"Damn it, I asked how to handle this, not how to shirk responsibility. Get out of here, you useless piece of trash."
Sun Hai grabbed an ashtray from the table and smashed it over his shoulder, completely ignoring his subordinate who was bleeding from a head wound. "Zhang Dawei, you're the director of this movie, so you have the most say. You tell us what you have to say."
Zhang Dawei, who was hiding in the corner, did not expect to be called out. He stood up shakily and said amidst the gloating looks of the others, "President Sun, if we're talking about how famous 'Shaolin Temple' is, it's actually... it's thanks to the preview screenings."
Zhang Dawei blinked and thought quickly, "Mr. Sun, think about it. At first, the advertising for 'Shaolin Temple' was quite loud, but after we started advertising alongside 'Men in the Stars' and 'The Last Bullet,' 'Shaolin Temple' was suppressed to the point of being ignored. Apart from their own website, almost no one was discussing it online. It's clear that it was completely suppressed at that time."
Sun Hai stared coldly at Zhang Dawei, "You mean we should hold a preview screening now?"
Looking into Sun Hai's sharp, venomous eyes, Zhang Dawei couldn't help but swallow hard. "Mr. Sun, the movie is already in theaters, how can we have another preview screening? What I mean is, why don't we do what Fang Yang did and ask some people to comment online? Moviegoers will definitely listen to these experts' advice and buy tickets to see the movie."
Zhang Dawei smiled awkwardly. He knew his own situation, but what could he do? He didn't dare to discuss it openly. He could only bring up Fang Yang's successful achievements to get through this hurdle first.
Zhang Dawei's words inspired Sun Hai: "Yes, why can't we use existing experience?"
"Li Li, look at what you've done as the public relations manager! Fang Yang is just a bunch of newbies, and they've managed to make this a huge success. Look at what you've done! Two hundred million yuan in advertising fees, what have you even done? Tell me, how are you going to get through this crisis?"
Li Li hated Zhang Dawei to the core. He was utterly useless and more likely to cause trouble than anything else. Was this really an advertising matter? Didn't you see that the pre-sales reached nearly 80 million? Wasn't that all thanks to advertising? Now it's all the advertising department's fault for being incompetent!
"Mr. Sun, we can figure out how to handle the advertising, we can hire people to write reviews, or even send people to smear 'Shaolin Temple,' but we're afraid that if the quality of the movie itself isn't up to par, then no matter how hard we try, we'll be powerless to do anything about it!"
"Hmm? Li Li, what do you mean?"
Sun Hai frowned and looked at Li Li.
"Mr. Sun, during the pre-sale, 'National Fortress' had a clear advantage, and the advertising was fully in place. But why did it suffer a major setback the next day? I'm afraid it's more due to the quality of the film itself, which didn't resonate with the audience. This can be seen from the film's ratings. I'm just worried that if we spend all our advertising money, it might be good for a day or two, but then it will fizzle out again. Who will be responsible then, us or someone else?"
Sun Hai stared at Li Li for a long time. Seeing that Li Li was fearless, it seemed that there were other factors he was unaware of. He also noticed Zhang Dawei's evasive eyes and became more and more suspicious that something was amiss. However, since his son had volunteered to be in charge of this movie, Sun Hai still needed to ask him privately.
"Then let's do it your way for now. In short, we must suppress the hype surrounding 'Shaolin Temple'."
Sun Hai explained the matter to Li Li, then looked at Zhang Dawei and said, "Come with me for a moment."
Leaving his subordinates staring blankly at each other, Sun Hai, his face grim, led Zhang Dawei back to his office. "Tell me, what exactly happened?"
Seeing Sun Hai's murderous expression, Zhang Dawei helplessly reported the situation to him, "Mr. Sun, that's how it is. I'm just a nobody, I have no right to speak, I can only do as you ask."
Sun Hai stared intently at Zhang Dawei, "Such a big thing happened, why didn't you report it at the time?"
"Mr. Sun, as you know, your son is on-site supervising the company, and the producer is present from the investors' side. Both sides have agreed on this, so who can I report to?"
Sun Hai's expression shifted rapidly, and after a long while, he sighed, "You may leave now. Don't tell anyone about this, or you know the consequences!"
Zhang Dawei bowed to Sun Hai, then left Sun Hai's office. He almost collapsed to the ground as soon as he stepped out, his back soaked with sweat. He glanced back at the door of Sun Hai's office, where things were being smashed, before finally letting out a long sigh of relief. He had finally escaped death.
In the afternoon, Chen Chen discovered that a large number of posts defaming "Shaolin Temple" had appeared online. They were on all kinds of websites, and even rating websites had many malicious ratings, which dragged "Shaolin Temple" down from its high score of 9.2 to 6.2. The rate of these ratings was astonishing.
Chen Chen immediately reported to Fang Yang. Upon seeing these messages online, Fang Yang also convened a meeting with relevant personnel to discuss the matter. "It seems that someone has hired online trolls again. Uncle Chen, the old method, collect all the information on those big V accounts that specifically named and slandered us. Last time, we didn't hurt them enough, but this time we'll break their hands!"
Zhao Liang chuckled and said, "Same as always. The police matter is my responsibility, as is that group of online trolls. They're not taking me seriously. I'll make sure they're afraid of me from now on."
Zhou Kai laughed and said, "I also have a suggestion. Aren't they hiring people to maliciously inflate scores? We can report a bunch of them, and then we can publish our website's rating rules. As long as they have money to watch the movie and support us, I'll accept it no matter how low the scores are."
Fang Yang chuckled and said, "Uncle Zhou's idea is good. It can help improve the fairness of our website's ratings. We hope to use this to establish the authority of our website's fair, just and transparent ratings."
Zhong Zhifeng chimed in, "Besides that, we can also condemn their despicable behavior online. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the weaker party always gets public sympathy. Maybe they can even turn misfortune into a blessing in disguise!"
Fang Yang laughed and said, "That's right. Manager Zhong has mastered the essence of Sun Tzu's Art of War. He shows the enemy weakness and takes advantage of their strength. We should all learn from Manager Zhong."
Zhong Zhifeng waved his hand and said, "President Fang, you flatter me. I was just reminded of an old saying from my hometown and it came to me. President Fang is truly learned and has summarized the essence in just one sentence. You are a role model for us all!"
Zhao Liang stood up. "This is too much. You guys can discuss it here. I'm heading back to Kyoto to report this. If we don't find the mastermind this time, I'll change my surname to his."
Fang Yang watched as Zhao Liang's massive body stomped out of the conference room. "Alright, everyone, go about your respective duties. I hope we can show our strength this time. Otherwise, if we keep encountering these disgusting and despicable tactics, we won't have time to do our own business."
Everyone burst into laughter. Having experienced similar incidents several times, they were all quite used to it. They just didn't expect that there would always be such fearless people coming to their doorstep, which was disgusting.
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