Chapter 379 Confession from a high platform
Yuming, Haiyue Square.
Li Bi stood in front of the camera, accompanied by a cameraman, and randomly interviewed passersby in the square.
"Do you have any stories about your youth that you'd like to share?"
Are you a couple? When did you get together?
Are there any regrets from your youth?
...
Li Bi randomly interviewed passersby one by one, and these interviews were broadcast simultaneously in his live stream.
This is a warm-up.
Every now and then, Li Bi would emphasize: "Ladies and gentlemen, today, at Haiyue Square in Yuming, we at 'Jump Up' will be joining forces with 'Late Spring' to host a large-scale 'Confession of Regret' event. In two hours, there—"
He pointed to a high platform behind him.
"In your youth, was there someone you liked but never confessed to? Was there someone you felt guilty towards? Is there someone you still miss? Love, friendship, family—if you have regrets from your youth and are willing to share your story with us, please come to Haiyue Square in Yuming. You can contact our staff offstage." Li Bi said, emphasizing, "This event will be broadcast live in my live stream room and on the Northern Lights video platform, so your confession will be heard by the whole world, and perhaps even by the person you want to confess to."
The number of viewers in Li Bi's live stream skyrocketed.
The main reason is that Li Bi's live stream was not only broadcast on his own social media account, but also simultaneously on Aurora Video, which led many people on Aurora Video to enter Li Bi's live stream room.
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"Li Bi's live stream viewership has exceeded two million," Yu Lang said to Chen Siqi after glancing at the data.
Chen Siqi led Yu Lang into a building next to Haiyue Square, where they rented a large conference room as their workspace.
Upon entering, one finds several people sitting inside.
Lin Yu and Chen Qin are both there; they are going over the process with the actors.
"You are all performing arts students. These love letters are not fictional; they are written by our readers based on their own experiences and with their authorization. So, please study each love letter you receive as you would a script or a character. Once you are on stage, you will be the owners of this love letter. Please use your professional skills and emotions to move us all."
Chen Siqi said this to the students she had recruited from performing arts schools.
"We will also clarify through our official Weibo account that this confession event was a performance created by you based on real submissions, and it will not cause any trouble to your lives, so please rest assured."
The students who took the job for the 3,000 yuan reward all breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Chen Siqi's words.
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The public explanation was that they would find someone to confess their love on stage, but to organize such a large event, especially one that was to coincide with the release of the film "Late Spring," it was impossible to place all their hopes on the "on-site" confession.
These actors were found by Chen Siqi and her team. When confessing their love, they wouldn't say they were actors, but rather act out a "live performance" feeling. If it could generate a huge response online as expected, they would then explain it.
Those who actually see this event and want to go on stage to confess and share their stories will be arranged to go up if the staff thinks their stories are suitable after communicating with them.
This is something Chen Siqi has wanted to do for a long time.
Originally designed as a promotional event for "Jump Up", it just so happened that "Late Spring" came to them to customize a promotional campaign, and Chen Siqi felt that this event was also suitable for "Late Spring", so they moved it here directly.
Chen Siqi went directly to see the Northern Lights.
"Although this is in line with the promotion of the film 'Late Spring,' the format itself will definitely attract a lot of attention," Chen Siqi said when introducing the plan. "If it works well this time, we can even turn it into a series of programs."
The Northern Lights themselves signed a cooperation framework agreement with Lu Yanhe, which is why Chen Siqi chose Northern Lights Video as her first choice.
And the aurora borealis didn't cause any problems.
The other party immediately recognized the innovative idea and said, "We'd like to cooperate with you on this event, no problem. However, I'd like to obtain authorization from you, as this format is indeed suitable for making it into a series of programs."
In particular, the production of this program requires virtually no cost.
There are no big stars, only ordinary people participating, and the production team may not even need many people.
The other party immediately took a liking to this style.
Confessing one's love in public.
A confession of love means a lot of stories and topics, which will definitely attract a lot of attention.
Even without celebrities.
When a good idea is first proposed, many people will realize its value.
Truly good ideas that are not seen as valuable are still a very small minority.
Chen Siqi was not surprised that the other party immediately wanted to obtain the authorization for this event format and turn it into a series of programs.
