Chapter 368: Chapter 292: Another One Goes Mad Chapter 368: Chapter 292: Another One Goes Mad This oddly sarcastic Weibo post, amid the tearing and biting of various factions, completely broke out of its circle.

Because it was posted by a local marketing account in Hang City, the post also appeared in the [Local] channel.

Due to its tremendous popularity, the intelligent push would give it even more traffic, making it even more likely to randomly appear in the [Local] channel.

Plus, there’s a local list on the Weibo Trending Searches.

Despite just two hours of fermentation, the post had climbed to third place on Hang City’s trending list.

There was even a chance it could top the list…

By the end, the marketing team was flabbergasted.

“Holy shit, this is an ad, folks, it’s a gig we took!”

Normally, the popularity of such advertising posts is much lower than other content, unless it’s written by a blogger who is incredibly adept at writing ads.

They couldn’t have imagined that we were just raking in the cash; however Daddy patron told us to write, that’s how we’d write, and to our surprise, the popularity exploded!

Freaky, too freaky!

Totally crushed, our Weibo post was utterly crushed by factions from all sides!

They were starting to lose count, with no idea how many armies there were below.

Some were tearing into each other, others were just throwing themselves into a huge brawl.

And yes, Starbucks does indeed have a group of die-hard fans in China.

In fact, many big brands have their own fans, like fans of smartphones, computers, cars… it’s nothing new.

As a pricey coffee option, many Starbucks fans come with a sense of superiority.

This adulation-rich post about Starbucks really gave them a sense of identification!

“Spot on! Written so accurately!”

Damn it, it describes so many of my inner thoughts!

When I read this article, I felt every pore opening up, every cell feeling awesome!

Some Starbucks fans in Hang City even thought about checking out Star City tomorrow, to see which audacious milk tea shop dared to set up opposite Starbucks and charge similar prices.

In reality, Starbucks’ brand influence has always been significant. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been the absurd case where the “Cat Paw Cup” was in such demand that it resold in the secondary market for four-figure sums.

Now, the fledgling Youu Tea was but an ant in front of this international behemoth.

But Cheng Zhu’s idea was simple.

“Remember, the identity you carry when you are away from home is given by yourself.”

Just like those salespeople, is the job title on their business cards real?

Even our Uncle Liu Liu Bei initially only claimed, “I am but a commoner,” until Gongsun Zan gave him a leg-up, calling him “a descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan, and the great-grandson of Emperor Xiaojing,” after which he started using that title externally.

As for our Youu Tea, naturally, it’s Starbucks’ nemesis in this life!

The devious man had already decided – Youu Tea’s second shop would be set up opposite Starbucks!

Future site selections would be made preferentially based on proximity to Starbucks locations!

What? You say Starbucks doesn’t acknowledge us as their nemesis?

So what?

“They will recognize us eventually,” Cheng Zhu assured himself inwardly.

…

…

Three days had flown by.

During these three days, every day, there would be marketing accounts on Weibo using the routine of praise and criticism – praising Starbucks while trashing Youu Tea.

This matter had even caught the attention of merchants outside the Technology University.

Wasn’t the boss lady of the fried chicken shop next to the claw machine store always blunt and self-proclaimed to be straightforward and humorous?

It was she who shared those Weibo posts in the group.

Of course, the shop owner had a good impression of Cheng Zhu and firmly sided with Youu Tea.

After posting those Weibo links in the group, she also sent a concerned message: “What the hell are these people talking about.”

“With all this commotion, how is Little Cheng supposed to run his business!”

“It’s been quite a mess online!”

The fried chicken shop’s owner even sent three angry WeChat emojis in quick succession.

Cheng Zhu wasn’t bubbling up in the merchant group at all–he had already transferred control of Youu Come to Play, so this group was not really his concern anymore.

Besides, Xu Shao and Pei Yan had also been added to the group…

Interestingly, even though Cheng Zhu hadn’t said a word, the enthusiastic members of the group had started discussing on their own.

Some were already making suggestions for his business.

Of course, some appeared to be giving advice but were actually making veiled jabs.

For instance, the owner of Jiajian Milk Tea, Wang Zhenggang, clicked on these posts and heartily liked them.

After liking the posts, he found it not satisfying enough and had to leave a comment.

When posting his comment, he would discredit Youu Tea with the guise of a “voice of reason.”

Mentioning that he had a friend in the milk tea business and claiming expertise, he asserted that this approach was indeed a dead-end.

After venting, Wang Zhenggang lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled comfortably, “That feels better!”

He decided he would personally check out Star City in a few days.

“By then, this shop should have tanked,” he thought to himself.

Wang Zhenggang even harbored a pretentious thought: “Once his business goes downhill, I’ll offer my concern in the merchant group, give him some tips!”

Old-school milk tea merchants like him had no idea how a new model like Youu Tea would shake the milk tea industry and this era of Milk Tea 2.0!

…

…

At Star City, Cheng Zhu looked at the long queue outside the store and smiled with satisfaction.

In the past two days, more and more online influencers had come to check-in at Youu Tea.

There were two reasons for this.

The first reason was that Ancient Mountain Culture, led by Zhu Youwei, brought several influencers with decent popularity to take photos and check in, which made Youu Tea somewhat famous in the influencer circle.

Of course, campus belle Zhang Qiqi also contributed her fair share.

