Chapter 57: The Fisherman Reaps the Benefit
While those with their own agendas speculated among themselves, Li Sishi used the mutual checks and balances among various forces to create a relatively stable and balanced situation, allowing her to avoid paying too much attention to the messy and dark side of this circle and focus on doing her current task well.
In particular, try to make the most of your spare time to enhance your resource competitiveness.
Sunny Lemon Tea and Lo Kee Telecom are both well-established and reputable brands in Hong Kong. Even without memories of her past life, Li Sishi understands that these two advertising opportunities are better than those of typical TV drama leads in every aspect, and the remuneration is also more generous.
She is currently working hard to earn money to buy land and take advantage of the booming development of the new district. Therefore, she is determined to get these two advertisements that can bring her both fame and money.
It just so happens that Men Leyun recently discovered the clear and pure side of her voice, and by trying to move it in that direction a bit more, it's basically perfect for the commercial song for Sunny Lemon Tea. This isn't just Li Sishi bragging; she's a young girl with a good image, who can sing and act, and who also has a certain level of fame. Right now, she's the best in Hong Kong.
After receiving the sheet music for the classic advertising song for Sunny Day Lemon Tea from Lu Yiting, Li Sishi hummed the familiar melody a few times to reinforce her memory. Then, she confidently followed Lu Yiting into the office where they would discuss business.
Speaking of which, with Miss Zhuang, the second-in-command of the TV station, they already have a much greater advantage than ordinary people in terms of resource competition: Sunny Lemon Tea's advertisements have always been in cooperation with TBL TV station, and every version of the advertisements they co-produced in the past few years has become a classic of TV station advertising, and has even been called an extra side dish for "TV meal" by viewers who love watching TV.
Given the consistently excellent performance of this collaboration in terms of popularity, reputation, and sales, it would be difficult for Sunny Lemon Tea to refuse this partnership and the recommendation of the advertising actor.
Moreover, Li Sishi has a rather unique advantage: the first version of the Sunny Day Lemon Tea advertisement and the most classic version of the advertisement and song, which is also the most classic version to date, features her junior brother Cheng Erjian as the male lead actor.
In contrast, the young actress and singer Liang Keying passed away at a young age—she was also a pitiful girl with a similar background to the diva Pei Yansang.
Both possessed the same talent and were exposed to singing at a young age, resulting in an overly mature and sophisticated singing style; however, the difference lay in their backgrounds. Pei Yansang was fed on by her vampire family, forcing her to perform on stage with her older sister at a young age to earn money for the family, while Liang Keying...
Because he was an orphan, he dropped out of school early and sang in bars to earn money to support himself.
Later, Sunny Lemon Tea invited the famous composer Lin Wu to create an advertising song for them. Lin Wu was the one who discovered Liang Keying, an eighteen-year-old "folk master". He planned to use her as a foundation to make a name for himself and then release a solo album for this future star student.
Unfortunately, Liang Keying did enter the music scene through her performance at Sunny Lemon Tea, but she did not become the second Pei Yansang as Lin Wu had hoped. Instead, she ended her young life without warning in the dead of night, when no one knew her, by turning on the gas at home.
Later, Lin Wu wanted to investigate the suspicious points of Liang Keying's death. He felt that it was impossible for her to do something stupid when her career was just starting to take off. However, many people around him advised him not to investigate further. As a result, the matter became more and more mysterious as it was spread. Some people also said that Liang Keying was taken by the second generation of a record company, and she was unwilling to accept the unspoken rules, so she could only prove her innocence by committing suicide.
Regardless of the truth behind this young senior's unexpected turn of events, Li Sishi couldn't help but sigh for her: in this era and in this circle, there is so much darkness hidden behind the glamorous lights.
To be honest, if it weren't for her two lifetimes of obsession and the fact that having Miss Zhuang as her backer allowed her to avoid most of the dark side of this industry, Li Sishi probably wouldn't have been able to make that decision to venture into the glamorous yet treacherous entertainment circle once again.
Now that she's already in the thick of it, all she can do is work hard and strive for a better ending than in her previous life—as long as she listens to advice, isn't greedy, and steadily progresses along the path Miss Zhuang has laid out for her, at least she won't be as miserable as she was in her previous life.
After calming herself down, Li Sishi sang a few lines as a demonstration by the partners of Sunny Lemon Tea, and immediately received a satisfied look from them.
As for the price...
Li Sishi, a moderately famous artist with the halo of a beauty pageant winner, is definitely not priced the same as the amateurs and extras they previously signed.
The partners of Sunny Lemon Tea were also at a loss: in the past, they liked to use young newcomers, or simply find talent scouts to find good-looking ordinary people, mainly targeting the youth market; but they did not expect that the advertising industry has become more and more competitive in recent years, and production costs have risen sharply, so their old methods are completely no longer effective.
Especially the deep-pocketed Lo Kee Telecom, which is rumored to be creating a series of blockbuster advertisements with production costs comparable to movies—if they don't get involved, how many people will still watch their ads in the future?
After trying out some popular young models and school beauties from Yea magazine, and finding that they could only take still photos and would look terrible in any movement, Sunny Lemon Tea originally planned to refocus on TBL, a partner they had worked with for many years, and wanted to find young and fresh faces from the TV station to shoot this year's new advertisements.
Most importantly, Cheng Erjian hasn't changed much over the years, so it's perfectly safer to find a new female artist to perform with him. This would retain some of the classic elements of the previous commercials while also bringing a fresh feel from the newcomer. It would be much more reliable than making drastic changes to their classic, fresh-faced commercials all at once!
However, after the news spread, some second-generation rich kids who wanted to enter the entertainment industry and become famous also contacted the company.
