Rebirth: My dad is too obedient

Chapter 423: Really Underestimated
The scene of the "Great Wall Award Ceremony".

A large number of spectators were still queuing to enter, but the venue was already packed.

But those who came in early seemed to be mostly guests or VIPs.

Xu Chen looked at the seat number on the back of the SVIP pass again, and then took Xie Bingran straight to the VIP area in the second row in front.

With a quick glance, I saw two empty seats with the "Dongchen Advertising" logo on them.

It turned out to be a spacious and comfortable white single sofa.

I just felt tired from shopping, so I could lean on the comfortable sofa.

The two of them took their seats.

Xu Chen looked around and saw the words "Ogilvy", "JWT" and "TBWA" on the empty sofa next to him.

These three are the world's top 4A advertising companies.

It is indeed a bit strange to have "Dongchen Advertising" sandwiched in between.

After a while, people came in one after another and sat around Xu Chen and Xie Bingran.

Sure enough, at first glance, he has the vibe of an "advertiser" and his dress is very stylish.

For example, the middle-aged man sitting on the left of Brother Bing was wearing a black hat, smoky makeup, and a lot of ear and nose studs...

Those who can sit in the second VIP row are probably the winners of important awards tonight.

That means he should be at least a director or deputy director of a 4A company or above.

The presence of Xu Chen and Xie Bingran, two "kids" who are only eighteen years old, is indeed a little weird.

……

Suddenly, brilliant lights came on on the stage.

On the huge LED screen, there is a big title:

【Tencent Brilliant Ceremony】

【2006 China Advertising Great Wall Award Ceremony】

Judging from the size of the stage, the event is much bigger than yesterday's "Grand Broadcasting Awards" ceremony.

Xie Bingran sat quietly beside Xu Chen, looked around, and seemed to find it interesting as well.

Xu Chen smiled and squeezed her soft little hand.

Not long after, the audience in the back row also came in and took their seats.

Xu Chen looked back and saw Zhao Siting and a group of seniors sitting in the west corner of almost the last row.

After all, they were college students who came here to watch, so they definitely couldn't get any good seats.

At the same time, naturally some people also saw Xu Chen sitting on the sofa in the second row.

"That's Xu Chen, right? How can he sit so close to the front?"

"That's the VIP area, right? How did he get there?
Zhao Siting, do you know?

Zhao Siting naturally looked distressed:
"I do not know……"

"That boy who has been following Xu Chen, wearing a hat and a mask, could he be a big shot in the industry?
He was the one who brought Xu Chen in..."

“I think it’s possible!

Maybe he is the creative director of a 4A company!"

"If I had known I should have met him earlier, I would have made some connections in the industry, which might be useful when I look for a job next year."

"If you want to get acquainted, can't you just get along well with Xu Chen?"

"That makes sense!"

……

……

Xu Chen sat quietly in the second row, unaware that a group of seniors crowded in the back were talking about him.

After waiting for a while, a group of "important guests" took their seats in the first row.

Xu Chen couldn't help but smile, and sure enough, he saw Dean Lin Ruyang and Professor Jin Changhai from Xiamen University.

Both of them are honorary judges of the "Great Wall Award". At this moment, they are sitting on the east side of a row of guest seats, relatively close to the center.

As for the people in the middle of the row of guest seats, Xu Chen guessed that at least two of them should be leading officials.

There should also be a senior executive from Tencent, the title sponsor of the Great Wall Award...

There is another one that Xu Chen knows.

Sitting in the middle of the guest seats at this moment is the "legendary advertising man" in the Chinese community, Lao Shuangyan, also known as the "Godfather of Advertising".

Lao Shuangyan was one of the earliest rising creative figures in Hong Kong Island. The famous “Diamonds are forever” was created by this tycoon.

In the advertising circles at home and abroad, he is a "big boss".

Currently, he works for the international 4A brand JWT as the Executive Creative Director.

When Lao Shuangan came to the mainland in the 1990s, there were rumors that he earned "30,000 yuan a day", which shocked the domestic advertising circle at the time.

However, the advertising industry was indeed considered a "high-end" industry in that era, and the annual fee for a foreign 4A client would start at to million yuan.

In the 4A advertising circle of the s, the creative people from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia who came to the mainland to make money could be described as living a life of luxury.

Once upon a time, the most "cool" group of people along the Huangpu River, apart from those in the financial industry, were advertising creatives.

Since the 2000s, the word "creative" has gradually lost its charm...

In addition to Lao Shuangan, Xu Chen also met several other "bigwigs" in the advertising circle.