Of course, she didn't agree immediately.
"Let's talk about this after we finish this event," Chen Siqi said.
She didn't intend to license this idea out casually; licensing it would only bring in a licensing fee. Neither she nor "Jump Up" needed that kind of money. More than that licensing fee, Chen Siqi wanted "Jump Up" to be truly involved in the program, to make it a long-term business.
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The event started at 5 p.m.
Why wait until 5 o'clock? Because summer isn't over yet, and it's too hot to start too early.
Besides that, most importantly, Chen Siqi said that the sunset at five o'clock can create the most charming background.
Before 5 o'clock, Li Bi had already single-handedly taken on the pre-heating work.
Later on, his viewers were flooding the chat with comments:
—Why don't you go get a drink of water? Your voice sounds hoarse.
—I was drenched in sweat, and I did a live stream for three hours straight under this blazing sun. That's insane!
—I never expected that Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi would be such heartless capitalists.
—You're working so hard. Other streamers are sitting in front of the camera looking beautiful and handsome, but you look like a laborer in the live stream room.
...
Seeing these comments, Li Bi said, "Thank you all for your concern. It was really tiring to do a live stream for three hours straight under the scorching sun and interview people all the time, but this is what I wanted. I am the only video blogger signed by 'Jump Up'. The company has given me all the resources for short videos, so I have to take on this responsibility when they need me. It's not like I work this hard every day, so you don't need to feel sorry for me. To be honest, compared to my two bosses, I don't feel like I'm working that hard."
Li Bi said, "They all worked hard to build their businesses from scratch. The reason I am seen by so many people is because I stand on their shoulders and have been fed a lot of resources by them. They have saved me so much energy and effort. What is hardship compared to that? If I hadn't met them, I don't know how many times I would have had to work hard to be seen by you."
Li Bi's remarks prompted viewers in the live stream to flood the chat with "666".
This is also Li Bi's true thought.
When I was a paparazzi, I would painstakingly follow people for more than ten days, not knowing what I would get to photograph. Maybe it would all be for nothing, and I wouldn't get any photos at all.
But the hard work now is definitely worth the effort and the reward – and that's why Li Bi is more and more motivated, as if he has a perpetual motion machine inside him, and he doesn't feel tired at all.
People are not afraid of hard work, but they are afraid of hard work that is worthless and meaningless, in which case no matter how hard they try, it will be a waste of effort.
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The major films released during the National Day holiday alongside "Late Spring" basically didn't take it seriously or consider it a competitor.
Because these award-winning art films are not aimed at the market and audiences from the very beginning of their production, their box office is at most 100-200 million yuan, which will not have an impact on the overall situation during the National Day holiday when the box office is as high as 1 billion to 2 billion yuan.
Therefore, "Late Spring" was never in the competitive field of top films from the very beginning.
Until that night.
The number one trending topic: An apology that was many years overdue.
The second most searched topic: I once loved you without hesitation, but now I just hope you get hit by a car and die when you go out.
...
Both of these trending topics stemmed from the high-platform confession that took place two hours earlier.
The top trending topic was from a third-year college student who shared her regrets about her mother. She recounted how her parents divorced when she was young, and she was raised by her mother while her father went abroad, sending her money every month to support her. Because she failed her college entrance exams, her mother was furious with her, blaming her for being disappointing and failing to live up to all the years of hard work she had put into raising her. The girl angrily declared that she would never want her mother to support her again!
Her mother questioned her: "If you don't want me to support you, what are you going to do, starve?!"
She said, "Anyway, my dad will send me money!"
Because of this incident, her relationship with her mother remained strained. When she returned home for holidays, the two of them barely spoke. This matter remained a thorn in her side, and she stubbornly insisted that she didn't want her mother to support her and wouldn't ask for a single penny from her again. She continued to rely on the money her father sent her each month to study, and also worked as a tutor and other part-time jobs to earn money, which allowed her to complete her junior year of college.
Two months ago, her mother suddenly died in a car accident. After she finished arranging her mother's funeral, she accidentally discovered while packing her things that her father had never given her any child support since the day she turned eighteen. The money she received every month after starting university was actually sent by her mother.
