Chapter 895 Listing Promotion
Just do it!
Zhang Bin is a decisive person. When he understood the prospects of VCD, he made a decision immediately.
Pirated videotapes were originally very common in Hong Kong. Every time a movie was released, there would be special gangsters who would secretly bring small cameras to the cinema to shoot and record the scene. These pirated videotapes that would appear the day after a new movie was released were called "gun versions". The actual meaning of gun versions refers to "early versions". Although the quality of these gun versions is poor, the pictures are blurry, and people's figures often shake during playback, for many people who don't want to spend money on movie tickets to go to the cinema, gun versions are their best choice to be the first to see new movies at the same time.
In addition to the gun version, there is also the clear version, which is secretly recorded by people inside the theater during the screening. Because the equipment is better, the recorded picture is clearer. Then it is privately sold to piracy groups for copying. This is the source of the clear version.
In addition, there is a high-definition version, which is different from the first two. It is actually copied directly from the projection copy. Both the picture and the sound are not much different from the genuine videotapes produced by the film company.
In Hong Kong, piracy has become an industry. Although major film companies have tried every means to crack down on piracy, the results have been minimal and there is no way to eliminate it.
Now, Zhang Bin believes that VCD will soon replace traditional videotapes, so VCD will be the first choice for piracy in the future. No one has yet entered this industry, so Zhang Bin is the first to try it out. On the one hand, he asked someone to figure out the production and burning mode of VCD, including equipment and recording costs. On the other hand, Zhang Bin mobilized his men to collect genuine movies and TV series currently on the market in Hong Kong, and after buying them, they were classified and used as "master tapes" for copying into VCDs.
The video technology of VCD is not too complicated, and this video technology has been used in the computer industry. Although the core technology is in the hands of Shenghua, it is only the technology of the decoder, which is completely different from the CD burning.
By upgrading the traditional CD burning equipment, it is possible to burn VCD discs. After Zhang Bin figured this out, he immediately got an assembly line through his overseas channels, then found a village near Kwai Chung, got the local village chief on board, and asked his younger brother to lead people to build a small factory.
After installing the equipment, under the guidance of professionals hired at a high price, Zhang Bin completed the debugging of his VCD disc burning production line. Then Zhang Bin started to rip and burn VCDs with the collected "master tapes". When the products came out, Zhang Bin played the burned VCD discs on Shenghua's VCD machine. He was extremely satisfied with the playback effect. So Zhang Bin made additional investments, not only adding two equipment lines, but also starting to pirate various movies, TV series and some colorful life education films 24 hours a day.
The cost of pirated CDs is about one yuan, and if copied in large quantities, the lowest price can be reduced to about 0.8 yuan. Zhang Bin sells these CDs at three to four yuan, which means his profit can reach more than 300% to 400%.
What kind of business can have such a high profit? Even the profit from the business Zhang Bin and Mainland had done before was not so high! Moreover, the risk of this kind of thing is much smaller, and Zhang Bin doesn't have to worry about sales.
Zhang Bin works at the source. From the time he sells pirated CDs to the final market, they have to change hands at least several times. Moreover, the price of three to four yuan is only the most common price of CDs. If it is a blockbuster movie, or a movie with a big star as the leading role, the price will increase by at least 20% from the original basis. If it is a movie with color, then the price will be even better, and a 50% increase is the minimum.
By the time the pirated CDs reach the terminal, the price of ordinary CDs has at least doubled. It is very common to sell them for eight yuan, and it is not uncommon to sell them for ten or even twelve yuan.
In addition, Zhang Bin's factory is in Hong Kong, but his main market is in the mainland. This is because Zhang Bin considers the local pirated industry in Hong Kong to avoid conflicts. Although he is now taking the lead and starting this industry before others react, those old pirated societies are not vegetarians. Once VCD products are launched, these societies will soon understand that it is an inevitable trend for videotapes to be replaced by VCDs.
Therefore, although Zhang Bin was also selling CDs in the Hong Kong market, he did not sell many and did not create a large-scale shipment impact. His purpose was to use this method to make private agreements with other Hong Kong associations, and then give up the local market at an appropriate time so as to concentrate on the mainland market. In this way, everyone would save face and each would keep to themselves, thus saving a lot of trouble.
Zhang Bin has his own channels for distributing goods in the mainland market. In these years of doing business with the mainland, he has also met many mainland bosses. Driven by interests, the two sides hit it off and soon reached a cooperation intention. Zhang Bin supplies goods, and the mainland boss distributes the goods, and everyone gets rich together.
