"That's enough, I won't use this for now!" Wang Hai analyzed in his mind. He felt that using this battery to target Jiangnan was meaningless and had almost no effect. Moreover, Jiangnan Group could then boast about their customer service, which wouldn't do.
So, Wang Hai decided to use another item: the 'no-brand' beef jerky. This was irrefutable evidence. If Jiangnan Group understood the seriousness of the matter, they should immediately shut down the shop selling the no-brand beef.
If Jiangnan Group showed the slightest hesitation, Wang Hai would have found the perfect reason to attack. Combined with a public opinion war, it would definitely significantly damage Jiangnan Mall's reputation.
Therefore, Wang Hai unhesitatingly contacted Jiangnan Mall's customer service and stated that he had bought a no-brand product, beef jerky, and hoped their customer service could resolve it.
Wang Hai was very cunning here. He didn't directly demand that customer service close the other party's store. However, according to Jiangnan Mall's publicly announced regulations, stores selling counterfeit or inferior products would be immediately shut down.
Therefore, if the customer service did not proactively shut down the store after confirming the situation, it would mean Jiangnan Mall was untrustworthy and rule-breaking, making them a great villain.
As Wang Hai had predicted, upon learning of Wang Hai's report, Jiangnan Mall showed no intention of shutting down the other party's store.
Instead, as usual, they asked Wang Hai to communicate with the seller first. Only after both parties failed to resolve the issue through communication would official customer service intervene.
So, Wang Hai quickly found the seller and stated that they had shipped a no-brand product with no markings.
The seller's reaction was not as swift as the previous seller of fake batteries. After a full five hours, the seller finally replied on QQ.
"Record this; the seller is deliberately delaying!" Wang Hai scribbled key points in his small notebook. At the same time, the seller offered to refund Wang Hai and cover the return shipping costs.
"No, according to the Consumer Protection Law, you must refund and compensate me twice the amount of my loss! Selling no-brand products requires compensation of double my loss!" Wang Hai stated forcefully. xxs壹贰
The seller was not as straightforward this time. They repeatedly explained that they were not selling no-brand products but were just starting their business, operating this small online shop. The relevant procedures were still being processed and would be completed soon, after which it would be a "three-goods" product.
At the same time, the seller stated that Wang Hai could take the beef for testing at any institution. If any quality issues were found, they would bear the loss of refunding and compensating twice the amount.
However, Wang Hai would not believe the seller's sweet talk. He stubbornly insisted on a refund and double compensation. Eventually, the seller could not accept it and stopped talking to Wang Hai.
Faced with this situation, Wang Hai was instead beaming with joy. This was the state of failed communication he needed. Otherwise, how could he request customer service to close the store?
So, Wang Hai immediately applied for customer service intervention, presented the chat records, and stated that the seller's chat records had already admitted to selling no-brand beef jerky. Furthermore, they refused to implement the refund and double compensation clause.
Moreover, judging from their active admission that they were still processing the relevant documents, all 200+ previous orders must also be for no-brand products. Such sellers must be severely punished.
Therefore, this time, Wang Hai directly requested Jiangnan Mall to close this shop.
While the customer service used standard phrases to console Wang Hai, they gave no specific answers. Of course, this was still the situation Wang Hai desired.
It wasn't until more than ten minutes later that Jiangnan Mall's customer service informed Wang Hai that after communicating with the seller, the seller had agreed to compensate Wang Hai with a refund and double compensation.
This surprised Wang Hai slightly, and he felt it was a bit tricky. If he accepted the seller's refund and double compensation, he would have no reason to continue making trouble.
However, Wang Hai's eyes darted, and he immediately said, "This seller has sold over 240 orders in just two weeks. All users who purchased this beef jerky must have also bought a no-brand product. Therefore, Wang Hai demands that the seller provide the same refund and double compensation to all users who purchased this product."
