Chapter 167: Promoting the Golden Statue Awards

Chen Baisheng was a very straightforward person who had always held low opinions of people like film company bosses—a common trait among scholars. Just as Shuxiang Media followed Xiao Ran’s instructions only in terms of strategy, Xiao Ran didn’t interfere in other matters, knowing there was always a gap between businessmen and scholars.

Fortunately, Chen Baisheng greatly admired Xiao Ran—though only for his achievements in filmmaking. When he directly asked about Xiao Ran’s intentions, Xiao Ran replied solemnly, “Asheng, have you ever thought about attracting films from other regions to the Golden Statue Awards? Just like the Oscars.”

Chen Baisheng was immediately stunned. He hadn’t considered that at all. Hong Kong cinema was still in its infancy and couldn’t compare to Hollywood, let alone the Golden Statue Awards to the Oscars. Even if Hong Kong cinema reached its peak, it wouldn’t have the strength of Hollywood, making such a move pointless.

He understood what Xiao Ran meant: to open up the competition for awards like Best Picture. The Golden Statue Awards didn’t even have a category for Best Foreign Language Film—how could they dare to introduce such conditions? Otherwise, if classics like Rain Man were submitted, Hong Kong films would only suffer defeats.

“That’s unlikely. But Best Foreign Language Film could be considered!” Chen Baisheng wasn’t without ideas. He was already drawing inspiration from the Oscars, aiming to create a Chinese-language Oscar. But he couldn’t move too fast.

Xiao Ran smiled and gently rubbed his nose, asking, “Then why do you think it’s impossible? I think it could boost the international prestige of the Golden Statue Awards. I’m sure you understand!”

“And do you think current Hong Kong films can beat Hollywood movies?” Chen Baisheng retorted immediately. He wasn’t Xiao Ran’s subordinate and wasn’t afraid of him. After all, he still had a scholarly mindset and felt some aversion toward a film businessman like Xiao Ran.

“Nobody said we should open these conditions now. I didn’t say that, and you didn’t either!” Xiao Ran held back his laughter. His purpose in coming here was to teach Chen Baisheng a lesson and give him something to think about. This way, in the future, he wouldn’t need to organize any film awards—he could simply turn the Golden Statue Awards into a Chinese-language Oscar. As for art films, the Hong Kong International Film Festival could cover that.

Film awards are always closely tied to local cinema. Without the prosperity of local films, it’s hard for film awards to thrive. Only high-quality films competing continuously can attract even better ones. Just like when Cannes was founded, French cinema already held a significant place in world cinema.

The Golden Statue Awards’ influence couldn’t spread because the appeal of Hong Kong films was limited to Southeast Asia. Xiao Ran was well aware of this and tried to get Chen Baisheng to think and act quickly to enhance the awards’ international influence alongside the expansion of Hong Kong cinema’s appeal.

A more meticulous approach is interesting—take for example “Dark Flowers”; its videotape has already been released. Having won the Best Director award at the Golden Horse Awards, Xiao Ran deliberately asked the cover designer to place the Golden Horse Best Director award ahead of the Cannes award, implying that the Golden Horse Awards are on par with Cannes in terms of prestige. Whether this is true or not isn’t necessary to know. After all, what matters for an award is its authority, fairness, and most importantly, its recognition. Xiao Ran wanted the Golden Horse Awards to expand their influence while “Shadow” was selling well in the European market.

“So what do you mean?” Chen Baisheng was confused. He thought Xiao Ran was someone special, but he didn’t expect him to be so adept at keeping people in suspense.

“It’s simple. This year, ATV has offered a high price to acquire the broadcasting rights from you, right?” Xiao Ran smiled faintly. He knew this deal would definitely result in a loss, but to support the Golden Horse Awards, there was no choice: “It’s twice as much as what TVB offered. Do you know why I let them pay such a high price?”

Chen Baisheng shook his head. As a literati, he had no idea about the complexities of business. Xiao Ran stared at him intently and couldn’t help but sigh. In that sigh, Chen Baisheng felt like an unprogressive son in front of his father.

