This director lacks vision.

Chapter 108 The Battle for Weibo Spokesperson

After figuring out the cause of the matter, Jiang Yifeng stopped paying attention to the topic.

He opened his work email and processed several emails.

I saw an OA (Office Automation) message from the Weibo business unit.

[We are considering signing Liu Yifei as the brand ambassador for Sohu Weibo. Please review.]

Recently, Sina Weibo launched Yao Chen as its spokesperson and initiated the "Weibo Queen" topic, which has attracted a lot of attention and discussion.

In order to cope with competition and consolidate Sohu Weibo's leading position in the market, the Weibo Business Unit has decided to sign popular female celebrity Liu Yifei as the spokesperson for Sohu Weibo.

The endorsement contract is attached.

Please review and provide feedback.

Jiang Yifeng now holds multiple positions at Sohu, including content director for Sohu Weibo, in addition to being the video website's director.

Some decisions made by the Weibo business unit are sent to him via OA (Office Automation) for his review.

Important decisions require review and approval from several senior executives before they can be passed.

Generally speaking, Jiang Yifeng doesn't offer any opinions; he simply clicks "agree" and submits the process.

But when he saw the OA (Office Agreement), he frowned and clicked on the contract.

It was discovered that the endorsement period is 3 years, and the price is quite high, 1200 million for 3 years.

After thinking it over, Jiang Yifeng decided to disagree and wrote down his opinion.

[Fengxing Media has celebrities and artists; when hiring a spokesperson for Weibo, they should prioritize their own people. I recommend Gao Yuanyuan.]

After this suggestion was sent out, the process of Sohu Weibo inviting Liu Yifei to be its spokesperson was immediately put on hold.

That afternoon, Zhang Chaoyang convened a meeting.

In addition to Jiang Yifeng, Zhang Tao, head of Sohu Weibo Business Unit, and Wu Yanjun, Marketing Director, were also present at the meeting.

"Regarding the Weibo spokesperson issue, you have differing opinions. Let's each explain our reasons."

This isn't a big deal; we can discuss it today and settle the matter.

After Zhang Chaoyang finished speaking, Zhang Tao continued, "Xinlang Weibo is promoting Weibo Queen. Although it's not very popular, we can't let our guard down."

Xinlang wanted to start by associating itself with celebrities in the entertainment industry, starting with the Weibo queen. The Yao Chen incident was just a test.

Therefore, we must invite a female celebrity with greater fame and a better image to be our spokesperson, to launch the Weibo Queen of Sohu Weibo, and to create a demonstration effect.

This spokesperson is someone we absolutely must hire.

After explaining the cause and course of events and stating his position, Zhang Tao fell silent.

Wu Yanjun picked up the conversation, saying, "When we hire spokespeople, we want them to have a demonstrative effect. The best choice is to find a celebrity who works independently."

This way, other celebrities will be more willing to cooperate with us after seeing the positive effect of Sohu Weibo in promoting its users.

The next best option is to partner with entertainment companies like Huayi Brothers and Cheng Tian Entertainment, and bring in their stars as spokespeople.

The worst option is to choose a celebrity associated with Sohu Weibo.

Wu Yanjun glanced at Jiang Yifeng and said aggressively, "If we choose Gao Yuanyuan as our spokesperson, everyone will immediately recognize her as an artist from Fengxing Media, and one of our own from the Souhu Group."

Then there will be no demonstration effect.

Because it's impossible for all these celebrities to join Fengxing Media.

Having Gao Yuanyuan as a spokesperson could easily create the impression that Sohu Weibo only promotes its own people.

Why would other celebrities want to come?
From this perspective, Liu Yifei is the best choice.

She's currently working independently, has a large following, and a good image. Choosing her as our Weibo spokesperson was a well-considered decision.

It can only be said that history still has a certain inertia.

After going around in circles, the endorsement deal for Sohu Weibo is still linked to Liu Yifei.

After Zhang Tao and Wu Yanjun finished expressing their views, Jiang Yifeng said unhurriedly, "Sohu Weibo is developing better and better. Boss, you are so generous, this year's bonus must be quite substantial."

But in my opinion, this bonus distribution should also have a demonstrative effect, and should be able to attract more talent to our company.

Mr. Wu must have thought the same thing, which is why he voluntarily gave up this year's bonus.

