boxer to hollywood

Knock, knock, knock!

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

He thought it was Ivanka and said, "Come in."

But when the door opened, it was a tall, thin man with brown curly hair and a gray suit who entered.

Scooter Braun, the president of SB Projects entertainment company.

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

At the time of the transaction, Link Music was valued at approximately 200 million to 240 million US dollars, and 5% of its shares were worth about 1.2 million US dollars.

After successfully launching Justin Bieber, SB Entertainment was valued at approximately 60 million to 80 million US dollars. 38% of its shares were worth about 2.5 million US dollars, plus 50% of Justin Bieber's management contract, the value was more than 40 or 50 million.

To outsiders, this was definitely not a fair deal. Even if Link Music's development momentum was strong, it was not worth SB Entertainment trading at four or five times the price.

But this transaction was successfully concluded in mid-April, surprising countless people.

Because in March and April, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Usher, and others clamored to challenge Link, to defeat Link on the album sales chart, and to make Link lose face, to avenge last year's events.

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

This change also stunned countless colleagues in the industry.

Some media even believed that the East Coast rappers clamoring to compete with Link in March was entirely a marketing campaign aimed at promoting Justin Bieber and Link's new albums.

This campaign was very successful. Link and Justin's new albums both sold very well, one selling nearly four million copies and the other nearly two million copies. In the first half of 2010, they ranked first and third on the US album sales chart, respectively.

Seeing their achievements, colleagues in the music industry lamented that "it's not that their albums are not good enough, but that their marketing plans are too low-end."

Even "Billboard" commented that this transaction was "a big show staged by Link Music and SB Entertainment in the music industry."

This was also the reason why Mr. Steven Knopper, the editor-in-chief of "Billboard" magazine, repeatedly praised Link Music for its good marketing.

Regardless of how the outside world viewed this transaction, Link Music became the largest shareholder of SB Entertainment, and Scooter also became a small shareholder and member of the management of Link Music.

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

He also became a colleague of Link.

Link had been busy recently and didn't have time to meet and chat with him. Today was the first time they met.

"Haha, Mr. Baker, I've been with the company for over a month and finally met you."

After meeting, Scooter greeted him enthusiastically.

"Mr. Braun, welcome!"

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

Scooter was a talented person, there was no doubt about that.

He was thirty years old this year and already had nearly ten years of experience in music brand marketing. He had served as the marketing director for four years at Def Jam Recordings, the leading record company in the rap industry.

In 2007, he started SB Projects from scratch and single-handedly discovered and cultivated popular singers such as Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Carly Rae Jepsen, bringing the market value of SB Projects to nearly 1 billion US dollars.

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

They jointly launched the popular group BTS and made a lot of money.

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

Now that he had become a partner of Link Music, it was also a good thing for Link.

After the secretary brought coffee, Scooter reported to Link on the company's recent publicity work, mainly including the image promotion and album marketing of its artists.

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

Among these five singers, Link was a diamond-level singer, and the other four were all platinum or above, which could be called an all-star luxury lineup. Among independent music labels, this lineup could rank in the top three.

With these best-selling singers, Link Music could ensure a continuous supply of best-selling albums, as well as sustainable and stable star-making and profit-making capabilities. The prospects were very good.

But Scooter believed that Link Music was professional in producing albums, but not good enough in creating stars.

According to Hollywood's popularity classification.

Diamond-level singers were equivalent to top actors in the film industry, at the level of superstars.

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

Lana Del Rey, Mars, and Wiz Khalifa were platinum singers, but their popularity in the entertainment industry was not even comparable to that of second-tier celebrities. Their low popularity also led to a narrow audience market, which would also lower the singers' commercial value.

Scooter believed that the promotion of these singers should be strengthened.

Let more people know them and increase their commercial value. The more famous they were, the higher the album sales would be, and the more money Link Music would make. So this kind of investment was worthwhile.

Link agreed with this point.

Because Link Music was a new company, it couldn't compare with the five major record companies and many established record companies in terms of media resources and publicity channels.

There was a shortcoming in its star-making ability, which was also the reason why Ivanka invited Scooter to work at Link Music.

Link told Scooter that he could follow his plan.

At the same time, he also suggested that Scooter talk to the singers before formulating a publicity plan.

Singers were all engaged in art, and some of them had solitary personalities. They only wanted to make music and didn't care about being famous or making money.

