Chapter 582 The Invincible Marketing Genius

Previously, the promotion of fan fiction was often done organically.

Chen Siqi's decision to incorporate it into her film and television marketing strategy was quite risky, as the effects were difficult to control.

Fortunately, the major platforms on Jump have accumulated a large number of creators over the years. From fiction to commentary, from copywriting to advertorials, they have everything.

Chen Siqi held an internal pitch, asking people who watched the show, genuinely liked it, and created their own fan fiction, which was then posted on various online forums and hashtags.

Just as Chen Siqi predicted, the drama "The Summit" still has quite a few loyal fans.

The advantage of a well-received drama lies in this: it attracts a large group of fans who love the show, and as a result, they are much more enthusiastic about discussing it on social media than the average viewer.

As these fanfictions were released in batches and entered the internet, they gradually attracted the attention of some drama fans.

However, the feedback was mixed.

Those who like or are interested in it will give some positive reviews, but there are also those who strongly resist this kind of fan fiction.

Their reactions to these fanfictions were all negative—they felt that the fanfictions diminished the charm of the show itself.

This was something Chen Siqi hadn't expected at first.

However, after some research and comparison, Chen Siqi and her marketing team still believe that the fan fiction promotion strategy can be further promoted.

The reason is simple: these fanfictions have significantly increased the actual number of discussions about "The Summit".

For this show, at this stage, the most important thing is to ignite a wave of discussion among viewers, encouraging them to mention "The Summit" on their social media, and ideally, to post some related content. Essentially, the way to promote fan fiction is to create a socially engaging discussion topic so that more and more people become interested in "The Summit".

Under the management of Chen Siqi's team, one of the most popular fanfictions, along with the drama "The Mountain Peak," trended on social media, promoting a particular couple: Yan Liang and a female boss from a fraud ring. In the drama, Yan Liang goes undercover and becomes the female boss's henchman. In reality, there is no romantic relationship or ambiguity between them. However, a good drama can still spark some tension and chemistry between different characters, and this was also true for Yan Liang and the female boss.

In this fanfiction, the scenes where Yan Liang is "trained" by the female boss are transformed into a story of the female boss subduing the young wolf.

This is precisely one of the most attention-grabbing and topic-discussing character relationships in current online content creation.

People want to see a strong woman, but they also want to see the human side of that strong woman.

People want to see a kind and honest handsome man, but they also want to see the impulse and toughness of hormones surging from this kind and honest handsome man.

Simply put, it's a relationship based on desire.

Chen Siqi bought some stock, and sure enough, once it was promoted, the publicity spread. Accompanied by a few specially edited shots—shots that were actually not like that at all, but the separately edited shots, placed together with the descriptions in the fan fiction, made it seem as if there was a sense of "favor" and "pull" between the two of them, like a superior and a subordinate.

The term "younger man/older woman" derived from the fanfiction "The Summit of the Mountain" became a trending topic.

Discussion and attention have increased significantly.

In the realm of film and television dramas, the tension in the relationships between characters is always what audiences are most interested in, and what they are most likely to be drawn into and empathize with.

According to the backend data of Bingyuan Video, the search volume and playback data of "The Summit" have increased significantly. Although the increase is not large, it is the first time since the show started airing that there has been an upward trend.

At this time, Chen Siqi also came up with the second phase of the publicity plan.

This time, she didn't hold back and offered six million directly.

"In the first phase, we hired writers to write fanfiction, boosted viewership, and bought trending topics. We've basically used up 200,000 yuan, and we haven't made much money, but the results are clear," Chen Siqi said. "In the second phase, if we want 'The Summit' to continue its upward trend, we must increase our promotional efforts for several key marketing aspects of the show. Our goal is to get the number of viewers to exceed five million before the show finishes airing."

The people behind the Icefield video were somewhat dissatisfied, asking, "Is the number of viewers only allowed to reach five million?"

