Chapter 617

Social Fission is different from traditional advertising bombardment; it relies on user-driven organic spread, with lower costs and more direct results.

This thing spreads through personal social circles, and many later products and platforms have used this method.

The approach fits films perfectly, since films thrive on word-of-mouth, but if the film is bad, it could backfire.

The animated film "Monster Hunt: The Great Sage Returns" has decent quality, and the creators are confident.

After all, they had all seen it before the animated film was even released.

After understanding what Social Fission entailed, Chen Zhixi raised doubts: "This plan won't work—how do you even deliver it?"

"Is it that hard to deliver?" Fang Hong said.

"It's hard—you're not a police officer, you can't pull up people's family records. This method is easiest to exploit, because you don't know how many kids they have."

"You don't even know if they really have kids at all."

"Lots of people lie about having kids, claiming other people's children are theirs; those without kids pretend they have them, and you can't verify any of it."

"With Chinese ingenuity, do you believe they could scam you into bankruptcy?"

Chen Zhixi immediately thought this plan was unreliable.

"You say set up a sharing mechanism—reward coupons or discounts for sharing the movie or Rabbit Tickets—but Rabbit Tickets can only function as a storefront."

If you truly want to give things away, you can't prevent free-riding at all.

"What if you give them out in physical stores—hand them to parents who bring kids, and get parents to share and trigger fission among themselves?" Fang Hong said.

"That won't work either—some theaters will lie. They'll claim they gave out twenty thousand when they only gave out ten thousand, forcing you to cover the cost of the other ten thousand, and they can profit from both sides—you'll still get scammed into bankruptcy. You must keep control in your own hands." Chen Zhixi said.

Fang Hong thought about it—he was right, you couldn't assume they were too virtuous.

"Your idea is good, very forward-thinking, but hard to implement," Chen Zhixi said again.

"Do you have any better suggestions?" Fang Hong asked.

Chen Zhixi fell silent—there truly was no good way to implement it; control was too hard to secure.

The tools for this method must be held by us—giving them to theaters or audiences and relying on their morality is unreliable.

This method suits product or platform promotion well—it can be long-term; as long as you share, you get coupons and maybe even points, which works best.

Just share the product, and you get a coupon you can use for purchases.

A movie is only a one-month event—it's not a long-term product needing sustained traffic, and this method lacks appeal; users still have to pay. The ticket market is already competitive, with constant discounts.

Giving things away is simplest, but the method matters—you can't be reckless; if you are, it'll spiral out of control.

The Oval Office fell silent for a moment.

Both were thinking about how to implement the plan—they had the idea, but execution was extremely difficult.

Fang Hong leaned back in his chair, thinking of classic marketing cases, wondering how others had succeeded.

We have to break through—every benefit has been taken by "Monster Hunt."

"Here's an idea—urgently order a batch of merchandise figurines. We won't give away movie tickets; we'll give away figurines instead—that's another form of fission," Fang Hong suddenly said.

Chen Zhixi's eyes lit up—it was a different approach.

"Boost poster promotion—your team and Rabbit Tickets handle offline; I'll handle online UGC content fission," Fang Hong said.

UGC content means secondary creation—memes, short videos, and image-text topics to engage users.

Give those figurines to children; when enough are distributed, the From-the-crowd Effect will emerge.

If other kids have them and yours doesn't, those kids will cry and demand them.

Children are like that—they want what others have; this indirectly expands awareness through fission.

Add poster and illustration promotion online, and people will naturally know which movie it is.

In the previous life, "The Great Sage Returns" earned nearly a billion in box office without much promotion; now, with Fang Hong devising promotion, its box office will surely be better.

There's no choice—it's our own child, and Yutu Film is the main investor.

"Alright! I'll get started right away," Chen Zhixi thought this plan was viable.

At least we control the initiative, and figurines aren't expensive—most adults won't care about them except for hardcore anime fans.

They're meant specifically for children.

It's effectively a disguised family-friendly strategy—kids want to see the movie, and parents can't refuse.

Children play together, creating fission—but how much of it converts to box office still needs observation.

The two split up—Chen Zhixi went to Zheng Zhihao at Rabbit Tickets to promote the plan.

First, roll it out in our own 93 theaters!

Give every parent who brings a child a figurine toy—no matter which movie they watch, if they bring a kid, they get one.

Online, use Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Chang'e Video, and other major platforms to implement UGC.

Encourage video creators to produce secondary content of "The Great Sage Returns," especially the final transformation scene of "Sun Wukong."

And the image of "Jiang Liuer"—open up secondary creation for both, but only use the most intense scenes from the entire film.

The traffic platforms must help sustain this, and the topic's popularity must be pushed up—without traffic, secondary creators won't rush to help with fission.

Release thirty million yuan in promotion funds first.

Social Fission needs incentives to drive it—how you stir up the event must also ensure creators can earn money.

This cost is minimal, and this promotional method is up-to-date; Yutu Film doesn't play financial games like making a thirty-million-yuan movie and selling it to capital for sixty million, artificially inflating costs.

