The Mech Touch

Ves continued to grin even after the press conference ended. He turned around and bowed minutely.

"Thank you for showing up and lending me your support. Your contribution will help stave off the decline of the LMC. Don't forget that wealth is the root of our strength. As long as you continue to help our mech company by taking part in promotional campaigns, I can promise you that every single clansmen will thank you for our effort."

His expert pilots did not seem terribly pleased. Aside from Joshua, the others looked as if this chore was a waste of time.

"We're only doing this because we don't want you to deprive our fellow Larkinsons of their benefits." Venerable Jannzi spoke as she passed him by. "Don't call on us for these kinds of stunts too often. We exist to defend our clansmen, not to enrich your own pockets."

"All of the money earned by the LMC will eventually be invested back into the clan in some way. Where do you think our future factory ship and combat carriers come from?" Ves retorted.

Expert pilots made for poor businessmen. This was a shame, as expert pilots also happened to be the most effective promotional material that a mech company could have. Almost every mech pilot in the galaxy admired expert pilots.

Unfortunately, it was not so easy to take advantage of their ingrained ability to attract followers. They were very principled and did not really understand the tremendous cost to keep them happy.

If Ves had not come up with the argument that lending their likeness to the LMC directly improved the lives of his clansmen, he wouldn't have been able to persuade Venerable Jannzi to show up today!

The fact he succeeded proved that he still had ways of making her do what he wanted. Ves was definitely going to milk her for all she was worth when he was ready to publish some defensive mechs.

"This will help us improve our upcoming expert mechs, right?" Joshua eagerly asked.

"Naturally. Expert mechs cost a fortune, and when it comes to second-class mechs, the upper range is very high. It's always helpful to have more money."

That was enough to satisfy Joshua. "I hope you can design a powerful mech that can grow with me for a long time."

"I will try. Continue to cooperate with the LMC's Marketing Department and we won't be stingy with the budget of your future expert mech."

Some of the other expert pilots and expert candidates chatted with him for a bit before they exited the Gravada Knarlax's bridge. They had a lot of duties to attend to as greedy pirates still lurked from afar. If the Larkinsons did not frequently show off their strength, who knew whether the pirates would all mass together and launch a costly assault!

"You know, even I didn't think you would stoop so low as this." Gloriana's projection teased as she dropped her mature demeanor.

"Not every private mech company has access to expert pilots like I do." Ves grinned. "More than that, those expert pilots just happened to be directly tied to the success of that same company."

In most states, expert pilots strictly served in the military. It was considered dishonorable for them to be used as advertising platforms.

Ves didn't care. Unlike conventional states, the Larkinson Clan did not earn any revenue from taxing its own members. Instead, it was almost entirely dependent on the wealth provided by his mech company.

This was a rather precarious situation. If anything happened to the LMC, his clan might directly go under because it did not possess any other means of earning money!

Well, that was not strictly true. Its considerable military strength was an asset in itself, but Ves was not willing for his clansmen to become soldiers for hire.

The time where the Larkinsons fought on behalf of a state or other employer was over. Ves wanted to cultivate a proud and independent mindset in his clan.

"Well, with the introduction of the Living Star Club, I don't think we'll have to worry about the Doom Guard scandal anymore. Our subordinates will take care of the rest. I have to say that starting up this association is quite an ingenious way to restore the trust we had lost from our customers."

"It also helps that we don't have to fork out as much as 500 billion hex credits to compensate the injured parties. If the buyers or owners aren't stupid, they will skip the cash compensation and cling to their exclusive membership."

Ves came up with the idea of starting a company membership organization due to his unwillingness to lose so much money.

The LMC could not avoid paying something back to its aggrieved customers. What happened to the Doom Guards was truly the fault of the company. Trying to shirk responsibility would not go over well.

For years, the LMC cultivated a reputation for quality, reliability and customer satisfaction. The Doom Guard scandal just so happened to affect all of them at the same time. If his mech company did not go above and beyond to make its customers happy again, then the LMC might never be able to regain their trust!

The difference this made was huge. So far, the mech market basically treated the LMC as one of the 'good guys'. While it charged a hefty premium for its products, its customers never regretted their purchases. Owing to this satisfaction, customers generated a lot of positive word of mouth to their fellow friends and acquaintances.

Advertising through word of mouth was at least ten times more effective than expensive marketing campaigns. As long as the reputation of the LMC remained high, both customers and non-customers were more than willing to generate positive buzz around its products, thereby perpetuating their sales.

Yet as soon as the scandal initially exploded, this positive buzz threatened to collapse. If the LMC did not offer adequate compensation quickly, then the public might begin to view it as a greedy, uncaring company!

