Chapter 13 The end in the pinnacle——Yongyi is painful and happy

This is a time when you have to pay attention to something, but don't seem to know what you pay attention to.Therefore, when Jiang Nanchun realized that "without an outstanding form of expression, how can it be possible to lock 90% of the eyes", and how Yongyi can support it, Jiang Nanchun raised a question mark in his heart. Thus, in the nirvana of pain and happiness, one peak was terminated, and another brilliance kicked off the prelude to the continuation, and the focus broke out of the cocoon. Relying on some data resources of IDG in the IT industry, Yongyi focused on the Shanghai advertising market and made quite outstanding performance.From 1996 to 1998, Jiangnanchun's Yongyi Communication Advertising Company almost monopolized all the customers and IT advertising market in Shanghai's IT industry, becoming the leading domestic advertising company in this industry. In 1998, Yongyi's annual income reached 50 to 60 million yuan.By 1999, Yongyi Media had already occupied 95% of the advertising agency market in the IT field in Shanghai, with a turnover of 70 million yuan.

In 2000, Jiang Nanchun seized an unexpected new opportunity - the Internet, which also brought a qualitative leap for Yongyi Communication: "In 2000, Yongyi's turnover exceeded 100 million yuan, mainly relying on the Internet .” At that time, Yongyi represented the advertising business of 7 websites, including Securities Star, LYCOS and so on.In Jiang Nanchun's view, this year was a crucial and revolutionary year for Yongyi. "Yongyi's turnover suddenly increased by 50 million yuan, mainly because it acted as an agent for the advertisements of 7 websites at the same time." .

"At that time, I felt that it was the same thing if it went up again, mainly relying on the growth of the customer's own sales, so I wanted to turn Yongyi Communication into a comprehensive advertising company in 2000. I was not ready yet. As a result, the Internet The climax begins." Jiang Nanchun once said.The sudden Internet climax gave Jiang Nanchun a very different feeling, which had never been encountered in the IT field.Internet companies are burning money like crazy. In just half a year, the business of Yongyi Communication has grown exponentially. At the peak, Yongyi Communication not only did not need to run business, but refused business.According to Jiang Nanchun, at that time, the company "was making crazy money", "the company's account was full", and the turnover broke through a record 150 million yuan. Yongyi Communication was also rated as "China's top ten companies" by authoritative media. big advertising company".Jiang Nanchun has said this honor many times, and Jiang Nanchun has also experienced the "vanity" brought about by it time and time again. In 2000, Yongyi's business development reached its peak when the Internet boom broke out.

But history always experiences amazing coincidences, just as Lukacs, the master of advertising literary criticism, said: "The best is also the worst." In the winter of 2000, in Shanghai without snow, Jiang Nanchun and his Yongyi Media enjoys the arrogance and pleasure at the pinnacle of its career.However, in Shanghai after the winter, Jiang Nanchun and his Yongyi Communication did not get another spring of career development.The bursting of the Internet bubble that winter also made Yongyi's development encounter a bottleneck.Exploring new models has become a new problem for Jiang Nanchun.

At that time, Jiang Nanchun realized that in the value chain of the advertising industry, advertising agencies were at the bottom, making the least money and paying the most labor. In the context of the shrinking space for expansion in the advertising field, the survival of advertising companies was even more difficult. .Therefore, under the influence of his friend and client Chen Tianqiao, Jiang Nanchun initially invested in a small-scale online game company as a shareholder, but the money quickly went to waste. "I don't have a deep understanding of the industry, and I can't personally participate in the management." Jiang Nanchun still has lingering fears when recalling this period of history.

