In the early morning of December, the temperature in Tokyo is already below zero, and many people are too lazy to get up early or go out, but the Tokyo Industrial Zone is always full of people and bustling, because since the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States has placed a large number of military orders in Japan, which has greatly stimulated the development of Japan's industry and commerce. This is especially evident in the industrial zone, where many previously unemployed workers have found work, and although the work intensity is very high, at least they can eat their stomachs, so the workers' motivation is very high.

However, the intersection of today's industrial area is a little strange, I don't know who has set up a few small stalls here, and there are many people around each stall watching, and you can hear the stall owner's enthusiastic shouting when you get close.

"The most amazing noodles, the most convenient instant noodles. No need to roll or boil, pour boiling water, cover the lid, and in three minutes, a bowl of hot, fragrant ramen will appear in front of you, both old and young can make and eat! ”

"After a tiring day at work, it's such a pleasure to eat a bowl of hot, fragrant ramen, and we don't need to do it, just pour hot water, where can we find such a good thing?"

"Don't think I'm bragging, I'll show you now, I just boiled this hot water, everyone saw it, right? This dough cake was taken out of the pocket by the friend in front of me, and now the show begins! ”

The stall owner took out a large bowl while shouting, put the dough cake in the bowl, then poured hot water into it, stopped when the hot water was about to reach the edge of the bowl, turned around and took out a large bowl and buckled the noodle bowl, then raised his head and said loudly: "You don't have to do anything, just wait three minutes, and the hot and fragrant ramen will appear." ”

After about two or three minutes, the stall owner shouted: "Now is the time to witness the miracle, everyone!" After that, he picked up the bowl, and the fragrance of chicken soup ramen came to his nose. But the strange thing is that the noodles in the noodle bowl are all crooked. The stall owner greeted warmly: "Everyone come and taste it and see how it tastes?" ”

The two young men standing in front picked up the chopsticks handed over by the stall owner, curiously picked up the two chopsticks noodles and put them in their mouths. Then he exclaimed, "It's really ripe!" It's really delicious! It's amazing! ”

The stall owner said with a smug face: "How is it?" It's delicious, and the friends in the back also trouble to come over two, help taste it, lest everyone think that these two friends are the helpers I invited! ”

After a few curious workers tried it, they also exclaimed that it was delicious and magical. Then people began to ask, "Boss, how do you sell this dough?" ”

The stall owner explained: "It's not bread, it's called instant noodles. It was developed and invented by Mr. Tang Ning, the owner of the cola factory, who imported the technology from the United States at a high price, especially for those of us who like to eat noodles but don't have time to cook, and the price is also very fair, only half the price of a bowl of ramen in a ramen restaurant. If you want to buy it as soon as possible, I brought 200 dough cakes today, and if they are not sold, they will be gone. ”

A few people were cautious. For fear of being deceived, I boiled water to select the dough cakes by myself, soaked them once, and found that the taste was the same as just now, so I was relieved, and then, two hundred dough cakes were sold out in an instant.

This was not the case for not only this stall, but also for several stalls around it, and within half an hour of tasting, all the dough was sold out. Several shopkeepers had to shout: "Don't worry, everyone. We'll come back in the evening when you get off work, and it's the product promotion period, and we'll be coming every morning and evening this week, and our store is officially open. Every Matsuda Pictures cinema has our store on the first floor, you can also go there to buy, the supply there is very abundant, you can buy as much as you want, and only a week later can you buy this kind of Hongyan pie instant noodles! ”

Needless to say, these stall owners are all escorts and salespeople sent by Downing from Okinawa. Although this propaganda method was very old-fashioned in later generations, it was still very new at this time in 1950, and the effect was also very good.

In fact, Downing's choice to launch instant noodles at this time was deliberate, first of all, the current Japanese, especially these workers working in industrial areas, their lives are no longer so poor, and they have some savings in their hands and have a certain amount of spending power. Because the number of orders placed in the United States is too large, up to billions of dollars, so all factories are working overtime at full capacity to produce, and skilled workers are in short supply.

After all, there are still very few restaurants in Japan now, and they want to sleep when they get off work, and they can still eat hot meals made by their wives when they go home at night, but they can only deal with it casually at noon, especially those husbands and wives are workers, and they have no time to cook, so instant noodles are convenient and hot and delicious food, which is simply tailor-made for these workers.

The Japanese are a very, very noodle eating people, and you can see ramen restaurants everywhere in Japan, and the Japanese have a special custom of eating noodles, that is, when eating noodles, you must make a loud sucking sound, whether you are men, women, or children, it is said that the louder the sound, the more delicious the ramen, I really don't know what the Japanese who are known as the most particular about dining etiquette think.

Downing's instant noodles are definitely in line with the taste of the Japanese, and one of the major characteristics of instant noodles is that they smell better than they eat, especially when they are just brewed, the fragrance of noodles can definitely fill the room, so that everyone who smells it will be whetted. (That's how it was when I was in college, once one person had instant noodles, there would soon be two more bowls in the dormitory, so now I hurt eating instant noodles.) ）

Finally, the name of the Hongyan brand is also in honor of the inventor Yan Zhen, who has now fled to Europe for refuge and cannot see the sales of the instant noodles he improved.

All in all, Downing's advertising campaign was very successful, and after three days of advertising, everyone in the Tokyo Industrial Zone knew that Mr. Downing, the owner of the Coke factory, had invented a miraculous product, and all the dough cakes were sold out when the guards set up their stalls in the next few days. (To be continued.) )