"Title: Melon-eating Theory Discussion / Feeling that Random Entertainment has something, not sure if my analysis is correct."
"I looked it up, Random Entertainment was only established at the end of June this year, so it's only been half a year. To be able to achieve this scale with trainees, the decision-makers must have some skills, and they have deep knowledge of the fan circle."
"Let's discuss in detail what paths Random Entertainment took to succeed."
"1. Trainee selection that very much fits the national conditions."
"In our domestic entertainment fan circle, there are very high appearance requirements for artists. They can lack acting skills, they can lack talent, but they can't be ugly. Looking at Random Entertainment's trainees, even the worst are handsome, all would be considered campus heartthrobs at school. There are no ordinary-looking kids at all. It's the group with the highest looks among all the talent shows I've seen so far."
"2. Very strict and high-pressure trainee life."
"The looks are up there, but the skills may not keep up. Based on some fragmentary details from the show, the trainees' training life is very high-pressure and competitive. The management is not nurturing like raising children. During training, they seem to rarely praise the trainees, and the trainees are even more afraid of the chief producer. You can tell they've been scolded a lot usually."
"This kind of training environment will make the trainees grow rapidly while cultivating their ability to handle pressure."
"3. Peripheral product output and breaking out of the circle"
"After getting the trainees, the series of operations that followed can be described as textbook-level marketing to break out of the circle. The domestic idol industry is not mature, so they try hard to lean towards foreign markets, attracting domestic K-pop fans to pay attention. After gaining attention, they use best-selling products, plus 20% innovation, to attract more fans to pay attention."
"Before the show started, the company only had twenty trainees. In order to be able to do the show, they recruited more than forty more trainees. They could have filmed with just twenty, so why did they need so many people? Because the talent show theme is hot in China right now, having more people allows them to lean in that direction and gain some popularity."
"For the trainees, these forty-plus new trainees are like catfish, putting pressure on them and forcing them to grow. Haven't you noticed that there are only twenty-one debut positions in the end? Because the company never expected those forty-plus people who came in later to squeeze into debut positions."
"They are just tools, tools to get attention for the show, tools to promote the growth of trainees. Even if a few stand out in the end, Random Entertainment still profits."
"Haven't you seen that the top twenty on the rankings are basically all those who have trained the longest?"
"4. Pricing"
"As more and more people get to know Random Entertainment, some have started to notice the low prices of their peripheral products."
"Compared to other companies in the entertainment circle that fleece fans, Random Entertainment's peripheral pricing is indeed very low. As long as they don't raise prices, this point will become Random Entertainment's eternal marketing point. If the price goes up a little bit, the previously marketed reputation will collapse."
"Back to the show, everyone knows that the highlight of these talent shows is the elimination rounds. Besides adding tension to the show, the biggest reason is that the production team wants to fleece fans - creating new accounts, buying memberships, buying things, all of these are ways to fleece fans."
"But Random Entertainment has no elimination system."
"I was wondering before, without this system, how are they going to make money? Now the textbook-level answer has come out, and it even connects with what was mentioned before."
"The answer is: best-selling products, plus 20% innovation, plus limited time and quantity."
"The small cards are made in a way that the public can't replicate, so fans who want to own them can only go to official channels. Yet they're also limited edition, so you might miss out if you're not careful."
"'Limited edition' is the one word Earthlings can't resist. The more you say it, the more people want to buy."
"Not only do they categorize items by rarity, but they also draw a circle on top of this, adding another limitation, which is that they can only be bought in certain cities."
"When demand exceeds supply, the second-hand market will rise, continuously soaring upwards."
"Fifty yuan for a small card, to be honest, is expensive. But if you buy it for fifty yuan and then sell it, earning fifty, it's not only not expensive, but even quite profitable. People who discover this business opportunity will squeeze in."
"With a mentality of 'let's give it a try, take a chance,' many people will participate, which will bring another wave of popularity to Random Entertainment."
"I boldly predict that the group debuted by Random Entertainment probably won't flop."
"All of these plans, truly missing one step would not work, which shows how smart the decision-makers are. I'm very curious about what plans they'll have in the future."
"Let's look forward to the album in advance."
Comments section:
"Too many words, didn't read, next."
"... Are you talking about Jiang Juyou?"
"The first two are hard to evaluate, isn't it that all companies only look for good-looking trainees? What's worth mentioning about this?"
"It's just a small card, you guys have already opened several threads about it."
"I think the original poster's analysis is very correct. If Deadlock Entertainment missed any of these links, they wouldn't have become popular. Even if they had the technology to make tech small cards, if no one bought them, they wouldn't make money."
