“Mr. Pei!”

Zhu Xiaocai hurried over to greet him.

Others from the crew, including Lu Zhiyao and Zhang Zuting, also noticed Pei Qian and came forward to greet him.

Pei Qian smiled and waved his hand: “It’s nothing, I’m just looking around. Don’t mind me, please continue.”

After exchanging pleasantries with a few old friends, Pei Qian picked up a prop cup from nearby and began playing with it in his hands with interest.

Zhang Zuting whispered to Zhu Xiaocai: “Director Zhu, doesn’t Mr. Pei seem to be in a good mood today?”

Zhu Xiaocai nodded: “Indeed.”

“I think… it might be because he’s satisfied.”

Zhang Zuting was slightly confused: “Satisfied?”

“Yes, satisfied,” Zhu Xiaocai said, watching the carefree Mr. Pei. “The last time Mr. Pei came, although he was also relaxed, he still showed some concern about matters on set.”

“When he saw that Lu Zhiyao’s acting was trending toward being overly forceful, Mr. Pei immediately stepped in to correct it.”

“But this time, Mr. Pei watched from the side without saying a word.”

“This shows that the actors’ performances have gained Mr. Pei’s approval.”

“After seeing that everyone’s acting is completely fine, Mr. Pei finally feels reassured and has put his mind at ease, which is why he can stroll around the set with such a relaxed attitude.”

Zhang Zuting suddenly understood and nodded: “Yes, indeed.”

“Today, both the male and female leads’ performances exceeded expectations. It’s not easy to gain Mr. Pei’s approval.”

“It seems that although Mr. Pei doesn’t come often, he still values this film greatly.”

Zhu Xiaocai smiled: “Of course. To be precise, Mr. Pei values all projects; otherwise, he wouldn’t have achieved his current success…”

“Perfect timing, since Mr. Pei is here, let me finalize the advertising matter.”

Zhu Xiaocai approached Pei Qian, who was casually strolling around, planning to settle a crucial issue during this break in preparations.

“Mr. Pei.”

“May I take a few minutes to report to you about the current advertisement bidding situation for this film?”

Pei Qian was startled, then nodded: “Of course, let me hear it.”

The word “advertisement” had struck a sensitive nerve.

Zhu Xiaocai walked with Pei Qian around the set while reporting.

“Mr. Pei, our film is filled with various advertisements, right?”

According to the setting, the future world in the film is a world full of advertisements. Just like when the male protagonist lives in the capsule, he’s surrounded by advertisements for much of his time.”

“We’ve been considering for a long time how exactly to create these advertisements.”

“My idea is to collaborate with some companies for product placement!”

“This approach has three advantages:”

“First, these companies would create their advertisements and pay us a fee for the product placement, which is very economical from a financial perspective. Additionally, the advertisements they produce would have a certain quality guarantee.”

“Second, after the film’s release, it could easily generate hot topics, which might help promote the film.”

“Third, traditional product placement in films often appears abrupt and forced, easily causing audience discomfort. But in our film, product placement would almost completely avoid this problem, with minimal negative impact.”

“So, we’ve reached out to some manufacturers and companies to ask if they’re interested in collaborating…”

Pei Qian instantly became nervous: “How’s the situation?”

Zhu Xiaocai’s expression became slightly awkward: “Uh… most of the big companies we actively contacted ignored us. However, a few less famous small companies proactively approached us, but their advertisements were too outdated, not like advertisements from a future world, so we declined them.”

In plain terms, there had been no progress so far…

Pei Qian exhaled deeply and involuntarily said, “That’s great!”

Zhu Xiaocai was stunned: “Huh?”

Pei Qian secretly rejoiced. If they had accepted advertisements, how much less money would he have to spend?

What if a few clueless big companies each invested hundreds of thousands in advertising fees? Wouldn’t Mr. Pei be spitting blood?

So, they definitely couldn’t do this!

Fortunately, Fei Huang Studio didn’t have much reputation in the film industry, and they had been approaching big companies, so they had been repeatedly turned away.

But this issue couldn’t be taken lightly; the trend had to be stopped immediately.

What if Zhu Xiaocai persistently sought sponsorships and moved those wealthy big companies, recovering a large part of the costs through advertising before the film was even released…

What would they do then?

Thinking of this, Pei Qian’s expression became serious.

“Your first two points are correct, but the third point has some issues.”

“No matter what, placing real-world brand advertisements will make the audience feel disconnected from the film.”

“Even though our film has a special theme, it would still affect the audience’s viewing experience.”

“Moreover, our film has strong satirical undertones, so these companies buying our advertising would also be somewhat satirized.”

“This might not significantly enhance their brand image. So, they might not be eager to do this kind of product placement.”

“In short, this approach is not advisable.”

