Chapter 242: Expanding Ground Promotion: Advertising Department and LeTV

After the premiere of "The Banquet," Huayi held a small reception.

The main cast didn't attend because they were busy with roadshows; as soon as the premiere ended, they split into two teams and headed straight to other cities.

Those who came were mostly film critics, reporters, and a few celebrities with free time.

Yan Li originally planned to slip away quietly, but Wang Zhongjun of Huayi insisted on chatting with him about distribution.

The profit-sharing and distribution plan for "The Banquet" had already been largely settled and was already being implemented.

But plans are plans— the boss's will determines how much resource and effort Yi'an will invest.

Huayi wanted Yi'an to put in more effort, so they needed to nudge Yan Li harder; Wang's brothers had long wanted to get together with him.

But Yan Li wasn't in Beijing; now that they had the chance, they wouldn't let him escape.

Yan Li was busy and didn't have time to waste daily with the Wang brothers, so he decided to settle everything in one go today—to give Huayi peace of mind and spare himself further harassment.

In character, Yan Li wasn't a good person.

Regarding Huayi, whether past grudges or future competition, Yan Li held no goodwill toward them.

But he wouldn't sabotage the distribution of "The Banquet" or "Baby Plan," and he would definitely give his full effort.

Talking about separating public and private interests was just empty rhetoric; fundamentally, Yan Li's goal was to make money—if these two films did well, he'd get a bigger cut.

Meanwhile, Yi'an had just entered the film distribution industry and was still building its reputation and credibility; it also needed to train and develop its distribution and ground-promotion teams.

Nobody was stupid—if Yan Li sabotaged Huayi, who would ever hire him for distribution again?

Kill a thousand, lose fifteen hundred.

Such a stupid move, one that could damage Yi'an's entire strategic layout and hurt both himself and others, Yan Li refused to do.

So Huayi didn't need to worry about Yan Li pulling tricks or slacking off—he wouldn't strike at them in this area even if he wanted to hurt them.

In Yan Li's view, "The Banquet" didn't even need his interference.

If "The Banquet" wasn't trashed after release, Yan Li would quit the film industry outright.

He guessed the Wang brothers were dragging him into distribution talks because they lacked confidence in the film and were grasping at any opportunity to boost box office.

Rumor had it that the overseas distribution of "The Banquet" had been disappointing, hitting many roadblocks at Cannes; now it desperately needed a domestic box office boost.

Over dinner, everyone discussed their estimates for "The Banquet's" domestic box office.

Setting aside the flattery and exaggeration, the general consensus was that it would break 100 million.

But how much beyond that, whether it could reach 200 million, depended on fate.

This kind of commercial blockbuster, with such a strong cast, would attract plenty of viewers regardless of how bad the reviews were.

"The Promise" had been trashed and still became the annual box office champion.

Yan Li was asked too; he gave a conservative range—

Higher than "The Promise," but lower than "The Promise."

If Feng Xiaogang were here, he'd be unhappy hearing this guess; Wang Zhongjun wouldn't be happy either, but he could accept it.

To be honest, he'd thought about 200 million—but only as a fantasy.

At this stage, only two films in the domestic market had broken 200 million: "Titanic" and "Hero."

In every film professional's mind, breaking 100 million was a major victory; 200 million was the ceiling.

Huayi's own hope was to break 200 million; 180 million would be acceptable; 150 million was barely tolerable.

The China Film Group's representative couldn't help asking curiously: "Director Yan, what do you think the box office for 'The Golden Age' will be?"

Among this year's planned releases, "The Golden Age" was the most anticipated; many in the industry believed it could break 200 million.

Yan Li shared this view—if the quality wasn't abysmal, the film had a strong chance of hitting 200 million.

Though both were big-budget films, "The Golden Age" and "The Banquet" weren't even in the same league.

The latter starred Gong Li from back then; this one actually brought in the real Gong Li.

Zhang Ziyi's box office record and international prestige were a downgrade compared to other rising actresses, but they paled next to Gong Li's stature.

"The Banquet" had Ge Da, while "The Golden Age" had Zhou Runfa.

Whether or not he was overhyped, after "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Zhou was now universally recognized by industry and audiences as an "international superstar," with a salary ranking just below Cheng Long and Li Lianjie.

The former had the popular young heartthrob Huang Xiaoming; the latter had the wildly popular Zhou Jielun.

The former had Prince Zhou; the latter also had Liu Huohua, a rising star with strong momentum in the new generation of cinema.

Not to mention that in commercial blockbusters, Zhang Yimou's clout and influence far surpassed Feng Xiaogang's comedy reputation.

If possible, Yan Li would have preferred to collaborate on this film.

