Peninsula: You've been chosen here for producing girl groups.

Chapter 112 Wouldn't that be like begging on your knees?

"Currently, the company has received inquiries from four brands."

"Elite and Smart are both school uniform brands, while Kyo-Cun and Bailijia are both fried chicken brands, making them competitors. The final choice will depend on the terms of cooperation between the two parties."

In the conference room, Han Shuo listened to his subordinates report on recent business collaborations and itineraries.

In his view, how much revenue these endorsements can generate is secondary; the main thing is that they can be used to promote the five members of StarsRookies.

However, this is precisely what makes the brand have doubts.

"Elite is relatively resistant to accepting the five members of StarsRookies as part of the group, and their attitude is rather negative; Smart, on the other hand, has offered a substitute lineup, saying they hope to have Girls' Generation's Yoona replace them —"

Han Shuo raised his hand to stop the report: "How come Yoona suddenly appeared?"

"The people at Smart said that you and Yoona are close friends and often interact, so forming a 90s Line would be a good match. Plus, your ages are perfect for school uniforms, so working together would be a match made in heaven."

"They're quite good at taking a roundabout approach, telling them our conditions remain unchanged."

If Han Shuo were just an ordinary artist, he would have signed his first endorsement deal just a few days after his debut, and he wouldn't have bothered with any conditions.

But he is not; he has bargaining power.

South Korea's school uniforms come in spring/autumn, summer, and winter styles.

Both school uniform brands are vying for endorsement deals for their summer collections.

Given that it's just a one-season endorsement collaboration and the target consumer group is high school students, the brand definitely wants to use a popular idol as a spokesperson to increase the attention their school uniforms receive among the target audience.

The fact that they were willing to add Yoona shows that Smart has a large budget.

The reason why the five members, including Soyeon and Yoonjoo, are unwilling to accept them ultimately boils down to the fact that they themselves have little fame and their value is not recognized by the brand.

Of the five members of StarsRookies, Park Soyeon and Shin Yoonjoo are complete rookies.

Ni Ni, Kim Yoon-ji, and Kang Han-na were his backup dancers. Kim Yoon-ji even appeared in the music video for "Trap," gaining some popularity, but that was about it.

Naturally, they are far inferior to Girls' Generation, who have been in the industry for more than half a year and whose popularity and achievements have steadily increased.

There are essentially two ways to impress someone.

First, it showcases his promising future prospects.

He will be releasing a summer special in July, and the album's pre-release promotion and publicity can be linked with the summer school uniform, further enhancing his endorsement value.

Secondly, we want to reiterate to the brand that Stars Entertainment attaches great importance to the StarsRookies project.

Both Fanxing Entertainment and Bilibili will provide the five members with resources such as music videos, variety shows, and films in the coming days.

The five members are only moderately popular now, but their future looks promising.

"If necessary, we can give them a proper heads-up about StarsRookies' resource arrangements, such as the five members' participation in the production of the Chinese album 'Time Thief'."

Unlike the two school uniform brands, the two fried chicken brands were not so resistant to the proposal of a bundled collaboration.

However, there is a significant disagreement with Fanxing Entertainment regarding the endorsement fee.

Currently, the company has set a minimum endorsement fee of 3.5 million yuan per year for him, while the fee for the five newcomers is slightly lower, at 5000 million yuan per year.

This means that the two brands would need to spend at least 4 million to reach this cooperation agreement.

If an idol has been popular for two or three years since their debut, and their popularity and achievements are relatively stable, the brand will probably be willing to spend the money.

However, he was still a newcomer, and the five members of StarsRookies were newest of newcomers.

The two fried chicken brands seemed rather hesitant.

However, the seasonality of school uniform endorsements means that the time allotted for cooperation negotiations is relatively tight, while fried chicken brands do not have this concern.

We can wait for feedback on subsequent album sales and music show performances.

As of today, the album has sold 5.2169 copies in six days.

If today's sales are included, and the album sales can exceed 60,000 copies, then it is highly likely to break the 70,000 mark this week.

In addition, the album "LoveTrap" performed exceptionally well on music charts.

He can imagine what it's like to be one of the top performers on music shows in the last two weeks.

With proven musical achievements as a guarantee, brands will only become more proactive.

There are no special precautions to take regarding the itinerary.

Most of them were invitations from popular variety shows.

He had already decided to reserve his variety show debut for his own show, "Weekly Idol," and had someone politely decline the invitation, citing that he was not yet comfortable with variety shows.

To maintain his public image and give his fans something to look forward to, he accepted several radio station invitations.

"Also, the 44th Baeksang Arts Awards sent an invitation to you to participate in the opening performance."

"Baeksang Arts Awards invited me?"

