tkworld #423 - Cat's Tea's Business Crisis (2 in 1 order required)
#423 - Cat's Tea's Business Crisis (2 in 1 order required)
But they soon discovered a problem: the dream itself was good, but the ending was always off…
Later, after repeated experiments, Mao Wuyong and others discovered that this "Dream Realm" sensory pod seemed to be filled with unexpected twists at the end of the dream.
And the reason was unknown.
They told Lu Yu this news with concern, but Lu Yu was very happy!
Lu Yu thought to himself, it seems that this sensory pod is still too advanced. Now it's definitely destined to be mediocre, just something for employees to daydream with.
……
So, Lu Yu decided to promote this sensory pod throughout the company.
On a Friday afternoon, the company was filled with a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere.
Li Hongmei excitedly notified several randomly selected ordinary employees, inviting them to experience the dream benefit.
First was a middle-aged male employee, Xiao Zhang, who was currently experiencing a mid-life crisis. His child, Yiyi, was under a lot of academic pressure, and his dream was to have great fortune and become rich overnight!
After entering the dream, Xiao Zhang was wearing a sharp suit, holding a thick stack of lottery tickets, standing in front of the glass window of a lottery shop, making his final prayer.
His face was full of determination. This was the last gamble of his life.
He took a deep breath and tore open the lottery ticket with a trembling hand—swish, billions of prize money codes jumped into view! Xiao Zhang was overjoyed, his legs weakened, and he almost knelt on the ground!
Soon, he busied himself packing his bags and moving out of his old, dilapidated rented house.
The new home was a luxurious villa, with panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows offering an unobstructed view of an emerald private garden. He happily led Yiyi through the door, letting the child excitedly run around the room. Xiao Zhang looked out at the balcony and shouted, "From now on, we will be high above, living as rich people!"
Gradually, banknotes piled up like a green ocean in the house.
Xiao Zhang threw the most expensive celebratory banquet, drunkenly scattering banknotes all over the floor. He took Yiyi around the world, enjoying everything from ocean-view yachts and luxury hotels to expensive dresses.
But just as they were dressed in suits and ready to board a private plane back home, the airport security guards suddenly stopped them, angrily scolding, "You two paupers dare to steal these expensive outfits to show off? How outrageous! Get out of here!"
Xiao Zhang widened his eyes, dumbfounded, and looked down to see that he and Yiyi were indeed only wearing ordinary clothes, and even the soles of their old slippers were falling apart… Just as he was extremely shocked and helpless, the dream ended abruptly.
……
Next was a young female employee, Zhang Xiaoyu, who had been suffering from gamophobia and could not face the marriage pressure from her boyfriend. She hoped to overcome her inner obstacles through a dream.
In the dream, Zhang Xiaoyu transformed into a pure and beautiful bride, wearing a spotless white wedding dress, preparing to be married at an outdoor wedding venue in a bustling city.
Her bright and moving face shone brightly under the refraction of sparkling light, appearing particularly ethereal. She squinted and gazed at the handsome profile of her beloved beside her, and let out a soft sigh full of sweet happiness.
Just then, a child's cry broke the peaceful and serene atmosphere.
A man she didn't recognize held the child and sobbed, "Don't you want your child anymore?"
……
Finally, there was an old bachelor employee, Da Qiang, who had always coveted the young girls around him. So he dreamed of becoming a charming young man, indulging in pleasure.
In the dream, his face suddenly became more than twenty years younger, turning into a handsome and dashing young master.
He wore a fashionable and neat short haircut, and youthfulness was written all over his face. He wore a beautiful casual suit, with a bit of a prince-like air. At this moment, Da Qiang had an extraordinary temperament, and just standing anywhere was enough to attract wealthy and beautiful women.
As he walked down the street, he immediately attracted a burst of delicate gasps. Several young girls wearing incredibly sexy and gaudy clothes slowly surrounded him, their attire almost unimaginably revealing, leaving no part uncovered.
The leader made a graceful bow and said in a coquettish voice, "We see that you, young brother, are so beautiful, and you will get old soon, why not come and indulge with us first?"
She stared at Da Qiang with a seductive gaze, shyly sticking out her fragrant tongue, "Young brother, would you like to go to a more private place with us first?"
Da Qiang's sanity was immediately ignited, and he couldn't wait to reach out and put his arm around the person's waist, but he found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't exert any strength! Looking down, his body had become old and frail again.
Da Qiang woke up instantly!
While these employees were experiencing the sensory pod, he monitored the changes in leisure point income throughout the entire process.
Although the final dream ending was too scary, causing these employees to lose points, the beautiful fantasies of the long period of time beforehand allowed the employees to contribute a large number of leisure points.
After all, in this cycle, he still has a system buff, so after offsetting the positive and negative, he still makes a profit!
