.

"Is it this young man’s maneuver?" Zhou Jianxiong puzzled, "Or is it just coincidence?"

Every time he thought about it, he’d remember Youu Tea’s official account personally entering the fray for a giveaway and commenting in the comment section: looking forward to Monday.

Those four words were the answer!

"It’s not a coincidence, it’s a maneuver!" Brother Xiong concluded firmly in his mind.

At first, he thought the youth of today were truly broad-minded, now he just thinks each one of them is a dark schemer!

"So, is his interview really just an interview?" Zhou Jianxiong slightly frowned.

As the saying goes: your best understood opponents are often your competitors.

Brother Xiong had been severely trounced by Cheng Zhu’s side and now his thoughts were clearer than ever.

He began to change his perspective, to understand the content of this interview, to ponder Cheng Zhu’s intentions.

"Wait!" Zhou Jianxiong’s attention was caught again by the words "Milk Tea 3.0 Era".

"He’s trying to label his own brand!"

"Or rather, he’s labeling himself!"

"He’s using the media to steer himself and Youu Tea towards being the pioneers of the Milk Tea 3.0 Era."

Simply put, he was elevating his own status.

Being an internet-famous milk tea has its detractors too.

Many people naturally dislike the term ’internet famous’ and some might even find it lowly.

But being the founder of a new era in milk tea suddenly changes that perception and feels different.

Zhou Jianxiong even guessed that even the phrase "Youu Tea, creating a new force in China’s beverage industry" was aimed with that purpose.

Except, back then it was a swipe at Starbucks, thus written as "creating a new force".

Now, he was using us, the milk tea brands.

The most infuriating thing is, Starbucks could be said to be just an object for Cheng Zhu to bounce ideas off, but us?

"We’re more like his... stepping stone?"

Yes, exactly, a stepping stone!

"First, he forcibly brands us with the era of Milk Tea 2.0."

"Then, he highlights how he’s different!"

"His so-called 3.0 era brand is effectively stepping on us, isn’t it?"

Strictly speaking, damn it, Youu Tea only has one store, a single store brand nationwide, what era is he starting!

So this new era only exists in Hang City, right?

"This is marketing!"

"Putting tags on his brand way ahead of time!"

Such a move is very likely to provoke disparagement from peers.

Often peers would jump out and say: Youu Tea is merely making tiny innovations on our foundation.

But the twist is, this interview covered that aspect too.

Because the interviewer asked: What constitutes entering the 3.0 era?

Cheng Zhu’s response was: When these 2.0 era milk tea brands start mimicking mine.

Zhou Jianxiong, as one of the first to imitate, felt the strongest impact from these words.

If we’re already copying him, then we don’t even have the right to criticize him.

This also equates to an indirect proof that he’s indeed leading the market!

"The timing was too clever!" Zhou Jianxiong furrowed his brow even more.

"If it had been just a few days earlier, there wouldn’t be so many milk tea brands launching Black Sugar series."

"Is this another deliberate act by him?" Brother Xiong wondered.

He opened the comment section and sure enough, saw someone keeping tally.

This generation of netizens really acts like class monitors, great at highlighting details. The hot comments already pointed out which milk tea brands were mimicking Youu Tea.

Like a curator listing treasures, he named one brand after another, ending with a: feel free to add more.

Though Mo Tea was first on the list of imitators, Brother Xiong’s feelings were complex.

While furious, he also felt somewhat... relieved?

You "friendly competitors" wanted to make us, Mo Tea, attract all the criticism alone? You wanted to quietly copy, did you?

Ha! Welcome to the era of big data.

Look at your despicable faces.

See that, got you all listed out!

Brother Xiong: That feels better!

However, not just Zhou Jianxiong, many other milk tea brand CEOs were pondering one question: "Why does this young man dare to say such things?"

Yeah, how does he dare?

There isn’t a particularly big difference between Black Sugar milk tea and traditional milk tea.

Youu Tea’s innovation mainly lies in its unique fruit milk teas.

But the cost of producing fruit milk teas is just too high; there needs to be a substantial upfront investment in the supply chain.

Your business model at Youu Tea isn’t even entirely clear yet, just one store in Hang City compared to hundreds nationwide, the profit algorithms would be completely different.

We’re in the business of affordable milk teas, why should we follow and mimic you by producing fruit teas?

In this era, the milk tea industry isn’t a particularly big business yet, nowhere near the later stage where top brands could be valued at billions!

The money Cheng Zhu is burning now comes from funding.

If they’re going to burn money, now it can only be their own.

Just this alone is a very serious problem.

Therefore, the thought for most would be: we’re making good money now, no need to venture into the unknown.

Furthermore, whether your subsequent new products will be accepted by the market is still an unknown.

"Talking big so early, really is a bit too arrogant," Zhou Jianxiong thought.

Meanwhile, that afternoon, Cheng Zhu, Shen Minglang, and Shen Qingning had a meeting in the small reception room in Star City.

The reason for the meeting was simple, Shen Minglang and Shen Qingning needed to come sign some documents.

Speaking of which, this was the first encounter between Cheng Zhu and Shen Qingning since they had parted ways nearly half a month ago.

The atmosphere as they met was somewhat peculiar, but Shen Minglang, blissfully unaware, didn’t notice anything.

As soon as he sat down, he enthusiastically discussed the interview, saying cousin, you really know how to show off!

Eventually, he sincerely asked, "Cousin, do you really think they will imitate us in setting up supply chains and then producing fruit teas?"

"Yes," Cheng Zhu responded confidently.

Being a Reborn, he naturally knew that these 2.0 era milk tea brands would also begin introducing fruit teas in a few years and make them their main products.

It was the market’s choice.

They could only follow the answers given by the market.

They now think their brands’ profit states are quite good, but they have no idea about the terrifying impact the upcoming Youu Tea would have on the entire industry and the disaster it would bring them!

In this year of 2015, Cheng Zhu had plans not only for expansion but also to teach a stern lesson to these old brands.

And the ultimate result would be...

"If you don’t learn from me, you die!"

"I bet this interview will make a lot of people grind their teeth," Shen Minglang said with a big smile, thinking it was incredibly satisfying.

However, Cheng Zhu’s next words left Shen Minglang completely stunned.

Casually, Cheng Zhu said:

"So what if they’re angry? They have no choice but to hate me and clumsily imitate me."

...

(ps: First update, a 4000-word Chapter, last day of the month, ask for monthly tickets!)