Chapter 849: The Marvel Machine Universe Plan
In order to carry out hunger marketing, some necessary conditions are usually required, either the price is lower than that of the same type of products, or the demand for the product is in short supply.
The Fireflyer's price is definitely not cheap, and retailers have even raised the price to more than $300 due to the recent strong short supply. Strictly speaking, it will not bring any benefit to the Fireflyer brand for terminal retailers to arbitrarily increase the price. Therefore, in the discussion between Eric and the two leaders of Firefly Electronics, it has been determined that the price increase will be limited by the most. No more than $30 or it will be discontinued.
But at the same time, the price increases of brick-and-mortar retailers also provide a more favorable opportunity for Amazon to implement hunger marketing.
In the proposed plan, Amazon will obtain a supply of 50,000 Fireflyer units per month, the sales price will remain unchanged at $299, and online snapping will be carried out at a frequency of once every three days, which can be carried out exactly ten times a month. The period is three months.
Fireflyer has done a very good job in traditional marketing, which is why the sales are so hot after the launch.
But Fireflyer is just a brand new electronic product after all, and many users of traditional portable music players are still on the sidelines.
The implementation of hunger marketing can not only maintain the strong topicality of Fireflyer for a long time, but also make this brand new brand form a deep-rooted concept in people's minds in a short period of time. At the same time, it can also completely stimulate the purchase desire of all potential wait-and-see users. In addition, the Amazon platform can also gain more traffic and users in a short period of time through this marketing plan, and open up e-commerce markets other than book sales. Therefore, this plan can be said to have served multiple purposes.
Throughout the afternoon, the four discussed the detailed implementation details of the scheme. In the end, Jeff Bezos suggested: "Eric, I think three months seems too short. In my opinion, even after three months, Fireflyer will still be in short supply for a long time. state, why don't we extend this program?"
Eric shook his head decisively, he didn't want Firefly Electronics to become a company that didn't know how to live without hunger marketing: "Although this kind of marketing plan is very effective, it cannot be regarded as an orthodox marketing method. Doing so will definitely arouse strong resentment from users. Therefore, our energy should still be focused on better product development and brand building. Even, if we hadn’t happened to encounter this very favorable opportunity for Fireflyer and Amazon, I would This plan will not come out at all.”
After discussing everything, it was already evening, but the three Victor McNally left East Hampton in a hurry without staying too long.
After the lively birthday party of the little guys, Eric also rushed to New York the next day to discuss the detailed plan of establishing Marvel Studios with the team of Marvel Entertainment.
In midtown Manhattan, in a large conference room at Marvel headquarters.
All the top executives from various divisions of Marvel Entertainment got together today, even founder Stan Lee came over.
Marvel Entertainment CEO Avi Allard stood in front of the slide projector and personally explained the Marvel Cinematic Universe storyline that Marvel's creative department spent more than a year conceiving. Eric initially provided a simple draft based on memories from previous lives, which was then filled in by Marvel's creative department, and finally got what it is today.
Since Marvel has basically taken back the copyrights of all core heroes at this time, even Captain America, who was initially deadlocked, has also taken it back. Therefore, the new Marvel Cinematic Universe plan is more ambitious than the original time and space, and the characters are also will be richer.
The story line of the new Marvel Cinematic Universe plan also begins with the Avengers, but then the territory of the story will expand to the entire universe, with various major events as the main line, with six Infinity Stones as the dark line,
Which in turn leads to the Guardians of the Galaxy and ultimately the Infinity Watch team, similar to the DC Seven Lanterns.
It took Avi Arad an hour and a half to roughly finish the overall idea.
Stan Lee, who was sitting next to Eric, was always excited during Avi Arad's commentary. Bringing Marvel's superheroes to the big screen can almost be said to be the most important wish in his life. one.
However, after Avi Allard finished speaking, Stan Lee still replied a little calmly, and asked Eric with some certainty: "Eric, this plan is exciting, but don't you think, Is it too difficult to actually implement it? According to what I know about Hollywood, no one in Hollywood can always guarantee the success of a movie, not to mention this huge plan involving dozens of movies, as long as there is a problem in the process. With two box-office flops, the whole project is likely to fail."
Everyone obviously heard Stan Lee's question and looked at Eric quietly. Although they were enthusiastic about the huge idea of the Marvel Cinematic Universe project, they also shared similar concerns. After all, wishes are usually good. , the reality is often very cruel.
Feeling the eyes of doubt or hope around him, Eric explained with a smile: "Of course I am also aware of this kind of problem, so, Marvel Studios will be personally responsible for it for a long time in the future, In order to ensure that there will not be any execution problems caused by the disagreement of high-level opinions during the implementation of the plan. Secondly, this plan can be described in detail as a comic series movie plan, which means that the planned The style of the film will remain generally highly unified, and as long as the first few films planned are commercially successful and accepted by the audience, the probability of failure will be very low as long as the following films do not change the style abruptly.”
Eric's voice fell, and someone immediately asked another question: "Mr. Williams, the Marvel Cinematic Universe project is so huge that it must be possible to use many different directors. Each director's personal style has different differences. This question seems to be There is absolutely no way to fix it.”
"We will not refuse to cooperate with big-name directors, but the premise is that these directors must adapt to the style of Marvel movies, otherwise we would rather not cooperate, there is no room for bargaining. On the other hand, we will also use as much potential as possible. new directors, because these people will appreciate the opportunity more, and therefore it will be easier for them to adapt to the style of Marvel movies.”