"Now that you mention it, their company does seem to have something."
"Domestic trainees are usually raised with indulgence, both the company and fans indulge them. It's rare to see such strict requirements for trainees. Their trainees are not even allowed to accept letters from fans."
"It's not just not accepting letters. I'm in the same school as YX, people in his class said YX closed his Moments and Qzone, and was required to clear out classmates and friends he doesn't contact often. I was deleted, he sent me a message apologizing before deleting me. At that time I didn't know he had become a trainee, I even cursed him as an idiot. Recently there are always fans waiting at the school gate, so now they're all picked up and dropped off by the company, fans can't get in touch at all."
"Why aren't they allowed to accept letters, I don't understand."
"Because fans might write contact information in the letters. Otherwise, how do you think those artists who hook up with fans and idols who privately contact fans get the fans' contact information? Now not only are artists not allowed to accept things from fans, their staff can't either. They're not allowed to add fans' contact information, fan clubs and the company all communicate via email."
"The thread next door is talking about how cheap fifty yuan for a card is, why don't you guys fight it out?"
"Recently, Random Entertainment is all over every platform, I'm really impressed, how much money did they spend on marketing?"
"Is it possible that marketing accounts see everyone posting about this and it's popular, so they start following the trend?"
"Just entered the group, good grief, scrolled twice and it's all Random Entertainment, it's really blown up to me, looks like I need to go offline for a few days to avoid it."
Indeed, since the show became popular, news about Random Entertainment hasn't stopped online. There are even quite a few investors wanting to buy in, and some even more extreme ones wanting to buy it outright. Cheng Yuan, just a manager, has been sent to deal with these people.
Jiang Juyou hasn't been idle either. Today is Wednesday, also the third day of the pop-up store's operation. When the sun was about to clock off--
"Ding--"
The task was completed!
"Hahahahahahahaha!" Jiang Juyou was busy laughing uncontrollably in the office.
The system gave a minimum time of one month, but Jiang Juyou completed it in less than five days. She was demanding to know if there was any additional reward.
"Really nothing? You can't not arrange something for me!" Jiang Juyou finished laughing and waited for the system's response, but the other side didn't make a sound.
"..."
Both sides fell silent.
Jiang Juyou put away her smile, "If there's nothing, then there's nothing."
Looking back at the operating income of these three days, Monday was the most fierce. Many were even purchasing agents coming to stock up, buying tens of thousands of yuan at once. Some fans from richer families basically came in for a whole day, determined to collect the full set of their bias.
The profit for three days was over eight million yuan. Jiang Juyou consolidated it with the company's remaining account, directly completing the task. Although she no longer had ten million, she once again had more than ten million in loans.
Too happy, is this the fun of playing management mini-games?
The current situation is that as long as Random Entertainment becomes popular, no matter what they do, there are people who will find reasons to justify it.
The trainees now have their own fans, and so does Random Entertainment.
"Title: Gossip Discussion / How can a card for fifty yuan not be a good deal?"
"I'm so speechless. If your company is treating you like leeks to be harvested, then go complain to your company. You're willing to buy an earring for 299 yuan, but you have to comment when we buy a small card for 50 yuan? Let's break it down then - how is a small card for 50 yuan not a good deal?"
"There are currently 63 trainees. The most expensive R card is 120, the cheapest R card is 65, the most expensive SSS card is 72000, and the cheapest SSS card is 10500."
"I bought a card for 50 yuan, and I can sell it for a minimum profit of 15. 50 yuan converted to votes equals 10 votes. Selling to fan clubs at 1 yuan per vote means you make a minimum of 25 yuan profit per card."
"If you're extremely lucky and draw an SSS card for 50 yuan, you'd profit at least 10450. Use that 10000 to buy 200 cards. Even if you have terrible luck and only draw R cards, even Back R cards, your 10000 yuan and 200 cards will turn into 15000 plus a Moontime Card Album worth an average of 7600 second-hand, as well as a Toast Plushie worth an average of 10000. After selling, you'd end up with 33050 in hand, not including money from selling votes."
"What show allows fans to make money? Can you list any examples?"
"We've cast our votes, made money, and got small cards. Isn't the original poster just too envious, to the point of being green with jealousy?"
Comments section:
"Come on, look at how they're smearing. It's obvious they want to destroy Random Entertainment, they're not targeting us."
"Many people have been reporting Random Entertainment lately..."
"...Can you really make that much money?"
