Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities-Chapter 76 - 74: This Kind of Trick Is Boring?

Chen Jincheng hung up the phone, only to see Yinyin staring at him with bright, sparkling eyes. "Boss, are you really getting a Ferrari S90?"

"If all goes according to plan, yes." Chen Jincheng smiled.

He didn’t have much to say about his friend Lin Hao, other than that the man was true to his word and incredibly loyal. That was why he’d given him pointers on the future trends of the MCN industry.

This time, he genuinely wanted to help his friend build a unique persona.

’With the templates from "Mao" and "Liu" from my past life, I can at least copy their methods.’

Yinyin immediately hugged Chen Jincheng’s arm and said coquettishly, "So, Boss, do you want to practice driving a Ferrari with one hand?"

Chen Jincheng laughed at her words. "If you want to ride shotgun in the Ferrari, just say so. No need to beat around the bush."

’Still, one-handed Ferrari driving... a god-tier skill for any man!’

Chen Jincheng soon brought Yinyin to Second-Life Star, naturally drawing everyone’s attention again. The other girls, in particular, knew exactly what was going on; Yinyin had just had three videos in a row go viral the day before.

The boss’s special treatment was just too obvious.

Chen Jincheng also saw Yijin’s group of five. Sister Hong was giving them a tour of Second-Life Star.

Seeing that he had arrived, Sister Hong brought the five of them over to greet him.

Chen Jincheng then led Yijin’s group of five to a meeting room.

As soon as the five of them sat down, Yijin said eagerly, "Brother Cheng, you treated us yesterday, so let me treat you tonight. I’ve already made reservations at your Extreme Bar!"

His eagerness said it all. He had clearly enjoyed himself with the girls at the bar the previous night so much that he was hooked.

Those girls were smart. When they realized the men were the boss’s guests, they delivered 200% on the emotional value.

"Of course we can go to the bar, no problem. But first, I have some inside information about Tiao Yin that will be a huge benefit for clip bloggers like you. Want to hear it?"

Chen Jincheng asked with a smile.

’I want Yijin and his crew to tirelessly build up the ’Coastal City’s Most Devoted Man’ trend for me, to the point where they’d be my loyal hounds. Last night’s hospitality and the honey trap alone aren’t enough for that.’

’So, I’ll tell them about the shopping cart feature and the coming age of video e-commerce, letting them prepare in advance.’

’It’s a way of bestowing a favor, and also a demonstration of my capabilities.’

’After all, not just anyone can know Tiao Yin’s future roadmap, especially not outsiders.’

His words did indeed stun the five of them, and they nodded almost subconsciously.

After the previous night, they already admired him immensely and naturally believed that the benefit he spoke of would be genuine.

"Brother Cheng, what’s the news?" Yijin asked impatiently.

Chen Jincheng smiled. "Did you all see the shopping cart in the advertisement video I shot for Jiang Xiaobai before?"

The five men nodded in unison.

He continued, "This shopping cart feature will be going live soon. At that point, any account that enables the feature can add a shopping cart to their own videos to sell products, just like how Jiang Xiaobai’s video helped Jinghong Women’s Clothing sell pajamas."

It took a moment for his words to sink in for the five men.

Yijin’s face lit up as he asked, "Brother Cheng, are you saying we can also put items from Taobao stores in the shopping cart to sell?"

Old Dog also asked, "Jiang Xiaobai is an influencer, so her videos are appealing. But how would we sell anything? No one would watch videos we made ourselves."

Chen Jincheng laughed. "Have you forgotten what you guys do? You’re clip bloggers, so you rely on clips. Just as you edit clips of me, if I feature a product in one of my videos, you can also attach that product to the shopping cart when you edit your clips. Naturally, you could also add other little items you think are good. As long as you have the traffic, some people are bound to click and buy."

Since Yijin’s group of five were all internet-savvy, they immediately understood the method, and their faces lit up with joy.

