Chapter 315: The willing ones take the bait

Knock, knock, knock!

While processing documents, there was a knock on the door outside the office.

He thought it was Eva Ka, and called out, "Come in."

But when the door opened, a tall and thin man with brown curly hair and a gray suit came in.

Scooter Braun, president of SB projects entertainment.

After the private video incident in April, Link Music reached a deal with SB projects, where Link Music exchanged 5% of its shares for 38% of SB Entertainment and 50% of Justin Bieber's agency contract.

At the time of the transaction, Link Music's market value was about 200 million to 240 million, and 5% of its shares were about 12 million US dollars.

After the successful launch of Justin Bieber, SB Entertainment's market value was about 60 to 80 million US dollars, 38% of its shares were about 25 million US dollars, plus 50% of Justin Bieber's agency contract, worth more than 40 to 50 million.

To outsiders, this is not a fair deal. Even if Link Music is developing rapidly, it is not worth SB Entertainment to pay four or five times the price.

But the deal was successfully completed in mid-April, which surprised countless people.

In March and April, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Usher and others clamored to challenge Link and beat Link on the album sales chart, making Link look bad and avenging what happened last year.

But in the blink of an eye, Link became Justin Bieber's boss, and indirectly became Kanye West and Usher's boss.

This change also stunned countless peers in the circle.

Some media even believed that the East Coast rap clamoring to compete with Link in March was a marketing plan to promote Justin Bieber and Link's new album.

This plan was very successful. Link and Justin's new albums both sold well, one sold nearly 4 million copies, and the other sold nearly 2 million copies. They ranked first and third respectively on the US album sales chart in the first half of 2010.

When their peers in the music industry saw their achievements, they all expressed their feelings that "it's not that their albums are not good enough, but that the marketing plan is too low-end."

Even Billboard commented on this transaction as "a big drama staged by Link Music and SB Entertainment in the music industry."

This is also the reason why Mr. Steven Knopp, editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine, has repeatedly published articles praising Link Music for its good marketing.

No matter how the outside world views this transaction, Link Music has become a major shareholder of SB Entertainment, and Scooter has become a small shareholder and management of Link Music.

After the two companies successfully exchanged shares, Scooter continued to serve as the president of SB Entertainment, and also served as the director of Link Music Department, responsible for the marketing and promotion of its singers.

He is also a colleague of Link.

Some time ago, Link was busy outside and had no time to meet and chat with the other party. Today is the first time they met.

"Haha, Mr. Baker, I've been in the company for more than a month, and I finally meet you."

After meeting, Scooter greeted warmly.

"Mr. Braun, welcome!"

Link smiled gently, invited Scooter to sit in the reception room, asked the secretary to bring coffee, and prepared to chat with Scooter.

Scooter is a talent, there is no doubt about it.

He is 30 years old this year, and has nearly ten years of experience in music brand marketing. He has served as the marketing director of Def Jam Records, the number one record company in the rap circle, for four years.

In 2007, he started SB projects from scratch, and discovered and cultivated Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Carly Rae Jepsen and other popular singers, making SB company's market value nearly 1 billion US dollars.

In 2021, he merged with the famous Korean agency HYBE and became the second largest individual shareholder of HYBE.

Jointly launched the popular group "BTS" and made a fortune.

After Taylor left Big Machine Records, he spent 300 million US dollars to acquire the copyright of Taylor's six albums, which also created hundreds of millions of US dollars in revenue for SB Company. From a business perspective, it is also a very cost-effective deal.

Now that the other party has become a partner of Link Music, it is also a good thing for Link.

After the secretary brought coffee, Scooter reported to Link about the company's recent publicity work, mainly including the image publicity and album marketing of several singers under its banner.

Currently, Link Music has five signed singers, Link himself, Lana Del Rey, Bruno Mars, Wiz Khalifa, and the newly joined Justin Bieber.

Among these five singers, Link is a diamond-level singer, and the other four are platinum or above. It can be called an all-star luxury lineup. Among independent music labels, this lineup can be ranked in the top three.

With these best-selling singers, Link Music can ensure that it has the ability to continuously launch best-selling albums, and it can also ensure that Link Music continues to create stars and make money steadily, and the prospects are very good.

But Scooter believes that Link Music is more professional in producing albums, but it is not good enough in creating stars.

Divided by Hollywood fame.

Diamond singers are equivalent to top actors in the film industry, superstars.

