In the end, Chen Jincheng finalized the creative plan for the advertisement video.
He planned to shoot a transformation video. This type of video was simple to produce. All he needed to do was make Jiang Xiaobai's transformation into the sexy lingerie from Jinghong Women's Clothing look captivating and add a little plot. The storyline couldn't drag; it had to get straight to the ad's core message while still being seductive.
In his past life, the most popular video in this series had garnered over five million likes, easily surpassing the three-million-like benchmark he remembered for this type of content.
Once the plan was set, he called Sister Hong over to give instructions. "Sister Hong, book an e-sports room at a luxury hotel for tomorrow. It needs to have a gaming desk and a large bed. We'll need it for the Jinghong Women's Clothing ad shoot."
"Okay, got it," Sister Hong nodded.
When it came to creative planning, she knew she was no match for her boss. He had his requirements, and her job was simply to make sure everything was fully prepared to meet them.
「That night.」
Chen Jincheng returned to his rented villa, showered, and changed into a rather flashy outfit before heading out. He drove straight to Extreme Bar to check on things.
Just as his car turned onto Feifuxing Road, he spotted Zhu Ling at her street stall.
After just two videos, she had already surpassed 200,000 followers that evening. While this was far less than Lin Qing or Yinyin, she was in a different niche, so there was no need to rush.
However, the two videos he had planned for the "Street Vendor Girl" hadn't performed as well as their equivalents in his past life. To make Zhu Ling truly blow up, he needed a catalyst—a plan designed to create a viral moment.
He pulled up beside her stall, honked, and called out teasingly, "Hey, beautiful, one grass jelly, please!"
Zhu Ling looked over at him and said with a beaming smile, "Just a moment, let me finish this one first!"
After handing the drink to her customer, she quickly made a new grass jelly, adding a bit of extra honey. Then, she jogged over to the car and passed it to Chen Jincheng. "Boss, I added extra honey. It's even better this way!"
She wanted to chat a bit more with her boss, but another customer had arrived at the stall, so she could only hurry back.
Chen Jincheng took a sip of the grass jelly. It was delicious. In high spirits, he drove toward the bar.
After all, he'd just freeloaded a delicious cup of grass jelly.
But as he got out of his car, he saw a new message on his phone:
"Your vehicle with plate number ending in ***8 was recorded by traffic surveillance on Feifuxing Road, Hong'an District, Coastal City, for the following violation: [Illegal parking of a motor vehicle]. Please resolve this issue upon receipt of this..."
He had clearly lingered too long at Zhu Ling's stall.
"Damn it!" Chen Jincheng suddenly felt the grass jelly in his hand had lost its appeal.
The cost of a free cup of grass jelly: two demerit points and a 100 yuan fine!
In the end, he sighed quietly and walked into the bar. He found an empty booth in a corner, sat down, and had Wang Yuan bring over a bottle of liquor, planning to have a drink while observing the bar.
Wang Yuan quickly brought the bottle over and opened it respectfully. Then, with a huge smile, he reported, "Boss, last night's numbers are in. Excluding tips for the performers, our revenue hit 90,000. Yinyin went viral today, and she has an opening act tonight. I'll have someone film it for promotion. The bar will probably be packed for the next couple of days, and our revenue will be even higher."
He grew more excited as he spoke. After all, a bar that had been on the verge of bankruptcy was now on the brink of being packed to capacity in such a short time. It felt like a dream.
"Oh, right, I sent you the detailed sales data from yesterday on WeChat!" Wang Yuan added.
A smile touched Chen Jincheng's lips as he looked at the data Wang Yuan had sent. When a bar did well, its net profit was very high. In its current state, Extreme Bar's net profit margin could reach 50%.
That meant 90,000 yuan in revenue translated to at least 40,000 in net profit.
Once the bar was consistently full, the profits would be even greater. If it stayed packed for more than ten days straight, he would dare to implement a minimum spend, which would push the bar's profitability to a whole new level.
In contrast, he could talk himself hoarse during a single livestream and only make a little over 10,000 yuan from gifts.
After Wang Yuan left to attend to his duties, Chen Jincheng continued to sip his drink. He noticed fewer of the girls were around that night. Lin Qing, Yinyin, and a few others who had gained several hundred thousand followers were nowhere to be seen.
After all, if they could make it as real influencers, no one wanted to stay mired in the nightlife scene forever.
However, the opening acts were a company assignment, so they were required to participate.
「At the same time.」
Inside the Tiao Yin Company offices, President Han Shangyou was personally leading a special task force in a late-night meeting.
He had no choice. After being transferred from Volcano, the pressure from the higher-ups at Byte was immense. Tiao Yin was not only in the process of estimating video ad data to build out their advertising business module, but they were also about to launch a new shopping cart feature.
This feature was a cornerstone of one of the company's future strategic pillars.
They hadn't yet decided how to launch this feature, but an application for a video advertisement submitted that day by Second Generation Star Media presented them with an opportunity.
Second-Life Star had been generating so much buzz over the past couple of days that it had naturally caught their attention.
It had to be said that their creative concepts, from the window-wiping dance to the chest-shaking one, were incredibly eye-catching and captivating.