For example, Mo Kangsun of McCann-Erickson, Liang Weifeng of BBDO, Chen Yaofu of Lowe, Zhang Xiaoping of Dark Horse…

When Xu Chen was in the advertising industry in his previous life, these were the big guys he needed to look up to, but now they were all sitting in front of him.

He opened his own "Dongchen Advertising" and even tried to steal business from them.

For example, the Jeep project was snatched from BBDO’s Singaporean boss Liang Weifeng.

Head & Shoulders, in fact, is also...

Come to think of it, it’s kind of funny.

……

……

Xu Chen was lost in thought when he suddenly heard someone calling him from behind.

"Student Xu Chen?"

"Mr. Xu?"

Xu Chen looked back and found that the people passing by were Zhao Ling, the vice president of marketing of Baidu Group, and her assistant Miao Xiaoyu.

Xu Chen quickly stood up and greeted with a smile:
"Boss Zhao, what a coincidence!"

Zhao Ling looked at Xu Chen, then looked at the VIP area where he was, revealing a hint of confusion.

But she quickly regained her peaceful smile and said:

"What a coincidence, I didn't expect to meet you here!
Let’s come and watch the Great Wall Award ceremony here and learn from it!”

Xu Chen said "Oh", which was not surprising.

As the title sponsor of the "College Student Advertising Competition", Baidu is also one of the sponsors of the "China Advertising Festival".

It is natural for me to attend the "Great Wall Award" ceremony.

However, Xu Chen was still a little surprised that Zhao Ling was only arranged in the third row.

It seems that the first row is filled with important guests such as the judging committee and official leaders.

The second row is composed of award-winning creative companies.

Only in the third row did they start to arrange other guests such as brand owners...

Zhao Ling looked at Xu Chen, still with some confusion on her face.

Xu Chen understood what he meant and explained:
"We, Dongchen Advertising, just happened to have a project shortlisted for the Great Wall Award.

So I was invited!”

Zhao Ling was stunned for a moment, and was genuinely surprised.

Yesterday Xu Chen handed over his business card and said that he had an advertising company. Zhao Ling was actually a little disdainful.

After all, Xu Chen in front of him was just an eighteen or nineteen-year-old college student.

Even when Zhao Ling said that there was a Baidu project that she wanted Xu Chen's company to participate in, she was actually just joking.

I never expected that a company founded by this college student would have a project shortlisted for the "Great Wall Award"?!

Zhao Ling slightly suppressed her surprised expression and said:
"I really didn't expect that... Congratulations to Mr. Xu!"

Xu Chen: "Mr. Zhao, you're too polite!"

Behind Zhao Ling and Miao Xiaoyu, other guests came in one after another and the passage was blocked.

Zhao Ling showed a hint of apology:
"Sorry, Mr. Xu... I'll take a seat first. We can talk later!"

Xu Chen nodded politely.

He watched Zhao Ling and Miao Xiaoyu walk to the seats next to him and sit down, then he returned to his seat.

Xie Bingran turned his head and glanced, then said in a low voice:
“They seem surprised!”

Xu Chen smiled indifferently:

“If it were me, I’d be surprised too.

How could an advertising company founded by a college student possibly win the Great Wall Award? "

Xie Bingran glanced over:

"You are so proud."

……

……

the other side.

After Assistant Miao Xiaoyu sat down, she whispered:

"They actually have a project that was shortlisted for the 'Great Wall Award'?
That’s really a company working on a project…”

She thought for a while:

"Maybe it's just like what Mr. Zhao said yesterday. There might be a very capable person in their company..."

Zhao Ling whispered, “Maybe… I really underestimated it.

Baidu knows that slogan, maybe it’s not accidental.”

She thought about it and searched in her pocket again.

After searching for a long time without finding what he was looking for, he turned around and asked:

"Do you still have the business card he gave me yesterday? I seem to have lost mine."

Upon hearing this, the young assistant quickly searched his pockets.

He took out a business card box from his pocket, flipped through it and found Xu Chen's business card.

Zhao Ling took it and whispered, "Dongchen Advertising..."

She thought about it and took out her cell phone again.

……

A few minutes later, Zhao Ling said to Miao Xiaoyu:

"Have we sent out our project requirements?"

Miao Xiaoyu: "Ah? Where?"

Zhao Ling: "Send it to Dongchen Advertisement!"

Miao Xiaoyu: "Not yet in time..."

Zhao Ling made a "tsk" sound, obviously dissatisfied.