Han Shuo was confused as to why a film and television awards ceremony would suddenly invite him to perform: "Are there any other people invited?"

"And Girls' Generation."

What are your opinions on this?

"It mainly depends on your opinion."

This means that the company's subordinates all felt that this was a good platform and hoped that he could use it to make his name; otherwise, they would have rejected him long ago.

However, the three major film and television award ceremonies in South Korea are all very serious.

Despite inviting idols to perform every time, the entertainment value is actually very low. The actors in the audience are expressionless, as if they are attending a funeral.

For an idol to act in a film is almost like experiencing the Black Sea.

In 2010, Girls' Generation, who had already become a huge hit with songs like "Gee" and "Tell Me Your Wish," received a hot post from actors who gave them the cold shoulder.

It's not like he's really that desperate for exposure.

There's no need to try to win someone's favor.

He suddenly remembered that he had a rising actress in his family: "Liu Xi had a movie released last year, she should be attending this year's Baeksang Arts Awards, right?"

"Yes."

"Tell her assistant to prepare a low-key yet beautiful and appropriate dress for her. She is not suited to heavy makeup; her makeup and styling should be more subtle."

Li Zhixi is currently the company's only leading female artist, so it's worthwhile to invest more resources in her.

"As for the performance, I'll think about it and give you an answer tomorrow."

End of the meeting.

Han Seok called Han Ye-seul: "I remember you were nominated for Best New Actress at this year's Baeksang Arts Awards, right?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

Her lover called to inquire about her career achievements, which made Han Ye-seul feel very happy.

"Why are you suddenly asking about this? Tell me, are you preparing a little surprise to celebrate my award?"

"Let's just say that."

Han Seok told Han Ye-seul about receiving the performance invitation, wanting to hear the advice from this popular up-and-coming actress from an actor's perspective.

"Really? We'll see each other at the awards ceremony?!"

Han Ye-seul then said she wanted to meet him.

This woman is very decisive and efficient. He just casually asked her something, and she readily agreed to meet him. She even arrived at Starry Entertainment an hour later.

"Being invited to the Baeksang Arts Awards is a recognition of your popularity. From that perspective, you should go and make your name known."

Han Ye-seul sat in Han Seok's lap, rubbing his chest muscles with both hands: "Maybe I'll even get to witness myself winning the Best New Actress award."

She has a high chance of winning the Best New Actress award for the film she's starring in this time.

Winning her first award in the film industry and having her lover witness it is a double blessing.

However, she knew very well that Han Shuo's worries were not unfounded.

Actors and idols are clearly separated. They usually have their own stages and are not familiar with each other. Who would deliberately give a reaction at an awards ceremony like this?

Isn't that just how she is—always wearing a cold, indifferent face?

But Han Shuo is different.

He is not just an idol, but also the actual controller of multiple companies.

They are very popular even among actors.

The Baeksang Arts Awards is a comprehensive film and television awards ceremony, which includes film and television categories.

It's hard to say whether movie actors will give Han Shuo face, but TV actors will definitely support him.

Han Ye-seul cupped Han Seok's face in her hands: "Your company has bought a lot of TV dramas, and will continue to buy Korean dramas in the future. Who wouldn't give you some face?"

Han Shuo's business is booming, his revenue is increasing, and he has more and more funds at hand.

The agreement to purchase more than a dozen Korean dramas and variety shows every year will move from a written agreement to a practical one, and the cooperation with the three major television stations in purchasing dramas will only become closer.

The primary beneficiaries of TV drama copyright sales are television stations, production companies, and screenwriters.

Then there are the actors who starred in it.

Unlike the three parties mentioned above, they cannot directly receive a share of the profits, but when the copyright of a TV series can be sold, the actors' salaries can be settled smoothly, reducing the risk of being owed money.

In this respect, Han Shuo is practically their benefactor.

That makes sense.

"Right?" Han Yise kissed Han Shuo: "Putting everything else aside, as long as you perform live, I will definitely support you."

She was thinking from Han Seok's perspective: "The awards ceremony happens to be held on a Thursday, which might clash with his music show performances."

"Don't worry about that, wasn't it pre-recorded?"

Pre-recording of music show performances is nominally a backup.

It can be used as a backup file for live streaming when the singer is unable to attend.

Of course, some pre-recording is done to provide a better stage performance.

For example, all three music show performances this week will be pre-recorded.

Pre-recording allows you to record a special stage performance exclusively for your own fans, using their cheers to create a unique performance.

Han Ye-seul gave Han Seok a look: "Then let's go?"

"I remember the broadcasting station was SBS, right?"

Han Seok has a good relationship with SBS, so he can get the audience list in advance and let the station only show the actors he is on good terms with.

It seems that many of the actresses nominated this time have some connection with him.

There's no worry about not being able to capture a group of enthusiastic audience members.

