Volume 4: White Devil Chapter 162 BT TV's Real Product
Thirty-nine-year-old Sean Ray dragged his somewhat bloated and obese body to sit opposite Tommy. The first thing he said after sitting down was:
"When Mr. Rick Luther stood up to leave, I saw him wipe his sweat. It looked like he was in a hurry to leave. I am different from him. I usually wipe my sweat first."
As he spoke, he looked at Tommy kindly with his cloudy eyes, and said gently: "Usually when I deal with people, I will first tell them implicitly that I am severely obese, so my heart and blood vessels have problems and I can't be frightened. This trick works very well. They will treat me more gently and give me some... I don't think you are that kind of person, Mr. Hawke. I have said so much, and you are not prepared to hand me a tissue to wipe my sweat... I am kidding."
After saying that, he took out his handkerchief and wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead.
"Rick just didn't expect that our discussion on the program arrangement was quite... comprehensive, covering entertainment, popular science, and humanistic care. He always thought that I was just an investor who was just interested in playing around with money, so he was a little surprised when he heard my views on the specific ideas of the program. That's all." Tommy smiled and looked at the fat middle-aged man opposite him:
"So, Sean, how many pounds do you weigh? Are you sure there are heart and blood vessel problems? Have you done the pre-employment physical?"
"Regarding weight, are you asking about it now or at work?" Sean put away his handkerchief and asked Tommy back.
Tommy was slightly stunned, and asked in confusion: "Is there a difference?"
"There is a slight difference. I am about 170 pounds now, which is considered moderately obese. But when I go out to meet people, I will wear clothes that make me look fatter. I will tell them that I am almost 200 pounds, which is definitely severely obese. In the eyes of most people, fat people are harmless and look honest. Some more vicious people even think that the fatter a person is, the slower their brain reaction will be. I like them to think that they are honest or slow to react. It's not a bad thing." Sean blinked at Tommy and said, "Who would dislike a harmless, good-tempered fat person?"
Tommy nodded in agreement:
"I have a friend named Jim, who told you something similar. That guy can actually train his abdominal muscles at any time, but he likes to make himself look like he has a belly. The most exaggerated thing is that the belly combined with his ugly face can actually win the favor of many women. In his words, when he has a muscular body, wears an Armani suit, and has that ugly face, the girls think he is a poor boy who has no money and is trying to cheat on him. In fact, when he first started to gain weight, he was a poor guy who didn't have the money to look his weight, nor the strong physical strength to maintain abdominal muscles. But just because he wore an Armani suit for appearances, the girls believed that he was a successful person, not a low-level white trash."
"He's just poor, not incompetent, and women are not idiots. There's a big difference between a capable man and a loser wearing the same clothes, even if they are equally fat." Sean Ray grinned.
"It's the same with public relations work. First you have to be capable, and then you have to look nice, so that the other party will be willing to give you a chance to interact with them."
"When Mark told me he would help me find a suitable vice president of public relations, I was skeptical because he had only been working in the headhunting business for a short time. Then I saw your information. You have worked in public relations in newspapers, magazines, and television industries. You also served as the public relations manager for the Washington State Attorney General's campaign team. Your last job was as the vice president of the public relations department of Playboy Television, in charge of media and public opinion. You successfully helped Playboy Television resolve a major crisis, but after you resolved that crisis, you resigned." Tommy picked up the cigar on the table, handed one to the other party, and smiled as he talked about what he knew.
Sean took the cigar and said thank you, then he held it up to his nose and sniffed it. "Actually, there was a sequel. A year after I resigned, the Playboy Adult TV channel also stopped operating, which was basically the same as closing down. So, it was only a half-perfect PR move, a perfect failure. I don't know whether it should be considered a stain or a highlight in my PR career."
"Would you mind talking about your last PR move in your last job? It sounds very interesting." Tommy cut off the cigar cap with a cigar cutter and said casually, "I'm more curious about employees helping their bosses solve problems and then leaving the company."
