Chapter 136: The Impact of the Advertorial (3/19 Thanks to Enthusiastic Citizen Mr. Jin for the 10,000-Coin Tip!)

A saying once circulated widely in the Shenzhen press industry: "The morning paper is never early, and the evening paper is never late." This referred to publication schedules. For instance, the Shenzhen Evening News bore the name of an evening paper, but actually hit the stands every noon. After receiving official criticism, it was shifted to the afternoon, a practice that continued for many years. However, for some inexplicable reason, it eventually reverted to a morning release—operating under the moniker of an evening paper while functioning as a morning paper, a quirk that never failed to amuse people.

Of course, that was a development of a decade or two later, and at that time, the daily circulation of the Shenzhen Evening News would reach a staggering half a million copies, a scale incomparable to the present. Right now, the paper had not been established for very long, and its current daily circulation hovered around a modest one hundred thousand copies.

Even so, printed in color across four sections and fifty-six pages and distributed publicly both at home and abroad, the Shenzhen Evening News possessed competitive advantages that certain other newspapers simply could not match.

The following day, around one o'clock in the afternoon.

Wang Qiang returned to the Jiahua Foreign Trade Clothing Wholesale Market.

He had caught up heavily on sleep the previous night, dozing straight through until midday. As for how well the four-piece bedding sets were selling, Wang Qiang did not bother checking at all. Without external catalysts, a single day could not alter the current situation, so he might as well get a good rest; he was utterly exhausted from the consecutive days of train travel.

Passing by the shops of Boss Ding and Boss Tan, he casually inquired about their sales. Just as he had anticipated, there was no improvement whatsoever. Yesterday afternoon, Boss Ding had managed to sell one more set, while Boss Tan's inventory remained completely untouched, still sitting firmly at nineteen sets.

Without dwelling on it, he walked over to Sister Xu's shop.

Upon entering, he did not see Sister Xu; instead, Zhou Xiangzhong was sitting behind the counter tending the shop. Wang Qiang did not ask questions and chatted briefly with Zhou Xiangzhong.

Before long, Sister Xu hurried back from outside, while Zhou Xiangzhong walked off carrying a bundle wrapped in newspaper, the contents of which were unrecognizable. Observant Wang Qiang noticed that the two fine four-piece bedding sets that had been piled in the corner were gone, presumably having just been taken away by Zhou Xiangzhong.

"You've been quite leisurely these past two days, haven't you?" Sister Xu asked as she flipped through the ledger.

Wang Qiang smiled. "Not too bad. I just came to check if the newspaper is out."

Just as they were speaking, the pleasant ring of a bicycle bell sounded outside, and a deliveryman wearing the dark green uniform of the Posts and Telecommunications Bureau tossed a newspaper casually by the doorway before pedaling away.

"There, it's here," Sister Xu said, gesturing toward it.

"Let me take a look," Wang Qiang hurried over, squatted on the ground, picked up the newspaper, and eagerly flipped to the second page. Sure enough, the headline was the advertorial he needed: *Amazing! Clothing Wholesale Market No Longer Sells Clothes?* He let out a snort of laughter. Was the headline actually one of the random examples he had casually given to Editor Yang yesterday?

Before he could even read the body text, Sister Xu reached out her hand. "Let me see."

Wang Qiang would have preferred to read it first, but since she took the initiative to ask, he could hardly refuse, so he handed it over. "Let's see what it says about us."

Sister Xu uttered an "Oh" as she took the paper, held it up to read, and suddenly beamed. "My shop's name is actually mentioned on here!"

If someone wanted to make the second-page headline with less than two thousand yuan nowadays? That would be pure fantasy.

Yet it had actually happened. There were three main reasons: first, the purchasing power of currency was exceptionally strong—the less than two thousand yuan Wang Qiang had spent probably possessed more purchasing power than twenty thousand yuan later on; second, the newspaper office was still clinging to relatively traditional notions and had no inkling that advertorials could generate profits; and third, Editor Yang and Reporter Qiao had taken perks, so naturally, they had to deliver results. Leaving aside the present, even in the future, as long as the money was sufficient, let alone a second-page headline, even the front-page headline could be secured—it all depended on whether the financial backing was heavy enough.