...
This is a confession that brings tears to everyone's eyes.
In her final moments, the girl reminisces about her childhood, growing up alongside her mother and the time she spent with her.
This confession video has also become incredibly popular because it touched on many people's memories of their mothers.
Many people said they cried while watching it.
The second video was not as touching as the first. Instead, it was about a woman who had been with her ex-boyfriend for eight years, but broke up with him because he refused to marry her or give her a commitment. As a result, less than three months after the breakup, her ex-boyfriend married another woman.
That's why the last line is: "I loved you unconditionally, I was willing to wait for you, but I waited for eight whole years and still got no result. I didn't blame you. If you wouldn't get married, then I would leave. But you're a real bastard! Less than three months after breaking up with me, you married another woman! I thought you were afraid of marriage, but it turns out you had already fallen in love with someone else! Bastard, now I just hope you get hit by a car and die!"
...
The most awkward thing is that neither of these confession events was prepared in advance by Chen Siqi and her partner.
They weren't professional actors they found.
They registered on-site.
The situation is that the event is very popular, but the two most popular people's speeches have little to do with "Late Spring".
Chen Siqi's original intention was to find some stories of confessions and regrets that occurred during adolescence, which would fit the theme of the film "Late Spring" better.
But things didn't go as planned.
-
Chen Siqi and her team looked utterly dejected—this result was completely beyond their expectations.
The magazine "Late Spring" spent two million to hire them to create a marketing campaign, and they successfully made it so that it had absolutely nothing to do with "Late Spring".
On the contrary, Li Bi and Aurora Video made a fortune.
Chen Siqi and Lin Yu looked at each other in bewilderment.
"What should we do? Is there any way to remedy this?"
Lin Yu said, "Right now, everyone is reacting more enthusiastically to those two confession videos. The confessions we prepared in advance from the actors didn't get much of a response. There's nothing we can do about it. It's not like we can force people to be interested just because we're pushing them on. It's really just a matter of fate, and we can't control it."
Chen Siqi: "But we have to control this. If we take their money and don't get the desired results, who will come to us for help in the future?"
“I think we should just go with the flow,” Lin Yu said. “Let this high-platform confession event continue. With such a large exposure, we can introduce and promote the movie ‘Late Spring’ before, during, or at the end, which will also generate a lot of exposure.”
Chen Siqi shook her head and said, "Doing this will indeed give us a lot of exposure, but it will not highlight our unique approach to promoting content products such as TV dramas and movies. If they just want exposure, they can simply place ads directly. Why would they choose us? We need to create a catchy meme for 'Late Spring' that will go viral."
Lin Yu: "Then let's hold the confession event in the movie theater where 'Late Spring' is being screened."
"Huh?" Chen Siqi looked at Lin Yu with surprise.
Lin Yu said, "There is another way: strike while the iron is hot and have the actors of 'Late Spring' participate in the high-platform confession event in the name of their characters. Use the high attention of this event to let everyone know about the movie 'Late Spring'."
Chen Siqi's eyes lit up immediately.
"That's a good idea."
Linyu then said, "I've thought of another idea."
The moment she spoke to Chen Siqi, everyone's eyes lit up.
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That evening, Chen Siqi posted a statement about the high-platform confession event on her social media account.
She said:
The original intention of this event was to encourage everyone to share their regrets about their youth and their stories of youth—since it was sponsored by Longyan Film Industry, the producer and distributor of the film *Late Spring*, it was primarily for the purpose of promoting the movie. However, plans never go as expected, and the confessions that were particularly popular today had little to do with *Late Spring*. Of course, even though I seem to have botched the promotion of *Late Spring*, the event itself still received a lot of love and attention, especially from the people who bravely shared their stories with us today; they moved us, and that's the most important thing. Now, I want to make amends: the high-platform confession event will continue. If you have any stories about youth, feel free to contact us. No matter which city you're from, as long as you have a good story, we'll come to your city to hear your confession. *Late Spring* is currently having preview screenings; if any cinemas near you are showing it, remember to go see it!
Chen Siqi's personal account has hundreds of thousands of followers.
