2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 318 Three People Compete for the Peak
"You guys need to build up your own popularity for the second show. You can't just rely on us to find people to help you. Make the interaction with the audience more lively and down-to-earth."

What does it mean to be down-to-earth?

"It's about connecting with the working people. When they ask questions, don't use high-sounding words. Be more approachable during the live interaction. Also, the second event is in your hometown of Jiangcheng. If you lose in terms of popularity again, it will be a huge embarrassment."

In reality, popularity has little to do with celebrities. They are paid to do things, and the actual effect and the popularity at the scene are at most just a matter of appearances.

Unfortunately, Tan Jincheng was cunning enough to schedule the events in the three cities for the same day and then manipulate public opinion online.

This created an unspoken competition among the three.

Everyone has a sense of pride; if a celebrity's popularity is too low, neither the celebrity nor their fans will feel comfortable.

Tan Jincheng really didn't expect that the popularity in Ningbo would be the lowest for the first event. He always thought that there weren't many fans in a small city like Yicheng, but he didn't expect the feedback from the scene to be so crazy.

While Yicheng did indeed have the worst sales figures, the crowd at the event completely overshadowed Liu Yifei's. After the event, Tan Jincheng shamelessly used this incident to provoke them, which made Liu Xiaoli lose face.

The second round of events will take place in Xiangcheng, Jiangcheng, and Hangzhou.

Jiangcheng is Liu Yifei's hometown, so it's considered her home turf. But Xiangcheng is also considered Chun Ge's home turf, and Jay Chou's popularity is undeniable. Liu Yifei really isn't confident she can beat these two.

So they sought advice from Tan Jincheng to see if there was any way to make the scene more lively.

Tan Jincheng, being quite cunning, managed to alleviate some of the publicity pressure on the other party. Liu Yifei, on the other hand, knew that this was Tan Jincheng and Flashspeed's little scheme.

In terms of popularity, Liu Yifei in 2006 was not necessarily inferior to Jay Chou, and was definitely superior to Chris Lee, which can be seen from purchasing power. However, her fans were too laid-back, and they needed some stimulation.

Although Liu Yifei knew that this was just a scheme by Tan Jincheng and the publicity department of Shanchi, and she was furious, there was nothing she could do. It wouldn't do to lose too badly.

Asking Tan Jincheng and the PR department of Flashcar not to stir up trouble online? Impossible.

After the results of the first round of publicity came out, Liu Yifei was so angry that she wanted to accuse Tan Jincheng of scheming, but she was rendered speechless by Tan Jincheng's words.

"Life doesn't have so many conspiracies and tricks; it's just a multitude of open schemes."

By scheduling all three promotional events on the same day, isn't the goal simply to exploit the competitive mentality of the team and fans? So what if they can see it clearly? Does seeing it clearly stop them from competing? Isn't this a blatant conspiracy?

"I supported you in the first event, but you'll have to rely on yourself in the second one. I have to go to Xiangcheng, and I can't show favoritism. After all, you're all my employees."

"Oh, wouldn't that mean an even bigger defeat? A lot of people were actually targeting you in the last match," Liu Yifei said speechlessly on the other end of the phone.

Liu Yifei is absolutely right. This young billionaire not only has a legendary wealth-building process, but his handsome appearance also fits the public's aesthetic standards. In addition, given his age, he is extremely popular with both mothers and peers.

I don't know about other cities, but in Ningbo, a city with developed industry and a strong business culture, Tan Jincheng's popularity is definitely on par with any celebrity.

At the event in Ningbo, a large portion of the attendees came specifically to see Tan Jincheng, eager to witness the life of this young billionaire. Many of them had traveled from Beicang.

In the second round of promotion, Tan Jincheng will appear in Xiangcheng. Xiangcheng's popularity is definitely not as high as Ningbo's, but it can still attract a group of people to watch and increase the popularity of the scene. In addition, Xiangcheng is where Chun Ge became famous, and it was voted by everyone.

With the Super Girl competition currently underway, the event in Xiangcheng, a province known for its talent shows, is sure to be a huge success, drawing massive crowds.

Compared to the first round, Liu Yifei is under more pressure.

Tan Jincheng's trip to Xiangcheng was not just about supporting the spokespersons. Tianyu did nothing for this event and even provided great cooperation to Shanchi's marketing department in terms of publicity.

The plan to boost Tan Jincheng's popularity was proposed by them, which led to the plan for Tan Jincheng to appear in three different cities.

In terms of hype, compared to the experienced and sophisticated entertainment industry, Flash's marketing department is still a novice, and Liu Yifei's Ji Ji team is even more of a chicken.

It seems the person who planned Super Girl later started their own entertainment company? Tan Jincheng wasn't quite sure about that.

Besides supporting Chun Ge, another purpose of this trip to Xiangcheng was to discuss contract renewal. The one-year term is coming to an end, and both Tianyu and Shanchi hope to decide whether to renew the contract as soon as possible so that they can proceed with the next promotional plan.

On the evening of July 9, Tan Jincheng appeared at Huanghua International Airport.

