Zhu Xiaocai was stunned as he read.
He clearly remembered that similar discussions were not widespread yesterday, only occurring in small circles with barely any traction.
But just one day later, all kinds of discussions had suddenly multiplied!
The release date for the “Mission and Choice” film was now confirmed. Apart from some basic information, not many trailers had been released, but this did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of internet users.
As for the “Mission and Choice” game, it was still completely unconfirmed, existing in a purely “speculative” state. Yet players had already used their intelligence to figure out most of it. Some had even connected it to “Fantasy War Remake,” which was set for release on April 14th!
Moreover, the intensity of these discussions continued to grow. If this momentum could be maintained for two more days, who knew what might happen!
Zhu Xiaocai’s expression quickly changed from dejection to surprise, and then from surprise to amazement.
“In just one day, how are so many people discussing this?”
“If we just look at today’s results, it’s actually quite good!”
Huang Sibo’s face was also filled with excitement: “I understand now!”
“This is Mr. Pei’s brilliance. On the surface, it looks like he did nothing, but in reality, he did a lot!”
“The reason we thought the advertising and marketing department did nothing is because we instinctively applied traditional promotional methods. But this promotion clearly didn’t use traditional methods!”
“Traditional promotional methods may be simple and direct, but they struggle to spark player engagement.”
“Interested players would only learn a little, then patiently wait for the film’s release or the game’s launch without much further discussion.”
“And those uninterested players most likely wouldn’t deliberately seek out information about these issues. To get them to pay attention would require massive promotional spending, and due to the principle of diminishing marginal returns, such an approach actually offers poor value.”
“Mr. Pei’s promotional strategy is an ‘interactive’ approach!”
“Just like the puzzle-solving activity used to promote ‘BE QUIET,’ this method can better stimulate player engagement, achieving a completely different effect from traditional promotional methods!”
“To put it simply, it’s like using riddles to set traps, waiting for attentive players to take the bait. Once these players are hooked, they actively share with others, creating a ‘word-of-mouth’ effect!”
Zhu Xiaocai also had a look of sudden realization.
“Stimulating player engagement?”
“That makes sense!”
He carefully reconsidered the promotional strategy for “Mission and Choice” and suddenly realized that all the seemingly unrelated content had been connected!
The advertising and marketing department had required strict secrecy regarding the “Mission and Choice” project. No information was allowed to leak from within the company, and not a hint of the game’s content had been revealed.
Although the film had set a release date and submitted materials, there was no active large-scale promotion, so the vast majority of viewers hadn’t noticed it and naturally hadn’t generated widespread discussion.
Then, the advertising and marketing department began to gradually release information!
First, they spent substantial resources promoting the “Classic Chinese Games Collection,” cleverly hiding “Mission and Choice” within this collection. On the surface, this spending seemed wasteful and ineffective, but in reality, it served an educational purpose.
The games in the “Classic Chinese Games Collection” became familiar to players, and “Mission and Choice,” the “shame of Chinese gaming,” was dragged out again for criticism. The more players discussed it, the more players became aware of the backstory.
Once this sense of shame was rekindled, it provided the perfect foundation for the release of “Mission and Choice”!
Next, through official platform interviews, they tied the concepts of the “incubator” and the “Classic Chinese Games Collection” to Tenda Games. A casual photograph sparked players’ unlimited imagination about Tenda’s new game.
Then, the advertising and marketing department made a feint, deliberately releasing false information, using “Fitness Battle” to mask “Mission and Choice,” throwing players into further confusion.
At the critical moment when players were arguing heatedly, Fanqi Media provided their unexpected assist. After the news of the “Mission and Choice” film was disclosed, it settled the matter conclusively, transforming all the players’ previous suspicions into facts!
Throughout this process, Mr. Pei was like a beauty half-concealing her face behind a pipa, always leaving a handkerchief or a token when players least expected it. As players continuously debated and questioned themselves, their expectations grew higher and higher.
Until finally, what they found was no longer a handkerchief, a token, or a plucked flower, but an invitation.
A beauty whose existence they had previously doubted was now inviting players to meet at a pavilion on the mountain. Who could resist such temptation?
Thus, the groundwork laid over such a long period finally yielded results, and all the players’ attention was focused!
Unlike traditional promotional methods, interested players would try hard to guess the specific content of the game and film through various clues, while uninterested players would become interested due to the extensive discussions among other players.
The topic would continue to exist, and in the coming days, discussions about “Mission and Choice” would undoubtedly emerge one after another, exploding in a short time to form a massive trending event!
Compared to traditional promotional methods, the biggest advantage of this approach was its cost-effectiveness.
Not much promotional budget was spent, as players were completely voluntary in digging for information!
As Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai reviewed the situation, they immediately felt that Mr. Pei’s promotional strategy was brilliant!
Although the plan was created by Meng Chang, anyone with eyes could see that this wasn’t Meng Chang’s style. It must have been guided by Mr. Pei!
It wasn’t that Meng Chang was stupid; the key was that Meng Chang’s thought process wasn’t this elaborate. This kind of idea completely contradicted his usual habits.
It was like what some martial arts novels described: certain powerful skills were harder for intelligent people to learn.
Meng Chang was just such an intelligent person. Without Mr. Pei’s guidance, he could never have come up with such an ingenious plan!
Strictly speaking, Meng Chang’s intelligence was more of a cleverness, while Mr. Pei was not only more intelligent than Meng Chang but also wiser!
“That said, Mr. Pei must be extremely confident in ‘Mission and Choice’ to dare use such a high-risk promotional strategy that achieves maximum results with minimal resources.”
