Chapter 349: Little Tricks
Chapter 349: Little Tricks
On the desk, eight small packets of facial tissues were neatly arranged inside a rectangular gift box. They looked exactly like the kind of facial tissues sold on the market for a few dozen cents a pack, but these tissue boxes were made of paper, like cigarette boxes, with very exquisite packaging.
Eric picked up one packet and looked at it. The front was printed with a Ghost poster. In the lower right corner was the manufacturer Kleenex’s trademark and a number. The back was a carefully selected still from the film. The other seven packets in the gift box were roughly the same in format, but the posters and stills on both sides were different. A complete set had eight designs.
This was a promotional plan Eric had come up with based on a bit of trivia he remembered from when Ghost was released, when some cinemas specially handed out facial tissues to women so they could wipe their tears. Moreover, the reason he went to the trouble of making the packaging boxes out of paper rather than the common plastic packaging on the market, and designing eight completely different packages, was to maximize the benefits of this marketing campaign.
Most people had some collecting habit. If Ghost were a bad film, this set of packaging would certainly have no collectible value. But Ghost was destined to become a classic, so these paper-packaged tissue boxes had considerable collectible value. In addition, a complete set of eight did not seem hard to collect. One person did not even need to go to the cinema eight times. As long as they communicated with relatives and friends, they might be able to obtain a complete set of packages from people they knew who had watched the film.
Of course, Eric would not let people obtain a complete set too easily. Everyone knew that what could not be obtained was even more precious. Therefore, packages numbered 1 to 6 would not only be released one type per week and distributed to cinemas, but packages 7 and 8 would each only be produced in quantities of ten thousand boxes and randomly mixed among numbers 1 to 6 as giveaways. Ten thousand boxes seemed like a lot, but scattered across two thousand cinemas in North America, they became extremely rare. Moreover, these were not available on the market. Kleenex had obtained the corresponding authorization for Ghost and could print some portraits from Ghost on its products, but this kind of paper-packaged giveaway would stop production after Ghost left theaters.
The cost of the small box of facial tissues before him was about ten cents. If calculated based on Ghost’s previous-life North American box office of two hundred million dollars, then if they were only given to women, roughly ten million boxes would need to be handed out. The total value would only be one million dollars. Including the distribution of the tissues across North America, this expense would absolutely not exceed two million dollars. Although two million was indeed a bit high compared to Ghost’s total publicity and distribution budget of ten million dollars, this money would not be paid by Firefly or Disney, but would be sought through advertising sponsorship.
The sponsor was the Kleenex printed on the packaging box, one of the largest facial tissue manufacturers in North America and even the world.
After Firefly released the cooperation plan and held an advertising bid, Kleenex immediately won the naming rights for this promotional campaign at the high price of one million dollars. At the same time, it was willing to bear the additional two million dollars in production and distribution costs. Compared to the annual advertising and marketing expenses of a global high-end tissue manufacturer, three million dollars was not much, but this deal carried no small risk.
Because once Ghost failed at the box office and in word of mouth, this advertising campaign would find it hard to achieve its intended effect. However, Kleenex also did not dare risk letting its competitors take this order. Lamborghini’s successful product placement in Pretty Woman was still vivid in everyone’s memory. A sports car brand that had originally fallen into difficulty and been acquired by Chrysler had, after that successful advertising campaign in Pretty Woman, leapt into becoming one of the most famous sports car brands in North America and even the world.
Michael Lynne, who sat opposite Eric, watched Eric calmly inspect the small packets of facial tissues before him, feeling rather uneasy. He had previously been New Line’s president and had served as Robert Shaye’s deputy for more than ten years. His current position was also one of Firefly’s presidents, in charge of Firefly’s most important film distribution department.
Although Robert Shaye had liked monopolizing power when they were at New Line, leaving his deputy with little room to act, Robert Shaye had never treated him poorly. The two were very good friends in private. After New Line merged with Firefly, Michael Lynne had always regarded himself as Robert Shaye’s trusted aide.
During this period, Michael Lynne had watched Robert Shaye’s emphasis on Sleeping with the Enemy and his neglect of the distribution work for Firefly’s other films. He had also privately hinted to Robert Shaye that it would be best not to go too far.
However, Robert Shaye clearly had no intention of listening to him. Michael Lynne knew that Robert Shaye wanted to become the second Michael Eisner, but as an outsider, Michael Lynne understood that Robert Shaye had obviously overlooked one fact.
At Disney, Michael Eisner was the most outstanding one. It was Michael Eisner who had gradually led Disney from a small family-run film company into the ranks of Hollywood’s film giants, so he could sit firmly in the CEO position at Disney.
But at Firefly, Robert Shaye was not the most dazzling one. Moreover, the shares Robert Shaye held were not enough to contend with Eric. The 72% stake Eric held gave him absolute control over Firefly. If he disregarded the consequences, he could kick Robert Shaye off the stage at any time.
Therefore, Michael Lynne felt very uneasy at the moment. Eric definitely did not dare touch Robert Shaye right now. Otherwise, Firefly, which had only just begun to improve, would certainly fall into turmoil.
But he, a president without any shares, was very likely to become Eric’s punching bag. Judging from Robert Shaye’s temperament, although the two were friends, if Eric insisted on using him to vent his anger, Robert Shaye definitely would not fight Eric to the end.
After fiddling with the packets of tissues in front of him for a while, Eric finally raised his head and said to Michael Lynne, “Sorry, Michael. I suddenly thought of something just now.”
“It’s all right. Also, Er… Eric, I think this marketing method of yours is still very innovative. It can rival the Lamborghini placement in Pretty Woman and the advertising placement case in Running Out of Time. Those two marketing campaigns were very successful.” Michael Lynne’s tone stumbled a little at first, but became smoother as he went on, because these words were not polite flattery, but came from the heart. He had worked in film distribution for more than ten years and knew that innovating film marketing methods and achieving good results was not an easy thing.