Their clip-editing studios had low monetization potential at the moment, and most of them were struggling to continue. If this shopping cart feature came out, it would be a fantastic channel for monetization. As long as they could be the first to eat the crab, they would definitely make a profit.

"Brother Cheng, but wouldn’t that count as infringing on your rights?" Yijin asked with some concern.

In other words, if Brother Cheng featured a product in his video and they attached the same product to their clips, they would be piggybacking on his popularity while simultaneously stealing profits right from under his nose.

From any angle, that seemed unacceptable.

Chen Jincheng smiled. "It would indeed be considered infringement. When the time comes, a lot of clip bloggers will likely be sued by the original creators."

That was a fact.

’Before the era of E-commerce 3.0 arrived, many short-sighted influencers did just that.’

’Some clip bloggers would work hard for half a year to earn 100,000, only to get sued and have to pay 200,000 in damages.’

’Without a doubt, those influencers ended up with almost no one making clips of them, and most of them faded into obscurity.’

’Top-tier influencers like Three Sheep, Lion King, Lipstick Qi, Ancestral Master, Hua Xiaolong, President K, Bai Bing, Xuxu Baby, and Zhang Xiaxian... they all basically stated publicly that as long as you didn’t cut the beginning and end or edit maliciously, anyone was free to make clips of them and attach some products to the shopping cart.’

’Sometimes, you have to give up a little profit in exchange for more traffic and hype.’

’Of course, he was looking at this from a prescient point of view. Otherwise, who could have predicted the future?’

’Even a company like Taobao couldn’t believe that Tiao Yin would dare to backstab them, developing live-stream e-commerce to the point where it rivaled their own marketplace model. After Taobao and JD.com also got into live-stream selling, there was even a time when live-stream e-commerce surpassed the marketplace model.’

’And in the beginning, no one would have believed Tiao Yin could go up against a giant like Penguin and beat them three times, practically using them as a stepping stone for its own growth and causing Penguin to miss the short-video era entirely.’

So when Yijin and his four partners heard they could be sued, their expressions turned grim.

’Doesn’t that make it a dead end?’

Seeing their reaction, Chen Jincheng smiled. "Don’t worry. We’re brothers, so I won’t fuss over it. I can authorize you. After all, you’ve been helping promote me with your clips, so it’s mutually beneficial."

"Really?" Yijin asked instinctively, his eyes filled with hope.

The other four men reacted the same way.

"Really," Chen Jincheng nodded.

His words truly excited the five of them, and the gazes they directed at Chen Jincheng were filled with genuine gratitude.

After all, he had not only shared this inside information with them but was also willing to grant them authorization.

"Brother Cheng, if you ever need anything, just say the word. I’d go through hell and high water for you," Yijin declared without a moment’s hesitation.

The other four men nodded vigorously in agreement.

’Seriously,’ they thought, ’choosing to make clips of him was the best decision we’ve ever made.’

They even had a feeling that if they followed in his footsteps, they might just witness something magnificent unfold.

Just then, Sister Hong came in from outside and reported, "Boss, the people from Aries Company are here."

"Bring them in," Chen Jincheng instructed Sister Hong. Then he turned to Yijin’s group. "Brothers, let’s chat more tonight at Extreme Bar. I have to discuss an advertising deal right now."

The five men nodded, took the hint, and excused themselves. They needed time to digest this news about video e-commerce anyway.

A moment later, Sister Hong returned with a middle-aged man in a suit. "Boss," she said, making the introduction, "this is President Wang, the Operations Director from Aries."

"Mr. Chen, a pleasure." Wang Xin naturally recognized Chen Jincheng. He shook his hand and, after sitting, dispensed with the pleasantries and got straight to the point. "Mr. Chen, you know why I’m here. I’d like to discuss a collaboration for an ad video. We’ve launched a new universal power strip."

Chen Jincheng smiled. "President Wang, a collaboration is certainly not a problem, but you’ll need to hear our terms first."

"If my team specifically plans and shoots a video for Aries, in addition to a base fee of 500,000, there will be an additional advertising fee of 500,000 for every one million likes the video breaks."

