"If there is any other bad news, let's tell it as well." Sir Brown said slowly, looking at Al-Khelaifi who was hesitant to speak.
"Um...do sales statistics count?"
Al-Khelaifi opened the title page of "The Little Prince" and took out a note: "I just made a call to my friends in the publishing industry and got its first-week sales data."
"How many copies are expected to be sold, 20,000? 30,000?"
The chairman already had a bad premonition and unfolded the note in his hand.
“It’s hard to say because the first week isn’t over yet, but I think it’s going to be more than that.”
Sir Brown stared at the data on the note and fell into silence.
[Day 1: 12,296 copies]
[Day 2: 7531 copies]
[Day 3: 6212 books]
[Day 4: 6197 copies]
[Day 5: 5621 books]
[Total: 37857 books]
"Nearly 40,000 books were sold in the first five days, which should have set a new record for the best-selling fairy tale book in history. And this is only the sales performance in the UK."
Al-Khelaifi's cheek twitched: "Otherwise, why would I want to see you in person to talk to you in person? We may have made a mistake in our strategy and should deal with it coldly. Many readers are curious, and the atmosphere of various online discussions is like We provided free advance publicity for this book before it was released to the market.”
"There's no point talking about it now."
From the moment Anna took "The Little Prince" out of her handbag at the shareholders' meeting, she didn't give him a chance to treat him coldly.
Sir Brown crumpled the note into a ball and dropped it into the saucer on the other side.
He pondered for a moment: "We should see a more optimistic side. Our publicity is still effective. After the initial public opinion heat was released, the daily sales of "The Little Prince" have now dropped by 60%."
"Such a hot sale is indeed slightly beyond everyone's original expectations. However, things are still within control. At least the public opinions of the mainstream art critics are under our control. Shareholder Al-Khelaifi, you are right, What we should do most now is put out fires and cut."
"Cut the relationship between the sales success and the illustrator. Then find a way to separate the relationship between this matter and the "Oil Painting" magazine. Don't let the public opinion form the misunderstanding that the success of this fairy tale book is equal to the magazine. The trend of judgment.”
A good politician can advance and retreat.
Sir Brown's mind had calmed down.
Now that the objective facts have emerged that the sales of "The Little Prince" are very successful.
The top priority now is not to continue the iron-headed attack. Anyone who buys the new version of "The Little Prince" is a bastard and stirs up readers' rebellious psychology.
He had to find a way to deprive Detective Cat of the sales honor of "The Little Prince", and at the same time, let the magazine escape from this unfavorable topic battlefield.
As long as the mainstream public opinion is still in your hands, it will not be difficult to accomplish this.
The words are readily available.
If sales volume can be easily equated with the level of artistry, then the most artistic magazine in the world should not be "Painting", but "Playboy".
Wait for this matter to pass.
Sir Brown has a thousand ways to deal with that detective cat.
"I'm afraid it's not as easy as you think. My friend, you haven't read the newspapers recently. There are already some bad voices in the mainstream media."
The American shareholders raised their eyebrows and reminded them quietly in a low voice.
"Which magazine is going against us! I'm afraid it's a little too impatient to rely on a detective cat to compete with the dignified "Oil Painting"." Sir Brown was furious.
Everyone thinks that he, the "Pope of Art", is easy to bully or something.
"Oil Painting" magazine is the leader of the newspaper industry without any rival in the field of art criticism.
In terms of gold content, it can kill the other nine magazines in the top ten together.
If you dare to stab yourself at this moment, you simply don't know how to write the word "death".
"It's not an art criticism magazine. It's a financial magazine. Have you subscribed to The Economic Critic or The Economic Critic? Even the CNN cable news network in the United States quoted them during its morning news period. article. You should probably really read it.”
"We can no longer suppress this kind of heat."
Sir Brown picked up the landline phone next to the table with a gloomy face and said a few words.
Immediately a clerk walked into his office with a set of newspapers.