The influencer circle may seem large, but it’s actually not that big.

Other familiar influencers were curious to ask whether they had taken on a new ad campaign, and the answer they got was negative.

This wrapped Youu Tea in a mysterious veil, and the shop’s backer seemed to be very familiar with Zhu Youwei, Hang City’s top influencer circle big shot – he even personally came to support the shop.

Second, some people also asked the influencers: Is the milk tea good?

The unanimous answer was: Surprisingly good! And they would buy it again!

Not just influencers, even celebrities are human beings who need to eat and drink.

Zhou Jielun, for example, is so fond of milk tea that he’s earned the nickname “Milk Tea Lun.”

This piqued even more interest in Youu Tea within the influencer community.

The second reason was that those few articles posted online kept Youu Tea consistently trending in Hang City.

Once the hype and gimmick kicked in, those small influencers couldn’t wait to jump on the bandwagon!

Some even conducted experiments.

You post about buying a Starbucks on Weibo in Star City, and it won’t make much of an impact.

But if you post about buying Youu Tea on Weibo, there will genuinely be locals from Hang City asking you: “Is this really good to drink?”

Or: “Don’t get why it’s so popular; is it worth the price? Does it taste good?”

“The pictures look delicious, how long is the queue?”

The engagement is just not the same! The level of attention is completely different!

It’s hard to imagine a shop that’s been open for just a few days is already causing such a stir in colossal Hang City.

And these online articles also made Zhu Youwei from Ancient Mountain Culture pay even more attention to Cheng Zhu.

He even held a meeting in the company to analyze Cheng Zhu’s intentions and why they achieved such great results.

“The owner of ‘Persistent Visit,’ indeed lives up to his reputation.” That was his biggest takeaway.

It seemed that no matter what industry Cheng Zhu ventured into, he never fell short in marketing and promotion!

Upon closer examination, he hadn’t actually spent much on publicity.

But the effect achieved was extremely terrifying!

“It’s just as well he doesn’t run an influencer agency,” Zhu Youwei felt somewhat relieved.

But then he was puzzled.

“With his capability, the most suitable business for him would be an influencer agency.”

“So why doesn’t he start one?”

…

…

At this moment, Cheng Zhu was unaware that Zhu Youwei was speculating about his inner thoughts.

He was now having serious talks with the “gang leader” of the hired cheering team.

Starting from today, Youu Tea would cease to hire any cheerers.

Why bother when the customers were already overwhelming?

In fact, some had doubted whether Youu Tea hired cheerers in its opening days, and there were probably still skeptical voices, but there was a significant drop compared to the first few days.

No helping it, the quality of the customers queuing outside Youu Tea was a bit too high…

There was no shortage of handsome men and beautiful women.

These girls could probably be models.

To hire them to queue outside the shop, wouldn’t that cost be excessively indulgent?

Now, upon learning of Cheng Zhu’s intention to stop hiring, the “gang leader” didn’t feel any sense of loss.

He had decided, starting from tomorrow, that they wouldn’t take Cheng’s money, but they would still queue!

Was it out of gratitude for Cheng’s financial support?

Of course not, they were becoming scalpers!

He acutely sensed a business opportunity and was convinced that there would be well-to-do people too lazy to queue.

Reselling Youu Tea could definitely make a profit!

Little did he know that Cheng Zhu saw right through his intentions.

“Wu, if you want to get into the scalper business, let me warn you in advance, I won’t interfere with this for the next half month, but after that, I will definitely crack down on scalping.”

“You are in this line of work, you should know, brand image is very important,” Cheng Zhu said.

“Understand, understand,” Wu, who had his thoughts detected, smiled and rubbed his hands together.

He looked like a simple guy in his thirties, but his mind was nimble, earning from speculation!

The reason Cheng Zhu didn’t prevent scalpers from the start was purely because they were useful to him.

His marketing plan was interlinked, and scalpers were part of it.

After chatting with Wu, Cheng Zhu headed back to his milk tea shop.

Before entering, he glanced at the Starbucks across the street.

As Christmas approached, the Starbucks was not as busy as Youu Tea but was steadily doing business as usual.

However, Starbucks’ store manager, Liu Richard Lei, had noticed a peculiar phenomenon.

That was, many young couples coming to Starbucks these past few days had been opting out of ordering coffee but instead… ordering desserts!

The men would order Swiss rolls, cheesecakes, tiramisu, or croissants, French caramel crisp, chocolate muffins, and other baked goods for their ladies.

But they wouldn’t order coffee, not a single cup!

After placing the order and paying, the men would leave their dates at a table in Starbucks, then resolutely exit Starbucks and join the end of the queue at Youu Tea, beginning their solo queuing journey.

So warm, he was too warm!

“Baby, wait for me here.”

“Mm-hm!”

The girls would sit contently munching on snacks and playing with their phones, waiting for their men to return with Youu Tea’s products to Starbucks.

Some men would buy two cups of milk tea, while some might buy just one.

This scenario repeated over the past two days.

As a result, coffee became less frequent on the tables inside Starbucks, while cups of milk tea grew in numbers!

Some even left their cups behind without taking them on leaving, leaving the milk tea cups on Starbucks’ tables!

Richard felt he was going to go insane!

…

(P.S.: Second update, ask for monthly votes.)