"At the same time, Wang Hai also requests that Jiangnan Mall come forward and inform all users who purchased the order, send them messages so they know they bought a no-brand product and can apply for a refund and double compensation."
Seeing Wang Hai's demand, the mall's customer service fell completely silent for more than ten minutes.
After ten minutes, the customer service weakly replied, "Sir, please spare this seller this time. They are very pitiful!"
"Are they pitiful, or are the consumers who bought some no-brand products pitiful?" Wang Hai retorted unceremoniously.
Faced with such a situation, the customer service finally stated that it would need to be processed according to their internal procedures and that they would provide Wang Hai with a result within 72 hours, asking Wang Hai to wait patiently.
However, Wang Hai couldn't wait a single minute. Not to mention the behind-the-scenes benefactors urging him to produce results quickly, if he waited 72 hours and Jiangnan Mall closed the store, what then?
Therefore, Wang Hai immediately contacted his prepared journalist friends, and at the same time, the behind-the-scenes benefactors began to exert their influence. A magnificent public opinion war once again targeted Jiangnan Group.
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"Old Li, you've become famous this time!"
"Haha, my Political Commissar Zhao, your popularity isn't much less than mine. My daughter says that when marrying, one must marry a man like your Political Commissar Zhao, not a rough man like me!"
"Did your daughter's friend say that, or did your daughter say it?"
"Alright, you dare say that to your brother! Do you believe I'll shoot you if I report you!"
In a hotel conference room, Old Li, Li Youbin, who hadn't seen each other for several months, was chatting and joking with Political Commissar Zhao, He Zhenjun. Their last meeting was at the wrap-up banquet for the film crew.
At the same time, many familiar faces entered the conference room one after another. They all congratulated Li Yunlong, such as Kong Jie, Ding Wei, Zhang Dabiao, and Shang Feng.
Also, Li Yunlong's wife, Xiao Tian, arrived, but she came with Lü Bu. Standing with Lü Bu, facing the congratulations from Old Li, the scene was quite amusing.
In addition, even Colonel Yamamoto from the special forces arrived. The entire conference room was lively, and the hotel servers were secretly gathered at the door to peek. Many hotel guests, upon hearing the news, also came to see what was happening, blocking the entire floor tightly.
This was because it was the entire cast and crew of the recently most popular TV series, "Drawing Sword," appearing collectively. This was an absolutely rare opportunity. It was estimated that after this gathering, it would be extremely difficult to see the "Drawing Sword" crew together again. Therefore, many people regretted not bringing DV cameras or the like to capture this once-in-a-lifetime moment.
Indeed, at this moment, about 90% of the actors from the "Drawing Sword" crew were present. And the one who could gather all these actors was naturally the boss of Jiangnan Group, Huang He.
This time, Huang He personally extended the invitation to all members of the crew to attend this celebration banquet. After all, "Drawing Sword" was too popular. In just over twenty days, everyone in China knew Li Yunlong. It was a series that rivaled "My Fair Princess" in popularity back then.
More importantly, the actual artistic value of "Drawing Sword" far surpassed that of "My Fair Princess." Huang He even believed that only "Journey to the West" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" could surpass "Drawing Sword" in artistic value and viewership.
Well, it had to be the CCTV version; other versions were too rubbish.
Upon receiving Huang He's invitation, everyone put aside their work. Even those with work made every effort to cancel it and attend this celebration banquet.
Not only actors came, but also a large number of crew members, such as lighting technicians, cameramen, production assistants, costume designers, makeup artists, and even a few inconspicuous general helpers from the crew attended, filling the entire conference room.
Of course, these crew members sat in the last few rows of the conference room, while the front few rows were reserved for the glamorous actors. This seemed a bit unfair.
However, to be honest, it was impossible to expect those crew members to be in front of the actors. After all, the market determined that the importance of actors surpassed that of these crew members. Even if Huang He was somewhat dissatisfied, he couldn't change the market's overall perception.