Sean didn't take the cigar cutter Tommy handed him. He bit off the cigar cap with his teeth skillfully and roughly, then picked up the lighter and toasted the cigar, saying:
"That's a long enough story."
"It doesn't matter. Just tell your story. The company will pay you and won't treat you as an idler." Tommy looked directly at Sean and said with a smile.
"Playboy opened its own adult TV station in 1980. In fact, the TV station is not very attractive because it looks no different from a magazine. If the audience buys a magazine, they definitely don't need to pay to watch its TV station. The same women, just photos have become videos, and text interviews have become TV interviews. It's a videotape version of Playboy. The ratings are so low that it is said that every time the boss Hugh Hefner holds a meeting at the headquarters, he tells the head of the TV channel to shut up and not report the ratings, lest he have a heart attack and die at the conference table. He must be encouraged and comforted by at least four bunny girls before he dares to open the TV channel data."
"It was not until 1983 that Mr. Hefner , stimulated by three consecutive years of extremely low ratings, finally made up his mind to replace his channel director who had no ability but had been loyal to him for twenty years. He gave him a severance package and allowed him to return to his hometown to retire."
"After we changed to professional TV people, the situation of the TV station improved. We had 10 hours of broadcasting time a day at that time, and prepared about seven self-made programs. The rest of the time we only played R-rated movies. Then three of the seven self-made programs stood out and became phenomenal programs. Two of them had problems. One was the outdoor reality show "Six Pack Abs" for adult female users, and the other was the elderly adult travel program "Don't Forget to Enjoy Yourself Before You Die" for those seniors with good incomes."
"Many married women saw the show Six Pack, where married women flirted with muscular young men and played intimate games, and eventually they couldn't help but choose to cheat on their partners to reward themselves. After the first season of the show was broadcast, an organization conducted statistics and found that more than 700 divorces were caused by the women cheating on their partners, and the reason for the women cheating was that they were tempted by the show Six Pack."
"The same thing happened with the second show. A lot of older men and women thought the show made sense. They didn't have much time left, so why not do something to make themselves happy? So they started to imitate the show. An 80-year-old man went to Vegas to party for three days and three nights and eventually died suddenly."
"There are women in their seventies who have the courage to become actresses in small films, just to show the world a side of themselves that has never been exposed before, thus bringing shame to their children."
"There are many such cases. The most exaggerated one is a guy in his sixties who, after watching the show, changed his nationality and religion, went to a Middle Eastern country, married several young and beautiful wives, and gave his son, who thought he could inherit the estate alone, a bunch of brothers and sisters."
"Any normal person should know that all this is caused by their own character flaws and has nothing to do with our show. It's just like when the movie Superman was released and there was a fool dressed like Superman jumping down from a building imitating Superman's flying posture. It had nothing to do with the movie. It was because that guy himself was mentally retarded."
"But this is how the world is. Even if it has nothing to do with you, as long as you achieve something that makes others jealous, trouble will naturally follow. Just as we expected, seeing our advertising fees and ratings soaring, trouble came knocking on our door."
"Perhaps Playboy's sales of 7 million copies per issue at its peak were scary, claiming that one in two men would buy a copy of Playboy, making people think that the company was powerful, but in fact, it was far from big enough and was shabby and leaky. It was only because the pornographic magazine industry was too small and there were ethical controversies that those bigwigs who really cared about their reputations ignored it. As we all know, Hugh Hefner has been firmly telling everyone for nearly 30 years, from 1960 to 1987, that he is an anti-feminist. There is nothing wrong with him publishing adult magazines and opposing women's rights, but when he entered a new industry and tried to grab the cake of other big companies, this was a fatal problem, especially after he rejected the cooperation proposed by some people in the television industry."
