This director is vindictive.

Chapter 501 Hype isn't scary, whoever falls for it is embarrassed.

In this life, "Sunflower" can be described as incredibly tragic!
Feng Dagang also gave up completely.

In terms of box office, it barely surpassed 100 million yuan after a week of release.

If this had happened twenty years ago, a movie grossing over 100 million yuan would have been a major event.

But nowadays, for directors like Feng Dagang, that's really not enough.

In particular, the previous controversy over the bundled promotion had caused quite a stir, with the internet almost entirely filled with Feng Dagang's "Sunflower" and Chen Mo's "The Great Tang" throughout March!
The public relations battle between the two was incredibly effective.

However, the more glorious and triumphant they were before, the more embarrassing they are now.

Nothing more. So-called hype and marketing are not scary; whoever gets crushed is the one who feels embarrassed.

The box office of "The Great Tang Dynasty" far surpassed that of "Sunflower," but the box office of "Sunflower" in a week was only comparable to the box office of "The Great Tang Dynasty" in a single day.

How the hell is he supposed to wash it?
There's no way to wash it!

There's simply no comparison, and there's something particularly interesting about it.

As we all know, "Sunflower" was previously trying to capitalize on the popularity of "Ne Zha 2" for publicity, but "Ne Zha 2" has already been released for over a month.

However, by the weekend, "Ne Zha 2" actually surpassed "Sunflower," which had only been released for a week, in daily box office revenue, which was really embarrassing!
"Ne Zha 2" has grossed over 160 billion yuan in 40 days since its release, surpassing the total box office of its predecessor and successfully climbing to the top three of the global box office charts, surpassing "Titanic".

It can be said that it was a masterpiece.

Of course, after all, it has been released for 40 days, more than a month.

Although it is still showing in theaters, its box office revenue has slowed down.

Even so, "Ne Zha 2" still grossed nearly 2000 million yuan per day over the weekend.

In reality, the number of screenings has already been drastically reduced.

Even so, it still surpassed "Sunflower," which had only been released for a week, in daily box office revenue.

For a moment, netizens laughed.

Especially the fans of "Ne Zha" couldn't hold back anymore.

"The animated film 'Ne Zha 2' has been released for 40 days and it's still able to crush 'realistic masterpieces.' Director Feng has been completely outmatched by the world of anime!"

"It's not the marketing hype that's scary, it's who's embarrassed by poor box office performance! Chen Mo boasted about 10 billion yuan in box office revenue and was criticized and questioned by the entire internet and industry. Anyone can come out and say that Chen Mo relied entirely on hype, but the movie itself is just too good to pass up!"
Let's leave aside *Ne Zha 2*, and talk about *The Great Tang Dynasty*. It also engaged in a war of words and hype with Feng Dagang, but in the end, the other film was fantastic! Hahaha!

"The more arrogant they were when they were hyping up 'The Great Tang Dynasty,' the more pathetic they look now that 'Nezha' has trampled them into the box office grave!"

"When they exploit suffering, they tout 'realism,' and when the box office flops, they blame it on capital suppression. Now they can't even beat an old man in animation. Doesn't it hurt their pride?"

In the entertainment media, it's rare to see someone offering help when things are going well, but it's very common to see someone kicking someone when they're down.

It's become one of their signature programs.

Sure enough, when "Sunflower" flopped, and even "Ne Zha 2," which had been in theaters for over 40 days, had higher daily box office, the entertainment media started to rejoice.

Director Feng is such a good person! This has provided yet another hot topic!

"Facts have proven that relying on hype and labeling as 'pseudo-realism' is outdated. The long-term box office success of 'Ne Zha 2' precisely demonstrates that a good story is king!"

"Director Feng's loss is not unjustified—audiences would rather watch Nezha a second time to see the special effects than tolerate 'pseudo-artistic' works full of profanity. The market is educating creators!"

When it comes to marketing hype and publicity, Chen Mo is a topic that can never be avoided in the entire entertainment industry.

Almost every one of his films, before its release, showcases a unique and outstanding marketing and promotional approach.