“But even so, the inherent weakness in promotion still can’t be well resolved.”
“Especially for the film, first-day screening rates and attendance are crucial data, and they can’t be improved by film quality alone. There have been many high-quality films that failed miserably due to insufficient promotion. The risk is still very high!”
Zhu Xiaocai raised new concerns.
This strategy, from the current perspective, wasn’t perfect. Its problem was that it was too idealistic.
For games, it was still manageable—good wine needs no bush, and they would eventually become popular given enough time, even if it took a few months. But films were different. If initial promotion was insufficient and attendance was low, theaters would further cut screenings, causing daily box office returns to continue dropping, creating a vicious cycle!
Compared to traditional promotional methods, the current approach still didn’t generate enough buzz.
Traditional promotional strategies were very straightforward: bombard with advertisements, make all the necessary boasts, and the more money spent, the better the results.
But Mr. Pei’s current strategy, while cost-saving, definitely wouldn’t match traditional methods in initial impact. Its strength lay in high user loyalty, high engagement, and sustainable momentum, but many casual viewers absolutely would not be attracted from the start.
This kind of discussion needed to continuously spread and form a trend before it could reach casual audiences.
If the game or film didn’t achieve the expected effect after release, this chain of propagation would break, and everything would be ruined.
Both Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai were very smart and quickly understood the principle.
“So, initial exposure is still necessary, and from Mr. Pei’s current strategy, everything is perfect except for one problem: current discussions haven’t broken through to a wider audience.”
“If these discussions could continue for three to five days, there would still be a chance to break through, but now there’s clearly not enough time…”
Zhu Xiaocai furrowed his brow.
He initially thought they had turned the situation around, but upon careful consideration, he realized a crucial element was missing: initial buzz.
This could very well affect the success or failure of the entire project!
Huang Sibo nodded: “Hmm… this is indeed a serious problem.”
“But at this point, there’s nothing we can do.”
“All I can say is that any problem we can think of, Mr. Pei has surely thought of too. He probably has a backup plan ready.”
“Let’s do our jobs well and wait patiently.”
After discussing for a while without figuring out how to solve this final problem, they had no choice but to give up.
At this point, they could only trust Mr. Pei!
…
Meanwhile, Meng Chang was lying motionless at his own place.
He hadn’t gone to work today because he had completely lost the motivation to do so.
Even now, he couldn’t accept this painful reality.
This month’s commission was likely in dire straits!
What difference would it make whether he worked for the next half month or not? It was all up to fate now.
If the game and film were successful, he wouldn’t get a penny of commission;
If the game and film flopped, how much commission he could get would depend entirely on luck.
Moreover, during the first half of the month, Meng Chang had worked intensely, depleting almost all his enthusiasm. Now, apart from lying in bed, he didn’t want to do anything at all.
“Buzz…”
While lying motionless, the phone by his bed rang.
Meng Chang stared blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds, then reached out to grab his phone and said weakly, “Hello?”
Yu Yao’s voice came from the other end: “Brother Meng, you didn’t come to work today. Are you feeling unwell?”
Meng Chang: “I’m fine, just a bit tired and need some rest.”
Yu Yao: “I see. Indeed, Brother Meng, you’ve really worked hard this month. I have something to report to you. Previously, you asked me to communicate with various departments about keeping the ‘Mission and Choice’ matter confidential, right?”
“Just now, Min Jingchao called me asking if they still need to maintain secrecy. They have a new hero ready to release and have already delayed it for a long time. Players are waiting impatiently, and it’s not good to keep delaying.”
“Plus, now that rumors about ‘Mission and Choice’ have already spread, wouldn’t it be harmless for GOG to release a new hero?”
Meng Chang fell silent.
If he had been asked two days ago, his answer would definitely have been no.
But now Meng Chang was in a state of complete resignation.
Players, each like Sherlock Holmes, had already guessed seven or eight tenths of the information about “Mission and Choice,” and details about the film had all been dug up.
Besides, the film was going to be released this weekend, so one or two days wouldn’t make a difference now.
Meng Chang felt utterly despondent: “Whatever.”
Yu Yao nodded: “Alright, Brother Meng. Get some good rest then. I’ll hang up now.”
…
After receiving an affirmative response from the advertising and marketing department, Min Jingchao immediately arranged for his team to update GOG.
“The new hero ‘Skylark’ can be released now!”
“Everyone, hurry up, we can’t waste a single second!”
Min Jingchao was in a rush because he could sense that this new hero must be important to Mr. Pei!
Anyone with eyes could see that Mr. Pei’s marketing strategy was of the slow-build, explosive-release type. If other people’s marketing strategies were like lighting a fire and then frantically fanning it, Mr. Pei’s strategy was to carefully pile up plenty of fuel, lay the fuse, and then wait for a spark to quickly develop into a wildfire!
But now there was a problem. The fuse had been laid and had successfully caught a spark, but the fire wasn’t big enough and wasn’t spreading fast enough.
If the fire couldn’t burn very large before Saturday, all their efforts might still be in vain.
At this moment, it was time for each department to prove its worth!
The character “Skylark” was linked to “Mission and Choice.” They had originally planned to create Captain Qin Yi, but Mr. Pei had rejected that idea.
So, this time, “Skylark” was a female character wearing a battle suit.
Now, this new hero would finally come into play!
This update would captivate the hearts of countless GOG players, and Min Jingchao would take this opportunity to help promote “Mission and Choice,” contributing what little he could!
“This must be a crucial trump card that Mr. Pei left for me?”
“Hmm, it’s about time to play it!”