"After he refused to cooperate, various feminist organizations and some organizations in the television industry began to deliberately magnify the social issues caused by the two self-made programs, accusing the Playboy Channel of lacking social responsibility. Then, a senator whose family relative is the owner of a television station naturally announced the establishment of a television industry entertainment program ethics ."
"In fact, our public relations actions had already begun before the public opinion emerged. We paid newspapers that reported related news to remove their pages, including announcing support for same-sex marriage. We also had the bunny girls quickly appear on talk shows on major TV stations to talk about the company's social responsibility and the welfare of female employees, trying to change the direction of the public opinion. But these are not important. The most important thing is that the bosses must reach an agreement as soon as possible, that is, Mr. Hugh Hefner and the troublemakers talked about cooperation or mediation. The other party was very gentlemanly and gave them buffer space. During that time, we suppressed public opinion and the other party did not interfere. Maybe they were already sitting at the negotiation table and thought that Mr. Hefner would definitely be willing to talk to them about how to cooperate."
"Unfortunately, the fact is that Mr. Hefner felt that television should be run on its own, just like when he founded Playboy magazine, without seeking any cooperation. We persuaded him that adult magazines were a new industry at that time, and you could grow on your own and feel free to do so because you were the pioneer and the industry leader, and you made the rules. But in the television industry, you are a newcomer, so it is best to play by the rules. In any industry, there are compromises and transactions. The other party provides a buffer period. Even if you are unwilling to discuss cooperation, you should sit opposite them and give them a satisfactory reason, instead of treating them as a small player and disdaining them."
"It's just that Mr. Hefner was about to turn 60 at the time. He had been in a high position for so many years, and with countless beauties flattering him, he thought he was omnipotent. Self-righteousness is a taboo for those in high positions. In short, the communication was very unpleasant, and it could even be described as embarrassing, because my immediate boss, the campaign manager of a certain governor, the vice president of public relations of a TV channel, yelled at Hefner in the conference room: You are nothing! If those TV networks that were established in 1926 want to mess with you, it's as easy as messing with the bunny girls living in the Playboy Mansion. They don't need to ask if they are willing, they can just take off their clothes and push them down."
"Then my boss left Playboy Entertainment in Hefner's rage, and the rest of us on the PR team began to discuss other plans. I noticed at the time that the senator had said in a disgusted manner that he and his family had never watched our channel or program when he gave a speech to the public. So I had a bold idea. As long as we can prove that the other party has watched our program and use it to resolve the other party's contradiction, that is, Mr. Senator, and then as long as Hefner is willing to cooperate with the senator's opponents in Congress and show goodwill to women's organizations and use the media to completely handle public opinion, we can also overcome this crisis, at least the immediate crisis."
"It just so happened that during that time, Mr. Hefner was so angry about my boss's curses that he almost had a stroke. He handed the company over to his daughter and went to the hospital to recuperate. His daughter agreed to my plan and was willing to contact and cooperate with the opponent in the future. She promised to talk about issues such as equity or cooperation, etc. So, I started to contact the senator's opponent. After all, if you want to understand a person, the best way is to ask his opponent."
"With the help of the senator's opponents, I planned for about three months and had other organizations launch a charity event. The senator and his wife successfully attended the event, and his wife had an intimate contact with the actor from the Six Pack Abs show at the event. They didn't go to bed, but an older woman and a younger man had intimate contact at an event that was indeed a charity but disrespectful to women, including touching each other and whispering. These behaviors seemed extremely inappropriate on a moral level, especially when her husband was still accusing us righteously. After getting the photos, we immediately gave them to various media to spread them in the newspapers. Everything pointed to the senator as a hypocritical person. He didn't want other women to enjoy the pleasure of men and women, but he and his wife enjoyed it. At the same time, some women's organizations that I had prepared long ago also began to bite each other and confuse the situation."
"The other party was caught off guard. In order to maintain the goodwill of the female community, he announced his resignation from the investigation committee. The investigation was suspended immediately because they had to wait for the election of a new leader. At the same time, this also meant that for the Huahua Company Channel, I tried my best to win it a precious second buffer period."