If those heiresses hadn't been so unwilling to back down that things got a bit ugly, and they hadn't been taken home by their respective families, their company's new advertisement this year might have featured a newcomer taking the lead role.
With this in mind, Sunny Lemon Tea accelerated its contact with TBL, which led to today's meeting.
Since both parties were interested in each other, the conversation naturally went smoothly—especially when Lu Yiting touted Li Sishi's promising future in glowing terms, but then offered them a price only 30% higher than that of a newcomer.
Considering that Li Sishi will be participating in the Miss Chinese International Pageant early next year, and judging by her quality, she is at least a top-three contender, plus there are rumors in the industry that Zhuang Menghua is heavily promoting her, just waiting for Miss Hong Kong to finish her term before making a big push... In that case, wouldn't it be wonderful to sign her for two years of advertising endorsements while she is still cheap?
Soon, Lu Yiting also used this method to successfully sign a contract with Luo Ji Telecom.
"One thing I have to tell you is that, besides the fact that you are indeed 'good value for money' now, Leo also put in a good word for you with Luo Ji Telecom. Lu Yiting is a typical looks-obsessed person, and besides Li Sishi, she likes handsome young men the most, so she was also 'deeply impressed' by Ling Chen."
"Then I really should thank him properly when I see him next time."
㈩
Li Sishi smiled.
Lo Kee Telecom had already signed Ling Chen as the male lead in their advertisement, and Ling Chen is expected to live up to Lo Kee Telecom's large investment and bring in even greater returns. If the advertisement performs well and there is an opportunity to collaborate again in the future, Li Sishi's advertising value will also increase significantly.
Looking at the two contracts in her hand, Li Sishi felt a little smug: Let them fight it out, in the end she, the little fisherman, could seize this opportunity to gain...
Quite a bit of profit...
Hong Kong is known for its fast efficiency. After signing the contract, there was a busy shooting schedule. Li Sishi checked the shooting schedule, took a leave slip to ask the school for leave, and then threw herself into the shooting of the Sunny Lemon Tea advertisement.
This advertisement still has the familiar feel of the Sunny Day Lemon Tea advertising series, accompanied by the classic advertising song "If It's Sunny Day," giving off a fresh and youthful campus vibe.
However, the new advertisement that Li Sishi is currently filming this year is an extended version with an added storyline. The general plot is that the female lead, wearing a school uniform skirt, has a crush on a handsome boy from her school. In order to "accidentally meet him," she rehearses countless times her opening lines for their "chance encounter" in front of the rearview mirror of a lemon tea stall on the roadside.
With a blank expression, he asked softly, "Hey, what a coincidence."
He frowned, feeling that such a light touch wasn't strong enough, and instead burst into a heartier laugh: "Hey! What a coincidence!"
Amused by her own excessive enthusiasm, she covered her face and leaned back, then quickly switched to a more serious smiling expression: "Huh? What a coincidence..."
The girl's feelings were fully revealed in her hesitant words, and it was precisely because of this indecisiveness that, when the female protagonist looked up, the handsome boy she had a crush on had already drifted far away from the lemon tea stall.
In order to catch up with her crush, the female protagonist instinctively followed the handsome man for a short distance, then suddenly realized that she could take a shortcut to get to him and reenact a "coincidental encounter"...
And so, the heroine's soft, long black hair fluttered in the summer breeze as she moved, and dappled sunlight fell little by little from the shade of the trees. Combined with the heroine's bright, cheerful smile and the gently swaying hem of her light-colored school uniform skirt, the various dynamic scenes combined to form the story on the screen, making even the scattered specks of light seem to come alive.
And those large swaths of intense summer colors, seemingly filled with youthful passion because of this joyful pursuit.
Watching the female protagonist on TV chase after a handsome guy but fail to win him over, and then helplessly lean against the cabinet painted with lemon tea packaging at the entrance of the convenience store, feeling sad and heartbroken, many young viewers with strong empathy—especially female students—felt their hearts clench.
Who hasn't had a crush on someone? Who hasn't hesitated and tried for that person?
But how many people actually achieve their dream ending?
Just when everyone
Everyone thought this advertisement would be a departure from Sunny Day Lemon Tea's classic sweet and cheesy style, turning into a story about unrequited love and reminiscing. Suddenly, a handsome guy holding a lemon tea appeared from the other side of the cabinet and greeted the female lead, who was leaning against the cabinet with a frustrated look on her face: "Hi, what a coincidence."
Before the female lead could react, the handsome guy, after taking a sip of his lemon tea, added with a smile, "I'm leaving now," and then hurried past her, as if something urgent was urging him on...
But the faint blush around his ears revealed the true thoughts of the handsome man to both the female lead and the audience—it was a seemingly silent but actually mutually deliberate journey!
At this moment, accompanied by the standard line from the Sunny Day Lemon Tea commercial, "Sunny days are everywhere," the advertising jingle, re-recorded by Li Sishi, also began to play: "Like a sunny day accompanying me, a refreshing smile greets me..."
After all this twists and turns, we finally met again. The sour and slightly sweet taste is indeed completely consistent with the flavor profile of Sunny Day Lemon Tea.
Unlike Cheng Erjian, who felt awkward trying to look cool and was therefore too embarrassed to look him in the eye, Li Sishi looked with satisfaction at the wall-mounted TV in the Lucky Tea Restaurant. She was quite pleased with her lemon tea advertisement, which had become an instant hit among young people in the city: it would not only become a popular short film, but also a "homage scene" in many movies...
I wonder if that comedy king who paid homage to this commercial in a movie has seen it yet?
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