It's not surprising that the editor-in-chief of a wildly popular magazine with stable single-issue sales of around 150,000 copies, coupled with her status as Lu Yanhe's girlfriend, has such a large number of fans.
As soon as she posted on Weibo, the trending topics on this platform, which was in cooperation with Weibo, gradually gained popularity.
A topic slowly emerged: the promotion of "Late Spring" failed, but the confession on the high platform was a success.
This was an idea proposed by Lin Yu.
"Let's use a failed publicity campaign to promote 'Late Spring'."
The high-platform confession was a failure as a promotional method for "Late Spring," but it was extremely successful as a social event and a program.
We'll use this topic to draw attention to "Late Spring".
Sure enough, thanks to the phrase "confessing love from a high platform," the trending topic gradually gained popularity, and remained so until the next day.
Many people were laughing.
Many film and television companies in the industry secretly laughed at Chen Siqi, saying that her publicity and marketing efforts had turned out so badly that she even took the initiative to expose her shortcomings.
Then, starting from that day, many people were surprised to find that the attendance rate of the preview screenings of "Late Spring" suddenly started to rise from 10% to 20%. Without any change in the number of screenings, the box office of the preview screenings of "Late Spring" jumped from 870,000 on the first day to 1.54 million on the second day.
On the third day, the second high-platform confession event began again.
This time, Peng Zhixing appeared as the host at the high-platform confession event, acting as a liaison between each guest who went up to confess. At the same time, he also took the opportunity to promote the movie and held several movie ticket raffles.
Starting from this day, Li Bi's live-streaming room began selling movie tickets.
On the third day, another confession appeared that made the entire internet burst into laughter.
An eight-year-old boy went on stage to complain that his father had borrowed his New Year's money a year ago and still refused to pay it back. As a result, when he went on a spring outing with his classmates, he couldn't treat his favorite girl to ice cream, but another classmate named Lu Zihao did. The boy was really angry, and his eyes turned red with anger.
The little boy's father stood in the crowd below the stage, and would occasionally take photos of him to capture the awkward smile on his face.
Besides this, another popular story is a worker's "confession" to his boss. In front of hundreds of people, he pointed at the camera and complained about all the hardships he had suffered since starting work. Behind the absurd story, many workers empathized with his plight. When he finally said in a very cool way, "I'm telling you, I'm quitting. I hope you go bankrupt soon!"
The entire audience burst into laughter and cheers.
This video was shared by many people.
That evening, Chen Siqi posted a second Weibo post: "Uh, so the second high-platform confession event I organized has once again had nothing to do with the movie 'Late Spring'? Am I even capable of doing a good job in film and television promotion?"
Netizens rushed to the scene upon hearing the news and left numerous comments.
—Why don't you become a program producer? Hahaha, the event you organized gave Aurora Borealis a huge boost in viewership, they made a fortune.
— Pass it down: Chen Siqi painstakingly planned the high-platform confession event to promote "Late Spring," but no one paid attention to the movie; instead, everyone went to watch the program on Aurora Video.
—I am not an audience member of "Late Spring", but I am an audience member of the confession on the high platform.
...
Chen Siqi followed up with a third Weibo post: "Given this situation, how am I supposed to shamelessly ask Longyan Film Industry for funding to do a third 'High Platform Confession' event? Can anyone tell me what to do? Am I supposed to say, 'I'm sorry, you gave me money to do two 'High Platform Confession' events before, and everyone liked the event but didn't pay much attention to the movie "Late Spring," but I still want to do a third one, so why don't you continue to support me?' Ah, my toes are already digging into the ground."
—It's okay, you go ahead and make your confession from the high platform, and we'll help you promote "Late Spring".
—+1, you absolutely have to keep this event going! It's so much fun, hahaha.
—I've already announced the release of "Late Spring" in my family group chat. Time to make a proper confession from the high platform.
—I bought two tickets. My girlfriend and I will go to see the preview screening tomorrow. Let's not give up halfway and keep going!
...
Lin Yu's "making the best of a bad situation" and the marketing of "a failed publicity campaign" brought a lot of word-of-mouth publicity to the film "Late Spring" at this moment.
On the third day, the box office of "Late Spring" reached 2.17 million.
