Chapter 242: Ground Promotion Expanded: Advertising Department and Jia Laoban of LeShi

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

The main creators didn't come—they were busy with roadshows and left directly after the premiere, splitting into two teams to head to other cities.

Those who attended were mostly film critics, reporters, and some celebrities with free time.

Yan Li originally planned to slip away quietly, but Wang Zhongjun of Huayi insisted on dragging him into a conversation about distribution.

The profit-sharing and distribution plan for "Night 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 wants Yi'an to put in more effort, so they needed to press Yan Li harder—Wang's brothers had long wanted to get together with him.

But Yan Li wasn't in Jingcheng; 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 avoid further harassment.

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

Regarding Huayi, whether past grievances or future competition, Yan Li harbored ill will toward them.

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

Talking about separating personal and professional matters was just empty rhetoric; fundamentally, Yan Li's goal was to make money—better box office meant a bigger cut for him.

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

Nobody was stupid; if he sabotaged Huayi, who would ever come to Yan Li for distribution later?

Kill a thousand, lose fifteen hundred.

Such a stupid move—potentially damaging Yi'an's entire strategic layout and harming both himself and others—was something Yan Li refused to do.

So Huayi didn't need to worry about Yan Li pulling tricks or slacking off; if he wanted to hurt Huayi, he wouldn't do it through distribution.

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

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

He guessed the Wang brothers were pulling him aside to discuss distribution because they lacked confidence in the film and were grasping at any chance to boost box office.

Rumor had it that the overseas distribution of "Night Banquet" had been disappointing—it faced heavy rejection at Cannes and now desperately needed a domestic box office boost.

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

Setting aside the flattery and exaggeration, the general consensus was that "Night Banquet" 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.

Even "The Promise" got trashed and still took the annual box office crown.

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

120–150 million.

Higher than "No Country for Old Men," but lower than "The Promise."

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

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

Of the films scheduled for release this year, "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, this film had a high chance of hitting 200 million.

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

The latter starred the young Gong Li; this one actually brought in the real Gong Li.

Zhang Ziyi's film record and international prestige were a downgrade compared to other leading actresses, but against a giant like Gong Li, she couldn't shine as brightly.

"Night Banquet" had Ge Da; "The Golden Age" brought in Chow Yun-fat.

Regardless of how overhyped it was, after "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Chow was now recognized by both industry and audiences as an "international superstar," with a salary second only to Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

The former had the popular young heartthrob Huang Xiaoming; the latter had Zhou Jie, who had conquered half the country.

The former had Young Master Zhou; the latter also had Liu Tianyi, a rising star leading the new generation of film actors.

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

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

But Boss Zhang of New Vision was used to hoarding everything—he ignored everyone except Anle, the one putting up the money.

Yan Li's two estimates weren't remotely eye-catching; they were even a bit conventional.

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

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

Yan Li's approach might not leave a strong impression, but at least it wouldn't embarrass him or expose his lack of distribution ability or vision.

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

When the gathering ended, Huo 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, and after dropping her off, firmly resisted her advances and went home to sleep.

Even Xiong Naijin, who had been secretly tailing him, was puzzled seeing Huo Siyan return home alone.

Had she gotten it wrong?

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

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

Just Huo Siyan following Yan Li after the premiere and him driving her home was far from enough to prove anything.

Last time, during Hu Ke and Li Feier's scandal, something similar happened—Qin Lan personally assigned Hu Siyan to be Yan Li's shield.

This excuse was the same one Hu Siyan had used to chase her away, claiming she was acting on Qin Lan's orders to supervise 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 drove her home and didn't stay overnight—also perfectly fine.

As for taking a detour, isn't it fine to avoid traffic jams?

Xiong Naijin even once suspected her tailing had been discovered, but quickly decided the likelihood was low.

To hide her trail, she specifically hired a taxi, keeping a decent distance; Jingcheng was full of taxis, all looking identical, making it nearly impossible to distinguish them.

And in the final stretch, she actually lost track of her—she just happened to wait near Hu Siyan's home, and the woman still showed up, as if she hadn't noticed being followed.