Zhu Xiaocai considered carefully, then quickly nodded: “Yes, Mr. Pei, I understand!”

Seeing Mr. Pei’s solemn expression, Zhu Xiaocai also felt somewhat fearful.

He had almost messed things up!

Thinking about it carefully, Mr. Pei was right. No matter how you justify it, product placement is still product placement. Audiences have already bought tickets to enter the theater, making them watch product placements on top of that, which just didn’t sit right.

If not handled well, they would face severe criticism!

Although they would make money, damaging their reputation probably wouldn’t meet Mr. Pei’s expectations.

Zhu Xiaocai couldn’t help but reflect on himself.

Product placement violated the Tenda spirit.

He must remember this lesson in the future!

With the current plan rejected by Mr. Pei, they needed an alternative.

Zhu Xiaocai hesitated slightly and said, “Mr. Pei, if we can’t use other companies’ plans, then we’ll have to film them ourselves.”

Pei Qian nodded: “Yes, of course we should film them ourselves!”

How could he miss such a good opportunity to spend more money?

Pei Qian thought for a moment and continued: “In my view, these advertisements are very important.”

“They must be high-end, sophisticated, and classy; low-key, luxurious, and meaningful.”

“I think… uh, first tell me how you want to film them.”

Pei Qian had already thought of a general direction, but suddenly stopped.

He remembered his glorious track record of repeatedly “turning stone into gold” and decided not to interfere with Zhu Xiaocai’s ideas, letting him express himself freely.

Perhaps he might come up with even better ideas than Pei Qian himself?

If Zhu Xiaocai’s ideas had too high a probability of making money, then Mr. Pei would have to step in personally.

Zhu Xiaocai thought for a moment: “Mr. Pei, this is what I’m thinking.”

“Let’s make brainwashing advertisements!”

“That is, repeatedly using a simple, rhyming slogan, repeating it three or four times or even more, the kind that people can never forget after hearing it once.”

“We can also add some simple melodies to make the advertisements even more brainwashing.”

“This type of advertisement was very common a few years ago. Although the number has decreased recently, they still exist.”

“If we also make such advertisements, we can effectively stimulate the audience’s feelings of disgust, making them empathize with the male protagonist’s situation and deepen the satirical meaning of the film!”

After hearing Zhu Xiaocai’s idea, Pei Qian fell into a brief silence.

No, if they followed Zhu Xiaocai’s method, it seemed it would still be very easy for things to go wrong!

Pei Qian had experienced the power of brainwashing advertisements.

The characteristic of such advertisements is their grand and imposing nature, giving people a sense of flaunting power. With a good advertising campaign, a brand could dominate an entire category, creating an illusion among consumers that “this brand is the top in this category.”

In short, the reason these advertisements are so popular and brainwashing is precisely because they are extremely effective.

If the entire film was filled with a large number of brainwashing advertisements, it might also spark heated discussions among viewers, thereby gaining some inexplicable and completely unnecessary attention…

Pei Qian silently sighed.

No, his subordinates were all too pragmatic; he couldn’t count on them!

Expecting Zhu Xiaocai to spontaneously come up with an idea that would result in a huge loss? Difficult!

He would have to take matters into his own hands.

Pei Qian thought for a moment and said, “Brainwashing advertisements also have some issues.”

“First, technology is developing, and times are progressing.”

“Although brainwashing advertisements have obvious effects, they have also caused many people’s discomfort, and there are fewer and fewer of them now.”

“The film is set in a future world, and the advertising industry should be more developed, moving toward a more unpredictable direction.”

“If we make audiences watch brainwashing advertisements, they’ll think, is this all the future world advertising has to offer?”

“It would be like people today watching advertisements from decades ago, appearing very strange and out of place with the overall environment.”

Zhu Xiaocai nodded, feeling that this seemed to make sense.

Pei Qian continued: “Secondly, these advertisements risk stealing the show.”

“If audiences focus too much on the advertisements, they will have no attention left for the actors’ performances and the deeper meaning of the film’s plot.”

“So, my suggestion is to film advertisements with grand scenes, cool settings, and puzzling meanings!”

“These advertisements would be played repeatedly, making audiences continuously watch but feeling confused, not understanding at all.”

“This would better align with the future trend of advertising development.”

“As for the brands in the advertisements… let’s make them completely fictional.”

“When filming the advertisements, they must be high-standard and have a sense of quality, understand?”

The advertisements would be filmed, but Pei Qian couldn’t clearly say what they would look like.

He could only point out a direction that was as wrong as possible, and after that, it would depend on Zhu Xiaocai and his team’s performance.

After listening to Pei Qian’s words, Zhu Xiaocai was silent for a long time, then finally said: “Mr. Pei, this is quite a challenging task.”

“But I’m confident!”