Chapter 77: National Ad Slogan Trials

“Fei Jie’s here!”

As they spoke, a tall, slender woman in a dark business suit and high heels approached.

Nie Fei, Vice General Manager of Marketing Channels at Jiaduobao Group.

She looked barely in her early thirties, her delicate face wearing light, elegant makeup and radiating the aura of a corporate elite.

Her short hair was crisp and professional, her eyes sharp, with a tiny beauty mark at the corner of her right eye.

A high, straight nose and thin lips painted a deep red.

Her long, pale neck was adorned with platinum diamond-shaped earrings…

Seeing Nie Fei, they all hurriedly called out, “Fei Jie!”

“Fei Jie, there’s a McDonald’s up ahead. Shall we head straight there?”

On this small county town trip, there were no decent restaurants nearby, so they decided to grab a bite at McDonald’s.

Nie Fei didn’t reply, only nodding slightly.

A young man beside her spoke up:

“Fei Jie, right next to us is Tiancheng No. 1 High School…

The teacher who submitted the ‘Don’t Fear Heat’ proposal teaches here!”

“Should we stop by? His proposal made it to the final ‘decision round.’”

Nie Fei turned to glance at the school gate, then spoke quietly:

“Not yet. Let’s finish the national survey first.

The research data isn’t in, and we don’t know which slogan we’ll use.”

Wang Laoshun Herbal Tea planned a nationwide marketing campaign to bring South Guangdong herbal tea to the entire country.

They had grand ambitions: roll out across every province, rivaling Coca-Cola’s distribution.

With over a hundred million yuan budgeted for media placement, the stakes were clear.

The key lay in a single core slogan.

All that media spending hinged on that phrase.

One could say that this slogan would determine the product’s fate.

If the campaign met expectations, that slogan would be used for years to come.

Jiaduobao treated the matter with extreme caution, inviting top ad agencies at home and abroad to pitch ideas—yet none fully satisfied them.

They even offered one million yuan in cash for public submissions nationwide.

They received tens of thousands of ideas, though over ninety-five percent were obviously unworkable.

Finally, experts from inside and outside the company selected twenty slogans for the “decision round.”

Ten came from the public submissions, ten from the agency pitches.

They then launched a nationwide user survey on these twenty slogans.

China’s market is vast—north, south, central, east—people’s needs and speech habits vary widely.

The slogan needed to resonate and connect everywhere, hence the national research.

This survey was led by Marketing Channels Vice GM Nie Fei, randomly selecting twenty cities across major regions for quantitative and qualitative studies.

Tiancheng happened to be one of them.

Once the survey finished, they’d choose the final slogan based on the data.

Xu Chen’s submission, “Don’t Fear Heat, Drink Wang Laoshun,” had made that final twenty.

Unaware, Xu Chen had just crossed paths with the Wang Laoshun brand rep as he entered the school.

……

……

Wednesday afternoon.

The classroom echoed with the rustle of paper as test packets were passed out.

Tension filled the air; every student looked anxious.

They were handing back last week’s mock exam; scores and rankings were out.

This mock essentially mirrored the college entrance exam, so results now served as real indicators.

Homeroom teacher Zhang Liqun stood before them, hands clasped behind his back, his large brown sunglasses hiding any expression.

Several class reps held the tests, calling names one by one.

Students receiving their papers acted like they were awaiting judgment, afraid to glance at the red numbers.

Then came muffled giggles of relief or sighs of disappointment…

Xu Chen flipped through his papers, expression unreadable.

He hadn’t totaled his scores yet, but a quick glance told him they were close to his expectations.

Reborn, his entrance-exam level matched his past life.

Knowing the essay topic and that sequence question would serve as a real-life buff.

Chen Dahai looked over his own scores, looking a bit discouraged.

Luckily, as a sports student, as long as his academics weren’t too abysmal, he’d be fine.

Zhang Liqun cleared his throat from the podium and said:

“Overall scores and rankings are posted by the blackboard. Check them after class or during evening study.

Use these to assess your standing and adjust your study plan.

With the college exam approaching, we won’t announce every rank aloud.”

A collective sigh of relief rolled through the room.

After all, only a few could rank at the top; only they welcome hearing their names.

“Special recognition goes to the three students who improved most this time!”

“Zhao Nan: 560 total, up from 26th to 21st.”

“Li Zhonghua: 575 total, up from 20th to 15th.”

“Xu Chen: 615 total, up from 12th to 3rd.”

At once, the classroom buzzed with excitement.

Countless eyes turned to Xu Chen.

Chen Dahai blinked, then looked at Xu Chen with delight:

“Third in the entire class, Xu Shaoye! How did you do it?”

Voices murmured envy and admiration.

“With 615 points, Xu Chen, you’ve got your pick of top universities!”

“Keep it up, and you could aim for the country’s best schools.”

“How did you boost your score by over twenty points?”

Xu Chen smiled, caught off guard by all the attention.

In truth, the higher the rank, the harder it is to improve.

The top five rarely change.

They only shuffle places among themselves.

Yet Xu Chen had jumped from outside the top ten straight into the top three.

He’d rocketed from upper-mid tier to true class elite.

With a normal performance on the college exam, a first-tier university was assured.

Maybe even any 211 school at will, with 985 universities within reach.

Xu Chen couldn’t hide his joy.

In his past life, he’d only got into a second-tier provincial college, a huge regret.

That school’s faculty, facilities, and atmosphere were subpar, and graduates struggled to find good jobs.

He had fought tooth and nail to reach the big city and land an ‘international’ company and a major firm.

Surrounded by countless 985 graduates and overseas-educated elites, his second-tier degree still held him back.

Now, armed with a chance at a top university, Xu Chen couldn’t contain his excitement.

A top school would open horizons, connections, and cultural growth far beyond second- or third-rate colleges.