Chapter 130: The Power of Advertising

The arcades from Legendary World were selling like mad, while Atari was having a miserable time. Their machines looked like the product of two idiots colliding.

This was the crushing force of a new era. There was no use refusing to accept it. The image quality was different, the sound effects were different, and the games were on entirely different levels in terms of playability.

The disparity was so overwhelming that people were left speechless. There was not even a suitable argument with which to defend themselves.

Most frightening of all, a great many orders had been canceled. Customers would rather pay the penalties than take the machines.

Their home consoles were facing challenges as well. Many distributors were hesitating. Legendary World had announced that it was developing a home console, and surely Atari was not far from dying altogether.

A console that had cost more than a hundred million dollars to develop had collapsed before it had even properly entered the market. It was a devastating blow.

William White was deliberately making things difficult. Home consoles were not that simple. Without a year or eighteen months, you could not develop anything worthwhile.

They could think whatever they liked, and say whatever they liked. The reply from the other side was simply, “Heh.” The contempt in those two words was enough to make anyone furious.

What did it matter what they believed? The consumers’ opinions were what counted. Without comparison, there could be no sense of injury—but after seeing Legendary World’s picture quality, consumers had indeed been disgusted by theirs.

It was easy to predict that Atari’s profits would be in terrible shape this year. The concentrated sell-off of Warner shares made that perfectly clear.

Wall Street’s elite had no confidence that Atari could stage a comeback. William White had not slowed down either. Three more games would be released this year.

As for the three games currently selling so well, they were merely a modest trial. They had not even begun to reveal the platform’s advantages. They were just little inspirations from the boss. The three titles due at the end of the year would be major productions—completely different from the current offerings.

Like their boss, William White’s company had a habit of putting on airs. They were so modest it was practically outrageous.

The reporters knew perfectly well that this was all part of the company’s strategy, but they still had to follow its lead. Wasn’t the purpose of news to attract attention? Besides, the company had already prepared the headlines for them.

That was the problem with diversified operations. The failure of one project could lower the valuation of the entire company. At times like this, persistence was useless. If they did not abandon the project, the entire group would probably face serious trouble.

Steve Ross was thoroughly fed up. The illustrious Warner company had been thrown into chaos by a newcomer. Its films were inferior, its comics could not compete, and its game consoles were being crushed completely.

Now that he looked back, he realized that aside from television and print media, the Warner Group had been suppressed across the board. After all that effort, United Artists was not even qualified to be considered a rival. William White’s true target was Warner.

Steve Ross’s greatest strength lay in manipulating capital. If he had encountered this situation in the past, he would have been delighted.

The reasoning was simple: he could simply acquire the other side through various means. The stronger his opponent became, the happier he would be.

But the current situation was different.

Acquire him?

Were they here to tell jokes?

It was not that William White had no loans, but they were extremely limited—and the banks were the ones begging him to borrow.

He was still a private enterprise, not a listed company. An acquisition was completely out of the question. The bottled-water company did have many shareholders, but Warner had no interest in water!

A bottled-water company whose factory had not even been completed had already received a considerable number of orders. Little Bush was left dumbfounded. He truly could not understand what kind of operation this was.

Good grief. Who would have thought that drinking grape juice could have so many benefits? Was this real or not?

With certificates from so many authoritative institutions, what was there left to doubt?

The wealthy did not care either way. They already had freshly pressed juice. The middle class, however, was different. Since the theme was health, it probably could not be too bad, and plenty of families were willing to give it a try.

As for the children, they naturally preferred the Transformers drinks.

The advertisements being broadcast across America were clearly a chaotic assortment.

As for the reason?

That was already common knowledge.

In the eyes of some advertisers, William White was simply a rich fool. What was the point of such bizarre advertisements? They neither promoted the comic magazine properly nor did much for the products.

Unfortunately, their judgment was wrong once again. Two drinks whose products did not even exist yet had become overnight sensations.

Everyone knew that these were not really advertisements for beverages. But why had they produced such astonishing results? It was utterly baffling.

The advertisers discovered that the comic magazine’s promotional effect was excellent, and they tried to contact the Viking Pirates once again in hopes of obtaining advertising space.

Unfortunately, the pirates were no ordinary outfit. “Give up for this year. There will be an advertising auction at the end of the year, covering the whole of next year. We have no plans to sell space separately.”

What the hell? Were they serious? Either sign for the entire year or do not sign at all. The highest bidder wins, and only one company from each category will be accepted. Decide for yourselves.

No one wanted to buy?

No problem. The boss would take the space himself. Buy it or do not buy it—he did not care.

The advertising agencies were instantly thrown into confusion. They had never encountered a medium so domineering, one that acted as though it could not care less whether anyone came calling.

The world was changing far too quickly. How had the relationship suddenly been reversed?

And yet they had no choice but to swallow their anger. When international brands showed interest, they naturally had to compete for the opportunity.

That was simply how the world worked. When you were successful, everything you did was right. That was the privilege of the successful.

The comic magazine’s circulation had already reached five million—a magnificent figure that even Marvel could not achieve.

Americans did not read comics the same way the Japanese did. They preferred individual volumes, so this kind of aggressive mass distribution was unsuitable.

“When will the individual volumes be available?”

“In a year.”

It was an astonishingly frustrating answer.

William White of course knew that individual volumes were profitable, but his comic magazine was still in its cultivation stage. It had not yet reached the circulation figures he wanted.

This was not affectation or foolish ambition. Japanese sales had not yet reached their peak, while sales in America had not even begun. If everything went normally, ten million copies was still a highly achievable target.

Advertising at the ten-million level was entirely different from advertising at the million level. As long as they put in a little more effort on promotion, reaching that goal did not seem difficult.

Once they had an audience of comic readers, they could start developing merchandise: animated films, toys, and all kinds of related products. Every one of those ventures required an audience.

With ten million copies in circulation, none of that would be a problem. They could sell practically anything. Those were the real money-makers. The comic magazine itself was nothing by comparison.

At last, Star Wars was beginning to lose momentum. The films released during the same period had suffered badly from its dominance, and Hollywood’s big shots were intensely curious to see whether White Pictures could continue its winning streak.

The people under him naturally had similar doubts. Eddie Murphy was especially worried. This was the first film in which he had taken the leading role. If it succeeded, his career would undoubtedly move forward without obstruction. If it failed, he might not return to square one, but he would still have to lie low for some time.

“Don’t worry, Eddie. There are plenty of people who love Star Wars, but plenty of others who do not. Our film is different. Its potential audience is much broader.”

“I hope so, boss. I really do not want to ruin this. We have spent quite a lot of money on the publicity this time.”

“Haha, don’t worry. No opponent has appeared who can bring us down yet. These advertisements are not being run for nothing. The returns will definitely be excellent.”