The young assistant shrank his head, and became a little scared for a moment.

Zhao Ling thought for a moment and said, "It's okay. After the award ceremony is over, I'll find Mr. Xu and have a serious chat about our project."

Miao Xiaoyu frowned, still seeming a little confused.

Zhao Ling seemed to have some desire to "share", so she handed the content she had just flipped through on her mobile phone to Miao Xiaoyu to take a look.

Just now, what she was browsing on her mobile phone was the official website of "Dongchen Advertising".

Miao Xiaoyu swiped the screen of her mobile phone and said:

“Their company seems to be quite large!
These clients are so big, there are even clients in the automotive and real estate sectors..."

Zhao Ling narrowed her eyes:
"A small local company that I have never heard of, and the boss is a college student...

It’s amazing that we can get projects of the level of Jeep and Vanke.

Then there must be something extraordinary about it.”

She paused for a moment:

“Now that our project has been criticized by Robin, we have to come up with some unique ideas.

Maybe this 'Dongchen Advertising' will actually have some surprises."

Miao Xiaoyu: "But Xu Chen is only a freshman!"

Zhao Ling: “Maybe there are really very talented creative people in his company!

I'll just watch the award ceremony later, and I don't know whether they can get the award!

Anyway, let’s talk about the project with them today.

Let’s take a look at the plan first, at least it’s a backup option…”

Miao Xiaoyu: "I understand, boss!"

……

……

The lights in the venue changed, and then a passionate background music came from the loudspeakers.

The music paused again, and then the host's background announcement began:
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Tencent Brilliant Ceremony, the 2006 China Advertising Great Wall Awards ceremony.

Please take your seats as soon as possible, our brilliant ceremony is about to begin..."

Then, a piece of music with a strong ethnic flavor sounded, and the stage lights dimmed.

When the lights came on again, a group of dancers with strong Yunnan ethnic characteristics appeared on the stage.

Xu Chen was speechless and couldn't help but whispered:
"Come again..."

Fortunately, today's music and dance performances were much more advanced than those at yesterday's "Daguansai".

At least these actors have professional dancing skills, as you can tell at first glance.

The arrangement of such a performance with ethnic characteristics must have been a special one by the local Culture and Tourism Bureau.

After all, it is a rare opportunity to gather advertising professionals from all over the country to the beautiful city of Kunming, so we must play the role of a good host...

After the performance, the stage lights changed, and two hosts, a man and a woman, appeared on stage.

Xu Chen looked up and saw that the two hosts did not have a strong "evening party" style, and their clothes also seemed more stylish.

After they introduced themselves, I found out that the male host was from Tencent and the female host was a creative deputy director of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising.

Asking professionals in the industry to host the event does make it seem more reliable.

……

The two hosts made a few polite jokes to liven up the atmosphere, and then began to introduce the guests.

The first person to be introduced is naturally the official leader.

One was a high-ranking official from the Kunming City Government, and the other was the president of the China Advertising Association who came from Beijing.

Next came the “financial sponsor”, Liu Shengyi, the president of Tencent.

After that, several important guests from the advertising industry came.

It includes the chairman of this year's "Great Wall Award" jury, Lao Shuangan, as well as industry leaders such as Mo Kangsun and Sun Xiaoping.

Naturally, it also includes several academic guests such as Jin Changhai from Xiamen University and Lin Ruyang from Tonghai University.

……

The host introduces the show, and then the guests start speaking.

Senior leaders from the Queensland City Government expressed their welcome to advertising creatives from all over the country.

The President of the China Advertising Association gave a good message for the selection of the "Great Wall Award".

The president of Tencent, the financial sponsor, shared the new trends and prospects of Internet official website advertising.

Then, amidst rounds of applause, the chairman of the jury of this year's "Great Wall Award", the legendary advertising man Lao Shuangan, finally appeared...

Most of the people in the audience were from the advertising industry, so they naturally looked up to this advertising tycoon.

After all, being able to create such a classic advertisement as “Diamonds are forever” has left an indelible mark in the industry.

Lao Shuangru smiled and raised his hand, and the applause gradually died down.

He still spoke with a Hong Kong accent, and first expressed his thoughtful gratitude to the guests, the jury, the participating companies, advertisers and other parties.

"This year's 'Great Wall Award' received more than 3600 advertising works.

The expert judging panel shortlisted a total of 660 entries, 42 bronze awards, 21 silver awards, and 7 gold awards in seven major categories.

In addition, of course, there is also the most important award: the Great Wall Award of the Year.”

……

(End of this chapter)