But no matter what, suspicion was suspicion—she had no concrete evidence, not even a credible claim; whether reporting or threatening, neither would do much good.

Exposing herself might even provoke Hu Siyan's retaliation.

Given Qin Lan's level of trust in her and her influence within the Teddy Sisterhood, she could crush or even expel her in an instant.

Xiong Naijin silently pondered for a while, still decided to hold back—given Hu Siyan's personality, she'd eventually slip up; then she could strike when the time came.

"…"

Back at Fuli City, Yan Li triggered today's intelligence report, watching Xiong Naijin's actions and calculations, feeling speechless.

Every member of the Teddy Sisterhood had their own little schemes.

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 bound to be trouble and scheming; it's rare to find a small group where nobody plays petty games.

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

Two separate tailing operations, and neither detected a thing.

Yan Li squinted at the intelligence on the second tailing team, besides Xiong Naijin.

Old Wang from Huayi is truly sneaky—he laughs and chats during gatherings, then secretly sends people to follow and photograph him to gather dirt.

One or two scandals won't hurt Yan Li, but if dozens are exposed together, paired with orchestrated narratives, it'll be enough to drown him.

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

Yan Li himself doesn't care, but he can't abandon these actresses—if the number grows too large, chaos will ensue, creating openings.

"Truly sneaky."

If Yan Li hadn't been cautious and always kept an eye on these two brothers, he might already have been caught on camera in a hotel room they arranged.

You can do the first day, I can do the fifteenth.

Yan Li pulled out his phone and called his subordinates, ordering them to contact or select several capable people.

Wang Zhongjun is still cautious, but Wang's second son isn't discreet—Yan Li plans to probe his base and dig up some explosive material.

These people can at most follow him and snap ambiguous photos; with Yan Li's precise intelligence and proper execution, there's so much he can do.

Want to sneak attack him? When the time comes, he'll strip these two brothers down to their underwear and see who's making the noise.

————

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

After "Night Banquet" premiered, as Yan Li had predicted, it was mocked from all sides—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 also defended himself and denied that "Night Banquet" was a flop, he admitted certain flaws and took primary responsibility.

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

Feng's comedies were the most famous and popular, yet they were constantly disparaged by insiders and never caught up to Zhang or Chen.

Feng Xiaogang clearly couldn't accept this reality, so he actively transitioned—"Night Banquet" and "Assembly" were his proof that 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.

Afterward, due to poor word-of-mouth, box office trends dropped sharply.

But breaking 100 million was a sure thing; 150 million didn't seem far off.

In late September, "Baby Plan" was released—it underperformed compared to "Night Banquet," but its momentum remained strong, with a high chance of breaking 100 million.

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

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

Of course, compared to money, Yan Li valued more the opportunity to expand, recruit, and train Yi'an's distribution and Ground Promotion teams through these two films.

Distribution and Ground Promotion teams need to be nurtured and trained.

Although "Crazy Stone" was a dark horse, it was a tough fight on a small scale; participating in the distribution of "Night Banquet" and other major hits gave Yi'an real, hands-on exposure to the film market, truly propelling its film distribution business into maturity and professionalism.

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 runs, Yi'an's Ground Promotion was expected to cover over 120–150 prefecture-level cities nationwide, with at least 50 permanent outposts established.

An outpost meant a long-term fixed presence, staffed by two to three full-time employees.

Under its current limited business, setting up so many outposts was equivalent to paying salaries for idle staff—this wasn't a small sum—but Yi'an still insisted, revealing its deep emphasis and high expectations for Ground Promotion Priority.

Still, there was no need to worry about wasting money on idle teams—once a few films built its reputation, some business inevitably came knocking.

Moreover, Yi'an's TV drama distribution and advertising businesses could also assign substantial work to Ground Promotion; as all operations gradually expanded, Ground Promotion could become self-sustaining, no longer needing constant corporate subsidies.

Film distribution progressed steadily; TV dramas had no major issues; theater chains were still under 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 events.

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

A certain club, a business salon

Yan Li was chatting with the head of a clothing brand about advertising collaboration.