Wang Qiang pressed further, "What does it actually say?"

"The paper says..." Sister Xu dragged out the ending note, a trace of joy on her face. "...something about how the clothing wholesale market hasn't been selling clothes lately, but has switched to selling four-piece bedding sets instead. They even published a photograph of the bedding sets we displayed yesterday, making it sound as though every single shop is identical to mine. Besides, I haven't stopped selling clothes; I'm just selling the bedding sets as a sideline for now. Reporter Qiao really knows how to spin a yarn."

Wang Qiang chuckled. "Journalists, after all, always tend to exaggerate facts." He thought to himself that reporters nowadays were still relatively tame. If you ever got the chance to witness the Tencent News of the future, you would truly understand what clickbait meant, and how an entire news article could be fabricated out of a single opening image.

Since the news was out, it would probably generate some impact by the afternoon.

Once Sister Xu finished reading, he took the newspaper back and began to read it himself. The content entirely revolved around the fact that certain merchants at the Jiahua Clothing Wholesale Market were selling four-piece bedding sets. The promotion was remarkably blunt—it was a wonder they hadn't explicitly stated the price of the sets. Completely different from the classic advertorials he had envisioned, Wang Qiang was left somewhat amused and exasperated; it seemed Reporter Qiao's skill in writing soft-sell articles still fell a bit short.

After chatting with Sister Xu for another ten minutes or so, he decided to check out the other shops, having only visited Boss Ding and Boss Tan earlier.

***

Arriving at Sister Wang's shop.

Wang Qiang ran inside and asked, "Sister Wang, how did the four-piece sets sell today?"

Sister Wang, sitting behind the counter with her legs crossed and smoking a cigarette, glanced sideways at Wang Qiang. "I sold four sets yesterday, but today they haven't moved at all."

"They might pick up in the afternoon," Wang Qiang said.

Sister Wang let out an "mm" and paid little attention, continuing to smoke and drink tea on her own.

Instead, Wang Qiang was left feeling awkward, as if standing was inappropriate and leaving felt premature.

Suddenly, a woman in her forties poked her head in from outside. "Huijuan, is there a shop called Qunzhen Clothing in your wholesale market?"

Sister Wang turned her head and recognized her neighbor, Sister Zhen. Puzzled, she asked, "What are you asking for that for? If you need clothes, just get them from me—I can even give you a discount."

Sister Zhen waved her hand. "I don't need clothes or pants. I read in the newspaper that the wholesale market is selling cheap bedding sets. One of the bed sheets at home got washed to pieces, so I wanted to come buy a set to take back."

So soon?

It was already working?

Wang Qiang looked at the woman outside wearing a dark red plaid shirt, a rough idea of what was happening forming in his mind.

Sister Wang, however, was in the dark. "You want a four-piece set? I have those here too—" Halfway through her sentence, a thought suddenly struck her. "What did you just say? The newspaper says our wholesale market sells four-piece sets? What newspaper?"

"You have four-piece sets here too?" Sister Zhen asked instead of answering, hurrying inside. "How much?"

"Hey, tell me which newspaper first."

"What other newspaper could it be? The Shenzhen Evening News! Now hurry up and tell me how much your bedding sets are."

Suppressing her curiosity, Sister Wang retrieved two different styles of bedding sets to introduce to her old neighbor.

Seeing that the quality of the bedding sets was quite good, and especially upon hearing that the pure cotton sets cost only sixty-five yuan per set, Sister Zhen offered endless praise. Originally intending to buy just one set, she ended up purchasing two—one poly-cotton and one pure cotton—and carried them away.

As soon as she left, Wang Qiang asked casually, "Sister Wang, do you know her?"

"We've been neighbors for over a decade. She lives in the residential complex right across from the market," Sister Wang replied. Then, she began rummaging through a stack of newspapers by the doorway, muttering to herself, "The Shenzhen Evening News... was that from yesterday or today?"