Platinum singers are equivalent to first-line actors, popular actors.

Lana Del Rey, Mars, and Wiz Khalifa are platinum singers, but their popularity in the entertainment industry is not as good as that of second-tier celebrities. Their low popularity also leads to a narrow audience market and lowers the commercial value of the singers. .

Scooter believes that the promotion of several singers should be strengthened.

Let more people know about them and increase their commercial value. The greater their fame, the higher their album sales, and the more money Link Music will make, so this investment is cost-effective.

Link agrees.

Since Link Music is a new company, it cannot compare with the five major record companies and many established record companies in terms of media resources and promotion channels.

There are shortcomings in the ability to create stars, which is why Ivaca invited Scooter to work at Link Music.

Link tells Scout that he can follow his plan.

It was also suggested that Scooter talk to several singers before making a promotion plan.

Singers are all engaged in art. Some people are withdrawn and just want to make music. They don't care about being famous or making money.

For example, Lana is this kind of person. She doesn't accept interviews or accept advertising endorsements. She smokes and drinks at concerts and swears at paparazzi. She is used to being free and easy and doesn't care about the media's comments.

For this type of singer, there is no need to force it too hard.

Scooter agrees, saying all promotions are based on the singer's wishes.

"Scout, after the private video was leaked, my public image has been somewhat damaged. The next step is that I plan to use the media to restore my public image. What suggestions do you have for this matter?"

Link asked as he leaned on the sofa and looked at the other person.

Scout thought for a while and said: "Mr. Baker, this matter is easy to handle. Before April, your public image was very positive, and there was not much to criticize.

After your breakup with Miss Taylor Swift, you kept your private life private and received a lot of media attention.

If you want to restore your public image, you just need to find a regular girlfriend and show affection in public more often.

It was also stated in the publicity that during that time, you were affected by love and your mood was unstable, so you deliberately indulged yourself. Now that you have a new relationship, you are saved by love and can become a good man again.

If this kind of publicity continues for a period of time, the negative news will slowly disappear. "

After hearing this, Link felt that it was okay to promote it this way, but there were also some problems.

Before breaking up with Taylor, he had a history of cheating, but it was not exposed by the media.

In addition, he is not a man and has no interest in the label of 'good man'. What he needs are high-quality labels such as 'teenage idol', 'American dream', 'dream lover of 900 million beautiful girls around the world'.

"Mr. Baker, in my opinion, you don't need to care too much about the media's evaluation of you. With your current influence and reputation, these scandals will have almost no negative impact on you."

Scooter added.

"No? Won't too many scandals affect my record sales?"

"No, during your relationship with Miss Swift, because your relationship was relatively stable, the media could not find fresh material, and there were very few reports on your private life in this regard.

And after you broke up, media coverage of your private life increased dramatically.

The public relations department conducted a survey and found that in March, there were only more than 1,200 reports related to your private life in the mainstream media. By April, there were 53,000 reports, and in May, there were 31,000 reports. This month, the number of reports has remained at more than 5,000 times a week.

Due to the increase in scandals, your exposure in the media has increased, which has also directly boosted the sales of your new album. According to a survey by the marketing department, in April, these scandals brought an increase of approximately 12% to 15% to your album. "

Scout said.

Hearing Scout's words, Link was a little confused, "Will the increase in scandals affect the overseas market? Has Universal Music investigated it?"

"It has an impact, but it is a positive impact. In May, because of your scandals with Marion Cotillard, Emma Watson and others, the sales of "The Woman I Love" increased by 32% in France and increased by 32% in the UK. Around 17%, sales in other regions where relevant news has been reported also increased slightly.”

Scout said.

"you sure?"

Link asked in surprise.

Scout didn't understand why he suddenly became serious, so he quickly said it was true, opened his work bag, took out a document and handed it to him.

According to the rise and fall of album sales, generally albums have the highest sales in the first week of release, the decline will be about 50% in the second week, and about 50% in the third week. The higher the sales in the first week, the greater the decline, and the longer the release time. , the greater the decline.

Most of the albums with small declines are of good quality, or have more investment in later promotion.

Based on the magnitude of this decline, it is easy to see which week sales are abnormal.

Link looked through the files and frowned.

Last week, Ivaca told Baker in his store that because he became a playboy, his reputation was greatly damaged, which caused some impact on his album. She also said that this was the result of an investigation by the Universal Music Marketing Department.