But Zhang, the new owner, was used to hoarding everything; besides pulling in Anle's funding, he ignored everyone else.

Yan Li's two estimates weren't eye-catching at all—they were even somewhat conventional.

But business is like this, especially in specialized fields—you must stay steady.

The bosses of CineAsia, Huayi, China Film Group, and several other companies were likely future clients of Yi'an.

Yan Li's cautious approach might not leave a strong impression, but at least it wouldn't expose him as incompetent or undermine confidence in his distribution ability and vision.

Sometimes, you don't need to win—just not losing is winning.

When the gathering ended, Hu Siyan, having drunk too much, begged Yan Li to take her home.

Yan Li, being kind-hearted, couldn't refuse; on the way, seeing she was thirsty, he gave her some hangover remedy; after dropping her off, he firmly resisted her advances and went home to sleep.

Even Xiong Naijin, who had been secretly tailing them, was baffled seeing Hu Siyan return home alone.

Had she made a mistake?

No, the distance from the hotel to Hu Siyan's home wasn't far—why did they take such a long detour?

Xiong Naijin still believed Yan Li and Hu Siyan had something going on, but the problem now was—she had no proof.

Just Hu Siyan accompanying Yan Li at the premiere and him driving her home wasn't enough to prove anything.

The last time there was a scandal involving Hu Ke and Li Feier, something similar had happened; Qin Lan had even personally assigned Hu Siyan to be Yan Li's shield.

That was Hu Siyan's own excuse when she chased Xiong away: she claimed she was acting on Qin Lan's orders to monitor and block all those flirtatious women from getting close to Yan Li.

So Hu Siyan's behavior at the premiere was perfectly fine; Yan Li driving her home, without staying overnight, was also perfectly fine.

As for the detour—couldn't it just be traffic?

Xiong Naijin even briefly suspected she'd been spotted, but quickly dismissed the idea.

To hide her trail, she'd specifically hired a taxi, kept a decent distance, and Beijing was full of identical taxis—it was nearly impossible to identify her.

Besides, she'd lost them during the final stretch; she'd just happened to wait near Hu Siyan's home—and there she was, clearly unaware she'd been followed.

But no matter what, suspicion was suspicion—she had no concrete evidence or even a plausible explanation; neither reporting nor threatening would work.

Exposing herself might provoke Hu Siyan's retaliation.

Given Qin Lan's trust in her and Hu Siyan's influence within the Teddy Sisterhood, she could be crushed or kicked out of the group in an instant.

Xiong Naijin pondered quietly for a while, and decided to hold back; given Hu Siyan's personality, she'd eventually slip up—then she could strike at the right moment.

"..."

Back at Fuli City, Yan Li reviewed today's intelligence report; watching Xiong Naijin's actions and calculations, he was left speechless.

Every member of the Teddy Sisterhood had sharp little calculations.

Hmm—not just the Teddy Sisterhood; even people around Dong Xuan had their own agendas, including Wang Ou and the others, none of whom were entirely selfless.

No one is a saint; where there are many people, there is a jianghu; it's rare to find someone in a small group who doesn't engage in petty schemes.

But Wu Maowen really needed to learn some counter-surveillance.

Two separate tailing operations, and he noticed nothing.

Yan Li narrowed his eyes, studying the intelligence on the second tailing team besides Xiong Naijin.

Old Wang of Huayi was truly sneaky—smiling and chatting at the gathering, but secretly sending people to follow and photograph him to gather dirt.

One or two scandals wouldn't hurt Yan Li, but a flood of them, released together with orchestrated narratives, could seriously damage him.

More importantly, besides Yan Li, they could also target and damage female stars close to him.

Yan Li himself didn't care, but he couldn't abandon these actresses—if too many were dragged in, chaos would follow, and opportunities would arise.

"Truly sneaky."

If Yan Li hadn't been cautious and always kept one eye on these two, he might already have been caught on camera in a hotel bed with them.

You play the first move, I'll play the fifteenth.

Yan Li pulled out his phone and called his subordinates, ordering them to contact or select a few capable hands.

Wang Zhongjun was still cautious, but Wang's younger brother wasn't discreet; Yan Li planned to dig into his base and gather some explosive material.

These people could only follow him and take ambiguous photos; with Yan Li's precise intelligence and proper execution, he could do far more.

If they wanted to trap him, he'd strip these two brothers down to their underwear and see who had the louder narrative.

————

Yan Li and Huayi each had their own hidden agendas, but publicly they cooperated fully.

After "The Banquet" opened, it was trashed as Yan Li had predicted; its reception was better than "The Promise," but not by much.