In addition to the staff from Shanchi Xiangcheng, staff from Tianyu were also responsible for picking them up at the station. After resting for a night, the event began the next day.

"Xiangcheng truly lives up to its reputation as an entertainment hub; the scene here is almost frightening," Tan Jincheng remarked.

Standing next to him is the current head of Tianyu Entertainment, who is also the planner and producer of Super Girl, and has single-handedly made one batch of talent show artists famous.

"Isn't this a common sight in Ningbo? Mr. Tan, have you never seen anything like this before?" "I have indeed never seen such a scene with so many people. I am very grateful for Tianyu's cooperation. Otherwise, to be honest, I was afraid that our company's publicity department would not be able to control the situation and things would go wrong."

"The people of Xiangcheng are very enthusiastic, plus Hunan TV's publicity coverage is quite extensive, and it's also because Brother Chun is very popular," Long Danni replied with a smile.

He then turned to Tan Jincheng and asked, "Mr. Tan, are you really not considering recording an episode of Happy Camp?"

"Forget about this. I'm not a celebrity, and it's not appropriate for me to appear on variety shows," Tan Jincheng said with a smile, continuing to politely decline.

Last night, the people from the main camp asked Long Danni to invite Tan Jincheng and Chun Ge to record a program together. Long Danni was obviously also interested in making this happen, but Tan Jincheng did not want to record any variety shows, even national variety shows.

Appearing on variety shows has its pros and cons, but overall it's a good thing for Flashpoint at this stage. It's not uncommon for company founders or actual managers to personally appear on variety shows to promote the company, even in the past.

However, there are relatively few entrepreneurs who appear directly on variety shows at present, and Tan Jincheng does not want to be too unconventional.

Furthermore, Tan Jincheng also knew that even if he recorded Happy Camp, he could only be a supporting actor for Chun Ge. It was fine to be a supporting actor for a powerful figure among entrepreneurs, but he would disdain being a supporting actor for a celebrity and cooperating with him throughout the entire process.

There should still be a certain level of sophistication.

Tan Jincheng refused again, and Long Danni was somewhat disappointed. She wanted to push Tan Jincheng to the headquarters, with the aim of making him a foil for Chun Ge, the youngest tycoon who started from scratch.

Even before his official debut, Chris Lee (Li Yuchun) had already bet on this endorsement deal. FlashChe has grown alongside Chris Lee, demonstrating exceptional insight and acting as a crucial partner, generating considerable buzz.

Unfortunately, Tan Jincheng was unwilling, and there was nothing she could do about it. He wasn't an artist under her management, and she couldn't force him to do something like that.

The atmosphere in Xiangcheng was incredibly lively, and the same was true in Jiangcheng and Hangzhou.

Liu Yifei's team, which came in last place in the previous round, went to great lengths to avoid repeating their last-place fate, especially since they had returned to their hometown. From asking questions on-site to hiring people to help them out, they put in a lot of effort.

Jay Chou's side didn't remain silent either. With the three brand ambassadors vying for the top spot, none of them wanted to be outdone, and even though he was the most popular, he didn't dare to be careless.

In addition, he is currently in the promotion period for his new album, and he has the opportunity to promote it in person to his fans, so how could he miss it?

Tan Jincheng didn't care at all about using the event to promote his album or other things.

As long as you can attract enough attention, create a lively atmosphere at the event, and generate enough buzz online, even if you don't sell a single car that day, Flash will still make a huge profit.

It would be even better if not a single car was sold, as Flash can then use self-deprecating humor to promote itself.

Offline sales are booming, and online sales are also extremely busy.

On the fourth day of its launch on Kaixin.com, FlashTech's account will collaborate with FlashTech staff at three different locations to provide live updates via text and images, aiming to attract netizens' attention.

Compared to the first round of promotion, the second round of offline promotion generated more buzz, and the level of competition among fans was also much higher.

Kaixin.com set up a voting event where fans voted for their idols. The spokesperson who received the most votes would donate 100 million yuan to schools in impoverished mountainous areas in the name of their fans.

Instead of using the idol's name, they used the idol's fans' name, which greatly stimulated the fans' enthusiasm for voting.

"Vote! Vote for Brother Chun! We'll vote, and Flash will pay!"

"It's a pity. It would have been even better if there were live videos or a live stream."

"One vote from you, one vote from me, let's all debut together."

"Believe in Brother Chun and you will have eternal life!"

"Pay close attention to the server's performance; today is our first real test," Gu Qingqing instructed with a hint of nervousness.

This kind of real-time interaction between online and offline businesses was still relatively new in 2006, and live text and image broadcasts usually only appeared during some sports events.

The technical team is also under pressure. Yesterday, Kaixin.com had 4 registered users, but today they went live to broadcast a large-scale event.

How many people will flock in is still unknown. These tech guys really can't be sure just how crazy the fans of these three biggest celebrities are.

"Don't worry, boss, nothing unexpected will happen." With Cheng Hao absent, his deputy Zhang Yunyang has temporarily taken over the project team.

You can be soft all over, but your mouth must be hard!
(End of this chapter)