To this end, Ivaca suggested that he find a regular girlfriend, get rid of the playboy label, and reshape his public image.

Link agreed.

Then Ivaca enthusiastically helped him recommend a girlfriend.

In the end, Evaka recommended herself, and the two became an agreed couple.

The premise of this matter is that his bad reputation will affect the album sales. If it doesn't affect, does he still need a fixed girlfriend?

Thinking of this, Link finally understood why he felt like he had fallen into a pit that day. It turned out that the pit was here-information gap.

He was not prepared at the time and fell directly into the pit dug by Evaka, and got a nominal girlfriend.

After understanding this, Link was a little annoyed.

This woman is too boring. If she wants to be his girlfriend, she can just confess directly. Why play such a trick? Does she look smart?

But now that things have come to this, he has nothing to say.

After all, that is Evaka. The bait she uses for fishing is too sweet and fat. Even if he knows there is a hook in the bait, he is reluctant to let go.

Link put down the file and said, "Scooter, no matter whether the gossip is good or bad, you should pay attention to it and don't let the media hype it too much. If you encounter a report that has a bad impact, you should suppress it and don't let it affect my life."

"Understood! Mr. Baker, don't worry, you can trust our publicity department in this regard."

Scooter said confidently.

Link smiled lightly and stretched out his hand and said, "Scooter, you are a marketing expert. The marketing work of Link Music will depend on you in the future."

"Haha, I don't dare to be a master. This is my job. I will try my best to do the best."

Scooter held his hand and smiled modestly.

Humility is real.

Although he considers himself a marketing expert, he dare not think so in front of Link.

After studying Link's history of fame, he admired Link more and more, and felt that Link's current fame was 30% due to strength and 70% due to hype.

He is very strong. If he doesn't rely on hype, it will take at least ten years to achieve his current fame.

And his hype skills are even higher.

Starting from the boxing world, all the way to the music world, every hype can come up with amazing ideas.

For example, the recent "falling down to show off wealth" incident.

When he first saw this plan, he couldn't help but secretly exclaimed that this was a genius idea.

"Falling down to show off wealth" first creates social issues through celebrities showing off their wealth, arouses public discussion, induces public opinion controversy, and prompts mainstream media to intervene. Whether it is criticism or praise, it is a good exposure method with low cost and good effect.

After the mainstream media intervenes, other media will also follow up to report, forming a social hot event.

When more people pay attention, the public's attention will be focused on the album, creating new topics, triggering new controversies, and the album's exposure rate will continue to increase.

In addition, when promoting, use the celebrity effect to link Link's album with luxury goods and fashion. Buying an album is equivalent to buying a high-end luxury product.

This trick is too clever.

In the advertising industry, everyone knows that selling products is not as good as marketing a concept. As long as this concept is implanted in the hearts of the people, everyone will buy it spontaneously, such as drinking purified water is harmful to the body, diamonds represent love, and luxury goods represent identity.

In the "Falling and Showing Off Wealth" incident, Tiffany, Paris Hilton, Amanda Hearst, Georgia Bloomberg, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan and others are all celebrities and socialites who enjoy high popularity and fans in all walks of life in the United States.

Their dressing style, hairstyle, body shape, etc. are often imitated by young women.

Several people classified Link's album as a luxury product. Owning Link's album not only has good music, but also has an identity and taste.

This is a kind of concept marketing.

From the beginning of May to now, there are still many people imitating around the world. Now even imitating "falling and showing off wealth" has become a fashion.

According to the estimation of Universal Music, the benefits of this marketing are very obvious. In the United States, Link's new album sold more than 500,000 copies, more than 3 million copies worldwide, and will also drive Link's next album.

It's amazing.

When he heard that this marketing plan was proposed by Link, Scooter admired it very much and became more and more certain that Link's fame was not accidental.

At first, he became a boxing star by challenging more than a dozen world boxing champions. He became a boxing star at the age of 19.

Later, he entered the music industry, challenged the East Coast rap gang, and stepped on them to rise to the top. He was not forced to fight, but a marketing plan designed and implemented by Link himself.

This plan turned Link from a newcomer in the music industry into a top star in the music industry in just one year.

In the marketing industry, this kind of success can be called an epic victory.

Now when he hears Link praising himself as a marketing expert, Scooter feels ashamed. In front of a marketing god like Link, he is just a primary school student, how dare he call himself a master.