Feng Xiaogang didn't have Chen Da's stubbornness, claiming that in five years people would finally understand "The Promise."

Though he defended himself and denied that "The Banquet" was a bad film, he admitted it had shortcomings and took primary responsibility.

He still insisted his transition was correct, saying he "couldn't be nailed to comedy like Zhou Xingchi."

Feng's comedies were the most famous and popular, but they were also constantly mocked by the industry and could never catch up to Zhang or Chen.

Feng Xiaogang clearly couldn't accept this reality, so he actively pursued transformation; "The Banquet" and "Assembly" were both him proving he wasn't just a comedy director.

Though reviews were mixed, the box office was solid—its opening weekend neared 70 million, breaking Feng Xiaogang's personal record.

But afterward, due to poor word-of-mouth, box office trends dropped sharply

But breaking 100 million was practically guaranteed, and 150 million didn't seem far-fetched either.

In late September, "Baby Plan" premiered, underperforming compared to "Night Banquet" but still showing strong momentum, with a high likelihood of breaking 100 million.

Huayi, as the main producer of both films, stole the spotlight, while Yi'an, responsible for partial distribution, also reaped substantial gains.

As one of the distributors, Yi'an could secure a single-digit percentage of the film's box office revenue—roughly several million RMB.

Of course, compared to money, Yan Li valued more the opportunity to expand, train, and strengthen Yi'an's distribution channels and ground promotion teams through these two films.

Distribution and ground promotion teams need to be nurtured and trained.

Although "Crazy Stone" was a tough battle as a dark horse, its scale was small; participating in the distribution of major hits like "Night Banquet" allowed Yi'an to genuinely engage with and understand the film market, truly propelling its film distribution business toward maturity and formalization.

Meanwhile, Yi'an's ground promotion operations expanded comprehensively, moving from first- and second-tier cities into most prefecture-level cities.

After both films finished their theatrical runs, Yi'an's ground promotion was expected to cover over 120 to 150 prefecture-level cities nationwide, with at least fifty fixed outposts established.

A fixed outpost meant long-term, permanent staffing with two to three official employees.

Under current limited business conditions, establishing so many outposts amounted to paying salaries during idle periods—this was no small expense—but Yi'an still persisted, revealing its deep commitment and high expectations for ground promotion.

Still, there was no need to worry about wasting money on ground promotion; after several films built its reputation, some business inevitably came knocking.

Moreover, Yi'an's TV drama distribution and advertising businesses could also delegate significant work to ground promotion; as all operations gradually expanded, ground promotion could become self-sustaining, no longer requiring constant financial injections from the company.

Film distribution progressed steadily, TV dramas saw no major developments, and cinema chains continued construction.

Aside from occasionally overseeing certain tasks, Yan Li suddenly became a "man with nothing to do."

Outside the company, what he did most was making friends and attending social engagements.

This seemed to be the norm for most bosses—socializing outweighed actual work, with deals and clients forged over drinks and gatherings.

A club, a business salon

Yan Li was discussing advertising collaboration with a representative from a clothing brand.

Advertising was an industry most people didn't understand but was actually extremely profitable.

The entire advertising market dwarfed the film and television industry; what many took for granted—product placements in films and TV—were merely a tiny slice of the pie.

Huayi and Xiaoma Penteng, both originally advertising companies, built their empires on advertising, and even now, advertising remained a vital revenue pillar for them.

If Huayi could do it, so could Yi'an—perhaps even better.

After all, most film and television companies didn't possess Yi'an's broad TV drama channels or its connections with numerous popular stars.

Moreover, Yi'an had a refined film and television team, a marketing and promotion team, internet resources, and now a growing ground promotion force to support offline campaigns.

In short, Yi'an's resources, if not used for advertising, would be a gross waste.

And one advertising campaign could benefit every department—production, distribution, ground promotion, and artists all got a share, with countless advantages.

Thus, during the company's prior restructuring, Yan Li had specifically established an advertising department.

So far, the advertising department hadn't performed particularly well.

Much of its business came from Fan Xiaopang and other popular artists, and its thinking was rigid, failing to leverage Yi'an's resource and channel advantages.

Yan Li was considering replacing its leadership with an advertising expert, and during social engagements, he would also actively secure business for the advertising department.

For film and television, many companies and enterprises were hard to connect with, but advertising was different—nearly every company and product needed advertising.

Moreover, most deals weren't one-offs, and companies didn't limit themselves to a single partnership; demand was enormous.

Yan Li's strengths in networking, negotiation, and client selection gave him a natural edge here; combined with his personal aura, which boosted client trust and willingness to cooperate, securing business was effortless.