But similarly, for all the crew members to be able to sit with the actors and attend the crew's celebration banquet was already a significant step forward for the entire film and television industry.
The last to arrive among all the crew members was Yang Xiuqin (played by Hu Jing), Li Yunlong's first wife. She greeted everyone with a smile and found an empty seat.
"Sister Hu Jing, long time no see! Where have you been recently? Many people said they wanted to find you to act, and asked me to help find you, but I couldn't find you at all!" Interestingly, sitting next to Hu Jing was Tian Yu (played by Tong Lei), Li Yunlong's second wife. The first and second wives sitting side by side had a very striking and interesting effect.
Tong Lei and Hu Jing were already friends before, and after entering the "Drawing Sword" crew together, their relationship improved a bit. However, after the crew disbanded, Tong Lei and Hu Jing had basically not seen each other again.
Until "Drawing Sword" premiered, countless people invited Tong Lei to film while asking Tong Lei to invite Hu Jing to film together. After all, both were great beauties and also Li Yunlong's first and second wives. If these two were to come together in a show, the promotional gimmick would be there.
Some people even stated directly that if Tong Lei could find a way to invite Hu Jing, their salaries could both be doubled. Tong Lei naturally couldn't refuse such good things. However, when she dialed Hu Jing's previously provided phone number, it indicated that the number had become a dead number, and she could no longer find Hu Jing.
She also consulted some other friends. Most of them said they couldn't contact Hu Jing either. Only a few highly respected elders in the industry, or directors, or producers, vaguely indicated that Hu Jing had left the circle and it was best not to look for her, as it would cause considerable trouble.
This made Tong Lei very curious about what Hu Jing was doing now. So, Tong Lei deliberately left the seat beside her unoccupied, not allowing anyone else to sit there. Only when Hu Jing appeared did she quickly beckon her over and casually asked her question.
"I just changed my job. Unless there are special circumstances, I won't be acting anymore!" Hu Jing said with a smile.
"What kind of good job is it that allows you to stop acting? Tell me about it!" Tong Lei became even more curious.
"It's nothing, you'll know soon!" Hu Jing said with a smile, but didn't reveal it, making Tong Lei's heart itch with anticipation.
She was about to ask more when a round of warm applause suddenly sounded in the venue because Huang He appeared. He was accompanied by the producer and director of the crew.
"Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend our celebration banquet. I personally express my sincere gratitude to everyone here. Thank you for filming such an excellent television series!" Huang He said as soon as he appeared and bowed to all the actors.
Everyone knew Huang He's current status and that he was also the boss of Tangren Pictures. They would need such a wealthy person for investment in the future, so they all stood up and repeatedly said they dared not, and at the same time bowed to Huang He in thanks.
After that, the producer, representing Tangren Pictures, thanked all the actors, and the director, representing the entire crew, thanked everyone.
For a time, the entire conference room was filled with a joyous atmosphere.
After the mutual thanks, Huang He sat in the center seat and said with a smile, "I won't say any more unnecessary words to waste everyone's time. First, I will report the achievements of 'Drawing Sword' after its 23 days of airing!"
Huang He coughed and said, "'Drawing Sword' premiered on CCTV Channel 1, achieving a maximum viewership rating of 17.62% and an average viewership rating of 13.77%."
"Wow!" Although many people present already knew the result, many others had no way to access detailed viewership data. So, when they learned of this astonishing viewership, they couldn't help but exclaim. This was definitely the highest TV viewership rating of the 21st century.
"This is just the beginning!" Huang He smiled. "Now that the second round of broadcasting on Hunan Television has also concluded, we achieved a maximum viewership rating of 26.77% and an average viewership rating of 21.72%."
"Pa pa pa pa!!!" Extremely enthusiastic applause erupted in the venue. A maximum of 26% and an average of 21% viewership rating, although there was still more than half the gap compared to "My Fair Princess" which had a maximum of 65% and an average of 55%, in an era where the highest average viewership rating for all TV series did not exceed 5%, and the average was only around 1%-2%, this was definitely an astonishing data that made everyone unbelievable.
