Chapter 444: I Speak for Myself
Isn't the purpose of doing business to make money?
Now you’re telling me that making a lot of money is not necessarily a good thing?
A blessing in disguise, right?
Facing Song Honglin's puzzled look, Lu Yiming explained, "The Internet concept stock bubble in the United States is too serious. A new company with only a few employees, who casually created a website without even a profit model, dared to go to investors to ask for millions or tens of millions of dollars in financing. Such crazy behavior will only blow up the market. The Internet winter is coming."
Song Honglin was shocked and asked quickly, "Will this affect us?"
If it had been before, with Lu Yiming's words being so sensational, Song Honglin would definitely have thought that Lu Yiming was talking nonsense, but after seeing Lu Yiming's series of actions with his own eyes, Song Honglin's belief in Lu Yiming is now like a Christian's devotion to Jesus.
Lu Yiming immediately smiled and said, "Anyway, I have already secured the investors' money. I will not give it back. The rise and fall of the valuation will not have much impact on us. After all, I have money in my hands, so I am not worried."
Song Honglin didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "No wonder you agreed so readily when you were negotiating with the representatives of several investment banks just now."
There is no impenetrable wall in the world, let alone the collective action of the three major investment banks on Wall Street, it is hard not to attract attention. The news that Tianyin Internet Technology Company accepted financing was quickly spread through various channels.
A new company that had just been established for less than a month was valued at 40 million US dollars, which immediately made many entrepreneurs who could not even raise one million US dollars in investment envious and jealous.
This world is so unfair!
Kailyn has been watching a lot of news in recent days.
These news are all about Lu Yiming.
She didn't expect Lu Yiming to make such a big fuss again.
So, she went straight to Lu Yiming's house and asked for an exclusive interview.
Lu Yiming agreed.
Whether it is Mingyuan Technology or Tianyin Network, they also need to be promoted in the United States, and it is necessary to establish good relations with local media.
Lu Yiming accepted an exclusive interview with Kailin in his office.
For this interview, Kailin carefully groomed herself before going out. Her wavy hair made her look particularly charming and gorgeous, her white shirt looked particularly capable, and her low neckline made people know at a glance that she was a very career-oriented woman.
After both parties sat down and briefly introduced themselves, Kailin asked, "It's really shocking that you have combined music and online communities and achieved great success. Plus your Tianyin MP3 player, it's really addictive. My sister has one of these."
Lu Yiming smiled slightly and said in a gentle manner: "First of all, thank you sister for your support of our products."
Kailin said: "As far as I know, your Mingyuan Technology used to make memory, why are you suddenly going to make MP3?"
Lu Yiming said jokingly: "Maybe it's because of the dream."
After hearing this, Kailin also felt that Lu Yiming had become more approachable, and couldn't help but tease, "Isn't it because of making money?"
Lu Yiming shook his head slightly and said, "I don't care whether it makes money or not. I don't like money at all. The main purpose of doing music business is to make friends with users. After all, I am also a music enthusiast."
When doing business, we still have to take into account the emotions of users, especially young people in the United States who particularly like to be different.
If Lu Yiming dealt with them as a businessman and entrepreneur, they would definitely not buy it.
So you have to pretend to be as stupid as them in order to get their support. After all, this is a country where even the presidential election requires you to compete with your competitors to see who is more stupid.
Seeing that Kailin seemed to have some disbelief in her eyes, Lu Yiming immediately said righteously: "Really, I used to like listening to music very much, but at the same time I also wanted to share my ideas with more people who like music. Unfortunately, this is not easy in reality. Fortunately, the emergence of the Internet has given me a glimmer of hope."
Kailin finally understood Lu Yiming's good intentions and said, "So that's how it is. As everyone knows, Tianyin Internet Technology Company has just received investment from several Wall Street giants. I want to ask if the company will have any new moves recently?"
Lu Yiming said calmly: "It's a commercial secret, no comment."
"All right."
Kailin then asked, "You are now a successful businessman. You started your own business at a young age and became a billionaire. What do you want to say to those young people who are confused about the future ?"
Lu Yiming's expression became more serious, and there was even a faint sacred glow in it. He raised his head slightly, with a pious look on his face, and said: "The most important thing is not to give up your dreams easily, pursue what you like, and let go of your imagination. In this turbulent era, maybe you will be the next trend-setter."
The interview didn't last long. After all, Lu Yiming wouldn't tell Kailin a lot of professional and business stuff, and all he could say were just rehashing the same old stuff.
However, it must be said that Karen is a very skilled female reporter. When she wrote the report, she exaggerated everything, saying that Lu Yiming chatted and laughed with Wall Street tycoons, had a close personal relationship with the world's richest man Bill Gates, and was a major shareholder of Yahoo... She piled up all kinds of buffs and used all kinds of protagonist templates. A report was filled with thousands of words, which made Lu Yiming doubt his life.
