I’m Really a Superstar

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

One!

Two!

Three!

In just a few days, the staff of Zhang Ye\'s Studio secured three major endorsements in the market. The progress of their work was going very smoothly. After ensuring that I Am a Singer\'s recording would be able to carry on normally, Zhang Ye began focusing more effort on the advertisement endorsement projects that he had taken. In recent days, he had met up with many brand-name companies\' representatives and written up so many advertising proposals that he nearly used all of the best advertising ideas from his previous world. They had thought that the fifth step of the "Reach the Summit" plan could be completed without a hitch, but there were still several hard nuts to crack along the way.

Fortunately, Zhang Ye had some ideas of his own to deal with that.

It was for a jewelry brand of diamond rings that the studio\'s staff had been working hard to seal the deal with to no avail. This was the largest brand name of diamond rings in the country, even if its revenue could not compare to those of the mass market jewelry chains. However, they were not targeting the mass market but the higher end luxury market. Their customers were all people from the upper class. Just a single diamond ring could easily go for the higher end of tens to hundreds of thousands of yuan, so of course they could not go the mass market route. But the brand\'s image was very good and also the reason Zhang Ye\'s team had identified it as a potential target. Additionally, the company\'s endorsement contract had expired a month ago, so they were thinking about how they could take it.

At the studio.

Ha Qiqi frowned and said, "Director Zhang, we still can\'t convince them."

Zhang Ye looked at her. "Is it too difficult?"

"Yeah," Ha Qiqi said, "they might\'ve identified someone else. During this month of endorsement blackout, they\'ve probably made contact with quite a few celebrity teams. All they have to do is decide who they want to represent their brand."

Wu Yi said, "Could they be thinking of not getting a celebrity spokesperson?"

"That\'s shouldn\'t be the case." Ha Qiqi said, "They\'re not short on money."

Zhang Zuo suggested, "Why don\'t we lower our asking price?"

Zhang Ye said emphatically, "That won\'t do."

Ha Qiqi agreed, "Yes, we cannot lower our asking price."

Lowering one\'s asking price in order to grab an endorsement deal was a pretty sensitive affair. In the past, there had been cases of celebrities lowering their endorsement fees. A male celebrity who was worth around 2 million in the endorsement market had offered to lower his asking price due to getting into gambling and was hard up for money. In the end, he lowered it to 800,000 RMB a year and managed to take quite a lot of endorsement deals. However, he had broken the industry rules. Ever since then, no other brands dared to approach him, and his popularity fell by a lot. Some of the companies who signed him for a much higher amount criticized him badly for this behavior. You\'re charging others 800,000 RMB a year, but 2 million RMB for us? What\'s the meaning of this? Do you think we\'re suckers?

Hurting the market.

Soiling one\'s own reputation.

These were the risks of lowering one\'s asking price.

In the entertainment industry, reputation was the most important thing there was. With Zhang Ye\'s current status and popularity, there wasn\'t a need to lower his asking price in order to get a deal. That would be too low for someone like him. The entertainment industry\'s number one person below the S-list had to lower his worth to fight other A- and B-listers for endorsements? It wouldn\'t be good if this got out. A lot of matters in the entertainment industry were not simply about money and couldn\'t be solved by simply adopting a business mentality.

Ha Qiqi said, "I haven\'t spoken to them in-depth yet, nor have I let them know about our intentions. That would make us look like we\'re trying to push a sale and lower our worth. But they haven\'t revealed anything to us either. Why don\'t I try to speak with them again to find out what their intentions are? Otherwise, we can switch our target to a different company and not waste our time trying to convince them. Hai, but then the other jewelry brands\' endorsement deals have not expired yet, so that\'s real unfortunate."

Tong Fu said, "What about the mass market jewelry brand chains?"

Ha Qiqi shook her head. "That won\'t do. If we take too many smaller brands, it would be quite meaningless. We won\'t be able to bring up our endorsement profile."

Zhang Ye thought about it for a moment. "Let\'s lay all our cards on the table then."

"OK." Ha Qiqi said, "How though?"

Zhang Ye said a few words to her.

Ha Qiqi was stunned and her jaw dropped. "Are you sure?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Of course I\'m sure."

Ha Qiqi said happily, "Aiyo, you should have said so earlier."

…

Later that afternoon.

At a certain jewelry company.

In the lobby on the eleventh floor.

Ha Qiqi brought Tong Fu along with her.

The female receptionist stood up. "Hello?"

Ha Qiqi said, "I\'m here to look for Director Cui."

The receptionist asked in an official tone, "May I know if you have an appointment with him?"

"I do. My name is Ha Qiqi," Ha Qiqi said.

The receptionist lowered her head to check the appointment schedule before saying, "Hello, Manager Ha, your appointment is at 3 PM. Director Cui is currently in a meeting, so please wait—"

As she was speaking.

Director Cui and two young men came walking over side by side and seemed to be heading for the conference room.

Ha Qiqi went up to him. "Director Cui."

Director Cui was taken aback. "Manager Ha, you\'re here so early?"

Ha Qiqi laughed and said, "What Manager Ha? I\'m just an errand girl for Director Zhang."

The two young men beside him probably recognized Ha Qiqi as well, so they started looking somewhat wary of her. She was Zhang Ye\'s Studio\'s external communications manager, so who in the industry wouldn\'t recognize her?

Ha Qiqi and Tong Fu also recognized them. The short-haired young man did not look familiar to them, but Ha Qiqi the other young man who had a ponytail. This guy was also pretty well-known in the industry and was the younger cousin of a Heavenly King. He was also one of several managers of that Heavenly King. When she saw him, Ha Qiqi instantly knew what was going on. She understood just why the jewelry brand\'s representatives had been hesitating with their decision. It was because there was a big name celebrity among their choice of spokespersons, someone with a place among the top seven spots, an S-list celebrity much more famous than Zhang Ye.