"There's nothing we can do. We've already lost the initiative. With this kind of promotion, it's easy to gain buzz within a specific niche, but to break through that niche and create widespread online discussion requires both time and a bit of luck. Right now, our good fortune lies in the fact that a certain character relationship that viewers are very interested in has become somewhat popular, attracting a segment of viewers who are interested in this relationship. However, this only attracts a small group of people. If we really want to turn this into a huge hit, we need at least a dozen topics that will excite the audience, which we don't have right now, making it impossible to generate widespread discussion."

Chen Siqi said, "Furthermore, in film and television marketing, we can only ever do the work of throwing out a brick to attract a fish. If we release fan fiction, whether we can get real audiences to participate in the creation of fan fiction, and whether we can use this to encourage audiences to further explore the points in the drama that may have a dissemination effect, we can only see as we go. If you ask us to make a script and make the audience follow our script completely, that is impossible."

"In my opinion, your previous promotional direction completely missed the point. Not many viewers are interested in so-called high-quality dramas with good word-of-mouth. Not many viewers will watch this drama just because of those words, not to mention that the beginning of this drama has such a high barrier to entry, which will not keep the audience engaged. For dramas with a high barrier to entry, you should focus on the high barrier to entry, so that when the audience feels like they can't continue watching, they are willing to persevere. For example, if you have someone around you watching the drama with you, you can have a discussion atmosphere."

-

A day later, Peng Zhixing hosted a live broadcast on his self-media column "Jump Up".

It wasn't a live video call; Yan Liang and Ren Suping, the actress who played the female boss in "The Mountain Top," were invited to an offline interview room.

This live stream was arranged by Chen Siqi.

Chen Siqi wrote a script, not one that detailed everything they were supposed to say, but rather one that specified the kind of reactions they were expected to give during the live stream. This was related to the marketing strategies Chen Siqi would later implement.

Peng Zhixing said with a smile, "Recently, the two characters played by Yan Liang and Ren Suping in 'The Summit' have become very popular."

The most crucial part of this live stream was Yan Liang and Ren Suping watching a video edited by netizens titled "The Female Boss and Her Little Wolf Dog".

Two cameras were pointed at Yan Liang and Ren Suping, filming them.

Originally, in Chen Siqi's script, Yan Liang was supposed to act a little shy and embarrassed, but after watching half of the video, he didn't need to act at all.

Ren Suping blushed as well.

The two looked at each other, then, as if something had happened, immediately looked away.

Both of them couldn't help but laugh, yet they were also a little embarrassed.

Upon seeing this, Peng Zhixing immediately put on a shocked expression, as if watching a show, and then quickly pretended to be calm, as if nothing had happened.

In Chen Siqi's script, what they say is unimportant; what matters most is the awkwardness they'll inevitably show when watching the ambiguous video edited by netizens. This very state is enough to become a rich source of material, processed by netizens into various dishes about "longing glances," "even more ambiguous," and "guilty conscience," ultimately becoming a frenzy for onlookers.

Peng Zhixing's reaction was the best seasoning for these main dishes.

-

With the encouragement of the organizers, the live stream became a hit as expected.

Why did it become so popular?

First, the relationship between these two characters was the most interesting and exciting topic that was tested in the early stages, and it already had a good fan base. Second, the combination of Yan Liang and Ren Suping is very fresh. One is a popular young male actor, and the other is a mature and experienced female actor. They are a pair that has never appeared in front of the public before. Their sudden pairing perfectly matches the mood of the audience who want to see a couple.

In today's online environment, this is called "openly and openly doing business".

Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai each posted a Weibo post that referenced the meme.

Lu Yanhe posted: I've taken it to heart.

Li Zhi's most famous line was: "Yan Liang is such a dog."

It has a hidden meaning, but it's not explicitly stated, yet everyone in the comments section interprets it and points the way.

With their influence, they can inspire more people to find out what exactly it is, and what kind of dog got into it.

Based on this, Chen Siqi bought more popularity and pushed traffic. With the celebration of the real drama fans in the early stage, the uninformed onlookers will naturally learn about the whole story in such a hot topic.