After knowing this, Wang Juan did not let go of this business and directly took the sales rights of several areas in the mainland market from Zhang Bin. The shipment of these sales rights was decided by Wang Juan, and Zhang Bin supplied goods to Wang Juan at almost cost price.
This was a very normal thing for . In Zhang Bin's view, this was a private matter of his family. What was wrong with his wife, the mother of his beloved son, earning some pocket money in this way? Would he care about this? Moreover, Wang Juan also told Zhang Bin that these sales rights were not given to her for free. With Wang Juan's network of relationships in the mainland, the distribution effect was far better than Zhang Bin's distribution through his own channels. Later facts also proved this point. Just relying on this business, Zhang Bin made a fortune that year.
Time flies and it is September 1st, the first day of school for students, but this year September 1st is a Saturday. At present, the two-day weekend in the mainland has not been implemented, and Saturday is not a rest day, so whether it is working employees or school children, they still go out in the morning like usual, and then go to work or go to school.
But on that night, all major TV stations broadcast a novel advertisement. The product advertised was Shenghua's VCD player, and the male and female protagonists in the advertisement were also household names.
The male protagonist is the famous Chinese tennis star Michael Chang, who won the championship trophy in last year's French Open, becoming the first American player to win the French Open in 34 years and setting the record for the youngest men's singles Grand Slam champion.
Although Zhang Depei is an American citizen, he is Chinese. Zhang Depei, who is only 18 years old this year, is handsome and very famous in the Chinese community around the world.
In mainland China, due to the live broadcast and promotion of sports programs in recent years, Zhang Depei's name has become known to many people. Even many ordinary people who don't know anything about tennis have fallen in love with tennis because of Zhang Depei and become his fans.
The heroine is the famous Yuko Tanaka, who is known in China for the TV series "Oshin". With the popularity of this TV series, Chinese people have a very good impression of Teacher Tanaka, and she has great popularity and appeal in the mainland.
The plot of the advertisement was written by a team of screenwriters organized by Lin Yan's advertising company. Although it is only a short 45-second advertisement, it has a strong storyline and was filmed by a professional filming team from a film company. It has a certain degree of ornamental and artistic value. Such an advertisement can be called "excellent" not only in China but also abroad.
Speaking of the selection of the male and female protagonists, there is a little episode.
During the internal discussion at Shenghua, someone suggested that the male lead should be played by Kung Fu superstar Long Ge, and the female lead could be a Western actress to show an international temperament.
However, this plan was directly rejected by Song Yuanchao. It was not because Brother Long’s appeal was not strong. Brother Long was now in his prime. Moreover, as early as ten years ago, Brother Long began to enter Hollywood. Although the first movie was a big hit in Hong Kong, it did not have much impact overseas.
However, Brother Long did not lose heart and did not give up the idea of continuing to enter Hollywood. Just a few years later, another movie of Brother Long finally became a success in Hollywood, and he became a world-famous martial arts superstar.
From this point of view, Brother Long's appeal on the big screen is far stronger than Zhang Depei's, but Song Yuanchao still rejected Brother Long. The key reason is that Song Yuanchao knew what the final fate of all the products represented by Brother Long would be.
In order to avoid the huge "destructive power" of Brother Long on the agent products, Song Yuanchao shook his head repeatedly when he heard that Brother Long was the first choice. He found a random reason to reject this suggestion and finally chose Zhang Depei who had just made a big splash in the tennis world.
As for the female lead, Ms. Tanaka is far more suitable than just any Western actress. Besides, this advertisement is aimed at the mainland market. With Ms. Tanaka's popularity and appeal, she is far better than a Western actress with an unfamiliar face.
The reality also proved that Song Yuanchao's decision was right. When the advertisement started to be broadcast on TV, it instantly attracted the attention of many people. For a while, many people were wondering when Ashin and Zhang Depei made a movie together? But when they saw the end, with the appearance of Shenghua VCD and the subtitles at the end of the film, everyone realized that such a well-made short film was actually an advertisement.
This advertisement appeared continuously after the evening news broadcast and in the intervals between programs (TV series) until 10:30 p.m. Countless people saw this advertisement overnight, and the plot of the advertisement was deeply rooted in everyone's mind.
In particular, people were very interested in the VCD products mentioned in the advertisement. On the next day, Sunday, many people went directly to the local department store to inquire about Shenghua VCD products because of the advertisement.
But at this time, Shenghua VCD had not been officially released. According to Shenghua's strategy, the VCD would be released on the following Sunday, September 9. This disappointed many people and aroused their strong interest in the VCD product.