"This is not all!" Huang He said with a smile. "Actually, the third broadcasting television station, Dragon TV, had its broadcasting time overlapping with Hunan TV. Both were broadcast during prime time, so for 63 minutes, both television stations were simultaneously airing 'Drawing Sword'."
"That is, Dragon TV aired episode 2 every day, while Hunan TV aired episode 1 every day. This overlap in broadcasting time lasted for 10 days. And during these 10 days, Dragon TV achieved a maximum viewership rating of 17.8%, while Hunan TV's maximum viewership rating was 19.7% at that time."
"Since both television stations were watching our 'Drawing Sword' at the same time, these two viewership ratings can be added together for calculation. This means that during this period, 37.5% of viewers in China were watching our 'Drawing Sword.' In other words, the actual maximum viewership rating achieved by 'Drawing Sword' was 37.5%!" As Huang He's voice fell, the entire audience erupted in cheers.
This was a 37.5% viewership rating! Considering that more and more viewers were being drawn away by games and the internet, and that every television station was launching more high-quality programs, the average viewership rating for TV series would only continue to decrease in the future.
It was likely that in ten years, a TV series achieving over 2% viewership rating would be the dominant hit for the entire year. While "Drawing Sword's" maximum actual viewership rating of 37.5% still couldn't break the miracle of "My Fair Princess," nor could it compare to the era of the Four Great Classical Novels, it was likely an insurmountable peak for all TV series in the future. Each of them had created a miracle in television history!
"Cough cough! Please be quiet everyone, let me finish speaking!" Huang He smiled and signaled everyone to calm down, then continued, "Next, I will report on the revenue earned by the TV series 'Drawing Sword' within the current 20 days!"
"Ah..." Hearing Huang He's words, everyone was stunned for a moment. Why did they suddenly start reporting revenue?
It wasn't strange for a TV series crew to hold a celebration banquet, nor was it strange to celebrate and brag about their viewership ratings at a celebration banquet. However, it was very strange to tell the crew members about the revenue earned by the TV series at a celebration banquet.
Wasn't this confidential information only known to the investors, producers, and production companies of the TV series?
Even the director did not have the right to know this specific number. After all, money moved people's hearts. Unless it was a listed company, who wouldn't want to make a fortune quietly? No crew would tell the entire crew about the revenue earned by the TV series, as this could cause huge trouble.
But why was Huang He announcing the total revenue at the celebration banquet? Was he crazy?
Everyone didn't understand why Huang He was announcing the revenue of the TV series, but Huang He continued to say, "First, I will report on the cost of the TV series. The budget the director gave me was 8 million RMB."
"I said 8 million RMB is definitely not enough. Don't skimp on special effects and props. I'll approve a budget of 10 million RMB for you!"
"In the end, all the data statistics showed that it only cost 9.2 million, and I even saved 800,000 RMB of the budget!" Huang He said with a smile, and the venue burst into laughter. The director's face turned slightly red, and then he joked, "Boss, if you think this 800,000 should have been spent, then give it to me as a bonus!"
The director's words were just a joke, but Huang He waved his hand and said, "Granted, this 800,000 is your bonus, Chen Jian. It's all accounted for you!" Huang He said cheerfully. Chen Jian and everyone present were stunned. He actually gave an 800,000 bonus!
Regardless of what others thought, Huang He continued on his own, "After talking about the cost, it's time to talk about the profit."
"Let's start with the simplest, which is the profit from selling to TV stations."
"The purchase price from CCTV for the first round of premiere was 100,000 per episode, totaling 3 million."
"For the second round, those who have purchased the broadcasting rights are Hunan TV, Dragon TV, Southeast TV, Zhejiang TV, Jiangsu TV, Guangdong TV, and Anhui TV. Their purchase price is uniformly 300,000 per episode, totaling 9 million."