The most crucial detail was in their application: the contract attached noted an advertising fee of three million yuan.
Since their company was already developing its video advertising division, they were well aware of the current market rates for influencer ads. Even a top-tier influencer with twenty million followers would only charge around 200,000 yuan for a single video.
Yet here was Second-Life Star, managing to command a price of three million yuan for one video ad.
They weren't sure how Second-Life Star had landed such a deal. Their main consideration was what benefits a successful ad campaign of this magnitude would bring to Tiao Yin.
First, it would demonstrate the effectiveness of their platform's video ads, which would be hugely beneficial for the future development of their advertising division.
More importantly, the shopping cart feature would be most effective when integrated with video ads. So, could they perhaps use Second-Life Star's upcoming ad to test the new feature?
On the one hand, Second-Life Star had demonstrated a high level of creative planning ability over the last couple of days.
On the other hand, a three-million-yuan fee for a single video was great publicity in itself. The fact that the advertiser agreed to such a price was a strong endorsement of Second-Life Star's value.
Putting other factors aside, as long as the quality of Second-Life Star's collaboration with Jinghong Women's Clothing was on par with the window-wiping video, they wouldn't mind giving it a dedicated traffic boost from the backend. This would also ensure a better test run for their shopping cart feature.
"The only problem is, we can't be sure if Second-Life Star's creative plan will be of the same quality this time!"
"After all, planning an ad is different from just making a viral video. To be blunt, Second-Life Star's concepts have all been a bit risqué and lowbrow."
"'Risqué and lowbrow' is a matter of definition. At the very least, what they're doing is within our platform's guidelines. We haven't forbidden it, so why can't they do it?"
"Anyone who can master our guidelines like that is no fool. What if their new concept goes viral again?"
Everyone voiced their opinions one after another.
Finally, Han Shangyou made the call. "Since we have to test it sooner or later, we might as well do it now. Talk to Second-Life Star about this. We can promise them that if this new creative plan is a success, we'll support them with S-Class traffic resources for one of their livestreams."
Hearing this, the others all nodded. They knew their new president placed great importance on the shopping cart feature.
…
The next morning, Chen Jincheng woke up early in the villa. Gazing at the morning sun, he sighed with feeling. 'This is what a normal routine feels like.'
Every time Jiang Xiaobai got worked up, he had to... contribute his stamina, completely wasting the vibrant morning hours.
After washing up and grabbing something to eat from the fridge, he headed to the Second-Life Star Company office.
Sister Hong had arrived before him. Seeing him walk in, she reported, "Boss, I've booked a deluxe suite at the Jinyi Grand Hotel. As a Five-Star hotel, their suites have excellent decor and ambiance."
"Good." Chen Jincheng nodded and went into his office to review the shooting plan he'd written the day before.
He was taking this ad plan very seriously. After all, three million yuan was on the line, and it was a great opportunity to make a name for the company.
The script was simple. It would open with Jiang Xiaobai, wearing a plain nightgown, being pushed away by her boyfriend, who is engrossed in a video game. This would convey that, in her boyfriend's eyes, she was less appealing than the game.
It played on the internet meme "What's a girl compared to a good game?" Then, Jiang Xiaobai's pitiful expression would draw the viewer into the story. Feeling wronged, she would then spot an ad for Jinghong Women's Clothing's sexy lingerie on a table.
The scene would cut to a close-up of the flyer, which would have a line of text on it: "Want a man to be *sensually* interested in you? Choose Jinghong Women's Clothing."
Then, as Jiang Xiaobai reaches out and picks up the flyer, she would undergo a transformation. She would reappear wearing a sexy nightgown from Jinghong Women's Clothing, exuding an alluring charm as one of the spaghetti straps slips off her shoulder.
The video would end with the boyfriend abandoning his game, sweeping Jiang Xiaobai into his arms, and carrying her toward the large bed, perfectly illustrating the seductive power and appeal of Jinghong Women's Clothing.
A short while later, Chen Jincheng received a call from President Li. He answered with a smile, "President Li, we're at our office now. You can bring the clothes down, and then we'll head to the filming location."
At the Jinghong Women's Clothing office, Li Ya hung up the phone. She picked up the prepared nightgowns, left her office, and took the elevator one floor down.
Who would have thought that Liu Qing, along with Li Yueling, would be coming up in the adjacent elevator? As the doors opened, they nearly ran into each other. It was true that enemies were bound to cross paths.
Li Ya's brow furrowed the moment she saw them.
'I must not have checked the almanac before leaving home,' she thought. 'What rotten luck.'
Liu Qing glanced at the nightgowns in Li Ya's hands and said with a saccharine smile, "President Li, heading to Second-Life Star, are we? I never thought you'd end up collaborating with an MCN. And for three million yuan, no less! As far as I know, given the current rates for influencers, twenty thousand for a single video from their female talent would be considered generous."
Her words were delivered with a smile and the pretense of a friendly reminder, but they were dripping with sarcasm.
Even Li Yueling looked at Li Ya in astonishment. "President Li, you're actually spending three million on an influencer? Even if I didn't agree to work with you, you could have used that money to hire another actress. MCNs are notoriously unreliable. I hope you don't get taken for too much of a ride this time."