Advertising—a business the public barely understood, yet was actually extremely profitable.

The entire advertising market's scale can be said to utterly dwarf the film and television industry; many commonly seen film and TV product placements are merely a small slice of the pie.

Companies like Huayi and Xiaoma Benteng were originally advertising firms, built their fortunes on advertising, and even today, advertising remains a vital revenue pillar for them.

If Huayi can do it, Yi'an can do it too—and even better.

After all, ordinary film and television companies don't possess Yi'an's broad television drama distribution channels or its connections with numerous top-tier celebrities.

Moreover, Yi'an has a polished film and television production team, a marketing and promotion team, internet resources, and now has trained a whole cadre of field promoters to support offline campaigns.

One could say that Yi'an's resources, if not used for advertising, would be a sheer waste.

And one advertisement can boost every department—production, distribution, field promotion, and artists all get a share of the benefits.

So when Yan Li restructured the company earlier, he specifically established an Advertising Department.

So far, the Advertising Department hasn't performed particularly well.

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

Yan Li is considering replacing its leadership with an advertising elite, and during social engagements, he'll also actively secure business for the Advertising Department.

In film and television, many companies and enterprises are hard to connect with, but advertising is different—nearly all companies and products need to advertise.

Moreover, most deals aren't one-off; they don't require exclusive partnerships, and demand is enormous.

Yan Li's strengths in networking, negotiation, and client selection give him a natural advantage here; combined with his personal charisma, he boosts client trust and willingness to cooperate, making business acquisition effortless.

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

"Manager Wang, pleasure doing business with you. Yi'an will certainly not disappoint you."

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

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

Yan Li shook hands with this Mr. Jia; he wasn't being polite—he had genuinely researched this man before and once considered investing in LeTV, but after learning the background, he decided against getting involved and let it drop.

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

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

But the latter's ideas were more radical and idealistic, not quite to Yan Li's cautious and prudent taste.

Also worth noting is that in this lawless era of unclear internet film and television copyright, everyone basically prioritized piracy.

Even Tudou, which rose partly on the strength of some hit film and television copyrights, could only suppress piracy—and Tudou itself didn't reject pirated resources, investing very little in copyright acquisition.

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

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

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

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

This shows that Mr. Jia recognized the potential of legitimate copyrights.

When the video website war reached its peak and legitimate copyrights became unavoidable, LeTV, with its rich copyright reserves, naturally rose to prominence, attracting users exclusively, profiting from distribution, and siphoning competitors' funds.

Yan Li truly admired this business vision.

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

Many people saw the value of legitimate copyrights, but seeing and acting on it are two different things.

Internet film and television copyrights were cheap, but large-scale purchases still cost a lot.

But in this era of rampant piracy, who knew when the spring for legitimate copyrights would come? And who could guarantee these old dramas' copyrights would still be useful then?

What if they ended up stuck in your hands?

Especially for websites like Tudou and Sohu Video, their funds were limited and market competition fierce.

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 hoard copyrights to gamble on the future.

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

everyone was still only fighting over popular film and television titles; only Yi'an and LeTV were bulk-buying non-popular films and old classics.

Yi'an had a slight edge because Yan Li had wide industry channels and extensive connections—he could link up on every front.

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

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

Precisely because of this, although Yan Li and Mr. Jia were meeting for the first time, Yan Li had indeed "long admired" him and had already interacted with him many times.

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

Yan Li admired Mr. Jia; Mr. Jia, too, had "long admired" Yan Li from afar.

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

Though Mr. Jia was exasperated by Yan Li as such a formidable rival, he couldn't help feeling a sense of kinship.

At this time, LeTV and Mr. Jia were somewhat "lonely," and inwardly uncertain and hesitant.

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

Both admired each other and had many shared topics, so they conversed enthusiastically; after the business gathering ended, they met privately again.

…

A hotel private room

"Director Yan, let me toast you."

Mr. Jia stood up with 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 guessed many things in his mind and couldn't muster any arrogance.

Yan Li didn't put on airs; though Mr. Jia wasn't well-known, he was doing quite well himself, 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 importance and always showed him full respect.