Of course, it didn't matter what Lu Yiming thought of this report. What mattered was that after this report was published, almost overnight, Lu Yiming's name became known to countless young people who had dreams of becoming a beautiful country. Even his Tianyin community fans suddenly increased by tens of thousands.
Seeing that he suddenly had so many fans, each of whom had their own dreams, Lu Yiming suddenly had an idea.
Qianqian Jingting has always encouraged originality and discovered grassroots stars, which is similar to the way Douyin and Kuaishou are played in later generations, so as to attract as many "dreamy" people as possible. After seeing that many people expressed their feelings in the community and longed for success after the report was sent out, Lu Yiming thought, why not find a spokesperson for Tianyin Community and Qianqian Jingting to let these people who are eager for success see hope?
As we all know, the more dreams a person has, the easier it is for him to be exploited. This is also the fundamental reason why those vested interests oppose lying flat.
You have no desires or demands, so how can I talk to you about consumerism?
Lu Yiming will awaken the dreams of young people in the 1990s!
Lu Yiming called Su Zhenge and said, "Please arrange a team for me. I want to shoot an advertisement for Tianyin MP3."
When Su Zhenge heard this, he immediately patted his chest and assured, "No problem, I can find a few movie directors. Not to mention just shooting an advertisement, even a movie is fine. Which big star do you want to find? As long as the money is in place, everything else is not a problem."
He has been hanging out in Hollywood recently. He hasn't done much serious work, but he has made a lot of connections and can be considered half an entertainment industry insider.
Lu Yiming smiled and said, "It's boring to find a big star, and it costs money. I plan to do it myself."
"You come here by yourself? Are you kidding me?"
Even the punctuation marks in Su Zhenge's words revealed doubt.
Lu Yiming said confidently: "I'm not kidding, I have tens of thousands of fans in Tianyin Community now, how come it's not working?"
The fans he was referring to were naturally those beautiful American “young men” in the Tianyin community.
Anyway, no matter whether they received happy education in high school, as long as they bought Mingyuan Technology's products, they are "good students" in Lu Yiming's eyes.
Su Zhenge was serious for once and advised, "Don't be impulsive. For something like shooting an advertisement, it's better to find someone reliable, especially a spokesperson. You have to find an influential and well-known celebrity. I'm not afraid to offend you. If you go in person, how many people in the United States know you?"
Although Lu Yiming is now considered "famous" in the United States, at best everyone has only heard of Lu Yiming's name, and has never seen what Lu Yiming looks like.
Lu Yiming argued, "I understand the reason, but this ad hasn't even been filmed yet and it's already costing millions of dollars. Am I stupid? Why would I spend this money for nothing?"
Su Zhenge was suddenly speechless.
Bro, this is hiring a spokesperson, do you calculate the money like you do?
However, it was Lu Yiming's company after all, so Su Zhenge couldn't persuade him any further and could only say, "Well, I'll go find one then."
At this time, Qiao Ke was beside Su Zhenge. Su Zhenge had just hung up the phone, and Qiao Ke asked, "Is this Mr. Lu's call?"
Su Zhenge said helplessly: "Yes, he said that he wanted to be the spokesperson for Tianyin himself and asked me to find a director for him."
After hearing this, Qiao Ke immediately said, "Isn't this nonsense? Why not hire a celebrity for endorsement?"
Su Zhenge said, "I just told him the same thing, but he didn't listen. What can I do? This guy is usually very generous when he does other things, but why is he saving money on such an important thing? I don't understand. Forget it, it's his own company anyway, we can just go and watch the fun and see how he shoots it."
"Um."
Soon, Su Zhenge found a director who specialized in shooting commercials for Lu Yiming.
Advertising is probably the thing that contemporary Internet users hate the most, perhaps the only one.
Whether it’s the precisely placed pictures and texts in the circle of friends or the ninety seconds before a TV series starts, it all makes people feel annoyed .
These advertisements are crude and of poor quality, and are almost all slogans urging you to buy, buy, buy. They do almost nothing to enhance the brand's appeal, and may even have some counterproductive effects, making people determined not to purchase these products.
However, there are some advertisements that are a little different.
These ads are generally created by big directors. Their direction is not so clear, and they do not induce you to buy from beginning to end. Instead, they are full of each director’s unique personal style.
Su Zhenge found such a director with his own personal style.
The director's name is Thanonchai, a Siamese. His name is translated into Chinese as Tanochai.
Thanonchai, born on October 5, 1968, graduated from the Department of Architecture of Ladkrabang University. He was once a graphic designer and switched careers to become a professional advertising director in 1994.
In 1997, he shot a promotional film "Magical Siam" for the Siam Tourism Bureau and won the Best Art Director Award from the Siam Art Directors Association.
This short and fat guy with a full beard and an absurdly high hairline won 26 major design awards in 2011 alone.
Of course, these are all later stories, so let’s put them aside for now.
He is in his early thirties and came to the United States from Siam for inspection and study. He met Su Zhenge by chance, and the two got along very well. Coincidentally, he heard that Lu Yiming was going to shoot a commercial, so Su Zhenge naturally brought him over.