Reading newspapers is a daily requirement for high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen. In order to keep in line with the high-net-worth readership group, the staff common room of "Oil Painting" magazine has subscriptions to various mainstream European newspapers.
It only takes a few minutes to deliver a leading financial newspaper like The Economic Review.
On the cover of the newspaper is a huge cartoon that takes up the entire page.
It was a golden scale with the word "Oil Painting" written on it.
A large number of old men with white beards stood on the tray at one end of the scale, accompanied by a dialog box that read: "Miss Elena, you are wrong!"
At the other end of the scale is a lonely little girl in a wheelchair. The speech on the dialog box is: "Look me in the eyes and tell me Detective Cat is a terrible painter. Come on, you people really understand art." Well!"
The balance is now tilting in the direction of a large group of old men with white beards.
But there was a heavy-looking weight next to the little girl in the wheelchair, and it was about to fall from the sky.
The weight has the title of "The Little Prince" written on it and the slogan "First week sales: More than 40K (more than 40,000 copies)".
The Economic Review also included a blurb for its cover cartoon - [Front page headline: The long-established oil painting magazine is about to set up its own art private equity fund, but after the rich hurriedly dialed the number of their personal financial assistants Before you prepare to transfer money, you might as well take a look at this interesting illustration battle. 】
Sir Brown turned to the first page of the newspaper.
This news review of "The Economic Review" is very long and takes up two pages.
It combs through in detail the causes and consequences of the major reform of "Oil Painting" magazine, as well as the dispute between them at the shareholders' meeting about the artistic level of Detective Cat.
Judging from the purpose of the entire article, the newspaper actually did not make a very sensational statement about the rumored upcoming [Oil Painting Fund].
As do all mainstream financial analysts.
The Economic Critic also holds a positive, cautious and positive attitude.
It's just that the writing makes people feel a bit weird when reading it.
How to describe it.
It’s like reading an editorial in a green-leaning newspaper describing Saudi Aramco’s efforts to become carbon neutral.
Obviously the whole article is to praise you, but there are always some weird words coming up to prick you.
As for the long-term direction of magazine reform, the "Economic Critic" even gave a relatively pessimistic and negative attitude - [In June 1637, a tulip named 'Eternal Purple Emperor' in Amsterdam was sold for three The price of 10,000 Dutch gold coins. This is equivalent to the price of a sailing warship, a coastal manor and forty war horses. 】
[The speculators who are gradually becoming red-eyed in the trading market don’t know this. At this time, there were less than a hundred days left before the famous 'Tulip Crash Night' in history. This time, the business transformation of Oil Painting Magazine, also led by Dutchman Sir Jos Brown, I wonder if it can learn from the lessons of its predecessors. Let’s listen to this newspaper’s exclusive interview with Anna Elena, a descendant of the founder of Oil Painting Magazine and a former board member——]
Reporter: "It's unbelievable, Ms. Elena. From the conversation just now, I can hear your unconcealed pessimism about the future of the Oil Painting Fund. This is almost completely in line with the investment groups in the market who can't wait to join this financial feast. The opposite attitude. At this moment, you are even still the largest private shareholder of the entire magazine. Outsiders are unanimously optimistic, and your own family members say bad things about you. This is really a weird thing that I have never seen in my entire interviewing career!"
Ms. Jelena: "The objective fact is that I was the one who was kicked out of the board of directors because of different opinions. I do not shy away from this. It is impossible for a magazine to publish fair art criticism and represent investors in the financial market. Play the money game.”
"The simplest true or false question, telling the truth may mean losing money. So how to choose? Artistic responsibility or profit, you can only choose one of the two. Regarding Detective Cat, the magazine did something that makes me feel ashamed. Decision. It is an honor for me to be suspended for this matter."
Reporter: "Detective Cat, another Detective Cat. Ms. Elena, you repeatedly mentioned the name Detective Cat in previous conversations, and dismissed the African female painter from the magazine as the magazine founded by your ancestors. A landmark departure from artistic responsibility.”