In recent months, Yan Li had casually secured several million RMB in advertising contracts for the company, plus a million-level commercial endorsement from Fan Xiaopang.

"Manager Wang, pleasure doing business with you. Yi'an won't let you down."

After reaching an agreement with this client and exchanging further pleasantries, Yan Li, feeling hungry, was looking for something to eat when a middle-aged man approached him.

"Mr. Jia of LeTV, a great honor to finally meet you."

Yan Li shook hands with this Mr. Jia—not out of politeness, for he had genuinely researched him before, even considered investing in LeTV, but after learning the background, he chose to stay clear, and the matter faded away.

Still, Yan Li found this Mr. Jia somewhat intriguing.

LeTV had mentioned certain ideas, and many of the fleeting glimpses of its future vision aligned with Yan Li's own thoughts.

But Mr. Jia's vision was more radical and idealistic, less aligned with Yan Li's cautious, pragmatic nature.

Also worth noting: in this wild, unregulated era of internet film and television copyright, everyone primarily relied on piracy.

Even Tudou, which rose partly on legitimate blockbuster licenses, could only suppress piracy; Tudou itself didn't reject pirated content and invested minimally in copyright acquisition.

On the market, only two companies systematically acquired legitimate film and television copyrights.

One was Yi'an Media under Yan Li's name; the other was Mr. Jia's LeTV.

After its founding, LeTV didn't compete with Tudou and other video sites for users and traffic; after its early attempts at original dramas failed, it immediately shifted focus to acquiring copyrights and leveraged its telecom resources to profit through mobile streaming.

In doing so, it avoided the fierce battle among video sites and quietly accumulated strength.

This showed Mr. Jia had clearly identified a viable use for legitimate copyrights.

When the video site wars reached their peak and legitimate copyrights became unavoidable, LeTV, with its rich copyright reserves, would naturally rise, attract users exclusively, profit from distribution, and harvest competitors' capital.

Yan Li truly admired this business insight.

He acquired copyrights because of his system's advantage; this man had made his own judgment and mustered the courage to buy them outright.

Many saw the value in legitimate copyrights, but seeing and acting were two different things.

Internet streaming copyrights were cheap, but large-scale purchases still cost a fortune.

Yet in this era of rampant piracy, no one knew when the golden age of legitimate copyrights would arrive, nor could anyone guarantee whether old dramas' copyrights would still hold value then.

What if they ended up worthless?

Especially for sites like Tudou and Sohu Video, with limited funds and fierce market competition.

They had to spend money everywhere—fighting for traffic, users, exclusive hot content, improving technology, creating content—and could only focus on the present, not gamble on hoarding copyrights for the future.

So even though Tudou's rise had caused some shifts in the copyright market,

everyone still competed only for popular films and TV shows; only Yi'an and LeTV were buying up large quantities of non-popular and classic films and dramas.

Yi'an held a slight advantage, as Yan Li had wide industry channels and extensive connections, able to reach out on all fronts.

But Yan Li's funds for acquiring copyrights weren't abundant; he couldn't buy everything, only picking the best and highest-value deals.

LeTV, having missed the early opportunity to Yi'an, could only take the leftovers, accepting nearly everything—its strength lay in volume.

Thus, though this was their first meeting, Yan Li had indeed long admired Mr. Jia and had interacted with him many times.

Mr. Jia shook Yan Li's hand: "I've long wanted to meet you, Manager Yan. To finally see you in person is truly an honor."

Yan Li admired Mr. Jia; Mr. Jia, too, had long felt a sense of intellectual kinship with Yan Li.

His company handled production, distribution, and cinema chains, had invested in Tudou, and hoarded copyrights—many of his business strategies aligned perfectly with Yan Li's own.

Though Mr. Jia was frustrated by Yan Li as such a formidable rival, he couldn't help feeling a touch of camaraderie.

At this time, LeTV and Mr. Jia were somewhat lonely, with inner doubts and hesitation.

Yan Li, this renowned business genius in the industry, sharing similar ideas, gave Mr. Jia considerable confidence.

Both admired each other and had many shared topics, so they conversed enthusiastically; after the business gathering ended, they arranged a private dinner.

…

A hotel private room

"Manager Yan, I toast you."

Mr. Jia stood and raised his glass; though significantly older than Yan Li, his demeanor during their interaction was clearly more humble.

In terms of wealth and business, Mr. Jia now lagged behind Yan Li, let alone fame and status.

He had connections, but Yan Li had reached this level—Mr. Jia speculated endlessly about his background and couldn't muster any arrogance.

Yan Li didn't put on airs; though Mr. Jia was low-profile, he was doing quite well, primarily in telecommunications with considerable personal wealth.