"Sister above, read carefully. You can only make that much if you're lucky. If you're unlucky, you only make 25. There's no need to squeeze in there for just 25, it's really crowded!!!"
"If I buy ten thousand cards, wouldn't I make a killing?"
"First, you need the capital for ten thousand cards. Second, that cumulative gift event can only be claimed once per person. It's not worth it if you have over 300 cards. And with the current odds, you'd need 300 cards just to get one SSR. To get an SSS, you'd really need to be extremely lucky. Most people just get R or SR cards, which are more common and don't have much market value."
"What's that gift they're talking about? Why is it so expensive?"
"What's a Moontime Card Album? It's just an album, right? How can it be so expensive?"
"Because it falls into the 'rare items' category, and it's for individual trainees. You can choose the person after reaching the full amount."
"The group discussed this yesterday. I remember someone replied in that thread."
"Copied from there: Yesterday, a staff member introduced it, saying the Moontime Card Album's cover content and color change with the full moon. Right now, the writing on the cover is very faint. During the full moon, the writing will be at its clearest, then it will fade again. After completely fading, it will show another content and color, and these two will keep alternating."
"It's all Chinese characters. How come I can't understand it?"
"The current Moontime Card Album cover has handwritten letters from the trainees. I have Pei Luming's, let me show you."
This comment comes with a picture. The photo shows an extremely thick card album with a hardcover made of paper, with a matte finish. It can be opened like a gift box, with loose-leaf pages inside. It's 9x9 in size and can hold over 400 small cards.
The album is light blue, and you can faintly see some writing on the cover, which is a letter Pei Luming wrote to his fans. The content is very emotional. A fan posted it on Monday, and many people's eyes welled up after reading it.
-- And then they bought cards even more frantically.
Each person's cover color is different. Gao Xiayu's is black and white, with a white matte cover that looks even more high-end. The side of the cover has the name he gave to the album.
Because of his album, everyone noticed that there was actually writing on the cover.
Just as the staff said, the album changes with the full moon. Now the cover color is gradually deepening. After the full moon, the color will slowly fade until it becomes completely white, then another cover design will appear with a different color.
It's because of this uniqueness that its price is so high. Besides this, there's also a plushie that's given when you collect 200 cards.
That plushie is a 65cm long toast plushie. It looks like a slice of toast, but more rectangular in shape. The small expressions on the toast were designed by the trainees themselves, as well as the flavors.
The trainees were woken up early on Sunday morning because of this.
Ye Xing's toast plushie is peanut butter banana flavored. This is because when he went to the cafeteria after waking up, he found that only toast was available for breakfast. On the long table in front, there were a bunch of food ingredients. Each person was required to choose two, and they couldn't share with others.
He chose peanut butter and banana slices, took them to his seat, spread the peanut butter on the toast, and added a few banana slices before eating.
So Ye Xing's toast plushie is a slice of bread with a cute expression, plus a small blanket the color of peanut butter. The blanket can cover half of the toast, with details like peanut crumbs. The banana slices Ye Xing added weren't left out either - there are six banana slices, each as big as a palm, and they're all separate pieces that can be added one by one, just like how Ye Xing ate his breakfast.
The most amazing thing is that the plushie actually smells like toast. You can smell the fragrance of peanuts, bananas, and bread. Taking a deep breath can make your mouth water.
The on-site staff even guaranteed that the scent won't disappear. If it does, you can send it back to Random Entertainment for a replacement.
As more people reached the target, the flavors of all the trainees' toast plushies were revealed.
"Pei Luming's toast is cheese and bacon flavored. Do you know how torturous it is to hug it at night?"
"Yao Shuo's is strawberry cream flavored. It smells so good, I want to bury my face in it."
"Sang Mo's is fried egg and ketchup. It has two little blankets! Super cute!"
"Yiwu, the only one you might be able to replicate! I'm counting on you!"
"Can't replicate it. The little toast has a scent. Without the scent, it loses its soul."
"I'd be willing even without the scent... Please, can we have something more affordable? The official version costs ten thousand."
"If any sisters are thinking of getting one, I strongly recommend Yao Shuo's strawberry cream toast and Chi Qiao's blueberry green grape toast. They smell so good! I rubbed it on my hair, and the fragrance lasted all morning! Instantly became a human strawberry cream!"
"Chen Wu's cocoa sauce and crushed peanut toast also smells great. It sits there making me want to take a bite. I've been going to bakeries more often these days."
"Let me say it again: Random Entertainment! Genius planners! Gods of the merchandise world!"
I want to eat bread too...