No wonder she lived close by; it explained how she had managed to arrive a mere half-hour after today's issue of the Shenzhen Evening News was published.

Wang Qiang was deep in thought.

Sister Wang had already pulled out two newspapers and began looking through them. Normally, she only glanced at newspapers occasionally when she had free time, and she hadn't bothered looking at yesterday's at all. As for today's, it had just been delivered; she had been eating lunch earlier and had simply tossed it aside.

The first paper was yesterday's, and she found no trace of anything unusual.

So Sister Wang picked up the second one. The front page yielded nothing, but as she flipped to the second page, just as she was about to skim past it cursorily, she was caught by the headline and stared fixedly at the page.

Seeing how engrossed she was, Wang Qiang started to say, "Sister, I'll go..."

Before the words "go check out some other places" could leave his mouth, Sister Wang blurted out in disbelief, "My goodness, the newspaper actually published a piece about our wholesale market selling four-piece sets? Is this picture the little Xu shop at the very back? Why does she have so many bedding sets?"

Whether she was talking to herself or asking him, Wang Qiang simply kept quiet, turned around, and walked toward other shops to observe the situation.

***

In a shop that hadn't managed to sell even half a set the day before.

The female shop owner saw Wang Qiang walk in and, before he could even speak, blurted out, "Little Boss Wang, you tell me if this isn't the strangest thing."

"What is?" Wang Qiang didn't understand what she meant.

The young female owner let out a chuckle. "Just now, a couple of people ran over asking if I had four-piece bedding sets for sale. Tell me if that isn't weird."

It seemed she didn't know about the Shenzhen Evening News yet.

Wang Qiang didn't spell it out, but nodded instead. "It is a bit strange."

Just as they were talking, a man in his forties asked from the doorway, "Boss lady, do you have four-piece bedding sets for sale?"

"Look, here comes another one," the female shop owner said to Wang Qiang before hurriedly calling out toward the entrance, "We do! What kind are you looking for?"

Hearing that they were available, the middle-aged man walked inside and began inquiring about prices and other details.

The female shop owner showed him both the poly-cotton and pure cotton options, informing him that the poly-cotton set was fifty yuan and the pure cotton was sixty-five.

The middle-aged man tried to bargain, but failed to drive the price down, and ultimately purchased a set of pure cotton bedding before leaving.

With the transaction concluded.

The female shop owner was still perplexed. "Why is business suddenly so good today?"

Wang Qiang smiled and remained silent. It appeared that although Reporter Qiao's advertorial was simple and crude, this kind of news-style promotion truly worked, and the results seemed quite promising. For now, people were only dropping by in scattered trickles, but Wang Qiang had every reason to believe that once more people laid eyes on the news, the true peak of bedding set sales would arrive. He figured he ought to stock up on some inventory; otherwise, once the sales surged and everyone suffered stockouts, it would be too late.

***

Meanwhile.

Countless readers subscribed to the Shenzhen Evening News laid eyes on this piece of news. Those with no need for bedding sets felt apathetic, treating it merely as a human-interest story, while those in need could not help giving it a few extra glances. The Jiahua Foreign Trade Clothing Wholesale Market sold four-piece bedding sets?

"Did you read today's Shenzhen Evening News?"

"I did. I was just about to head over to Jiahua to see if they really sell cheap bedding sets."

"Jiahua stopped selling clothes and switched to bedding?"

"Honey, come look at this."

"What is it?"

"Stop pushing the bicycle, come look at the newspaper."

"What's so interesting about a newspaper? I still need to prepare the wedding bedding sets for our son."

"That's exactly what I wanted to tell you about. Today's Shenzhen Evening News says Jiahua has cheap bedding sets for sale, and claims the pure cotton ones are very reasonably priced. Shall we go take a look?"

Throughout that afternoon, quite a few people across Shenzhen who were in need of bedding sets were discussing the second-page headline in the Shenzhen Evening News. The effect of the advertorial went without saying—it was an overwhelming success. Within a mere hour of publication, many people were already rushing to Jiahua Foreign Trade Clothing to see for themselves.