Suffice to say, Ves did not wish for his company to acquire this false, totally, completely and utterly untrue impression!

After a lot of thought, Ves realized that there were multiple ways to regain the trust of his customers.

From a fundamental level, many of his customers felt that they had suffered a loss. Transferring money to them was the most direct way to solve this problem, but in fact anything that provided enough value sufficed.

Hence the club. Started up on a whim, the LMC's Marketing Department had already done a lot of work to set up its structure and fill it up with various activities and exclusive benefits.

In order to make the Living Star Club desirable, the LMC had to show some sincerity. Offering discounts was one way to do it. Offering rare, limited edition mechs was another way to excite the members.

There wasn't actually much to these so-called limited edition mechs. They were merely standard mechs with a different product number and some cosmetic changes. In order to increase their perceived value, the LMC strictly limited their production runs.

After all, owning just one out of a hundred copies of a limited edition model sounded a lot more impressive than owning one out of a million copies!

Though it had only been a few days since Ves instructed the LMC to set up the club, the Living Star Club already offered several dozen different variants.

For example, one limited edition model of the Doom Guard came in premium pink coating. It looked absolutely horrendous to Ves, but the fact that it looked so different was enough to make them valuable!

Another exclusive reward came in the form of an Aurora Titan that carried a round shield instead of a tower shield. The surface of the shield was coated with elaborate, decorative markings that the LMC's artists had hastily drawn.

None of these changes burdened the LMC. By simply applying some cheap and effortless cosmetic changes, the Living Star Club was able to offer 'rare' and 'exclusive' mechs that would surely excite its members!

It didn't matter that anyone with the right tools could modify an existing mech so that they looked identical to the exclusive products.

It just wasn't the same if the mech did not roll off the production line different from the start. Each exclusive mech came with some fancy documents, certificates of authenticity and a personal signature from the chief technician in charge to legitimize its provenance.

That was something of value that no third-party was able to provide!

In short, the Living Star Club was basically a vehicle for the LMC to create value from nothing. By manipulating customers into thinking that mechs that came in pink were somehow worth twice as much as mechs sold in standard coating, Ves ultimately believed the Club would be able to generate extra money from the same quantity of customers!

"If all goes well, the Living Star Club will become self-sustainable in a couple of months." He told Gloriana.

Ves deliberately hinted to his audience that the Club would become the only channel for the most desirable LMC mechs. Namely, the machines that assisted mech pilots with their breakthroughs.

Of course, without making an arrangement about these types of mechs with Master Willix, Ves did not dare to offer any of them to his customers.

This meant that the Living Star Club had to find other ways to keep its members engaged. So far, any member who logged in the LSC's virtual portal would be greeted with a number of activities where they could earn Star Points.

Star Points was the exclusive currency of the Club. They were necessary to redeem various rewards. They were also necessary to upgrade someone's membership status.

Ves already stipulated that only 10 Star Members were eligible to purchase so-called 'Living Star Mechs'.

This was just a marketing label for the mechs that Ves intended to make in the future that possessed varying degrees of spiritual saturation.

Due to the nature of this exchange, the LMC did not have to certify any mechs offered to people through this channel. The Living Star Club did not sell its products through the open market, after all. As long as the Club clearly stated that the mechs were not certified to its members, the MTA didn't have much grounds to complain if some mishap ever took place.

Another reason why Ves put up so many barriers was because he could not mass produce the Living Star Mechs. It cost spiritual energy to enhance their spiritual foundations, and his design spirits would definitely decline if he forced them to empower thousands of mechs!

Therefore, in order to offer his Living Star Mechs to the public without getting crushed by demand, Ves had to make it ultra-exclusive. Outside of commissions and internal use, only his most loyal and engaged customers should be able to obtain this kind of mech!

"By the way, Ves, what are the regular criteria to become a member of the Living Star Club?"

"So far, we have only put up one requirement. Any individual, owner or commander who purchases and actively makes use of more than a thousand LMC mechs through official channels is eligible to join the Club."

"That sounds harsh." She frowned.

"This is just the start. We'll think up some alternative requirements later in order to open the door to other committed fans. The requirements have to remain high in order to maintain the club's air of exclusivity. We have to make sure that all of its current members feel satisfied that they managed to become a part of it. In the future, these dedicated customers will become our fiercest supporters. I'm even thinking about granting the highest-tiered members the opportunity to become an external member of the Larkinson Clan."

All of these were very distant considerations. It wasn't necessary to arrange too much when the Club was only a few days old.