After half a bottle of wine, they discussed some business ideas, and Mr. Jia voluntarily proposed cooperation.

Although they may become competitors in the future, their current conflicts and contradictions are few, and they can cooperate in battle.

Yi'an and LeShi jointly acquiring rights inevitably leads to both sides playing both sides and holding out for better offers; their competition to acquire will drive up market prices.

This forces both sides to spend more money, letting the sellers gain the advantage.

It would be better if the two companies cooperated, finding ways to jointly control the market and suppress prices to acquire rights at lower costs.

Of course, there are many details to discuss: how to cooperate efficiently, how to divide premium rights both want, how to ensure aligned interests and avoid being cheated by the other side, and so on.

But regardless, jointly suppressing prices is better than competing to raise them; after a brief thought, Yan Li agreed to Jia Laoban's proposal.

Jia Laoban was quite pleased; he even considered whether he could bring Yan Li over—merging LeShi and Yi'an would surely lead to rapid rise.

But soon, Jia Laoban dismissed the idea.

Yan Li has Tudou. com; he would never come to merge with LeShi. com, and even if they merged, whose word would be law?

Yi'an and Yan Li are currently stronger; Yan Li would never accept being his deputy, and similarly, Jia Laoban would never submit to being Yan Li's assistant.

So the merger sounds wonderful, but it's fundamentally impossible.

"…"

Jia Laoban had a good liquor capacity, but clearly wasn't Yan Li's match; after the gathering ended, he couldn't even stand up.

Fortunately, Jia Laoban had a driver, so Yan Li didn't need to worry—he put him in place, clapped his hands, and went to see Yang Rong, who had just arrived in Jingcheng.

Dong Xuan and Fan Xiaopang were filming The Legend of Chu Liuxiang and The Legend of Yang Yuhuan; Qin Lan joined the cast of Again, a Curtain of Dream; Wang Ou and Jiang Xin also joined; Li Bingbing was so busy he couldn't be found.

So during this period, Yan Li was not only "idle," but also had no one to keep him company.

Jingcheng had only Wu Jiani, busy with her dance studio; she had too many tasks and couldn't handle it alone, so Yan Li had no choice but to call Yang Rong to Jingcheng.

When Yang Rong learned Wang Ou wasn't there, she didn't refuse to come to Jingcheng, but she was just a snack—not a full meal.

During this period, Yan Li had been pondering whether to break his vow and seek Huo Siyan, or take time to visit a set, or perhaps find some casual entertainment.

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

"Big Doll" was his nickname for Yang Rong, a double meaning: one, her baby face, cute appearance, and petite frame made her feel like a large doll when held; two, "big."

On the other side, the drunken Jia Laoban was taken home by his driver, where his girlfriend Gan Wei and her best friend Xiong Naijin helped him to bed.

Jia Laoban, under 35 this year, had already been divorced twice.

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

Xiong Naijin was Gan Wei's closest friend.

They were hometown companions, former classmates at art school, acquainted for years; though they attended different schools after arriving in Jingcheng, they never lost contact.

But their paths diverged: Xiong Naijin acted but never made a name for herself until joining the Teddy Sisters Group, where she gained slight fame; Gan Wei hardly acted at all, and after meeting Jia Laoban, settled into being his devoted helper.

Gan Wei bustled about attending to the drunken Jia Laoban; once he fell asleep, she finally had 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 good, but I have no fame—would they accept me?"

"I have no fame either, and besides, don't you have your husband, Jia Laoban?"

Each member of the Teddy Sisters Group has one recommendation slot; Xiong Naijin had picked several candidates, but none were suitable.

She knew few popular stars, and even fewer with close ties; finding someone like herself would just make her a nobody inside.

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

If they brought Gan Wei in, it might boost her standing within the group.

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

Being a wealthy girlfriend isn't easy; without Jia Laoban's approval, she wouldn't dare act on her own.

————

PS: Writer's block, short by 1000

Previous debts still owe 3000, yesterday's debt 2000, total (0/6000), settle all by month-end

(End of Chapter)