He didn’t understand this. Xiao Ran always liked to take the initiative. In his understanding, taking the initiative didn’t necessarily mean being aggressive—it meant proactively influencing the opponent’s emotions and psychology. Clearly, Chen Baisheng had fallen for his psychological tactic. Xiao Ran deliberately shook his head and said, “I set this price so that you have enough money to promote this award—through TV ads or print ads. I hope you’ll use this money to promote it as much as possible in Southeast Asia!”

Chen Baisheng was stunned for a moment before nodding, indicating he understood Xiao Ran’s intention. But Xiao Ran lamented, “Literati really are clueless. This time, I hope you’ll give the promotion rights to ‘Shadow.’ My company’s marketing department will do everything possible to help promote the Golden Horse Awards.”

“The marketing department?” Chen Baisheng was quite familiar with this. ‘Shadow’s’ marketing department was very famous in the industry, known as the most efficient marketing team among all Hong Kong film companies. With such a team to help with promotion, promoting the Golden Horse Awards shouldn’t be a problem.

Thinking this, Chen Baisheng became interested. If he could boost the prestige of the Golden Horse Awards, it would also bring honor to him. So he nodded and said, “That’s no problem. I just don’t know how much promotion money is needed.”

“Trust me. This is purely to help the Golden Horse Awards and Hong Kong films. We’re not making money from you—we’re even losing money. I just want to secure the broadcasting rights for the next ten years, with ATV taking care of all future promotions.” Xiao Ran smiled bitterly. This wasn’t about making money from the Golden Horse Awards—it was about investing money into it.

According to Xiao Ran’s plan, he wanted to broadcast ads featuring last year’s award-winning moments of Stephen Chow and himself on TV stations across Southeast Asia, which would require at least 10 to 20 million in investment. The broadcasting fee for the Golden Horse Awards was only 1 million, not even enough to cover salaries. But it could be considered a sponsorship for the awards.

“What I want is very simple. You know, Phantom’s films have a certain market in Southeast Asia and Europe!” Xiao Ran finally brought the conversation back to the main topic. After pondering for a moment, he stood up, crossed his arms, and began pacing around the office. “If we can use the Golden Statue Awards as an opportunity for promotion and launch, it could be very promising!”
Chen Baisheng’s eyes lit up, but he immediately asked warily, “What benefits do you want from this? Money?”
“Do you think I still need money?” Xiao Ran suddenly turned to stare at Chen Baisheng. Unable to withstand the pressure from his sudden turn, Chen quickly stepped back. Only then did Xiao Ran speak in a satisfied tone, “If I said my goal is to make Hong Kong films dominate the global film industry, you wouldn’t believe me. So, I have to tell you that I want Phantom to become a global film empire!”
Chen Baisheng’s mouth hung open as if he had seen a Buddha appear; he was speechless for ten full seconds. In Xiao Ran’s tone, he detected sincerity, though he wasn’t sure which of his words was true. Anyway, if Xiao Ran could achieve this, it would be extremely beneficial for Hong Kong films.
“As for relaxing the criteria for the awards, we can take it slow, right?” Xiao Ran smiled. He liked seeing Chen Baisheng at a loss for words. “The Oscars weren’t created in a day either. You just need to prepare well and wait for that day to come!”
After much consideration, Chen Baisheng couldn’t find any downsides in Xiao Ran’s proposed conditions, nor any signs of ulterior motives. Finally, after Xiao Ran finished speaking, he reluctantly said, “I think we need to discuss this with the others at the weekly magazine!”
Because of Oriental Press’s compromise, Love Between Xiao and Lin gradually lost its most vocal critics, and public opinion quieted down significantly, easing the burden on both Xiao Ran and Lin Qingxia. As for the editor-in-chief who had nearly put them in a difficult situation, his dismissal satisfied Xiao Ran greatly.
The carrot-and-stick tactic he learned from the United States was quite effective. Besides, the law doesn’t punish the crowd. If Xiao Ran had insisted on dealing with the journalists and editors involved, it would have surely provoked collective resentment from the media. By splitting them apart, he managed to diffuse the situation. With the story deliberately orchestrated by the editor-in-chief spreading, Oriental Press appeared somewhat despicable in the eyes of its peers.
However, Xiao Ran didn’t feel sorry for Oriental Press, as in his memory, one of the most famous and despicable tabloid magazines in Hong Kong came from them. Not even eliminating them was considered cruel, though it didn’t seem easy at all.
In any case, reports in newspapers and magazines continued, and discussions hadn’t fully stopped. But the frenzy caused by Love Between Xiao and Lin finally came to an end, and people began to try to view everything rationally—exactly what Xiao Ran wanted them to do.
Phantom’s marketing department was indeed a highly skilled professional team, likely among the best in Hong Kong. This time, Bai Wenjing took on the task of handling the Golden Statue Awards, while ATV secured the broadcasting rights for the next decade.