"In other words, if the video hits three million likes, you’ll have to pay a total of two million. Of course, if it really reaches three million likes, the view count will be well over fifty million. The promotional effect will definitely be more cost-effective than hiring a celebrity."

Wang Xin’s expression soured. "Mr. Chen, as far as I know, no one in the influencer industry quotes prices like that. Even a top creator like Gao Yanyan, with fourteen million followers, only asks for 200,000 for a single video. And you only have three million followers."

The only reason he had contacted Second-Life Star was that his son had casually shown him a video, remarking that getting this Chen Jincheng to shoot a power strip ad would be great publicity and a major coup for the company.

He had also looked up advertising rates for influencers, which were currently calculated as (number of followers x 0.01) plus a bonus for fame.

She had fourteen million followers and quoted such a low price, whereas this guy only had a little over three million.

Spending a small amount of money for a decent advertising effect would indeed be an accomplishment, which was why he had reached out.

Who would have thought he’d make such an outrageous demand right off the bat?

His boss was reluctant to spend big money even on celebrities, let alone on an influencer.

"President Wang, I’m different," Chen Jincheng sighed. ’Just as I thought. The people at Aries have grown complacent and lost their strategic vision.’

’Even setting everything else aside, just with the hype from the "Chen Jincheng’s zodiac sign is a power strip" trend, if this ad were completed within a week, that fee would already be half justified.’

’Unfortunately, it was in the nature of Aries to lack a sense of crisis, have poor foresight, and make no effort to improve. If Lei Xiaojun hadn’t come in and stirred up the market, they wouldn’t have cared, no matter how much people flamed them online.’

’It seems this ad concept, which won multiple international awards for creativity and design, isn’t fated to be made with Aries.’

’In truth, the concept alone was worth the price. But since that achievement was from another world, he couldn’t use it as a selling point.’

Wang Xin reminded him, "Mr. Chen, no matter how different you are, you’re still an influencer. You should have an influencer’s price. You can’t make such an outrageous demand. Besides, Aries commands 66% of the market share. Apart from us, it’s unlikely any other power strip company would approach you for an ad."

Just as he finished speaking, Sister Hong’s phone rang. After answering, she shot a stunned glance at Wang Xin, then turned to Chen Jincheng. "Boss, it’s the head of Rice Sockets. He says he’d like to hire you to shoot a video for a ’magic cube’ universal power strip."

Chen Jincheng froze.

’A magic cube power strip?’

’Did this thing come out around this time in my past life?’

’But that wasn’t important. What was important was that in my past life, this magic cube universal power strip had nearly driven Aries out of business.’

(Aries on the left, Rice on the right.)

’This product sold over ten million units as soon as it launched, and tens of millions per year, plunging Aries into its first major crisis.’

’And faced with this crisis, Aries’s solution was to just imitate Rice and make the exact same product, only in black and one yuan cheaper. The move was so pathetic it made everyone laugh themselves to death.’

’If he had the choice, he’d much rather shoot the video ad for Rice Sockets.’

’At the very least, it would create more buzz later on. If it sold ten million units at launch, he might even get some of the credit, which would be a massive boost to his own value as an advertiser.’

’No, wait. Selling ten million units at launch was the data from the other world.’

’In this world, with the hype from my "zodiac sign is a power strip" meme and the boost from a "love story between a socket and a plug" ad concept, the launch sales could potentially surpass those of my previous life.’

’His original plan had been to approach Rice Sockets if Aries wouldn’t accept his offer. Who knew Rice Sockets would come to him on their own initiative?’

But when Wang Xin heard Sister Hong’s words, he just laughed. "Well, Mr. Chen, it seems we won’t have the chance to cooperate after all. I’ll take my leave now."

’I can’t believe he’s trying to pull a stunt like this on me,’ he thought. ’This old trick of pretending a competitor is calling... people have been using that for decades.’

’Rice Sockets just hired a celebrity for an endorsement. Why would they turn around and hire an influencer to shoot another video ad?’