"Because your opponents need to think about why you have the courage to tear your relationship apart. After they realize that you have found a partner, they naturally don't want the situation to deteriorate. They first need to see clearly the strength of each other to see if it is worth increasing the stakes and continuing the war. So they become cautious. This is why the second buffer period will appear."
"The normal process is that Playboy TV should cooperate with the senator's opponents. If they help you, they should naturally accept the benefits. Miss Hefner understands this, but unfortunately, Mr. Hefner was discharged from the hospital and still chose to refuse... I knew then that I'd better run fast. That guy has completely turned into a self-righteous idiot."
"I resigned, and as I expected, the investigation committee quickly expanded and reopened the investigation. Although the senators resigned, the committee was flooded with opponents of the senators who had helped us before. A year later, the investigation was closed and the Playboy TV channel ceased operations."
"That's why I said it was only a half-perfect PR move." Sean Ray exhaled a puff of smoke, looked at Tommy, and ended his story.
Tommy nodded slightly: "This story taught me that I should never think that I am strong enough to fight against everything, and I should always stand on the side of justice."
"Yes, as a failure case, it can provide a lot of experience." Sean said with emotion.
After Tommy digested the story, he asked Sean, "Want to talk about our BT TV station? Some opinions, ideas, etc."
Sean took out the cigar from his mouth and said seriously, "No, Mr. Hawke, I have been talking for so long because I want to say that you are the boss and I am the PR. You are always the one giving orders, there is no doubt about that, but you must tell me clearly what you need me to do. This is very important. The biggest mistake Hugh Hefner made was that he needed us to keep giving him advice and respond to his moves. If the PR just passively responds, that is the lowest level of use of our profession by the boss who hired people like us."
"So?" Tommy hesitated.
Sean looked at Tommy with a sharp gaze that shouldn't have appeared on his honest face:
"Tell me, you need to tell me what you want to gain and your real purpose. I don't want to exaggerate my work, but our profession is similar to that of lawyers. We must know the employer's real demands, no matter how exaggerated or bizarre they are. It doesn't matter. You are responsible for telling me, and I am responsible for considering whether it can be achieved. You can disguise, and we can even cooperate with your disguise, release countless smoke screens, take countless detours, but in the end... we will reach the destination you want to reach."
"Of course, if I had this job, I would also form a team to complete branding, media, planning, copywriting, docking and other tasks, but those are node-based tasks and do not require strategic considerations. I can brainwash them, give them a false answer, and use this false answer to hold various regular meetings with them to unify their thoughts, but I must know your ultimate goal."
Tommy lowered his head and played with his cigar for a long time before he looked up at Sean again. "I hope that BT TV can rely on its huge black base and slowly grow through mergers, cooperation, acquisitions, etc., and eventually become the fourth TV network of sufficient size in the United States, like the other three major TV networks, to be able to influence elections. It will allow me to talk with those who want to become congressmen and presidents about cooperation, deals, and how to become good friends who can talk about anything. Doesn't it sound like an Arabian Nights fantasy?"
"Is it an exaggeration for an actor like Ronald Reagan to become president? My job is not to consider whether it is an exaggeration or not, but to consider how to help you achieve it. So I don't know how the people in charge of program arrangement and commercial advertising view BT TV. In their eyes, maybe the products are programs or advertisements, but for me, it is very clear that the only core products of our TV station are black audiences and powerful people. My job is to sell this product to powerful people, and tell them that this product is indispensable to their political life. When your TV station gradually grows, the second product will be called powerful people. Sell them to your audience." After Sean finished speaking, he stared into Tommy's eyes:
"As an employer, would you please tell me, am I understanding this correctly?"
"That's right, Sean. If I have a friend who wants to run for president like Reagan one day, I will definitely recommend you to be his campaign manager." Tommy said with a smile:
"Welcome to BT TV, Mr Sean Ray."