Thinking of this, Lu Yu was very happy. This sensory pod should be treated as an internal benefit. Anyway, if it is put into external products, the final reversal ending alone is probably enough to dissuade ordinary users.
This cycle is finally stable!
……
The next day.
Lin Ming, the rarely seen boss of Cat's Meow, came to the headquarters and found Lu Yu.
"President Lu, I'm really sorry to bother you." She bowed slightly, her eyes lowered, with a hint of unease in her tone.
Lu Yu nodded, signaling her to continue. Lin Ming took a deep breath and went straight to the point: "Recently, our Cat's Meow has been targeted by the Long Teng Group. They have used various means to make things difficult for us."
Speaking of this, her brows furrowed even more.
As a giant in the city's physical business district, the Long Teng Group's capital, venues, and connections are far from comparable to the small Cat's Meow. Taking advantage of the booming cat cafe business, they even released harsh words, vowing to completely sweep away this "heresy" of Cat's Meow in the city.
Lin Ming bit her lip and continued, "First, they used their local advantages to open many homogenized coffee shops around our stores. Each store will display some cute little pets to attract customer traffic."
"What's even more terrifying is that they spent a lot of money to find well-known store visiting bloggers to conduct all-round criticism and negative publicity of our stores."
Lin Ming's eyes dimmed as she said this. "That blogger came from afar, afraid of missing the opportunity to ridicule us."
Lu Yu nodded thoughtfully and casually opened the Weibo website.
Sure enough, a video titled "Cat's Meow Store Visit Experience" was conspicuously hung on the homepage of popular recommendations.
The video opened with the face of a rebellious young man.
The other party had a neat short haircut, his eyebrows and eyes were handsome and well-shaped, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, with an air of indifference. He snapped his fingers at the camera, his expression was giggling, and he was completely like a manic son.
"Hello everyone, I'm store visiting blogger J Shao. Today, we will experience Cat's Meow, which is known as the flagship of urban cat cafes, to see if it is too awkward, so it is not very popular." Saying that, he walked into a Cat's Meow store.
The image followed his perspective, and the first thing that came into view was a dark and closed area by the floor-to-ceiling windows in the store, surrounded by only a few cat climbing frames and some dust-covered cat nests. "As soon as you enter the door, it's such a bleak scene. Do you think this is creating a good living environment for the cats?" J Shao held the microphone, his tone full of mockery.
He followed the line of sight inward, and the camera scanned several messy tables and chairs, as well as a mess of scattered cat litter and hair stains on the floor. "I'll go, is this kind of environment enough to whet the appetite of foodies?" J Shao made an exaggerated vomiting expression.
The video also took a long shot of the whole process of the store clerks serving dishes. Every time, only a expressionless, dirty figure walked by quickly, the movements were slow and clumsy, looking greedy. "Everyone, do you think this kind of seemingly zombie-like service attitude is worth your money?" J Shao made a voice-over with his hands, joking from time to time.
Finally, he focused on a group of listless cats by the window in the store, who were boredly grooming each other. "Look, it's a pity that these guys are staying in a narrow and dark space all day long, which is worse than pets in cages! Oh, I think this store is just a place to take a walk when you go out for a night run, and it can't really be the first choice for eating and drinking." J Shao squinted at the camera and made a conclusion aggressively.
The video was indeed well-produced, the soundtrack fueled the flames, and each shot was edited just right, increasing the dramatic tension. Not to mention J Shao himself, his unrestrained appearance and appropriate dog-like tone made people love and hate the screen.
Lu Yu frowned, but didn't show too much emotion. He turned to look at Lin Ming and said in a calm tone, "I understand, it seems that the Long Teng Group is desperately trying to show its true colors. But this blogger's approach is indeed a bit too much."
Lin Ming argued: These are all filtered, or they are edited snippets out of context.
This store visiting blogger obviously took money from the Long Teng Group, and was blacking us the entire time!
Lin Ming nodded worriedly, obviously heartbroken for the reputation of her brand. Lu Yu looked at her thoughtfully, and smiled slightly: "Don't worry, I have my own way to turn the tide and make the Long Teng people look good!"
Lu Yu thought to himself, Cat's Meow is Lin Ming's hard work. If Long Teng's attacks are too excessive and make the employees feel depressed, causing him to lose leisure points, it would be a loss.
……
After Lin Ming left in a hurry, Lu Yu fell into deep thought. The Long Teng Group's series of actions was undoubtedly a blatant threat to Cat's Meow, wanting to completely stifle this emerging brand in one fell swoop. However, Lu Yu did not intend to be passively beaten like this.
He suddenly thought of the Dream Realm sensory pod, this magical new technology. Perhaps, with the infinite fun brought by the sensory pod, Cat's Meow can regain its vitality and turn defeat into victory! Lu Yu's mind raced, and he quickly made up his mind.