Coupled with his background, personal ability, and scattered information revealed by future intelligence, Yan Li treated him with considerable respect.

After several rounds of drinks, they discussed some business ideas, and Mr. Jia proactively proposed collaboration.

Though they might become rivals in the future, their current conflicts were minimal, and they could join forces.

If Yi'an and LeTV both acquired copyrights, sellers would play them against each other, holding out for higher prices; competition would drive up the entire market.

This forced both sides to spend more, giving sellers the upper hand.

Better to cooperate, find ways to jointly control the market and suppress prices, acquiring copyrights at lower costs.

Of course, many details needed discussion: how to coordinate efficiently, how to divide coveted high-quality copyrights, how to ensure mutual interests and prevent betrayal, and so on.

But regardless, joint price suppression was better than competitive bidding; after brief consideration, Yan Li agreed to Mr. Jia's proposal.

Mr. Jia was delighted; he even considered whether he could convince Yan Li to merge LeTV and Yi'an—such a merger would lead to rapid rise.

But soon, Mr. Jia dismissed the idea.

Yan Li owned Tudou; he would never join LeTV. Even if they merged, who would lead whom?

Yi'an and Yan Li were now stronger; Yan Li would never accept a subordinate role, and Mr. Jia, equally unwilling to serve under Yan Li.

So merger—though appealing—was impossible.

"…."

Mr. Jia had a good alcohol tolerance, but clearly not Yan Li's match; after the gathering, he couldn't even stand.

Fortunately, Mr. Jia had a driver; Yan Li didn't need to worry. After settling him in, Yan Li clapped his hands and headed to Yang Rong's place—he had just arrived in Beijing.

Dong Xuan and Fan Xiaopang were filming "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang" and "The Legend of Yang Yuhuan"; Qin Lan had joined "Again, a Curtain of Dreams"; Wang Ou and Jiang Xin had also joined the cast; Li Bing was too busy to be found.

So during this period, Yan Li wasn't just "idle"—he had no one to keep him company.

Beijing had only Wu Jiani, busy with her dance studio; she had too much on her plate and couldn't handle it alone, so Yan Li had no choice but to summon Yang Rong to Beijing.

Upon learning Wang Ou wasn't there, Yang Rong didn't refuse the invitation, but she was merely a snack—not a full meal.

Yan Li had been considering whether to break his vow and seek Hu Siyan, or sneak off to visit a set, or just find some casual company.

Meanwhile, Yan Li went to find "Big Doll" Yang Rong.

"Big Baby" was the nickname he gave Yang Rong—a double entendre: one, because Yang Rong had a baby face, looked sweet, and was petite, making her feel like a large doll when held; two, because she was big.

On the other side, the drunken Mr. Jia was dragged home by his driver, where his girlfriend Gan Wei and her best friend Xiong Naijin helped him lie down in the bedroom.

Mr. Jia, still under thirty-five this year, had already been divorced twice.

Two years ago, when Mr. Jia came to Beijing to develop his career, he met Gan Wei, who was then a student at the Military Art Academy, and successfully won her over.

Xiong Naijin was Gan Wei's closest friend.

They were fellow townspeople and former classmates at art school, having known each other for years; though they attended different schools after arriving in Beijing, they never lost contact.

Their paths diverged: Xiong Naijin acted but never made a name for herself until she joined the Teddy Sisters Group, where she gained slight fame, while Gan Wei hardly ever acted—after meeting Mr. Jia, she settled into the role of his devoted helper.

Gan Wei bustled about attending to the drunken Mr. Jia; only after he fell asleep did she have time to resume their earlier conversation with Xiong Naijin.

"What do you think of what I just told you?"

"The Teddy Sisters Group… is indeed impressive, but I have no fame—would they accept me?"

"I have no fame either, and don't you have your Mr. Jia?"

Each member of the Teddy Sisters Group had one recommendation slot; Xiong Naijin had picked several candidates, but none suited her well.

She knew few popular stars, and even fewer she was close to; finding someone like herself would only land them as a nobody inside.

Gan Wei was different: not only were they close, but crucially, Gan Wei had a wealthy boyfriend with some ties to the film and television industry.

If they brought Gan Wei in, it might elevate Xiong Naijin's standing within the group.

Gan Wei was tempted but still said: "I need to ask Mr. Jia's opinion."

Being a wealthy man's girlfriend wasn't easy—without Mr. Jia's approval, she wouldn't dare act on her own.

————

PS: Writer's block—1000 words short.

Still owe 3000 from before, 2000 from yesterday, total owed (0/6000); settle all by month's end.

(End of chapter)