Although annual promotion requires ATV to spend money on it, according to the precise calculations of the marketing department, as long as the promotion is effective and its influence expands, ATV will no longer need to cover losses in three years. With greater influence, it will be like the Oscars—everyone will compete fiercely to buy advertising space! So, this investment is definitely worthwhile.

Due to Xiao Ran’s emphasis, Bai Wenjing didn’t have to personally draft the promotion plan. Bai Wenjing was indeed a marketing genius; he quickly prepared two plans—one that was cheaper but less effective, and another that required about 20 million, but would create a much more grand impact.

The final choice was the luxurious version, as Xiao Ran felt that a more extravagant approach better matched the theme of the Golden Horse Awards. To ensure the awards could be held in a more splendid manner with more funds, Xiao Ran had to get Shuxiang Media to sponsor 5 million. With this amount, it would be no problem holding the event even at the Red Hall, let alone at the Art Center.

Originally, Xiao Ran planned to invite Coppola, as he often talked to him on the phone—almost like friends despite the age difference. But then he thought, wouldn’t inviting Coppola indirectly promote Hollywood’s dominance? After Wei Dongling and Lin Qingxia mocked Xiao Ran for being petty, he helplessly rubbed his nose as if he hadn’t heard anything.

The 20 million allocated by ATV to Bai Wenjing caused great distress to ATV’s current general manager, Ma Weiqiang. But once he saw the results, he quickly began praising Bai Wenjing, whom his company considered the “best in marketing.”

Bai Wenjing’s approach was actually quite simple: he hired Wu Yusen, who was then directing “The Twins,” to direct a 1.5-minute short film. As the saying goes, brevity is the soul—this was certainly true. All the actors nominated for Best Actor appeared in the short film for free, and the result was quite interesting—a meaningful action sequence.

This short film, along with footage from last year when Stephen Chow and Xiao Ran won awards (as they were the most well-known in Southeast Asia), was edited into a 1.5-minute and a 30-second version. After watching it, Xiao Ran was highly impressed. He thought it was much better than the promotional video from the year “Infernal Affairs” won awards, especially since it presented a more dominant perspective.

TV stations across Southeast Asia were contacted to air the 30-second version first at the cost of advertising. Just before the Golden Horse Awards, the 1.5-minute version was officially released, making eager viewers frustrated as they couldn’t find it on TV.

In addition, the film distribution company received a symbolic fee from ATV, which allowed them to insert the 30-second ad at the beginning of all films released in Southeast Asia. Of course, every ticket buyer also received photos designed and taken by professionals from the marketing department.

These photos included not only the nominees for Best Actor but also those for Best Actress, as well as group photos of the nominees for Best Director and Best Film. Moreover, Sihai Audio-Visual took on the task of creating simple and interesting games, quickly obtaining free permission to develop a football game featuring the nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress.

Of course, this game isn’t given away casually. After being handed over to the marketing department, the publisher includes this cost in the film’s distribution expenses and distributes it along with the film. In addition, the three magazines and one newspaper under Shuxiang also ran extensive advertisements, with continuous reports featuring Oscar nominees and the like.
*****
Recommendations for two outstanding new works
Chi Hu’s new book, “Secret World”, http://www.feiku.com/showbook.asp?bl_id=51977; Hong Feng’s new book, “The Big Stick”, http://www.feiku.com/showbook.asp?bl_id=53035