From his early works like "Heartbreak Story," live-streaming e-commerce, "Dragon Treasure Hunt," quizzes with prizes, and even his collaboration with BYD on automobiles, to the "814 Welfare Festival," and so on, it's safe to say that the title of marketing guru has long been firmly attached to Chen Mo's head.

So far, it can be said that many competitors in the industry have used this to attack Chen Mo.

He claims that his marketing is more important than his content creation, but he always ends up being proven wrong.

This has amazed many people, who exclaimed, "Your grandpa will always be your grandpa!"
What was Feng Dagang doing at this time?
He has truly given up.

"It's true what they say, comparisons are odious!" Feng Dagang exclaimed, a rare occurrence for him.

"You mean Chen Mo? That's rare. Even you, Director Feng, have moments of admiration." Xu Fan rarely saw her husband like this.

"You have to admit it!" Feng Dagang shook his head and said.

"There are many people in the entertainment industry who are good at various marketing and hype for movies, but there are almost none who are consistently praised by the public. He is the only one."

"Looking back at every movie he releases, he always manages to come up with some kind of creative publicity, but what's the result? It's incomparable, incomparable!" Feng Dagang sighed.

"Yes, but why do you think that is? Is it because the marketing tactics are powerful enough?" Xu Fan asked.

Feng Dagang shook his head and said, "No, actually, his marketing tactics this time wouldn't amount to much without my cooperation."

But the result was completely different. I finally understood that there are some things that you just can't do well!
Ultimately, movies must return to their content! And what's remarkable about him is that while his films may not be considered classics, they at least avoid many things that would obviously annoy the audience.

It just goes to show that a person's reputation is well-deserved!

With "Ne Zha" breaking records by grossing over 160 billion yuan, it surpassed "Titanic" to become the third highest-grossing film worldwide.

With the dust settling on the showdown between "The Great Tang Desert" and "Sunflower," Chen Mo has once again become the focus of countless people's attention.

However, this time, people are not talking about the movie itself, but rather Chen Mo's unexpected publicity strategies.

"How much of the 160 billion yuan box office success of 'Ne Zha 2' was due to Chen Mo's series of promotional tactics? I personally believe that Chen Mo influenced at least 20 billion yuan of the box office!"

"That makes sense. Without Chen Mo's groundbreaking 10 billion prediction and 1 billion bet, 'Ne Zha 2' wouldn't have received such high attention in the beginning!"

"Although he wasn't the director of 'Ne Zha 2,' it's fair to say that his contribution to the film was no less than that of director Jiaozi!"

"So here's the question: why is it that, despite all of them becoming famous through marketing, Zhang Dahuzi, Zhang Weipin (Zhang Yimou's former partner), and Xiao Gangpao all had their share of mishaps in the entertainment industry, but Chen Mo has never had a mishap? Can anyone with a brain come out and analyze this?"

"It's very simple. If you look closely at Chen Mo's movies, none of them are bad. Even if you don't like them, very few people would call them terrible! What does this show? Marketing and promotion are just icing on the cake; the content of the movie is the real guarantee!"

"As it turns out, audiences aren't fools. Marketing can add icing on the cake, but it can't save a bad movie."

With "Ne Zha 2" and "The Great Tang Dynasty" being compared to the nearly flopped "Sunflower", the hashtag #MarketingKingChenMo# was once again pushed to the top three of the trending searches.

Soon, marketing accounts began analyzing: Why does Chen Mo win every time when it comes to marketing hype?
In today's fiercely competitive film market, marketing hype has become one of the key factors for a film to break through. However, despite both being marketing masters, Feng Dagang's "Sunflower" and Chen Mo's "The Great Tang Desert" have had drastically different outcomes—the former suffered a critical and commercial failure, while the latter achieved both critical and commercial success, even helping older films like "Ne Zha 2" surpass newer ones.

Why do Chen Mo's marketing efforts always succeed, while other movies with equally good marketing often fail?

First, we need to note that, for example, Zhang Dahuzi (Zhang Yimou) used casting to create hype when making the Legend of the Condor Heroes series, but the result was always a mess.

As for "Little Cannon," he used to attract attention with his bold and outspoken remarks, which greatly benefited his films back then.

But why is "Sunflower" no longer popular?

