Chapter 0898: Ulterior Motives

Anyone who achieves success, no matter the industry, actually shares a common trait.

That is, they never give up easily.

In other words, persistence.

It's often said that hard work doesn't guarantee success, but the problem is, if you don't even try and turn back at the first setback, you certainly won't succeed.

Not being satisfied with the status quo is the fundamental reason every successful person ultimately rises to prominence.

Jiang Wen also craves success. He is not content to be just an actor; he wants to be a director, to express what he wants to express. Simply put, he also hopes to elevate his status.

Now Zhao Fusheng has placed an opportunity before him. Even if accepting the Mercedes-Benz endorsement would certainly offend Wang Jinghua, does Jiang Wen care?

The answer is obvious.

Old Jiang simply doesn't care about Wang Jinghua's reaction.

In this world, even the renminbi can't be loved by everyone. To borrow an internet saying, 'There are plenty of people who hate me; who do you think you are?'

So, after hesitating for a moment, Jiang Wen nodded in agreement to Zhao Fusheng's proposal.

In his worldview, since Wang Jinghua and Zhao Fusheng have become adversaries, he will certainly stand firmly with Zhao Fusheng. Moreover, becoming the spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz cars only benefits him, with no downsides. Jiang Wen would have to be crazy to refuse.

Moral integrity also depends on the matter and the person involved.

Wang Zhonglei was equally surprised when he received Jiang Wen's call, because he truly hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to have Jiang Wen contact him.

An hour later, when Wang Zhonglei arrived at Jiang Wen's home and heard Zhao Fusheng's words, he was even more astonished.

"You mean, you want to hand this endorsement over to our Huayi?" Wang Zhonglei looked at Zhao Fusheng in surprise.

Zhao Fusheng smiled lightly and nodded: "What, President Wang looks down on the Mercedes-Benz endorsement?"

"How could that be, how could that be." Wang Zhonglei waved his hand repeatedly, then hesitated as he looked at Zhao Fusheng: "I'm just worried whether this might have any negative impact on you."

Although his words were merely polite, that's the art of language.

"There's not much impact. One of the conditions of this cooperation with Mercedes-Benz is that I choose the spokesperson, who must meet Mercedes-Benz's requirements of high-end, classy, and upscale." Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Wang Zhonglei meaningfully.

Wang Zhonglei was taken aback; he truly hadn't expected this.

Although Huayi Brothers also started in advertising back in the day, even the well-traveled Wang Zhonglei had never heard of an ad planner demanding the right to choose the spokesperson from the advertiser.

But Zhao Fusheng did just that, and what's more frightening is that those Germans at Mercedes-Benz actually agreed!

"Although Old Jiang doesn't plan to renew his contract with Huayi, I still intend to have him be the Mercedes-Benz spokesperson." Zhao Fusheng continued, smiling at Wang Zhonglei: "Of course, Huayi can naturally take a cut of the endorsement fee."

"No problem, we have no objections on our end." Wang Zhonglei interrupted Zhao Fusheng: "The split isn't important; what matters is the significance of this matter."

He was a smart man and knew that haggling over the endorsement fee at this point would make him seem petty. Instead, it was better to act generously and simply do Jiang Wen a favor.

Moreover, Wang Zhonglei believed that Zhao Fusheng wouldn't have specifically called him over just for this one thing.

That was his intuition as a businessman.

As it turned out, Wang Zhonglei's intuition was correct; Zhao Fusheng indeed had something else to discuss.

"Additionally, for the filming of this Mercedes-Benz commercial, I hope the actors needed can be provided by Huayi." Zhao Fusheng glanced at Wang Zhonglei and said calmly.

Wang Zhonglei was startled, but then a look of ecstasy spread across his face.

For an entertainment company like Huayi, how do they get their artists more attention?

The answer is simple: exposure!

What is exposure?

In traditional TV advertising, the exposure rate for a five-second commercial is the actual number of people reached divided by the total reachable audience in that area.

Applied to the internet, if a website has ten thousand daily visitors and an ad occupies a single ad slot exclusively, the exposure rate is one-to-one, with an exposure volume of ten thousand. If the ad slot rotates among three ads, the exposure rate for that ad is one-third, with an exposure volume of one-third of ten thousand.

Applied to outdoor advertising, the number of people who actually see the ad divided by the reachable population equals the exposure rate of that billboard.

In short, for a star or artist, the level of exposure determines their popularity and the benefits they can generate.

Even top stars and performing artists become well-known to the public ultimately because their works are repeatedly broadcast on television. The more they are shown, the more naturally people remember them.

Of course, there are exceptions. A particular actor might have a deeply impressive work that appears only a few times yet is remembered. But for the vast majority of artists, to become popular, they need sufficient exposure.

In the world Zhao Fusheng lived in his previous life, some stars with no notable works still gained public attention because they had enough exposure channels.

There are people who rely on their work to speak for them, but most artists place great importance on exposure.

After all, exposure brings popularity, popularity brings resources, and resources bring money.

In this era, TV advertising, as one of the main promotional tools, holds an undeniably important position, leading to a peculiar phenomenon: only truly popular artists can appear in commercials.

Zhao Fusheng's request now undoubtedly gives Huayi an opportunity to promote its own artists. Even though the spokesperson is Jiang Wen, his age and status mean he can't film all the commercial content alone, so supporting roles are needed.

And Zhao Fusheng's intention is naturally for all roles in the commercial to be filled by Huayi.

Well, to be precise, chosen by Wang Zhonglei.

Both were shrewd and sharp-minded individuals. Although Zhao Fusheng didn't say it explicitly, Wang Zhonglei had already grasped his meaning.

Throughout the entire matter, Zhao Fusheng had tightly focused on Huayi and never mentioned Wang Jinghua. But did he really not care about Wang Jinghua's previous little moves?

Impossible!

Wang Zhonglei asked himself: if someone dared to threaten his wife, he certainly wouldn't let that person off.

Although Wang Jinghua's actions weren't that severe, she was indeed provoking Zhao Fusheng. Since that was the case, Zhao Fusheng naturally didn't mind finding a little trouble for the renowned Sister Hua.