"Then let's go."

Han Ye-seul leaned in and kissed the person in front of her on the lips: "Actually, if you ask me, with your popularity and fame, those senior actors wouldn't dare to disrespect you."

To put it bluntly, why do actors dare to put on a cold face? Isn't it just the common practice of belittling the weak and praising the strong?

If a singer with national popularity like Han Shuo were standing on stage, and they dared to be disrespectful and give him the cold shoulder throughout, they would be in for a severe backlash from the public.

"When your album sells over 70,000 copies, I'll come over to celebrate with you, okay?"

59

The sales data was updated the following day.

LoveTrap once again achieved a record of selling over 4 copies in a single day, accumulating 10074 copies sold on April 1st!

With this, the album "LoveTrap" has sold a total of 6.2243 copies in its first week of release, ranking second on the current year's album chart.

Another day's sales exceeding 10,000.

Sales defied the downturn, with initial sales reaching 6.2243 units!

The first hit album of the year has heralded the recovery of the record market.

Time is running out for Kim Dong-ryul.

On April 2, album sales plummeted, with only 2015 copies sold in a single day, bringing the total to 6.4258. It was less than 4 copies away from catching up with Kim Dong-ryul, the top seller in the previous three months.

SM Entertainment, meeting room.

Everyone present wore a bitter expression.

Han Shuo's music achievements and song career are becoming more and more successful, while his own company seems to be under a curse, with everything going wrong.

First, the Super Junior unlimited group model was directly canceled, and even the guaranteed project, the limited sub-unit Super-M, was not saved.

All the massive investments made in the early stages went down the drain.

Secondly, it angered the fan base, leading to protests such as truck protests and individual food protests, and also caused a certain degree of fan loss for its various groups and artists.

In the two weeks following the incident, all of the official fan cafes of the company's artists experienced a loss of followers.

Super Junior's official fan club suffered the most significant loss of fans, with a total loss of nearly 600 members.

The official fan cafe is a paid fan club. Let alone losing nearly 600 people, even losing just 100 people would be painful.

Furthermore, the company's public image nearly collapsed in the defamation case, and its name was stigmatized and widely circulated among K-pop fans in China.

In contrast, Han Shuo has clearly obtained a first-tier experience card.

With just one album, he rose to the top tier of the music scene. His music, album, and popularity are all top-notch, and it's safe to say that he has already secured all the newcomer awards for this year.

Lee Soo-man looked around: "Tell me, are you all willing to accept Bilibili's collaboration and exchange Girls' Generation's endorsements for resources?"

Someone asked, "How many users does Bilibili currently have?"

"Hanshuo has not made any public announcements, but based on user UIDs, the number of users in China should be close to 200,000, and the number of local users should be close to 90,000."

Wow!

The astonishing data results left everyone present speechless with their expressions.

No, this platform was launched last Monday, and it has only been fully operational for less than 11 days, yet it has already accumulated nearly 300,000 users?

Hanshuo mainly operates in the country, so it's understandable that he has nearly 90,000 local users.

Why are there almost 200,000 users in China? Didn't Bilibili say it didn't promote itself in China?

The director in charge of the investigation explained, "Bilibili did not completely refrain from promotion; rather, it adopted a free yet highly effective form of promotion."

"They collaborated extensively with fans of K-pop artists, inviting several fan translation groups to participate in the translation of past music show episodes, thereby increasing their visibility within the fan community."

No, you can play it like this?

They got to use the fans' labor for free and also promoted their website for free.

"At this rate, won't they actually turn Bilibili into a major platform?"

With Han Shuo's current popularity, he is already able to counter SM Entertainment. If Han Shuo were to actually run Bilibili, wouldn't that mean that the Chinese market would be subject to others in the future?

But this is also a calculated move.

No one would be as willing as Han Shuo to spend tens of millions, or even more, of funds every year specifically to buy the Chinese copyrights of Korean dramas and variety shows.

If you can't beat them with a fight, and you can't suppress them with a show of force, then you have no choice but to cooperate.

Lee Soo-man helplessly accepted the situation: "Call the leader over and give him some instructions. Tell them to interact more with Han Seok when they're performing."

Kim Tae-yeon doesn't have as many concerns as the company; she only needs to focus on Girls' Generation itself.

Han Shuo has his own popularity and can consistently produce good works. Establishing a close collaboration with Han Shuo can only benefit Girls' Generation, and will not cause any harm.

After finishing her schedule and returning to the dormitory that evening, she relayed everything to the other members.

Like her, the members were all very happy.

Jessica Jung happily opened Bilibili and, following online tutorials on switching regions, switched to the Chinese version of Bilibili.

"What is this? 'On the dirty thoughts of SM Entertainment in managing Infinite Group'."

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