However, Jiang Nanchun's ambition is far from running an advertising company that can only dominate in Shanghai and settle in one place.Jiang Nanchun was planning in his mind: starting from 2002, he would consolidate his advertising agency business and gradually form a joint venture with 4A; his bigger dream was to enter the media industry, successfully go public through the operation of the capital market, and build a media group.Jiang Nanchun also set a life goal for himself: to own a relatively stable listed media company at the age of 35. When the development encountered a realistic bottleneck, Jiang Nanchun once again showed the shrewdness of a businessman under the elegant temperament of a poet—preparing for a rainy day.He actively seeks new profit growth points, and has indeed formed considerable penetration in certain industries.However, there is no shortcut to success, and ideals and reality are always too far apart.In this modern business society that only believes in strength, speaks with facts, and measures success with results, Yongyi's diversification strategy encountered a kind of cruel disillusionment like a strong man cutting his wrist. The failure of the investment website is just a prelude.

"There are unpredictable things in the sky", the sudden changes in the market situation, and the operating income of hundreds of millions have not made Jiang Nanchun's life easier.On the contrary, "God will destroy him first by making him mad".Jiang Nanchun and Yongyi at the helm both fell into the darkness before dawn.Especially the year 2001 after 2000 became the most painful year in the growth history of Yongyi. It is exactly "Success is also Xiao He, and failure is also Xiao He".The nascent industry of the Internet has given Yongyi a qualitative leap.At the same time, with the bursting of the Internet economic bubble in 2001, Yongyi also suffered a major blow. "Because the Internet suddenly disappeared, the seven major customers are almost gone. This has nothing to do with our service, but because the industry suddenly collapsed as if overnight. This makes us extremely painful."

"When the company's turnover reaches 100 million yuan, we have to go back to tens of millions of yuan, and we can't go back. Because all the company's operating costs and labor costs cannot be reduced back, including the company's First-class 4A advertising companies such as American and JWT have invited a large number of creative personnel.” To maintain normal operation, the company must maintain an average annual turnover of 130 million to 140 million yuan. "We can only work crazily in a hard-working way." This year, Jiang Nanchun led his team to participate in more than 20 various pitches.This is absolutely unimaginable for most local private advertising companies with less than 40 employees.

For those who never admit defeat but are diligent in summarizing and good at thinking, setbacks may become another kind of motivation, and Jiang Nanchun is like this.Yongyi’s torment in 2001 made Jiang Nanchun clearly realize one point: the advertising agency industry is a thankless industry. To continue to seek greater development, Yongyi must seek a new growth path—stepping up the direction of diversification. direction of development. Jiang Nanchun often compares himself to a conservative gambler, a gambler who wins 300 yuan with 100 yuan and stops immediately, an unqualified "speculator" who will not accept big bets and big wins, and lacks the spirit of adventure. An investor who is accustomed to being comfortable with the "petty bourgeois sentiment" will neither put all his eggs in one basket, nor will he give up completely. "For example, I have 50 million, and I only invest 30 million. After 30 million, I will not vote. The remaining 20 million can still maintain a life above the middle class. I think my years of hard work cannot be ruined."

But faced with the dilemma in the development of Yongyi Communication, Jiang Nanchun faced a similar "gambler's dilemma": "We have two choices: one is to use the resources of the IT industry to expand the Beijing and Guangzhou markets; the other is to start trying to enter the Other industries, such as real estate and home appliances, hope to become a diversified advertising company.” The diversification of Yongyi’s strategy means unlimited addition and expansion of capital and manpower, but Jiang Nanchun, who is on the brink of death, seems to have stripped the self-proclaimed The gambler himself is determined to give it a go.

