The meeting with a large group of "historical generals" really made John excited for a while. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info This feels like collecting famous generals when playing the Three Kingdoms game in the previous life. But John also knew in his heart that he had a lot of work to do before he could be accepted by them. Even if you play a game, don't you have to visit your door from time to time to ask for advice, learn martial arts, give some small gifts or something, not to mention a real person with flesh and blood.

John knew that Eisenhower was now grateful to him on the surface, but in his heart he probably regarded him as a speculator who had bet on himself, always on the lookout for him to take advantage of himself.

There's no way, who told them to meet as soon as they meet, it's such a naked exchange of interests. John had to work hard to reverse this not-so-rosy initial impression and dispel Eisenhower's wariness. But he already has a plan, anyway, it's not an overnight thing, if you want to hurry, you can't reach it, just take your time.

John had an even more important job to do before Christmas. To this end, he took a leave of absence from the Military Production Commission and returned to the headquarters of FedEx in Detroit. With the further tension of the political situation in Europe, the work of the military industrial production commissioners has become more onerous. John estimated that when the war broke out in Europe, this semi-official, semi-civilian production mobilization organization was likely to be formally incorporated into the government. At that point, he will no longer be able to do both. So he had to hurry up and take care of the "aftermath".

"Leo, how's the Christmas Express plan going?" Sitting in the company's conference room after a long time, facing a large group of subordinates, the first person John asked was Leo Bednar, the head of the advertising agency of FedEx. As early as last Christmas, John came up with the idea of using Santa Claus to promote FedEx. It's just that it's too late at that time, and the company doesn't have a mature publicity planning team, so it hasn't been implemented.

After buying Leo Bednar's advertising agency, John gave the job to the bald man early. With Christmas 1938 just over a week to go, John wondered what he could do for this advertising day.

Leo stood in front of the large whiteboard and showed John and the others a poster. Santa Claus, dressed in a purple and gold-rimmed robe and with a bushy golden beard, rides a sleigh that glides through the air, with a prominent FedEx logo on the heaps of nine reindeer and sleighs.

"Starting next Monday, we'll be spraying this Santa-themed poster on the bodies of all of our trucks, and we've placed Christmas-themed ads in 27 major newspapers across the United States." Leo unhurriedly explained his publicity plan, "We have also partnered with Colum Graduation Broadcasting Company to run a special program on Christmas Eve with Santa Claus, where listeners can communicate with the host who plays Santa Claus through the hotline. Every listener who calls the hotline will receive a small gift in the shape of Santa Claus, which will be delivered within 24 hours. ”

John was interested in Santa Claus, who was dressed in an "off-the-beaten" costume. In his childhood memory, Santa Claus was not the chubby, round-faced, bearded, and red-skinned little old man he was familiar with in later generations. At that time, the image of Santa Claus can be said to be strange, ranging from a bishop with a strong face to a goblin in a burqa, and the colors of his clothes are even more varied.

The classic image of Santa Claus was actually created by the Coca-Cola Company in 1931. They invited a Swiss artist to design Santa Claus in the image of a friend of theirs, and dressed him in bright Coca-Cola red. It can be said that the classic Santa Claus of later generations is a mixture of Christian reformers, pagan gods, and commercial images.

It's 1938, and Coca-Cola's Santa Claus, while popular, hasn't become a classic cultural symbol. What Coca-Cola can do, why can't FedEx do it? Let Santa Claus wear a purple robe representing FedEx and have a golden beard that is also full of festivity.

"It's a bit too childish to put the company logo directly on the main pattern." John stared at the poster for a moment and said, "Don't overlap the company logo and slogan with the main body of the picture. We're going to tie Santa Claus to the company's image, but not so stiffly. I wanted the effect that people would think of FedEx as soon as they saw this purple Santa, rather than just printing the company logo on him. ”

Maybe he found that his tone was a little too blunt, after all, Leo was a newcomer to the company, not Wolf's old subordinates who had followed him for many years, and he still had to save some face in public. John changed his tone and praised Leo again: "The rest of the place is fine, the overall plan is good, I am very satisfied." Hurry up and change the logo part, the Christmas shopping season is coming, you have to work harder. ”

"What about the others, what do you want to add?" Motioning for Leo to return to his seat and sit down, John continued.

