Huayu: This producer has no bottom line.

Chapter 141 Folk Methods

Ren Pingsheng hung up Peng Zhijian's call and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

LBS check-in didn't work; he should have realized this sooner.

Even setting aside the fact that smartphones with GPS modules weren't widely available at that time, even if they were, given the current penetration rate of 3G networks...

They crammed dozens or even hundreds of people into the cinema lobby, taking photos with their phones, posting them on Weibo, and then showing them to the staff.

That's absolutely inhumane!

Theater managers would probably tear down the booth at any moment if they saw this kind of blockade event.

To put it bluntly, he made a mistake that reborn people are most prone to make: trying to apply the habits of the future to the current infrastructure.

Ren Pingsheng rubbed his temples; he knew he had to cut back on his activities.

What did users do with their phones every day during the feature phone era?

Making phone calls, sending text messages, chatting on QQ, reading novels...

Especially QQ.

To light up a QQ icon, countless people stayed up all night with their computers on. Sun level and various diamond memberships were the earliest things this generation of netizens compared.

This is also why he set the virtual badge as the product for this philatelic collection.

Besides obtaining virtual badges by checking in at designated points, are there any other ways to do so?

The current tactics of online game promotion flashed through his mind, and a mature alternative instantly took shape.

No smartphones are needed, no GPS is needed, and there's no need for any fancy tricks in the movie theater.

Audiences can redeem a "Lost in Thailand" package at the designated checkpoint by presenting their movie ticket. It only takes 30 seconds to complete the process, and they can leave without any congestion or crowding.

In addition to the customized milk and eggs, the set meal also includes a physical card.

The front of the card is printed with movie posters or character stills, which is part of the stamp collecting product itself. The back is also a scratch-off card, with a CD-Ky hidden underneath.

Viewers can take the card home, log into QQ on their computers, access a special redemption page, enter the key, and a limited-edition "Lost in Thailand" badge will light up next to their avatar.

By removing the tedious process from the movie theater, viewers can take their time at home and even take a screenshot to show off.

Ren Pingsheng thought about it more and more clearly, grabbed his phone, and dialed Peng Zhijian's number again.

"President Peng, the previous plan is scrapped. Let's try a different approach."

He quickly explained the new plan: "We'll create a dedicated event page on Tencent's platform. Users can enter their CD-Key to activate a virtual badge that will appear next to their avatar. Is that feasible?"

Peng Zhijian was silent for a few seconds on the other end of the phone. "There's no technical difficulty. The client has an existing icon system, so adding a new badge is very simple. The key generation and verification is also a mature solution."

"That's fine then."

"But I have one request," Peng Zhijian's tone became shrewd, "the redemption page must be placed on Tencent Weibo."

Ren Pingsheng was taken aback, then realized what was happening.

"You want to use this opportunity to attract new users."

"Yes," Peng Zhijian said without any attempt to hide it. "To redeem a badge, users must first log in to Tencent Weibo, activate their Weibo account using QQ, and then post a Weibo with the hashtag. Only after posting can they enter the Key to complete the redemption."

Ren Pingsheng laughed; this old fox's mind worked even faster than his.

From Tencent's perspective, this is equivalent to getting a free user acquisition campaign.

Every viewer who wants to light up the badge will become a new user of Tencent Weibo, and a new user who brings content with them.

The Weibo post they made was UGC content, and it automatically aggregated into a trending topic under the hashtag.

From Ren Pingsheng's perspective, this perfectly completes the last piece of the puzzle in his plan.

Offline traffic is directed to the online Penguin Weibo account through physical cards. Viewers post content on Weibo, which is then seen by other users, creating secondary dissemination and attracting more people to pay attention to this series of events, thereby driving them to the cinema.

From online to offline, and back to online, the O020O closed loop is complete.

"Deal," Ren Pingsheng said decisively. "I'll set the hashtags, you can design the UI for the redemption page, and I'll have someone connect the virtual badge details with your technical team."

"One more thing," Peng Zhijian added, "The medals should be scarce. I suggest a limited number, first come, first served, while supplies last."

"One hundred thousand."

"One hundred thousand?" His voice rose. "Mr. Ren, are you planning to promote a movie or create a rare collectible? One hundred thousand isn't even enough to attract new customers."

Ren Pingsheng thought about it for a moment, and he realized he was right.

One hundred thousand tokens are indeed scarce, but when distributed across the country, the number for each city is too small to generate enough buzz or satisfy Tencent.

"Let's say 300,000, but publicly state 100,000, and release the rest in batches. You know what scarcity marketing is, right? Release 50,000 in the first wave, and those who didn't get any will naturally wail online, and that'll generate buzz."

Peng Zhijian chuckled on the other end, "Okay, I'll go over the requirements with the product team today, and we'll launch it within three days."

After hanging up the phone, Ren Pingsheng didn't rest and dialed Zhang Wenbo again.

With only nine days left until the release, the pressure on the execution side is entirely on Yingxing Tianxia.

"Mr. Zhang, the plan has changed. We're not going to use the LBS system anymore."

He explained the idea behind physical cards, and Zhang Wenbo quickly caught up and immediately raised questions about the implementation.

"The cards are no problem. I have connections at the printing plant; they can be shipped out in two days if we expedite it. But the milk—"

"What's wrong?"

"Both Yili and Mengniu refused," Zhang Wenbo said helplessly. "It just so happens to be the World Expo. Yili is the only dairy product supplier. Although Mengniu didn't get a sponsorship, they still managed to get sponsorship through a charity event where celebrities took their children to visit the Expo. Neither of them had the time to make custom packaging for us."

Ren Pingsheng frowned.

The World Expo ran from May 1st to October 31st, and during those six months, it attracted the attention of almost all top-tier brands.

In the face of a major national event, the impact of a low-budget comedy film is simply not enough.

"Then who else can take over?"

“Guangming is interested,” Zhang Wenbo continued. “They are worried about not having good exposure channels. I talked to the people in the brand department, and they said they can provide customization and even handle the logistics, but there is one condition.”

bright?

Domestic dairy companies Yili and Mengniu are in the first tier, followed closely by Bright Dairy, especially in the Shanghai local market.

"They demanded that one of their new products be promoted at this event."

"No problem," Ren Pingsheng agreed without hesitation. "As long as it's milk, it doesn't matter if it's high-calcium or skimmed."

"But..." On the other end, where Ren Pingsheng couldn't see, Zhang Wenbo's expression became somewhat strange.

"But their new product is... yogurt..."

"Yogurt?" Ren Pingsheng was taken aback. "How do you give yogurt as a gift?"

Using yogurt as a peripheral product is not a good idea. It has a short shelf life, high cold chain transportation costs, and distributing yogurt in a movie theater on a hot day might result in it spoiling before it even reaches the audience.