Miss Darcy Maguire, the creative director of BBDO Advertising Company, walked into the company early in the morning and waited with Ronald for the results of the sales test in Cincinnati and Cleveland.
After one month of advertising, Hershey Company obtained the sales results as quickly as possible, compiled the statistics, and sent them to bbdo Advertising. Today is the day to announce the results.
Ronald and Darcy sat outside the partners' office, waiting for the two partners to summon them and announce who was the winner of this internal competition.
"Ms. Maguire, Mr. Li, please come this way." The secretary opened the door and respectfully invited the two of them into the highest-level office of bbdo's New York headquarters.
"Looking at the secretary's attitude, do we win?" Ronald asked.
"Not necessarily. The secretary may have seen the final result, but they will pretend not to know."
"Based on my directing experience, it doesn't look like acting. Otherwise she could go to Hollywood."
The two sat side by side at the conference table. Opposite them was Dan, his rival, whose director, Hugh Hudson, was not present.
Dan looked at Darcy and Ronald triumphantly and touched the red handkerchief in the left breast pocket of his suit. He was dressed formally today and seemed full of confidence.
"You won't be able to laugh anymore," Ronald chuckled to himself.
After saying hello to the two groups of competitors, the two partners gave in a bit, and finally opened the envelope containing the results based on the principle of whoever works under them announces the results.
"It's pretty much like the Oscars." Ronald chuckled to himself.
"The sales data of Dan's group's advertising in Cleveland is 69.7%." One of Dan's patrons, one of the partners, opened an envelope and announced the results of Dan's advertising sales.
After one month of airing in Cleveland, the sales volume driven by Dan's advertisement was equal to about 70% of the one-time distribution.
Darcy Maguire previously estimated that if he could achieve 60%, he would have a good chance of winning, but now it seems a bit too optimistic.
Darcy involuntarily sat up straight, raised his head, and waited for Cincinnati's data to be released.
Ronald looked at Dan's face, which was filled with red. He was picking up the coffee on the table, hoping to slowly taste the taste of victory.
"Perhaps he already knows the answer through insiders?" Ronald thought, "But it is impossible to lose to the other party's advertising. Could it be that his judgment was wrong?"
"Did they do anything?" Ronald asked in Darcy's ear.
"We must have made some mistakes, but I have confidence in our creativity, and I have confidence in you, Ronald. It's not that we have no chance of winning. Hershey's new products have achieved a traction effect of more than 70%." Darcy Maguire feels that their creativity may exceed 70%. Even if they are behind the opponent, if the gap is within 3%, they may still be able to compete with Dan's off-the-table moves.
While he was thinking wildly, Darcy's protector and another partner tore open the envelope, took a look at the result, and read it out slowly.
"Sales data of Darcy group. Sales data in Cincinnati is 163%"
"What?"
Dan was so frightened that the hand holding the coffee shook and burned his mouth. Then half the cup of coffee spilled onto his formal jacket, and the scarlet suit scarf on his left chest turned brown.
"It seems that the dry cleaners can't clean it anymore." Ronald thought gloatingly.
163% means that all the Chewels for the first distribution have been sold, and most of the second replenishment has also been sold. This way their version of the ad, Ronald wins without a doubt.
The partners who favored Darcy began to announce the official results of the competition:
"In this way, Darcy Maguire won the sales test, and the Hershey Company was very excited about Chewels sales in Cincinnati. This broke their monthly sales record for chewing gum products.
Their marketing director called me and asked you to continue to submit 10 advertising creative ideas, and then a series of ads for this new product will be strongly promoted on national television networks. "Partners announce follow-up to Darcy Maguire.
"Finally, I want to say: Well done! The Hershey client you won for the company will be better for me to fight for you at next year's junior partner promotion meeting." The partner who was biased towards Darcy finally gave the instructions alone One sentence.
"Congratulations, Darcy." Ronald congratulated her after she finished talking to her partner.
"Congratulations to us, Ronald." Darcy came up and hugged Ronald.
"If you agree, I would like to shoot the idea of Gerald Slater's daughter's version of the Jazz Singer as soon as possible. He supported us a lot in the early stage." Ronald asked Darcy Maguire.
"If we have this opportunity, we must seize it. You plan the storyboard and shooting location, and then I will go with you to meet Gerald." Darcy also knows that this kind of high-level relationship with a national television network is rare.
"Of course, we will go together then. Gerald attaches great importance to his daughter's debut work." Ronald does not mind sharing this relationship with Darcy Maguire. The two are partners and have no direct competitive relationship.