"Unified resources" is more important than "personal excellence"!Jiang Nanchun's experience in running for the chairman of the student union during his college years made him realize this business truth.This mantra played a decisive role in his initial ambition to start a business in the sea, and now this "truth of success" with strong Jiang's color has played a role again.Therefore, as early as 1998, Jiang Nanchun, who had tasted the sweetness of IT agency, did not limit his business to the IT field. Since 1998, Yongyi has tried to "integrate resources" to the greatest extent, "walk on two legs", and return to the advertising field of consumer goods and other industries. This kind of diversified comprehensive development is not blooming across the board, but mainly concentrated in the consumer, financial insurance and communication industries.At that time, Jiang Nanchun even had an "arrogant" idea, "hoping to compete with 4A in several major fields."Of course, the "human nature" behind Jiang Nanchun has risen to the "vanity" of hoping to gain respect in the international advertising market.Yongyi's development goal is to become a comprehensive advertising company. The contribution of each customer to the company's turnover does not exceed 20% of the company's total turnover; at the same time, it strives to achieve stable customers.Jiang Nanchun uses "gender" to position his company's future development, which is "scarcity" and "innovation". In 1999, Yongyi's diversification strategy began to be officially implemented, actively planning to enter popular industries such as real estate. From 1999 to 2002, Yongyi has operated its diversified new attempts to a certain scale and degree.Abandoning the original plan to develop into a full-case advertising agency service provider, based on media strategy, planning and purchase service provider, Jiang Nanchun made every effort to guide Yongyi to change its role as a media strategy service provider. "For example, Fuji is our original client for all cases. However, some clients developed after 2002, such as China Merchants Bank, are pure media strategy clients, and we will no longer get involved in advertising creativity. Yongyi still has a creative department, but They mainly provide advertising creative services for some old customers.” Unfortunately, such a strategy did not allow Yongyi to achieve greater development.Jiang Nanchun's explanation for this is: because the team in Shanghai cannot serve Beijing, and the competition in the Beijing market is quite fierce, as a new entrant, Yongyi's business development is not smooth.Although the Guangzhou market is well developed, it is far less successful than Shanghai.Similarly, in other industries, although Yongyi has obtained customers such as OOCL Real Estate Company, it is difficult to achieve scale effect. In 2001, Internet customers disappeared across the board, and the IT market was greatly affected? ? ?ring.The winter of the Internet has become the nightmare of Yongyi's communication. What pessimists see in hope is despair, but optimists can find new hope in despair.The suffering of Yongyi in 2001 made Jiang Nanchun clearly realize one point: the advertising agency industry is a laborious but low-profit industry. To continue to seek greater development, Yongyi must seek a new growth path. Since 2002, Yongyi has started a brand-new attempt to fully transform into the role of a media strategy service provider. In 2003, Yongyi completed the transition to a professional media agency company, and Jiang Nanchun's work focus also completely shifted to Focus Media, which he founded later. In Jiang Nanchun's view, Yongyi's experience in adversity is also the price he paid for correcting his overly conservative and cautious entrepreneurial style.Jiang Nanchun believes: "Entrepreneurs need to have at least two qualities, one is a keen sense of emerging industries, and the other is a bold and adventurous character." Before Yongyi's diversification strategy, Jiang Nanchun always felt that he had only one of the two.Later, Jiang Nanchun, who has these two excellent personalities, found a feeling in Focus Media. On April 11, 2006, when Jiang Jiangnanchun reviewed the 10 years of Yongyi, who had fallen from the peak, he said to the author: "Everyone encounters various setbacks every day, but some people have not encountered major setbacks or Low point. 2000 was a climax of the Internet, and it was also a climax of Yongyi; by 2001, the Internet bubble collapsed and customers suddenly disappeared. This was a low point for me. "I think the trough is a very important moment in life. Without the trough, people will not reflect on it. For example, in 1995 and 1996, Yongyi's annual turnover doubled. I never thought about the business model of Yongyi Right. So I think the trough is a very good learning process. At the climax, you only think about how good you are, and how to improve every year; while at the trough, you pay attention to others and see why others do what they do It’s better than you, what’s his business model like.” 10 years in the blink of an eye.Yongyi Communication has gradually reached the peak of its development under the unique experience of Jiangnanchun's pain and happiness, and Jiangnanchun has also achieved the "famous name" of his "ace" advertiser through the successful creation of Yongyi.In the 10 years of Yongyi, Jiangnan Chunqianli traveled solo and accumulated resources and experience for the sudden emergence of Focus Group and Yiqi Juechen.