"We've reached agreements with 19 major department stores in New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., to offer them and their customers free shipping during the Christmas season." Walter added: "We expect to put in about 300 vans during this period, isn't that a bit too expensive? ”

John knew what Walter meant, and he didn't have any doubts about the cost of the Christmas campaign. It's just a week's worth of work for 300 trucks, and FedEx will not be short of this amount of personnel wages and fuel money anyway. Walter was concerned that John's future retail transportation business could cause the company a lot of losses.

It's not that John doesn't know that the market is not yet ripe and that losses are almost certain in the short term, but he has a reason to do so.

"You know the previous plans to carry out overland container intermodal transportation. Most of you came from the railroad company with me, and you all know the benefits of using containers. Now the gantry cranes on the Westinghouse side have been put in place in various operation centers, and the container trucks on the GM side have also come out. In the second half of next year, a large number of container trailers will replace the company's vans. At that time, the capacity of a container trailer is at least worth three vans, what if the existing two-and-a-half-ton trucks do not engage in retail transportation services? ”

After more than half a year of research and development, GM, Chrysler and Ford finally came up with their respective container trailer prototypes. After many rounds of competition, GM's GMC ten-wheel truck finally won and won a large order from FedEx, and the first batch of vehicles will be delivered in March next year.

Historically, GMC's 10-wheeled truck was a well-known U.S. military transport weapon during World War II, and was the absolute main force of the famous Red Ball Express program. Although it is designed to carry only 2.5 tons, it can still fly forward on the battlefield, even if it tows a 4-5 ton cannon and is fully loaded with about 8 tons of shells. Today, FedEx has ordered an extended version with a length of more than 7 meters and the ability to transport 20-foot containers. John is not exaggerating to say that it can top three cars at a time.

"There are still some small transportation companies that are willing to take over these trucks, and they can't lose much money." Dvořák muttered quietly.

John glared at him, "Why should we lose money to grow other transportation companies. Even if these trucks are sealed, I won't sell any of them! John wasn't worried about the trucks at all, and when World War II broke out, the government would be happy to buy them, and he could sell them for a good price with a little bit of operation.

So, the so-called finding a way out for these trucks is just an excuse. His real purpose is to use this as an excuse to test the waters of the retail transportation business. In fact, John would like to do it in one step and directly carry out the private courier business. It's a pity that FedEx has not yet obtained the qualification of "public transportation carrier" and cannot directly provide parcel delivery services for individuals. This right remained firmly in the hands of the Federal Postal Service and showed no signs of loosening until after the war.

At present, due to the prevalence of private cars in the United States, the logistics and transportation of the retail industry is very sluggish. Most U.S. city dwellers drive their purchases with them after shopping, rather than choosing a merchant-provided delivery service. In this way, the main profit point of retail logistics has shifted from delivering goods for merchants to delivering goods for suppliers and merchants. Many small-scale shipping businesses that make deliveries to retailers have collapsed as a result.

John's old employer, UPS, took this opportunity to eat most of the trucking companies on the West Coast and laid the foundation for his future domination of the package carrier market in the western United States. Although FedEx was established much later than UPS, it has been operating bulk commercial logistics, far exceeding UPS in terms of scale and development speed. What John has to do now is hurt people and seize the market before UPS. Even if you lose a little, it's nothing, it's just about cultivating the market.

John believes that as long as FedEx survives these years, and when the post-war "public transport carrier" qualification is gradually liberalized, FedEx will be able to take the lead in the future competition. Moreover, his plan is only to test the waters of retail logistics in a few dozen large cities, and the losses should be very limited and will not affect the overall situation. As long as the image of FedEx can be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and become the first choice of carriers for the public, this money will be regarded as advertising expenses.

"Does anyone still have doubts?" John glanced at the executives. Seeing that he had made up his mind, what else could anyone else say. Anyway, they are just part-time workers, and they can carry out the orders of the boss. Worried about upsetting John, Dvořák playfully suggested that during the Christmas season, all employees involved in the retail delivery business should be given a "FedEx version" of Santa Claus costume to work as a live advertisement.