…
The next day, Ronald made an appointment with Gerald's secretary, and Ronald came to the PBS New York headquarters with Darcy Maguire with a new storyboard.
Gerald Slater was wearing a light-colored suit. When he saw Ronald walking in, he smiled slightly, "I heard you won, Ronald?"
"A big win. We sold twice as much chewing gum as the other party." Ronald said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "This is my partner, bbdo's advertising creative director, Darcy Maguire. Miss Er."
"Hello, Mr. Slater. Just call me Darcy." Darcy opened the folder and took out the advertising creative for Helen Slater and several actual photos of the shooting location.
This time it was a great win, no one from bbdo up and down dared to hold back. The shooting location and creative plan were all given the green light. The Hershey Company was also satisfied with several series of advertising plans submitted by Darcy, and immediately released a larger-than-expected budget.
This sales performance may have broken some of Hershey's internal records for new product launches, making several managers in the chewing gum division very excited. The highest filming budget was given.
"Drink something?" Gerald Slater leaned down and took out a bottle of wine from the wine cabinet below. There was still half a bottle left in it. The bottle has a blue strip running from the front to the cap, and the word "martell" is written on the bottle's label.
He opened the cork, poured some into three glasses, handed them to Ronald and Darcy, and picked up a glass himself, "Congratulations."
"Thank you." Gerald's brandy tastes very good, and Ronald wants to continue reporting on the shooting of the commercial.
Gerald raised his hand, indicating that they didn't need to say anything further, "The market is a much harsher judge than me. Since you have been recognized by the market, I can feel free to let Helen shoot her first commercial."
Ronald and Darcy looked at each other, and both felt the convenience of beating their opponents again, so they raised their brandy: "I wish Helen a successful shooting!"
…
"Helen, have you done your makeup?" Ronald said to Helen Slater as she walked out of the dressing room during the filming of Chewels chewing gum's second commercial.
"Yes, the makeup artist said that I am suitable for painting a more mature look, not quite a high school student. Does my performance need to be adjusted accordingly?" Helen walked over excitedly and looked at Ronald with a pair of big blue eyes.
Ronald was almost distracted by her sight, as if everything around him had gone away from him, and only himself and Helen's beautiful big eyes were left in the universe. The beauty of this girl was irresistible.
"Ronald? Ronald? Is there something wrong with my idea?" Helen wondered why the director didn't speak.
"Oh, I was thinking about other things." Ronald came back to his senses and hurriedly answered Helen's question.
"No, we all trust your acting skills, but the character of this advertisement is close to you. Just show how you usually play the piano and sing jazz." Ronald hopes that Helen can perform in her true nature, just like the gymnast girl Elizabeth Sue. That’s it.
"Okay, director." Helen made an OK gesture towards him, sat in front of the piano, a melody sounded, and Helen began to sing a jazz song that Ronald had never heard of.
Helen's voice is very clear, even more "fairy" than a church choir.
"It's really great. Helen, you sang really well." Ronald clapped his hands twice and motioned for the photographer to take a photo.
"Recording? Camera? a!"
…
"Cut, let's take a break for 10 minutes." Ronald stopped the sixth shooting.
"Director, is there something wrong with my acting?" Helen is a very smart girl, and she keenly saw some clues from the faces of the photographer and assistant director.
For this shoot, Ronald once again brought in Spike Lee and his black photographer partner Dixon.
Hershey's company gave me a sufficient budget, Ronald paid me enough, and the two black guys worked very hard. Cooperated with filming over and over again without any complaints.
The environment is also good. We have found the best music performance venue in New York, Lincoln Center, and a small hall where the New York Jazz Band often rehearses. Everything is authentic.
The shooting just didn't feel right. Ronald had shot it six times and still couldn't find the right feeling.
Even Darcy, who came to hold the show back, also discovered the problem, "Ronald, what's the problem? Why did you take six shots in a row? Last time, Elizabeth Sue, you took three takes and called it a day."
Ronald looked at Helen who was coming over and said loudly, "No problem, I just raised the standard a little bit because of the larger budget. We shot like last time and we have called it a day."
Hearing this, Helen smiled again and ran into the dressing room to rest and touch up her makeup.
"What went wrong?" Darcy asked Ronald gently as he watched Helen run away.
"As for the performance, Helen's singing always felt wrong, and I couldn't figure out what the problem was." Ronald was a little anxious. They only applied for two days of shooting at Lincoln Center, three hours a day. If you don't find the right feeling for performance today, then you can only pray to God to help Helen find her form tomorrow.
Thinking about this, Ronald turned to look at assistant director Spike Lee, "What do you think the problem is, Spike?"
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