Fighting a Heavenly King for an endorsement?

Ha Qiqi suddenly found this rather exciting.

Meanwhile, Director Cui felt a little awkward. "This…"

Every celebrity would have a "territory" of their own. In the industry, almost every brand\'s endorsement had already been taken by a celebrity. For example, Chen Guang, who endorsed a cell phone brand that focused on sound quality, had been doing so for three years now. The money was good and the advertisement coverage was wide as well. It was a quality endorsement deal and was where Chen Guang\'s territory was. If any other celebrity tried to snatch this endorsement from him, they would offend him for sure. A lot of celebrities had had relationships turn sour because of such endorsement deals. A quality endorsement deal was the livelihood of a celebrity and also a source of their long-term income.

Director Cui clearly understood this and was hoping that the two parties wouldn\'t bump into each other, but to his surprise, he still couldn\'t keep that from happening. In truth, he had already made up his mind. Faced with deciding between a Heavenly King and several A-list celebrities, he was of course more inclined to choose the Heavenly King. Disregarding any other factors, his fame alone was enough for him to make the choice. However, he also considered using Zhang Ye since he was also very popular. Further, he was constantly at the forefront of the news in recent times and had an exposure that was definitely comparable to the Heavenly Kings and Queens\'. He also coveted the advertising proposals that Zhang Ye was famous for. The only factors holding him back were that Teacher Zhang was considered an oddity in the industry and had an image that fluctuated between high and low at times. He was just afraid that he might kick up some issues again in the future that would affect the image of their brand, and thus, the hesitation.

Director Cui said, "Manager Ha, why don\'t you—"

Ha Qiqi laughed. "Let\'s talk together, Director Cui. We\'re already here and we all know each other."

The Heavenly King\'s cousin was shaking his head in his mind. We\'re already here, so what do you have to discuss?

Director Cui couldn\'t offend both of them, so he looked at the Heavenly King\'s cousin for direction."

The Heavenly King\'s cousin shrugged. "Anything is fine."

"Well, alright then. Please, follow me." Director Cui ushered them into a conference room. When everyone got seated, he had an assistant serve them tea.

The Heavenly King\'s cousin was obviously prepared for the meeting.

The moment his assistant sat down, he took out a document and started rambling. His introduction was all about how great they were and the positive results of their past cooperations with other brands. In short, all of that was mentioned so they could talk about the endorsement fees. Naturally, they hoped to get as much out of it as possible.

For a full five minutes, only he was speaking.

Director Cui occasionally nodded at him even though he already knew all of it.

He was a Heavenly King.

Had a pretty good reputation.

And was extremely popular as well.

But his asking price wasn\'t so high that it was unacceptable.

Although Zhang Ye\'s side\'s asking price was much lower, their company had enough of a budget for it. Several million yuan for a one-year endorsement was not exactly much to them. That was why even if Zhang Ye\'s asking price was only 8 million RMB while the Heavenly King was asking for almost double at 14 million RMB, they didn\'t really mind. What they cared about was how much the celebrity\'s endorsement could increase their revenue. For all brand endorsements, this had always been the ultimate objective. But of course, not minding didn\'t mean they would pay however much the celebrities asked for. It still had to be cost-effective since no one\'s money would just appear out of thin air. They would pay whatever the celebrities were worth, and on that point, the difference in value between an S-list and A-list celebrity was clearly going to be larger, even if that A-list celebrity was the top A-list celebrity.

Director Cui already had an idea of who he would go.

The Heavenly King\'s cousin asked, "Director Cui, if everything\'s fine, let\'s discuss the contract.

Director Cui smiled and said, "We\'ll still have to negotiate the price, but yes, we can talk about the contract."

The Heavenly King\'s cousin nodded and then looked at Ha Qiqi and Tong Fu. "What about the others?" What he meant was for them to leave. Discussing such an important issue as the contract would have to be done in private.

Director Cui also looked at Ha Qiqi. "Manager Ha, why don\'t…"

A sensible person could see what was going on.

However, Ha Qiqi did not move from her seat.

Director Cui blinked several times at her.

The two people on the Heavenly King\'s management team frowned.

But then, a single sentence from Ha Qiqi dumbfounded everyone in the room. She calmly said, "Teacher Zhang is getting married soon."

What?

Getting married?

Director Cui was taken aback. "When?"

Ha Qiqi said, "Within the year."

Director Cui gasped excitedly. "A-Are you sure?"

"I\'m a 100 percent sure," Ha Qiqi said with a smile.

Director Cui\'s breathing quickened as he said, "Please wait a moment. This news is too sudden. I need to make a call first." He wasn\'t the head of the company, just the head of the advertising department. As such, he had to seek instructions from the higher-ups.

The two on the Heavenly King\'s team were stunned!

Within just two minutes, Director Cui returned with around eight other staff members. The moment he came in, Director Cui said, "Manager Ha, about Teacher Zhang\'s endorsement, can we talk about it?"

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "But of course. That\'s what I\'m here for, aren\'t I?"

Director Cui had gotten clear instructions from the company\'s CEO!

He was to sign Zhang Ye!

At all costs!

…

Outside the company.

The Heavenly King\'s cousin and his assistant headed downstairs dejectedly. They had let it slip out of their hands. It gave them the impulse to curse and swear. It made them feel furious and, at the same time, not know whether to laugh or cry!

Your sister!

You can even do it like that?

This is the first time I\'ve seen anyone snatch away an endorsement like that!