Yutu Film's production cost is exactly what it is.

Social Fission will naturally be implemented through Rabbit Tickets and Chang'e Technology.

Chang'e Technology has spent years on precise promotion, and with Rabbit Tickets continuously feeding viewer data to Chang'e Technology, precise targeting is achievable.

But we need promotion funds—part of the advertising cost with Chang'e Technology will be offset by Yutu sponsoring ads for "Keep Running" and "Go Fighting!" on Dongfang Satellite TV!

It's essentially a resource exchange.

"Go Fighting!" just started airing its third episode; the first two had low heat and weren't very popular, airing on Dongfang.

This variety show only exploded in its third episode, breaking the ceiling of variety show viewership; according to statistics, 37% of the audience were under 23, successfully penetrating the student market.

This demographic precisely matched the user group TikTok needed—young people.

Chang'e Video's views surpassed 50 million in 24 hours and reached 120 million within a week; on Bilibili, secondary creation videos exceeded one million views, forming a long-tail propagation effect.

That meant directly repurposing clips from the variety show.

This reality show was de-scripted—only rules were set, with no interference in outcomes.

Fang Hong's idea was originally designed for harvesting, specifically targeting Tmall, which provided 120 million yuan in sponsorship.

Jack Ma was stingy, but he wasn't; as long as money was given, the variety department needed funds to grow.

All those behind-the-scenes personnel required funding, and large numbers of ordinary support staff needed to be supported too.

Just "Run Brother" and "The Ultimate Challenge" employed a thousand people.

Because Yutu Film Industry, Tu Piao Piao, and Chang'e Technology had collaborated for many years, the promotional plan was launched immediately.

On TikTok, Bilibili, and Xiaohongshu, secondary creation videos featuring "Sun Wukong" transformations appeared.

These videos quickly surpassed 100,000 views; currently, Bilibili has around 25 million daily active users and over 100 million monthly active users.

This data was the result of years of accumulation, filled with countless Up Master contents, strong user retention, a community identity, and all young users.

Bilibili was the earliest platform to develop, allowing more people to earn income through view-based compensation, turning it into a side job.

After all, it had long been subsidized; Xiaohongshu was also aggressively expanding its content categories—from beauty and fashion to travel and food—giving the platform a distinctly female identity.

"The Principal's idea is great—social fission," Zhang Nan also saw Fang Hong's proposal.

Smart people like him could instantly grasp the exact situation once others executed it, including on other platforms.

The internet still boils down to technology and algorithms; there are no other secrets.

"The Principal's ideas are always one step ahead—that's precisely why he succeeds," said his capable assistant Han Shangyou, who oversaw TikTok short video operations.

On July 10, Chaoyangmen Crystal International Cinema—this was Crystal United Cinema's flagship store, previously called Bona International Cinema.

Since joining Crystal United Cinema, the sign had been replaced.

Not just here—the Bona Cinema signs in first-tier cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and second-tier cities Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan were all replaced.

This change made Crystal United Cinema's box office revenue account for roughly 8% of Yutu Film Industry's total income, becoming a key business segment, though cinemas were still too few.

This Chaoyangmen International Cinema was luxuriously renovated, spacious, and packed with crowds; many parents brought their children here to watch movies.

A middle-aged woman held her son's hand: "Son, what movie do you want to watch?"

"I want to watch Sun Wukong—watching Sun Wukong gets you a toy," a little boy pointed to the large poster of "The Monkey King: The Great Sage Returns."

"Who told you that?" The middle-aged woman also saw the poster—it was an animation film.

"Xiuxiu said so. She said if you watch Sun Wukong, you get a toy—she got one." The boy looked up at his mother.

"Oh hehe!"

The middle-aged woman smiled indulgently.

She took her son to the counter and said: "Buy two tickets for 'The Monkey King: The Great Sage Returns.'"

The counter clerk printed two movie tickets for her.

"Do you give out toys here?" the middle-aged woman asked.

"Oh, yes," the clerk, seeing she was with a child, quickly bent down and handed her a "Sun Wukong" figurine.

The middle-aged woman took the figurine—it was quite finely made—and passed it to her son.

"Yay! I have Sun Wukong!" the little boy cheered.

This figurine had been rushed out overnight by the manufacturer; currently, it was only available in Beijing, with other locations needing to wait two days.

"Daddy, daddy, I want that toy too," a little girl behind them, seeing the boy's toy and his joy, was also envious.

"Okay."

The middle-aged man had bought tickets online; he asked directly: "I have a movie ticket—do you give out toys?"

The clerk glanced at the ticket: "Sorry, sir, this is a ticket for 'The Taoist Down the Mountain'—our figurine can only be redeemed with a ticket for 'The Monkey King: The Great Sage Returns.'"

"There's a rule like that?" the man was stunned.

"Yes, sir," the clerk nodded.

The man turned to his daughter, who gazed at him with wide, longing eyes.

"But since your daughter is so adorable, we'll give her one," the clerk improvised an excuse.

In truth, there was no rule—anyone with a child received a toy.

(End of Chapter)