He didn't want to be misunderstood as only giving bonuses to his own people and having no sincerity in recruiting talent.

This bonus should be given to an outsider to demonstrate our company's desire for talent.

This is how you create a demonstration effect.

Wu Yanjun: "..."

Hearing Jiang Yifeng's analogy, Zhang Chaoyang also laughed.

He was about to speak to ease the tension when Jiang Yifeng continued, "Prioritizing our own people is a simple truth known to all."

Even if you hire Liu Yifei as your spokesperson, people still believe that Weibo will take care of its own people.

Does this mean that because I had a conflict with Liu Yifei on Weibo, Weibo is going to ban me to show fairness?
Isn't that like taking off your pants to fart?

"If Mr. Wu agrees to forgo this year's bonus to demonstrate your so-called fairness and exemplary effect, then I will agree to make Liu Yifei the spokesperson for Sohu Weibo."

Jiang Yifeng went all out, unleashing a barrage of attacks on Wu Yanjun, leaving him speechless.

Zhang Tao's expression also turned somewhat unpleasant; she was in cahoots with Wu Yanjun.

They have an internal competitive relationship with Jiang Yifeng and don't want Jiang Yifeng to have too much influence on Sohu, so they deliberately don't invite artists from Fengxing Media to be their spokespeople.

But this is something Jiang Yifeng cannot tolerate.

Sohu Weibo hired spokespeople instead of Gao Yuanyuan and others, which would make Jiang Yifeng seem incompetent, and what would be the point of their business in the future?

Moreover, he has no scruples whatsoever; he'll criticize anyone who needs to.

Because Jiang Yifeng clearly understands his own position.

Within the Sohu Group, he was a lone wolf, highly capable and well-connected, but only responsible to Zhang Chaoyang.

The worse the relationship between such a loyal minister and others, the more at ease Zhang Chaoyang will feel.

If Jiang Yifeng really gets along well with the senior executives at Sohu, Zhang Chaoyang will have no sleep at night, given the abilities he's demonstrated.

Zhang Tao said, "President Jiang, we are seriously discussing this issue, please don't get too emotional."

Jiang Yifeng chuckled and retorted, "If your interests and profits aren't affected, of course you'll be emotionally stable."

I have only one principle: not only for Sohu Weibo, but also for Sohu Video, Sohu Changyou, and Sohu Portal, etc., when hiring spokespeople, artists from Fengxing Media must be given priority.

"Unless the image is particularly inappropriate, then we'll consider hiring outsiders." Wu Yanjun immediately retorted, "The company isn't your home; you can't expect to have everything prioritized. Your request is simply ridiculous."

Zhang Chaoyang coughed and began to speak.

"I have always encouraged everyone to be a tolerant and kind person. I have never treated the veterans and employees who started the business with me unfairly."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Tao and Wu Yanjun fell silent.

Zhang Chaoyang meant that he takes good care of his own people, which implied that he supports Jiang Yifeng.

After taking a sip of tea, Zhang Chaoyang continued, "Weibo has already developed into a very good flagship product, and it will become the core of the group's business in the future."

I previously proposed spinning off Sohu Video for a separate listing. Now that the group has Weibo, this plan can be implemented gradually.

In the future, Sohu Video and Fengxing Media will have cross-shareholdings.

The artists under Fengxing Media are indeed our group's own people.

Returning to the topic of brand ambassadors, Liu Yifei has taken a break for over a year, and her popularity is not what it used to be.

Gao Yuanyuan is currently very popular, and she will also be the female lead in the upcoming self-produced drama "Dark Glory" on Sohu Video, which will likely boost her popularity even further.

It would be more appropriate to have her endorse Sohu Weibo.

Zhang Chaoyang made his decision, and the controversy came to an end.

Zhang Tao and Wu Yanjun could only leave dejectedly.

Only Jiang Yifeng and Zhang Chaoyang remained in the conference room.

Jiang Yifeng thought Zhang Chaoyang wanted to talk about work, but unexpectedly he said, "I have already chosen a location for my fishing resort, next to a reservoir in Hebei."

Are you free tomorrow? The weather's been nice these past few days, all warm and blooming spring flowers. Shall we go fishing over there?
I'd also like to offer some suggestions regarding the construction of the resort.