"Tano Chai, this is my partner whom I told you about, the business genius from Xia Country, Mr. Lu Yiming."
Tanochai looked Lu Yiming up and down and said approvingly, "Very good. Hello."
"Hello."
Lu Yiming shook hands with Tanochai.
Tanochai asked, "What kind of commercial are you going to shoot?"
Lu Yiming took out a folder and said with a smile: "Look, I have already written the script."
Su Zhenge said gloomily, "It's ok that you hired yourself as the spokesperson, but you even wrote the script yourself. You're determined not to let others make money."
Qiao Ke directly took the script from Lu Yiming and said, "Come, let me appreciate it first. I represent myself? Is this the theme of the advertisement?"
Lu Yiming nodded slightly and said, "Yes."
Jock gave a thumbs up and said admiringly, "You wrote this slogan too? It's amazing!"
"What? Let me see."
When Su Zhenge saw Qiao Ke praising the advertisement written by Lu Yiming himself, he became extremely curious and snatched the folder away.
A few seconds later, Su Zhenge's face changed drastically, and he blurted out: "This advertising slogan is awesome! Mr. Lu, you are simply an all-rounder!"
Afterwards, Su Zhenge patted Tanochai on the shoulder, with a sighing expression on his face, and said, "Tanochai, you should be thankful that Mr. Lu did not enter the advertising industry, otherwise you might not be able to keep your job."
“Is it that exaggerated?”
Tanochai was a little unconvinced and thought that Su Zhenge and Qiao Ke were exaggerating.
However, after he finished reading the advertising slogan and saw the action scene design above, the way he looked at Lu Yiming changed!
"This...Mr. Lu, let's shoot now!"
Tanochai himself can't wait to see the effect of this advertisement.
Lu Yiming laughed and said, "This is too fast."
"No, not at all! Start now."
"All right."
Lu Yiming didn't care when to shoot. Maybe now that Tanochai was full of inspiration, he could produce better results.
There are actually three versions of the "I Am My Own Spokesperson" ad. The one that most people have seen is the simplest one, where Boss Chen sits in a room and speaks. This time, Lu Yiming is going to shoot this version.
In the decorated room, Lu Yiming, dressed in a suit and tie, holding a Tianyin MP3 player in his hand, recited the advertising slogan.
"You only smell my perfume, but you don't see my sweat; you have your rules, I have my choices; you deny my present, I decide my future; you laugh at me for having nothing and being unworthy of love, I pity you for always waiting; you can despise our youth, but we will prove whose era this is. Dreams are destined to be a lonely journey, and there will inevitably be doubts and ridicules along the way, but, so what? Even if you are covered in bruises, you must live beautifully. I am Lu Yiming, and I speak for myself."
The shooting was completed in just one afternoon. Tanochai spent another day editing the film and sent the sample to Lu Yiming.
Lu Yiming looked at himself in the commercial, looking handsome and stylish, and said to Su Zhenge, "Fortunately, I don't like men, otherwise I would be obsessed with myself."
Su Zhenge: “…”
Damn, I’ve seen shameless people, but I’ve never seen anyone so shameless!
How can you say such things? Do you have any bottom line?
"Very good, that's it. Please help me contact the TV station and place the advertisement."
Su Zhenge nodded slightly and said, "Okay."
He was very efficient. On the third day, he called Lu Yiming and told him that he had won prime advertising space on three mainstream TV stations.
In the United States, everything can be measured with money. Even the presidency is held by the rich. Naturally, all TV stations are private. As long as you are willing to spend money, you can get any advertising time on any TV station.
As soon as the advertisement was released, it caused a sensation across the United States.
The advertising slogan was full of affirmation and recognition of young people. In addition, Lu Yiming himself was very young, so he immediately received a lot of support.
Whether in Xia or the United States, it is always the older "adults" who dominate the society. They suppress the desires of young groups, draw "red lines" everywhere, and do not allow young people to cross the line.
In such a depressing atmosphere, young people have already accumulated too much dissatisfaction in their hearts.
Lu Yiming's advertising slogan really touched their hearts.
Suddenly, Lu Yiming's name began to appear on the headlines of major newspapers and media. Countless people were discussing his story. The widespread heated discussion brought about countless debates as well as a huge amount of attention.
Tianyin MP3's sales volume surged again.
In the conference room of the Supreme Alliance Company, Ferdinand Mitford looked at the advertisement on TV, then looked at the financial statements in his hand, and then focused his eyes on a group of company executives in front of him.
Everyone was trembling, feeling as if they were about to be baptized by a thunderstorm.
However, to everyone's surprise, Ferdinand Mitford was silent, without even a decent expression on his face.
The huge office was surprisingly quiet, with only the sounds of everyone's breathing and heartbeats.
The atmosphere was very depressing.
After a long moment, Ferdinand Mitford slowly spoke in a calm voice: "When the times want to abandon you, they won't even say hello to you. Guys, we are out of date."
