At this point, Ding Xiyao was utterly impressed by this “Young Master Tian.”
Though she didn’t know exactly who this Young Master Tian was, from the video’s content, he clearly had a profound understanding of the real estate agency industry, full of genuine insights!
Why did Zhujia Group repeatedly have negative news but never suffered any real damage?
It was because many people weren’t criticizing Zhujia Group correctly!
When problems arose with agencies, most people blamed the industry practitioners for moral decay and lack of conscience.
After the formaldehyde housing incident, Zhujia Group pushed out the person in charge of the relevant business as a scapegoat to attract public hatred, then hypocritically implemented some reforms, and the matter passed.
But the crux of this series of incidents wasn’t with any individual within the company, but with the entire company’s leadership.
Without the acquiescence, support, or even encouragement from the leadership, these things likely wouldn’t have happened, or at least they wouldn’t have waited until the situation was boiling over before putting on a show of finding scapegoats and implementing reforms.
Ding Xiyao suddenly understood the source of that feeling of helplessness she had when she decided to leave Zhujia Group earlier.
Because agency companies led by Zhujia Group had actually monopolized and held the entire industry hostage, causing small companies to follow suit. Agents and tenants seemed to have many choices, but in reality, they had none.
They could choose this company or that company, but no matter which they chose, the result was the same.
These large companies could also transfer conflicts by inciting opposition, making tenants hate agents and agents hate tenants. This way, the top executives of large companies could easily stay uninvolved, only thinking about how to expand their scale, not how to improve service quality, continuing this way without seeking progress, yet still making money hand over fist.
But at this point, the video wasn’t over yet; the progress bar showed about a quarter remaining.
“So, let me make a hypothesis here, a prediction.”
“As long as the nature of domestic real estate agencies doesn’t fundamentally change, as long as these company executives remain single-mindedly focused on monopolizing properties to dominate the market, on condoning agents using deceptive means to sign contracts and extract profits from tenants, on inciting opposition between tenants and agents to maintain their public opinion environment, then any new business they launch will merely be a repackaging of ‘feeding on tenants’ flesh and blood.'”
“Just like the recent formaldehyde housing incident, the concept of ‘Safe Housing’ itself was good, but in the bottomless pursuit of profit, ‘Safe Housing’ became ‘Formaldehyde Housing.’ They claimed to provide tenants with better living environments, but in the end, they couldn’t even guarantee the most basic health and safety in the living environment.”
“Perhaps in the future, these agencies will launch new services. I cannot predict exactly what these services will be, but I can predict that: through the analysis in this video, through the insights from the game ‘Real Estate Agent Simulator,’ everyone can guess the eventual outcome of such new services.”
“All new models that claim to ‘serve tenants’ and ‘eliminate hostility’ will eventually reveal their true faces of ‘pursuing profit,’ ‘better exploiting tenants and agents,’ and ‘inciting opposition.'”
“At this point, many tenants might feel desperate.”
“When all agency companies are similarly deceptive, when certain companies that created ‘formaldehyde housing’ become industry leaders, when they occupy 99% of the properties on the market, forming a monopoly and leaving tenants with no choice, what can tenants do?”
“It’s simple: seek companies that break out of this model.”
“If there aren’t any yet, then await their emergence.”
“If they already exist but are still small in scale, then await their growth and expansion.”
“I am Young Master Tian, an insignificant figure, an ordinary person who sometimes sees the world clearly yet lacks the power to change it.”
“I share my shallow observations with everyone, hoping to toss out a brick to attract jade, to provoke some thought.”
“Thank you all for being willing to calm down in such a restless environment to listen to me say so much. Until we meet again!”
Compared to the previous first video, the ending of this video had clearly changed.
Meng Chang had followed Mr. Pei’s advice and found a persona for Young Master Tian.
Just as Qiao Laoshi had the persona of a “somewhat funny, stubborn, professionally competent game critic,” Meng Chang took a different route: “a coldly observant figure who might touch on any field, somewhat wise yet self-identified as insignificant.”
There was clearly a reason for establishing such a persona for “Young Master Tian.”
Meng Chang had momentarily considered using his own persona for Young Master Tian but quickly rejected the idea.
First, Mr. Pei had clearly stated that Meng Chang should develop Young Master Tian’s persona, not copy his own.
