Chapter 117 Rehearsal (including forum)...
The rehearsals for the Starlight Gala began about three months before the Lunar New Year, making Meng Fanxi and his team even busier.
They had to study, prepare their album, shoot music videos, and also find time to rehearse.
Although the popularity of "Group Camp" has gradually declined, the probability of being recognized on the street is getting easier and easier. So even if they haven't debuted, the company has already provided them with a nanny car and they enjoy the treatment of debuted artists.
Fans who become fans of these idols through a mentorship system can only wait for random photos of them encountering other fans every day.
During this period, they also took time out of their busy schedules to film promotional videos for major endorsements announced on their debut night, such as those for Shi Fang and Star TV.
The promotional video for the endorsement immediately topped the trending searches on the day it was released, and then directly climbed to the top of the entertainment list. The forum even crashed because of it, and the programmers had to rush to maintain it.
Fans watched it countless times, exclaiming that it wasn't enough and they couldn't get enough of it.
This made some brands that were still observing completely certain that even though the hype surrounding the talent show had died down, Will Company's group would remain the most watched focus for a long time to come.
Meng Fanxi approves of the company's handling of the endorsement matter.
During the competition, many brands contacted Will Company to sign short-term cooperation agreements, offering the six members titles such as brand ambassadors or friends of the brand. Invitations became even more frequent after the finals. However, Will Company always adhered to the principle of taking a long-term view and not being in a hurry for short-term gains, and only accepted a few high-profile brand endorsements for the six members with high salaries.
Meng Fanxi and his friends heard some sarcastic remarks while eating at the Will Restaurant, such as that 9Echo had more endorsements than Eternal Six Stars.
9Echo is a limited-time group that debuted from the show "Teen Idol" on the other channel. The most popular thing about the nine members who debuted was the video comparing and criticizing them by bloggers in the comment section of video websites.
Although the show had a slow start and declined in popularity due to its clash with "Group Camp," it wasn't entirely without fans.
9Echo attracted many die-hard fans who preferred traditional solo talent shows rather than team competitions. The more a group was ignored and the more depressed they became, the more united the fans became. They regarded the nine members of the debut group from "Group Camp" as their main rivals, especially the only debut group, Eternal Six Stars.
The forum is where 9Echo fans are most active. In the Chasing Light Alliance, the content of a post sparked endless debate on the forum. The back-and-forth discussions among fans actually pushed the post to the top of the forum's real-time hottest position.
The post is titled "Breaking out of the information cocoon! A comparison of the number of endorsements after the group's formation. The so-called popularity difference between Yong Liu and 9E is just a brainwashing package from some fans."
9Echo fans listed the brands and number of endorsements that the two groups have had since their formation. 9Echo has more brands and is more active since their debut, participating in many commercial performances and brand events. In stark contrast, Eternal Six Stars only had a few endorsements after their formation and then went quiet, losing many fans.
The post attracted a lot of attention as soon as it was published.
In the post, 9Echo's fans echoed each other's sentiments.
2L: Front row.
4L: Looking at it this way, 9E isn't blurry at all. Who posted this? LOL
The original poster replied to the fourth commenter: Of course, it's some people who can't stand seeing 9E doing well.
14L: Bump this up so everyone can see it and let the data speak for itself.
26L: My God, the difference is too big. Sure enough, only those in the industry know the real result after the hype has subsided. YTWY's high number of votes in the finals must have been due to vote manipulation.
32L replied to 26L: No, not really. Everyone around me was watching the finals. My WeChat Moments feed was full of Yongliu-related content after scrolling through several pages.
40L replied to 32L: If the world is all around us, then my WeChat Moments were filled with posts about the finale of the Youth Idol competition, but YTWY was quietly nowhere to be found.
60L: Getting back to the main point, Yong Liu's number of endorsements is really pathetic, the fewest in any talent show.
Yongliu's fans and Weir's fans are calling on their own groups to ignore that post. The more they refute it, the higher the post will be upvoted. There's no need to give 9Echo's fans a second glance.
After being mocked for having six stars in terms of the number of endorsements by nearly a hundred people, their fans still couldn't help but enter the thread to refute it, and some even created new threads to refute it.
166L: Why not compare quality when we're talking about quantity? Yongliu's team consists entirely of global brand ambassadors for major brands; are they on the same level as titles like "best friend"?
169L replied to 166L: Getting anxious?
176L replied to 169L: Is it too urgent to just state the facts? Are you about to lose your temper?
209L; Some people in this thread can't hide their little schemes anymore. Yong Liu fans aren't worried. Yong Liu has a long-term plan from Will Company, unlike some limited-time debut companies that only want to make quick money.
211L: I'm afraid some groups don't even have a chance to make quick money. The hype about Shi Fang's global endorsement is indeed impressive, but isn't it the show's producers who are really good at it? The show's producers got Shi Fang's sponsorship, so whoever debuts will get it.