The most ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ is ⊥ in ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥⊥ book ⊥⊥ bar ⊥⊥ first ⊥ hair!
The next day, a huge Dream Realm sensory pod was transported to the Cat's Meow's main store.
This machine had a futuristic shape and was bright white, like a miniature version of a future spaceship. When the employees saw it, they were all stunned and looked at each other.
"W-what is this?" A childish store clerk broke the silence first, curiously pointing at the sensory pod and looking it over.
"Haven't seen it before, this is the first time I've seen it." A thin middle-aged store clerk shook his head, subconsciously tidying up the broken hair in front of his forehead.
More and more people gathered around, and everyone was deeply attracted by this unknown machine full of technology. Even the employees who were cleaning the store put down their work and joined the crowd.
"What is this used for?"
"I can't tell at all?"
"Could it be a new type of cat food baking machine?"
"Don't talk nonsense, how is that possible"
Everyone discussed with each other, and everyone was full of suspicion, and was extremely curious about the origin and use of this mysterious machine. Just as everyone was discussing enthusiastically, Lu Yu walked in at the right time.
"Everyone, don't ask any more questions, this is the Dream Realm sensory pod!"
He walked slowly to the middle of the crowd, waved his hand, and smiled, "The sensory pod can immerse people in a realistic dream, and experience infinite fun. Now I will give it to Cat's Meow as a gift, and I hope you can make good use of this gift and start a new experiential marketing!"
Lu Yu's tone was sincere, and his eyes were full of expectations, but the crowd was dubious, looking at each other, and there was an uproar.
"President Lu, what is this.?" A beautiful young female store clerk finally opened her mouth and asked with many doubts.
"There's nothing suspicious."
Lu Yu smiled mysteriously and waved his hand, "Just use it as you please, just remember to use your imagination well." After saying that, he flicked his sleeves and left the store, leaving everyone in a cloud of suspicion.
In the next few days, the employees still had a lot of questions about this new and strange machine of unknown origin. But to expect them to put it in the store and operate it step by step without any complaints? Lu Yu was probably too naive.
……
First of all, there was a series of questions and troubles from Lin Ming. As the head of Cat's Meow, Lin Ming was very puzzled by Lu Yu.
"Sister Liu, what is the purpose of Dream Realm sending us this machine?" She asked Liu Mengyuan again and again to find out Lu Yu's thoughts.
Liu Mengyuan is a high-level executive of Dream Realm, and also Lu Yu's closest confidant. Faced with Lin Ming's questioning, she couldn't help but smile knowingly. Sure enough, this guy Lu Yu is still so mysterious, setting up small tests everywhere.
"I guess Lu Yu's original intention is to let Cat's Meow use this sensory pod to carry out a new experiential marketing, so as to revitalize the business." Liu Mengyuan pondered slightly and gave her own analysis, "But he didn't give clear instructions on how to use it specifically, just hoping that you can use your creativity well."
Sure enough! Lin Ming was a little excited, but then she frowned: "But, just putting such an expensive high-tech machine in the store for business, I always feel like. something is not quite right?"
Liu Mengyuan smiled without saying a word, with a profound meaning. It seemed that Lin Ming had finally realized the meaning of the test in Lu Yu's words.
……
After several weighings, Lin Ming finally made up her mind. She decided to open a small "Dream Experience Area" in the store, specializing in providing Cat's Meow members with free Dream Realm sensory pod experience services.
According to her vision, once a VIP member's cumulative spending ranks in the top ten, they would be entitled to a free dream experience. This would undoubtedly be a major draw for attracting both new and returning customers.
Soon, the dream experience area of Cat's Tea began renovations in the main store. When customers from other branches saw a large, uniquely shaped machine they had never seen before in the main store, they were all filled with curiosity.
"What's that thing? It looks so avant-garde!" A young girl with permed hair pointed suspiciously at the direction of the sensory pod.
"I heard it's some kind of high-tech new gadget, with a full sensory experience!" Her companion perked up immediately upon hearing this, her eyes almost popping out.
"Whatever it is, I'm going to try it even if it costs money!" A group of young lads, having discovered a novel entertainment, couldn't help but wave their banknotes impatiently.
Soon the news spread in the nearby neighborhood: Cat's Tea seemed to have launched an incredibly attractive new service!
Everyone was eyeing it covetously, eager to explore it personally. Even those diners who had previously been indifferent to Cat's Tea followed their curiosity and barged in, afraid of missing out on some major experience.
"What kind of service does Cat's Tea offer?"
"I don't know. It's by appointment only for now, and it seems they can customize virtual world experiences for guests."
"Virtual world? What's the difference?"
"It's said that it can... make dreams come true?"
Some high-spending regulars signed up with suspicion.
After all, it's something from Peach Blossom Spring; it wouldn't... cause any problems, would it?