On the fourth day, the producers of "Late Spring" received numerous requests from cinemas to increase the number of screenings.
Longyan readily agreed.
So, on the fifth day, the preview screenings of "Late Spring" suddenly grossed over 6 million yuan, and the total box office exceeded 10 million yuan, attracting the attention of the entire industry.
On the sixth day, Kong Fan, one of the lead actors in "Late Spring", appeared on the high platform to confess his love to the character Yu Lang he played.
At this time, the "Confessing Love from the High Platform" program already had over ten million viewers on Aurora Video.
Searches for the names Kong Fan and Yu Lang surged.
The preview screenings grossed 7 million yuan.
On the seventh day, the number of preview screenings continued to increase, and the screening rate reached 15% for the first time.
The female lead, Yan Lingyu, appears on the high platform to confess her feelings to her character, Yin Yue, reminiscing about the filming process and sharing behind-the-scenes stories.
More and more people are becoming interested in "Late Spring".
The preview screenings grossed over 8 million yuan. Total box office revenue exceeded 27 million yuan.
Day 8, He Qingqing.
Day 9, Wang Jing.
On the tenth day, September 30th, the last day before the movie's release, Lu Yanhe appeared.
Although everyone had already guessed that Lu Yanhe might also appear when the previous actors appeared on the high platform to confess their love, his actual appearance still caused excitement and cheers from the entire audience.
The movie "Late Spring" is appearing more and more frequently, with one confession on a high platform every day.
Almost every day, "Late Spring" is trending on the internet.
A film marketing campaign that was a laughing stock in the industry from the very beginning turned around and achieved a remarkable turnaround, with "Late Spring" grossing more than 60 million yuan in ten days of preview screenings, achieving the film's expected box office target before its official release.
At midnight on October 1st, the film's producers released a poster: "A box office miracle for art films. On October 1st, with a 12% screening rate and ten million yuan in pre-sale tickets, it comes from a high platform. What kind of miraculous path will it take? Watch 'Late Spring' and witness the miracle of youth."
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While "Late Spring" entered the top tier of the National Day film season with a box office performance that exceeded everyone's expectations, Lu Yanhe had already quietly arrived at the reshoot set of "The Silent River".
Huang Cheng's first words to Lu Yanhe were: "For the domestic promotion of 'The Silent River,' you must get your girlfriend to handle it. Yanhe, you need to give me your girlfriend's contact information. No matter which platform 'The Silent River' is broadcast on, you must have 'Jump Up' customize a promotional plan."
The film and television promotions for "The Seventeen Floors" in July, "Late Spring" in September, and "Jump Up" used unique and unbelievable methods to slap all traditional publicity and marketing companies in the face.
"Two million! Two million in expenditure yielded over sixty million in preview box office revenue. Longyan really hit the jackpot!" Huang Cheng's tone was filled with surprise and disbelief.
Lu Yanhe rarely saw him with such an expression.
He smiled and said, "Okay, I'll push it to you right away."
Huang Cheng said, "I have never seen film and television promotion done in this way before."
Lu Yanhe smiled.
He knew, of course, that the initial propaganda campaign had backfired, but he wouldn't reveal the truth now.
The industry now believes that the whole thing was planned and orchestrated by Chen Siqi and her team. In fact, looking back, it does seem to have been a design. They used unexpected, viral content and a failed film promotion to introduce the existence of "Late Spring," then mobilized netizens to spontaneously promote and support "Late Spring," and finally had the main actors of "Late Spring" use a high-platform confession event with over ten million viewers to tell their stories about "Late Spring," letting everyone know what kind of film "Late Spring" is about.
The box office success of "Late Spring" is the best proof of this combination of factors – audiences were drawn to the cinema because of it.
Only those who worked on "Jump Up" know that they truly turned the tide against all odds, rather than it was a design flaw from the start.
In short, thanks to this phenomenal marketing campaign, "Late Spring," which originally had a box office target of only 60 million yuan, grossed 62 million yuan on the first day of the National Day holiday, ranking third among the films released and surpassing 100 million yuan in total box office revenue.
Chen Siqi's phone was ringing off the hook.
(End of this chapter)
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