Take this instance, for example. Was Chen Mo's marketing strategy really that clever? Not necessarily.

Even the promotion of "The Great Tang Dynasty in the Northern Desert" in March was entirely a passive effort to cooperate with Xiao Gangpao.

In this respect, although the publicity was equally effective, why were the results so different?

Take a look: all of Chen Mo's past films—I mean all of them—have a rating lower than six points!

Very few scores are even below 7.

What does this show? It shows that their core marketing strategy has never been marketing itself, but rather "content is king"!

Chen Mo's marketing strategy has always revolved around "content value" rather than simply creating controversy.

"The Great Tang Dynasty in the Northern Desert": The premiere invited veterans with white hair to watch the film, creating an emotional resonance between history and reality. Official media actively praised the film, resulting in positive publicity.

"Ne Zha 2": The core message of "the rise of Chinese animation" has always been technological breakthroughs and story innovation, rather than relying on hype and controversy to maintain its popularity. While some of his statements may have been outrageous, they have now been proven to be based on facts, not empty boasts.

In contrast, the marketing focus of "Sunflower" was on "consuming suffering" and "capital suppression," and even tried to salvage its reputation by playing the victim card, but the audience did not buy it - because the quality of the film itself could not support the "high-end" persona of the marketing.

Secondly, it must be said that Chen Mo's marketing is best at "emotional resonance" rather than forcibly instilling values!

From "Love is Not Blind" to "The Great Tang Dynasty in the Northern Desert," we can see that...

In every marketing campaign, "emotional resonance" is his biggest weapon!

What? You mean a billion-dollar bet? That's also an emotional resonance, what kind of emotion? The emotion of getting something for nothing! (Just kidding!)

Getting back to the main point, for example, Chen Mo's use of "heartbreak stories" in "Love is Not Blind" resonated with the emotions of those who have experienced heartbreak.

For example, this time, "The Great Tang Dynasty in the Northern Desert" uses the tragic sentiment of "the whole city is full of white hair, but they will never give up their swords" to inspire patriotism, rather than empty slogans.

At the same time, he has never relied on vulgar jokes or controversial topics to attract attention.

Every film promotion either offers benefits to the audience or uses the content to achieve emotional resonance.

While "Sunflower" attempted to package itself as "realism," it alienated audiences due to its stereotypical portrayal of women, logical flaws, and confused values, resulting in a serious disconnect between marketing and content.

At the same time, Chen Mo's marketing strategies often "get the audience to spread the word on their own initiative," rather than relying on online trolls to flood the screen!
Whether it's the famous money-spraying tactics or emotional resonance, all of Chen Mo's marketing methods are not about making the audience passively accept or imposing them, but about mobilizing their subjective initiative.

Spontaneous participation and joining the promotional efforts have created a positive cycle of word-of-mouth.

The marketing of "Sunflower" has fallen into a vicious cycle of "the more you try to whitewash it, the worse it gets"—controlling public opinion, blaming capital, and hyping up the idea of ​​being "suppressed" have only made the audience more disgusted and accelerated the collapse of its reputation.

At the same time, many film directors have complained about unfair film scheduling.

The general feeling is one of grievance, that the theaters didn't give it enough screen time.

On the other hand, Chen Mo has never complained throughout his many years in the industry.

Some might say that Chen Mo is so famous and a big shot in the entertainment industry that he doesn't need to complain at all.

But back then? Chen Mo, who was just starting out, didn't complain either!
"Love is Not Blind" didn't get many screenings initially. Did he complain? And that was only his first theatrical film. At that time, what appeal could he possibly have?

Therefore, the essence of marketing is to amplify strengths, not to cover up weaknesses!

Chen Mo's success proves that true marketing masters don't survive on hype, but on getting good work seen by more people. Each of his marketing campaigns is built on solid content, genuine emotion, and audience approval, thus creating a virtuous cycle. Feng Dagang's failure, on the other hand, serves as a warning to the industry: marketing divorced from the quality of the work is ultimately a castle in the air, collapsing at the slightest breeze.

Therefore, instead of spending a fortune buying trending topics, it's better to polish the script first—the audience's eyes are ultimately discerning!

(End of this chapter)