Later, Will's fans also pointed out that all six Eternal stars were still in school, unlike 9Echo, whose members were all adults and in college, giving them more freedom in their schedules and more work opportunities.
However, this was refuted by 9Echo fans for various reasons.
...
The argument between fans is escalating and spreading to various platforms.
After Meng Fanxi and the others left the show, they were not in a vacuum and naturally noticed some of the comments. Fortunately, none of the six of them were too shaken by the ridicule from 9Echo's fans.
Since Xu You and Gu Huailang lacked experience in dealing with negative comments and were somewhat affected, the other four people supervised them to prevent them from browsing related information and offered them advice from various angles.
According to Meng Fanxi, the initial controversial post was probably caused by the company behind the 9Echo group stirring things up, spreading rumors and creating drama on the forum to link it to the Eternal Six Stars.
A small number of fans on the forum created the illusion that 9Echo was quite popular, even comparable to Eternal's six stars. In reality, outside the forum, the former was virtually unknown.
This kind of operation can leverage the fans of the Eternal Six Stars, who are in a state of panic due to not seeing their favorite characters for a long time, to generate buzz for 9Echo. It is a common marketing tactic in the industry.
Meng Fanxi's views on endorsements are consistent with those of Weir Company. They are a team that plans to build a long-term business. Although there are many endorsement offers after the show ends and the company can make a small profit, the brands are just riding on the show's popularity. If they rashly accept all the endorsements, it will only damage their image and be detrimental to their future image management.
To put it bluntly, these members of limited-time groups who debuted through talent shows can't control anything. They are manipulated by the companies behind them and become short-term "money-making machines." Rather than focusing on their main careers, their companies probably want them to take on more endorsements and commercial performances to make money.
Meng Fanxi harbored no ill will or resentment towards the members of 9Echo. He also understood the fans who were swayed by the hype. He shared his views with his teammates, which were unanimously approved.
The ability of the group members to deal with public opinion challenges is also part of the training plan that Wei has always included. Originally, Wei also planned to take this opportunity to let the six members of VIER learn from the experience and train them to face negative comments. However, after observing for a while, he found that apart from some members being a little shaken at the beginning, all six of them quickly became as if nothing had happened.
She displayed a composure and calmness beyond her years, which Wei Ye and the company staff noticed, further raising their opinion of VIER.
Time heals all wounds. During the period leading up to the end of the year, various comparison posts kept appearing. From the number of stages performed after the group's formation night, the number of events participated in after the formation night, to the number of brand-name items worn in photos taken by passersby, etc., these were all comparisons made by 9Echo fans. Unsurprisingly, all of them were judged to be won by fans.
VIER members have a completely dismissive attitude. Fans have gone from initially getting angry when the other side called them right to now calmly replying to the other side's posts with self-deprecating humor like, "That's right, 9Echo is the hottest boy group in the universe, far surpassing Eternal Six Stars."
The Starlight Gala has multiple rehearsals, each extremely intense, with the possibility of a program being suddenly cut. Even though VIER's opening stage was a reward set by "Team Up," they dared not take it lightly and devoted 200% of their energy to it.
Rehearsals usually last a day. When they go out to eat at the TV station's cafeteria, they can always hear fans shouting outside the fence. It's as if they've returned to Mushroom Park. The six of them can clearly distinguish which are paparazzi, stalkers, and real fans.
They would walk closer to the fans to interact with them, order them warm milk tea, and chat about their day.
After the video was uploaded to the platform by fans, casual viewers who had followed the show before exclaimed that they hadn't changed at all and were really good to their fans. The mothers exclaimed that the kids were so well-behaved.
Other teams participating in the Starlight Gala rehearsals were also caught up in this atmosphere, and the next day they came out to interact with their own fans, just like VIER, which made the fans of those teams rush to VIER's fans to express their gratitude.
Such heartwarming interactions between fans are rare, and after the buzz spread, everyone exclaimed that they wish all fandoms were this warm-hearted.
But everyone knows that there is competition between groups, so that was just a wishful thinking.
Before the Starlight Gala, VIER released the group's pre-release single "The Only One," along with the group's official name.
Will Company simultaneously released the MV teaser for the pre-release track on its official website, Weibo, Douyin and other platforms. The MV has a sunny and warm style and was filmed in a famous scenic spot in China. In the early morning, the clouds and mist are swirling in the mountain stream, and six boys are running forward. The background music is the intro of the final "The Only One" which is familiar to fans. The figures of the boys gradually become blurred.
Along with the song title appeared the striking four letters VIER, which bear a striking resemblance to the crown logo of the Vier company.
Meanwhile, VIER officially confirmed that their debut group, Eternal Six Stars, from the show "Group Campaign," will officially debut under the name VIER at the Starlight Gala opening ceremony. They will perform the album's title track that night, and the full-length album will be released the following day.
A series of exciting good news left fans stunned and speechless.
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