“Sure, Nazar has been a bit stressed lately, I’ll take her to relax.”

"Haha, what's there to be nervous about? With you backing her up, she can just play around."

Seeing Zhang Chaoyang's nonchalant attitude, Jiang Yifeng had an idea and said, "Boss, why don't you go to the Produce 101 live show as a judge or perform a show?"
Your Charles dance moves, and your hit song "Dear, That's Not Love," deserve to be seen by more people.

Zhang Chaoyang also became interested and asked, "Do you really think my dancing and singing are good?"

"It really works! I'm telling you, if you performed live, you would absolutely amaze everyone!"

"Don't lie to me, I really believe you."

"Why would I lie to you? This show is missing a genius like you."

"Then I'll reluctantly go up and demonstrate."

Zhang Chaoyang's desire to show off kicked in, and he happily accepted Jiang Yifeng's invitation.

The two then started talking about fishing the next day.

Meanwhile, in Shanghai, the crew of the TV drama "Love Announcement" was on set.

Liu Xiaoli sat to the side, watching Liu Yifei film.

She had gradually withdrawn from Liu Yifei's management affairs, but this time it was her daughter's long break before her comeback.

Liu Xiaoli was still worried and decided to stay with him for a while.

She was in a good mood.

After Liu Yifei's comeback, she was able to film a movie with Wang Lihong and also became the spokesperson for Sohu Weibo.

This shows that Liu Yifei is still popular, and taking a break for a period of time will not have a significant impact.

Inside the film set, assistant director Zhang Xunwei shouted "Cut!"

That concludes today's filming.

Liu Xiaoli frowned.

Because of Zeng Yike, she has once again become entangled with Liu Yifei.

Liu Xiaoli always felt that Zeng Yike was acting strangely, with excessive enthusiasm towards Liu Yifei.

After Liu Yifei saw Zeng Yike off, Liu Xiaoli went over, handed her the water bottle, and said, "Have some water first, and get some rest. There's a night shoot tonight."

You need to hurry up with filming these next few days; the negotiations with Sohu Weibo are almost complete.

I might have to ask the film crew for leave next week to go to Yanjing to sign an endorsement contract.

Liu Yifei nodded and said, "Okay, this movie was filmed quite quickly."

Just as Liu Xiaoli was about to speak, the phone rang.

She picked up the phone.

"What? Didn't we agree on this before? Why are you backing out? If the endorsement price is too high, we can talk about it again."

Jiang Yifeng? Okay, I understand. Let's work together again next time.

After hanging up the phone, Liu Xiaoli sighed and said to Liu Yifei, "The Sohu endorsement deal has fallen through."

Liu Yifei remained calm and asked, "Was it Hua Yi who interfered?"

Liu Xiaoli shook her head and said, "No, it's Jiang Yifeng who disagrees. He insists on choosing Gao Yuanyuan."

"Jiang Yifeng? Isn't he the director of Lost in Thailand?"

"He is also the content director of Sohu Weibo."

Liu Yifei habitually licked her lips, looked at Zeng Yike in the distance, and sighed, "The entertainment industry changes so fast. I've only been gone for a little over a year, and so many people have emerged."

Liu Xiaoli said, "This Jiang Yifeng is indeed very capable, but his reputation is controversial. He often shoots some borderline videos, and some people even speculate that he is the creator of Fifty Shades of Grey."

Today I was bored on set, and I also needed to keep up with domestic news and familiarize myself with the Weibo account that Liu Yifei will be endorsing.

Liu Xiaoli spent the whole day browsing Weibo and saw the online public opinion.

Upon hearing Liu Xiaoli mention that Jiang Yifeng was the author of Fifty Shades of Grey, Liu Yifei's heart skipped a beat, and she fell silent.

Liu Xiaoli said, "The Weibo endorsement is off the table. I'll go ask about Pantene again, just in case that falls through too."

Liu Yifei joked, "Looks like I'm really worthless now, haha!"

Seeing that her daughter was in a good mood, Liu Xiaoli felt a little better. She scolded, "Nonsense! Celebrities all need to package their image. Don't spread such things around."

Liu Yifei tilted her head and insisted, "It's worthless, what can I do?"

Liu Xiaoli: "..."

(End of this chapter)