"With all due respect, no offense is intended, but art does not have a systematic judgment standard. Regarding the issue of Detective Cat, is there a possibility that the shareholders of "Oil Painting" magazine are right, but you are wrong? Where is that side?"
Ms. Elena: "There is no unified evaluation standard for art, but it can be compared with the case law that everyone is familiar with. You can pay attention to the works of Professor Boggs. He is a buyer in the "Oil Painting" magazine The guide recommends a painter with a three-star rating."
"I don't mean to say that Professor Boggs's works are crude here. Precisely because he is an extremely good expert in knife painting, the comparison of his works shows the excellence of Detective Cat. There is a simpler way. , Professor Boggs once published a collection of fairy tale illustrations for Disney.”
"I believe it won't take long to tell the difference in word-of-mouth between these two sets of illustrations, regardless of reader reviews or sales. Of course, some people can say that artistic attainments cannot be measured by simple sales volume and money. Bar?"
Reporter: "Oh, ma'am, you've said what I wanted to say. Is there anything wrong with this point of view?"
Ms. Elena: "On the contrary, there is nothing wrong at all. I myself hold this view. At some point, money is the external expression of artistic value, but artistic value and money cannot be directly linked."
"Then we go back to the topic we started with. A subordinate of a magazine who believes that art has nothing to do with money leads a for-profit private equity fund. This incident reveals incomprehensible black humor from beginning to end."
"..."
Sir Brown no longer wanted to read any more.
He underestimated Anna.
The chairman himself is a person who is good at manipulating public opinion and controlling the media.
But his opponent is the heir to the Elena family, and Anna is not the kind of second-generation ancestor who only cries in front of reporters or smiles like she's high.
She is also good at dealing with the media.
Miss Irina avoided the art criticism circle where Sir Brown was dominant and chose the equally influential financial newspaper to receive an exclusive interview.
Long before she had the idea to cut this matter off, Anna had already taken action.
In media interviews, she turned the detective cat incident into a key point in the struggle between the Irina family and the oil painting management, just like the military flag fought over by the two sides in the battle.
Several small holes were made in the corners of the newspaper by fingers.
"Hey, Sir Brown, I know you must want to tear up this newspaper now. Believe me, when I read this report, I will definitely not feel much better than you do now."
Al-Khelaifi sighed: "But I have to recommend that you hold your nose and read it, at least until the last section. I have to say, I'm afraid, that is the worst part of this report."
"First week sales of 40,000 copies. How could it be worse? Even if you told me that "The Little Prince" topped the sales list this week, it wouldn't make me feel any worse."
Sir Brown shrugged and said helplessly.
As the old gentleman spoke, his eyes scanned the paragraph at the end of the newspaper.
[...Many readers may have been deeply impressed by the so-called real-shot corporate video of Scholastic Group’s Easter Book Season on YouTube, Douyin, TV stations or subway stations. Many people already know that the book that made the crying little girl smile is the new version of "The Little Prince". However, the advert attracted the attention of not only ordinary readers, but also scientists from King's College London and the ASD (Autism Medical Abbreviation) Trust Research Foundation. 】
[As we all know, autistic patients are called children from the stars. Since the concept of "art therapy" was proposed in the 1930s, early intellectual intervention combining painting and music has been the most common method in the field of autism research. One of the treatment options used. 】
[Scientists have always hoped to find a work that can penetrate the hearts of children with autism and become a link between autistic children and the outside world. The effect of detective cat illustrations in advertisements has attracted the attention of researchers. 】
[Please note that based on the professional ethics of a news media, we cannot advocate that a new treatment is effective or ineffective without careful review by authoritative agencies such as the FDA. However, according to the content of the telephone consultation, it was learned that Scholastic Group has donated 1,500 fairy tale books to King's College for auxiliary research. 】
[May the patient recover soon! 】
"This guy's paintings can also cure autism? What nonsense?"
With Sir Brown's self-restraint, he couldn't help but curse an ugly curse word.
what is this?
Will God be against him?
(End of chapter)