"Oh, and Hunan TV has purchased the re-broadcasting rights. They plan to re-broadcast 'Drawing Sword' again, at a price of 100,000 per episode, which is another 3 million in revenue."
"So, in terms of terminal broadcasting rights, we have currently sold at a total price of 69 million RMB!" Huang He said nonchalantly.
"69 million. Even if we assume a cost of 10 million, that's a profit of 6 times! This is f***ing profitable!" Chu Yunfei exclaimed.
"Heh heh, no matter how much is earned, it has nothing to do with you. They have already paid you your salary!" Kong Jie chimed in from the side, then followed Li Yunlong's opinion and said, "Right, Old Li."
"..." As a result, Li Yunlong did not speak, his expression was very complicated, as if there was something unusual.
On stage, Huang He continued, "However, it's not just the fees from TV stations. Jiangnan Blind Box has reached a cooperation agreement with Tangren Pictures, and will spend 10 million RMB to purchase all the blind box copyrights for 'Drawing Sword.' Jiangnan Blind Box will exclusively launch the 'Drawing Sword' series blind boxes."
"I have already seen the draft of this blind box. It includes figurines of our Li Yunlong and Chu Yunfei, as well as related items from some classic scenes in the show. Oh, and the most valuable item is an Italian cannon, which is completely replicated in a 5:1 ratio. It is installed with smoke and sound devices at the bottom, so it cannot be fired with gunpowder. However, it can fire a specially made water-filled balloon projectile. It will not cause any harm when hitting someone, it will just make them wet. It is very interesting!" Huang He said with a smile. Seeing Huang He's detailed description, it seemed that it would not take ten days to half a month for the "Drawing Sword" blind box to be fully launched. Jiangnan Blind Box, after recently making a large profit with the "Water Sky Color" blind box, would be able to make another profit with the "Drawing Sword" blind box.
"In addition to blind boxes, related copyrights for 'Drawing Sword' have been sold to two other companies. However, the prices are not high, they are just small items, totaling around 500,000."
"In other words, the total revenue earned by 'Drawing Sword' so far is 79.5 million. However, this number looks a bit uncomfortable and would drive a perfectionist crazy, so I will add 500,000 and round it up to 80 million for everyone!" Huang He said with a smile.
Eighty million!
Everyone below the stage was heart-pounding. They never expected that the TV series they filmed could earn such an astonishing figure as 80 million.
And it seemed that this number had not yet ended. Since Hunan TV was willing to spend 3 million to purchase the re-broadcasting rights again, there would definitely be other TV stations willing to spend money to purchase re-broadcasting rights in the future.
At the same time, the related copyrights for "Drawing Sword" might also be sold to more merchants to exchange for peripheral revenue. "Drawing Sword" would continue to generate endless revenue for Tangren Pictures. Tangren Pictures was completely raking it in this time!
Most people were very happy to hear this figure, feeling that they had participated in an important historical record. However, some people were very unhappy. They muttered to themselves, "Huang He, what does this mean? Is he showing off to us? He's not going to distribute the money to us, so what's the point of doing this?"
As soon as the voice fell, they heard Huang He say, "After deducting the 10 million cost from the 80 million sales, that's a net profit of 70 million. To thank everyone for their contribution to 'Drawing Sword,' I will take 10% of it, which is 7 million, and divide it equally among everyone present."
"Everyone, whether you are an actor, director, or the most ordinary crew member, everyone will receive an equal share of this 7 million!" As Huang He's voice fell, the venue erupted in thunderous cheers. The crew members in the back let out unbelievable screams. They never expected that one day they would receive bonuses the same as the actors.
But this was not the end, because Huang He then said, "At the same time, I will take this opportunity to distribute the profits earned this time to all employees of Tangren Pictures who have signed the triple profit-sharing agreement, in accordance with the triple profit-sharing agreement."