Some of them were hooked by this hook and ended up in the TV series "The Summit".

As more and more viewers got into and watched this great drama, its merits gradually became a topic of widespread discussion.

At this point, Chen Siqi and her marketing team changed their marketing direction. Instead of promoting fan fiction or certain topics themselves and seeing how people reacted, they found points with broad dissemination potential from real online topics and hot issues, and then purchased traffic to promote them.

In just a few days, "The Summit" suddenly started trending on various platforms three or four times a day. The vast majority of these were trending topics purchased by Chen Siqi's team based on natural trending topics. Millions of yuan were poured into it—

However, this time, the money spent on Icefield Video made them ecstatic.

"The Peak" topped the online drama popularity chart for two consecutive days, with both the number of viewers and new viewers increasing at a very impressive rate.

The latest two episodes aired with three pre-roll ads each.

At this point, Chen Siqi presented the third phase of the publicity plan.

This time, Icefield Video readily increased its advertising and marketing budget.

As "The Summit" is about to finish airing, it is clear that its market potential is only just beginning.

Chen Siqi said, "A well-received drama can have a long-tail effect after it ends. Viewers can watch it without waiting for updates or worrying about a bad ending."

At this point, besides the romantic relationship between Yan Liang and Ren Suping, the drama had already generated several other trending topics across the internet.

This marketing tactic, which turned defeat into victory, once again brought Chen Siqi and the "Jump Up" team into the sights of major platforms and film and television companies.

It's expensive, but who can deny that there's a reason why it's expensive?

In this successful marketing campaign, Chen Siqi demonstrated several key strengths: first, she mobilized a large number of writers to create extensive content and identify the most exciting aspects from the reactions of drama fans; second, she had ample media resources to disseminate and market these points; third, she seized opportunities immediately, designed plans, and generated new materials for fans to enjoy; and fourth, she promptly shifted her focus, preventing the drama from becoming a niche phenomenon and instead capitalizing on the momentum to promote other marketing elements.

Many of her practices are worth learning from, but many companies that distribute and promote film and television dramas also know that it's difficult to replicate them perfectly.

Sensitivity is very important in doing this.

No matter how many resources you have or how hard you try, if you can't get to the audience's sensitive spots, it's all in vain.

-

"Thank you, Siqi, for bringing 'The Summit' back to life!"

That evening, Lu Yanhe and his friends had dinner together, and Yan Liang toasted Chen Siqi.

Chen Siqi said with a smile, "Don't mention it, it's a win-win situation, and I also earned a marketing fee."

Yan Liang: "You should earn this money. They spent over ten million yuan hiring another company for pre-launch promotion, and it all fell apart. It was all about buying traffic and advertising, a nouveau riche-style, wide-net advertising."

Chen Siqi: "They are just trying to save trouble and have no sense of responsibility. They did not design a publicity plan based on the theme and style of the drama. I guess they just have a set of publicity packages. Whatever price you pay, that's the package they will use to promote you."

Yan Liang: "From now on, all my shows will have to be promoted by you."

"The most important reason why our publicity was effective this time is that your drama itself is of high quality. Otherwise, no matter how much publicity and marketing we do, it will be in vain," Chen Siqi said. "However, we do charge high prices, and we don't accept just any drama. We only accept dramas that we have a clear vision for."

Yan Liang: "After this experience, I believe that any production team should know that hiring you is the most reliable option."

At this moment, Li Zhibai suddenly exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

"What are you fucking doing?" Yan Liang asked.

“That grandson of a man, Ma Zhiyuan, said in his live stream that the script for ‘The Summit’ was originally offered to him, but he turned it down, so it was your turn,” Li Zhibai said angrily.

Yan Liang was taken aback.

Lu Yanhe frowned as well, "He still won't stop."

Chen Siqi said calmly, "Why are you all looking so gloomy? This topic that came to us can help 'The Summit' get another boost in publicity. Isn't that great?"

(End of this chapter)