There was a buzzing discussion in the conference room immediately, and Eric could roughly guess what everyone was thinking, just smiled and sipped the coffee in front of him.
Stan Lee didn't have the scruples of others, and first asked: "Eric, if you use a lot of newcomers, I think, maybe, it should be difficult to make a good comic book movie, right?"
Eric didn't shy away, nodded and said: "Roughly, according to the standards of film critics, it should be like this."
The crowd was whispering again.
This time, Eric didn't wait for them to ask, and said: "First of all, everyone should make it clear that the only thing that should be pursued for all the films under Marvel Pictures is commercial success. Others, such as film critics The evaluation of the MCU, the perception of the core comics fans, etc., are irrelevant. Only in this way can the whole plan be carried out smoothly. At the same time, in order to make the Marvel Universe plan work, we must also sacrifice the variety of film styles. .Whether it is a director, screenwriter, actor or producer, they can of course have their own style, but the personal style of all of them must not override the overall style of Marvel movies. To put it bluntly or cruelly One point, in the Marvel Universe plan, all actors, screenwriters, directors and other creative staff will be just a screw in the Marvel Cinematic Universe project. A machine is absolutely inseparable from screws, but screws are absolutely not. Take control of this machine."
There was a moment of silence during the meeting, and Stan Lee said again: "Eric, but if this is the case..."
Eric took the initiative to interrupt the old man's question and said, "Stan, there are two options in front of you. One option is to use the best production team we think in order to pursue the quality of the movie, so that both the director and the actor can play to their heart's content. We also limit them as little as possible. But the result is that some of the films produced will have a good harvest at the box office and word of mouth, some will either get box office or word of mouth, and the other part will fail both at the box office and word of mouth. This will also lead to the popularity of some superheroes, and the elimination of other superheroes from the market. In the end, the Marvel Cinematic Universe plan is destined to be unable to continue smoothly. Another option is to maintain the consistency of the overall style of Marvel movies. , maybe we can't create a classic movie that can be famous for film and television, but the probability of failure is very low, so it can also ensure the smooth implementation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe plan. Two options, Stan, which would you choose?"
After speaking, Eric looked at everyone around him and asked again, "Which one will you choose?"
No one answered, but the answer was also self-explanatory.
Of course, if someone objects, Eric will naturally not be stingy with a severance compensation.
After discussing this issue, Stan Lee asked again: "Eric, what about the cost, as far as I know, Hollywood sequel films rarely shoot more than three episodes, mainly because once the film is successful , the actor's studio will be higher and higher?"
Eric realized that Mr. Stan Lee had obviously done a lot of preparations before, so the question was quite precise.
But Eric also considered all aspects of the problem, so he quickly answered: "In terms of actors, it is similar to the selection of directors. Naturally, we will not refuse to cooperate with first-line superstars, but the premise is that they must be willing to sign long-term contracts, as for the remuneration. , as long as the film box office is good enough, we will not be stingy, but we must agree on a plan acceptable to both parties in advance. However, I actually prefer to use potential actors from the second and third tiers. Hollywood has never lacked actors with excellent acting skills. By enabling new people, we can also sign packages more easily, and actors who sign packages will also have more uncertainty when shooting sequels than A-list stars."
After Eric finished speaking, doubts arose in everyone's hearts again.
The director uses newcomers, and the actors use second- and third-tier actors. Then, does the Marvel Cinematic Universe really have any future?
Eric also quickly realized this emotion from everyone's expressions, and said with a smile: "I know your concerns, but the success of a movie, whether the director and actors are big names or superstars, is never the most important thing. If you don't believe me, you can recall the history of Hollywood movies. It doesn't take too long. Even in the last ten years, there have been countless movies that Hollywood new directors or unknown actors have created box-office or word-of-mouth classics, such as "Beverly Hills Detective". ", "Three Dads and One Baby", "Lethal Weapon", "Ghostbusters", "Jedi Men", "The Matrix", etc., these movie series that once occupied the top box office charts, the original director and Actors are not really that famous. Conversely, high-paid A-list stars like Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and Kevin Costner have been producing big projects that cost studios their money in recent years.”
After Eric finished speaking, the expressions of many people in the conference room relaxed.
Eric explained the doubts in everyone's heart. Seeing that everyone stopped asking questions, he opened the memo in front of him and said, "Now, let's discuss some of my suggestions for modifying your plan. First of all, I have said before. However, X-Men will be spun off separately and become a small Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I still see too many X-Men characters in this plan, and this has to be revised..."
The meeting continued, and only a few topics were discussed until sunset. In the next week, everyone would continue to discuss various details. Therefore, Eric was not in a hurry. After get off work, he specially invited Stan Lee to join us at a nearby restaurant. For dinner, I listened to the old man alone with a lot of suggestions for movies.
At nine o'clock in the evening, Stan Lee was sent away, Eric got into his car, and went all the way to the outside of a building near Central Park on Madison Avenue.
Taking out a birthday cake and vertical flowers prepared by the assistant from the car, Eric entered the building and took the elevator to a duplex mansion on the top floor.
This is the residence Eric arranged for Giselle and Alexander. He has purchased a large number of luxury properties in New York and Los Angeles over the years. Except for a few places where he lives, most of them are rented by a luxury rental company under his name. You can also earn rent while maintaining value. Gisele and Alexander are living in one of these homes at this time. After collecting the two last year, Eric gave them a set of keys. The mansion is located on the top floor of the building on Madison Avenue, although it is separated by a Blocks, but also can see Central Park, the view is very good. (To be continued.)