Second, Meng Chang felt that his own persona wasn’t particularly likable.
Functionally speaking, the Young Master Tian account should work with the “Pei-style publicity method” to expose some deep industry realities.
Therefore, Young Master Tian’s persona had to be wise and insightful—in simple terms, viewers should feel he’s a person who understands things. They shouldn’t finish the video thinking this person has intellectual or motivational issues; he should be neither foolish nor malicious.
Achieving this was quite challenging, as communication has costs, and people are easily misinterpreted during expression.
Sometimes what you say isn’t what you mean, but because of issues with how you express it, some viewers might think you’ve received black money or revealed some problematic underlying values, leading to viewers turning against you.
After much consideration, Meng Chang felt that to achieve this, Young Master Tian’s persona must be humble, low-key, and even self-identifying as ordinary.
Constantly maintaining a high-and-mighty “educating the masses” attitude would eventually backfire.
So, after considering various factors, Meng Chang established a persona for Young Master Tian as “a somewhat wise yet self-identified insignificant figure.”
And the more deliberately low-key he was, the more viewers felt this person had real talent and knowledge, willing to listen to what Young Master Tian had to say.
Compared to the first video, this was progress, because from the danmu comments, many viewers clearly liked this persona.
“Brilliantly said! All substance! Eye-opening!”
“Zhujia Group: Just report my ID card number directly and be done with it, why all these twists and turns?”
“Wait, is this alluding to Zhujia Group’s new ‘Attentive Butler’ service?”
“It’s not just alluding; accurately speaking, it’s a preview! Look at the video’s release time, it’s basically just minutes apart from Zhujia Group’s announcement of the ‘Attentive Butler’ service. A video of this quality must take several days to make, so either Young Master Tian had advance access to Zhujia Group’s internal materials, or it’s a coincidence.”
“If he had advance access to internal materials, he could have been much clearer; I lean toward the latter.”
“I originally had some expectations for the ‘Attentive Butler’ service, but after watching this video, I understand—there’s no need for any expectation at all. Just as the creator said, any new model flying the flag of ‘serving tenants’ will eventually reveal its true face of ‘extracting more profits from tenants.'”
“It’s not hard to guess that ‘Attentive Butler’ will likely mean higher agency fees, then further transferring conflicts to tenants and agents. Tenants indeed pay more money, but how much of that money goes toward better service is questionable.”
“So there’s not a single humane agency company? Sigh, it’s hard for consumers to vote with their feet.”
“Humane agency company? No. But there is a humane rental company—Sloth Apartments!”
“Yes, I heard Sloth Apartments has recently expanded beyond Jingzhou to other cities. Hopefully, this model will spread quickly!”
“Not familiar with Sloth Apartments. Any brothers living there want to share—is it really as good as they say?”
“Sloth Apartments resident here to answer you: after moving in, I regretted it—regretted not moving in earlier, regretted not having friends grab more units to rent! Living here is incredibly comfortable. Although it’s a bit more expensive than general rentals, it’s really worry-free—you don’t have to worry about anything! Plus, with the cooperation of Slackin’ Delivery and Headwind Express, it’s super convenient!”
After the video was released, its popularity quickly surged!
Some people discussed the game’s content itself, while others followed the video’s guidance to discuss the real-life agency industry.
Actually, many people had previously analyzed the problems with the agency industry and Zhujia Group, but their influence wasn’t enough to create a discussion hotspot online.
But now it was different!
First, after Meng Chang finished filming the promotional trailer, he spent a large promotional budget to maintain the heat on related topics; then Zhujia Group poured money into the “Attentive Butler” business, further raising attention; after that, the VR game “Real Estate Agent Simulator” came out, laying the groundwork; finally, Young Master Tian’s video ignited all the heat!
Compared to rigid indoctrination and infusion, “Real Estate Agent Simulator” actually played a guiding and buffering role, achieving the effect of “education through entertainment.”
If Meng Chang had released this video directly, the effect would definitely have been poor, because the content was too dry, and most people wouldn’t have the patience to listen to the end.
But after many people played “Real Estate Agent Simulator,” experienced its various tactics, and made different choices themselves, when they heard the explanations in this video, they immediately made connections, and could even extend the ideas themselves!