Starting from a Bar to Sign Internet Celebrities-Chapter 93 - 91: Sister Feiye is Dealt a Blow
After hanging up on Liu Xian, Sister Feiye picked up her phone and called Danni Clothing again.
As soon as the call connected, a woman’s laugh came through the line. "Sister Feiye, is the ad for our skirt suit finished?"
Sister Feiye got straight to the point. "Director Hu, I’m calling to renegotiate our advertising deal with Danni Clothing. I’m sure you’ve heard about Second-Life Star’s recent ads on Tiao Yin?"
"Yes, I saw the videos," Director Hu’s voice replied. "It’s safe to say everyone in the apparel industry has taken notice. One for sleepwear, one for stockings—both are in our sector, and those two ads were incredibly successful."
Sister Feiye immediately tested the waters. "That’s exactly what I wanted to discuss with Danni Clothing. I’d like to shoot a similar ad for Danni, and the contract would naturally follow the same model as Second-Life Star’s."
This was, of course, a spur-of-the-moment idea to gauge their reaction.
She wanted to see where the other party stood.
「Danni Clothing.」
Hu Jing was taken aback by Sister Feiye’s words. She had been following Second-Life Star’s ads and knew about their advertising model from the charts.
In fact, she had even sent people to contact Second-Life Star to ask about it. To be more precise, it wasn’t just her—many companies were already probing for information.
As a result, many people already knew that this type of ad was a specially planned project. Not just any product was eligible for that kind of collaboration. It required the boss himself to personally oversee it; otherwise, a normal collaboration would just follow the standard influencer process.
Simply put, Second-Life Star had two tiers of advertising.
For example, to have the two female influencers from Second-Life Star—who had both surpassed three million followers—create a standard ad video, the price was calculated with a conventional formula: their follower count times 0.01, plus a comprehensive assessment fee. Currently, that came to 100,000 for a single collaboration video.
However, if their boss personally handled it for a special ad collaboration, the cost was a guaranteed minimum of 500,000, with an additional 500,000 for every one million likes, and so on. They also offered a guarantee: if an ad of this type failed to surpass 500,000 likes, they wouldn’t charge a fee.
This was a testament to their confidence.
’So what is this Sister Feiye trying to pull?’
’She wants to make this kind of ad, too?’
’What gives her the right?’
’Doesn’t she have any self-awareness at all?’
But despite her internal complaints, she said tactfully, "Sister Feiye, uh... I think our original collaboration model is working just fine. Besides, our company’s advertising budget is a bit tight right now, so we can’t afford that kind of model."
Sister Feiye sighed at this response.
’Just as I thought. A direct rejection.’
She continued, "Director Hu, I’m collaborating with Second-Life Star on this ad. Since Danni Clothing can’t do it, I’ll just have to ask someone else."
"What?" Hu Jing blurted out instinctively. "Wait! I just remembered, the company has a payment coming in soon. I’ll go apply for the funds; it should be approved."
"..." Sister Feiye didn’t believe a word Director Hu was saying.
’Her double standard is so obvious.’
But for the sake of the collaboration, she couldn’t call her out on it. She could only continue, "Director Hu, Second-Life Star has invited us over to discuss the specifics of the collaboration. If you’re on board, I’ll reply to them."
"Of course it’s no problem! I can leave right away," Hu Jing said with practically no hesitation.
After all, the success of Second-Life Star’s two ads had made everyone in the apparel industry green with envy. Whether it was "The Temptation of Jinghong’s Sleepwear" or the trending topic "Luna’s stockings are easy to tear," both had proven to bring enormous traffic and prestige to a product.
So how could Danni Clothing possibly pass up this opportunity?
After getting the affirmative reply, Sister Feiye sighed, hung up, and then got back to Second-Life Star.
The moment Sister Hong received the confirmation, she reported to Chen Jincheng, "Boss, Sister Feiye says the people from Danni Clothing can be at our office before the end of the day. If this ad is done well, it could bring a major player to our company."
"With an influencer who has over 17 million followers, we can arrange for some of our other girls to appear in her shots and leech a ton of traffic."
"Barring any surprises, there shouldn’t be any issues," Chen Jincheng said with a smile.
After all, the video had been a massive hit in his past life. Barring any accidents, there was no way it would flop in this one.
Sister Hong, on the other hand, was already well-versed in the ways of the influencer world. ’With a top influencer with over 17 million followers on hand, how could we not arrange for a few of our girls to get in on her screen time and leech some traffic?’
In his past life, this was a common tactic used by major MCN companies to promote newcomers.
Of course, the methods had to be flexible. Wuyou Media, for instance, often organized team-building events or travel vlogs where groups of three to five beautiful women would appear on camera.
They could arrange for three major influencers and two newcomers to be together, casually filming some videos of the event for release. The followers of the three big names would inevitably notice the two newcomers as well.
If the two newcomers were pretty enough, had good figures, and knew how to perform for the camera, they could attract traffic, and that would be a great start.
In reality, this was no different from how the entertainment industry "lifts" a celebrity’s status. For example, when Tangren Film and Television wanted to promote Jinfu, they brought in big stars like Brother Hu Qian to act as his supporting cast. The principle was the same.
It was just a shame that Jinfu failed to seize the opportunity, managing to turn a leading role into that of a supporting character.
Similarly, if an MCN company created an opportunity for a newcomer to leech screen time and they failed to seize it, the next chance would naturally go to someone else. They might never get another opportunity again.
Competition in the influencer world is ruthless.
Sister Hong nodded. She had complete faith in her boss’s plans.
The two of them discussed a few more details before she received a phone call. Seeing the number, she answered immediately. "Hello, President Jiang, you’re here? Why didn’t you let us know in advance? I could have sent someone to get you... Our company is on the 8th floor!"
After hanging up, she immediately turned to Chen Jincheng. "Boss, the people from Rice Sockets are here. It’s their head of promotion, Jiang Hong, and he came in person."
"Jiang Hong came in person?" Chen Jincheng asked, surprised.
In the other world, this man was a key member of Lei Xiaojun’s online marketing team—an undisputed titan in the industry.
But in this world, he was still making his way up at Rice Sockets, holding only a junior management position within the greater Rice Group. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
Still, with him here, it was time for that ad for the power strip—the one that had won multiple awards for creativity and design in his past life—to make its debut.
The Rice Group was worthy of this ad.
"Boss, I’ll go meet them at the elevators," Sister Hong said, hurrying out the door.
At that moment, Jiang Hong and his team arrived at the elevators. A subordinate pressed the button and they waited for the car to descend.
The purpose of their visit was clear: to hire Chen Jincheng to shoot a video ad.
To be honest, this was the first time the Rice Group had ever hired an online influencer for an advertisement. But they had no choice. The meme about Chen Jincheng’s zodiac sign being a "power strip" was now deeply ingrained in the public consciousness.
Although the buzz was starting to fade, as long as Chen Jincheng filmed a power strip ad, the memory of that meme would be revived and explode all over again.
This was why, even after hiring the celebrity Li Xinfeng, they were still seeking out an influencer for another ad.
"President Jiang," a subordinate beside him said with a smile, "if I present Li Xinfeng’s ad proposal, do you think they’ll scramble to revise their own? After all, Li Xinfeng’s campaign is genuinely good. I doubt Second-Life Star will want to be outdone by too much, right?"
...
(The next Chapter is coming soon.)