For example, Lana was this kind of person. She didn't accept interviews, didn't do advertising endorsements, smoked and drank at concerts, cursed at paparazzi, and was used to being free and unrestrained. She didn't care about media comments.

For this kind of singer, there was no need to force them too much.

Scooter agreed, saying that all publicity activities would be based on the wishes of the singers.

"Scooter, after the private video leak, my public image has been somewhat damaged. Next, I plan to restore my public image through media publicity. What suggestions do you have for this?"

Link leaned on the sofa and looked at him, asking.

Scooter thought for a while and said, "Mr. Baker, this is easy to handle. Before April, your public image was very positive, with few points to criticize. 

After your breakup with Miss Taylor Swift, you haven't been very careful about your privacy, attracting a lot of media attention. If you want to restore your public image, you just need to find a steady girlfriend and show more affection in public. And in the publicity, say that during that time, you were affected by the relationship, emotionally unstable, and deliberately indulged yourself. Now that you have a new relationship, you are saved by love and become a good man again. This kind of publicity lasts for a period of time, and the negative news will gradually disappear."

Link listened and felt that this kind of publicity was okay, 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 good man, and he is not interested in the label of 'good man'. What he needs are high-quality labels such as 'teen idol', 'American dream', and 'dream lover of 900 million beautiful girls in 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 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 couldn't find fresh material, so there were very few reports about your private life in this regard. After you broke up, the media's reports on your private life increased dramatically. The public relations department has done an investigation. In March, there were only more than 1,200 reports about your private life in the mainstream media, which became 53,000 in April, 31,000 in May, and this month The number of reports also remained above 5,000 per week. Due to the increase in scandals, your exposure rate in the media has increased, which has directly driven the sales of new albums. According to the investigation of the marketing department, in April, these scandals increased your album sales by about 12%-15%." Scooter said.

Hearing Scooter's words, Link was a little puzzled, "Will the increase in scandals affect overseas markets? Has Universal Records investigated this?" "It has an impact, but it is a positive one. In May, because of your relationship with Marion Cotillard Ms. Emma Watson and others' scandals, "The Woman I Love" sales increased by 32% in France, about 17% in the UK, and other regions that reported related news also saw a slight increase in sales." Kurt said.

"Are you sure?" Link asked in surprise.

Scooter didn't understand why he suddenly became serious, and quickly said it was true, opened his briefcase, and handed him a document.

According to the rise and fall of album sales, generally the first week of an album's release has the highest sales, the second week will drop by about 50%, the third week will drop by about 50%, the higher the first week's sales, the greater the drop, and the longer the release time, the greater the drop. bigger. And albums with small declines are mostly of good quality, or have more publicity investment in the later stage. Based on this rate of decline, it is easy to see which week's sales are abnormal.

Link frowned as he flipped through the documents.

Last week Ivanka told him at Baker's shop that because he became a playboy, his reputation was greatly damaged, which affected his album, and said that this was the result of an investigation by Universal Records' marketing department. To this end, Ivanka suggested that he find a fixed girlfriend, get rid of the playboy label, and reshape his public image. Link agreed. Then Ivanka enthusiastically helped him recommend his girlfriend. In the end, Ivanka recommended herself, and the two became an arranged couple. And the premise of this incident is that his bad reputation will affect album sales. If there is no impact, do you still need a fixed girlfriend? Thinking of this, Link finally understood why he felt like falling into a pit that day. The original pit was here - the information gap. At that time, he was unprepared and fell directly into the pit dug by Ivanka, and he had another nominal girlfriend.

Understanding this, Link was a little annoyed. This woman is too boring, if she wants to be his girlfriend, she can just confess directly, what's the point of playing this kind of trick? Makes her look smart? But that's all there is to it, and he has nothing to say. After all, that was Ivanka, the bait she used to fish was too sweet and plump, even if he knew there was a hook in the bait, he was reluctant to let go.

Link put down the document and said: "Scooter, no matter whether the scandal is good or bad, you should pay attention to it at ordinary times, don't let the media hype it too much, and if you encounter bad reports, suppress the draft if you should, don't let it affect me. life."

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

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

"Haha, I dare not be an expert. This is my job, and I will definitely try my best to do my best." Scooter shook his hand and smiled modestly.

Modesty is real. Although he considers himself a marketing expert, in front of Link, he doesn't dare to think so at all. 

After studying Link's history of becoming famous, he admired Link even more, and felt that Link's current fame was 30% based on strength and 70% on hype. He is very strong, and without hype, it will take at least ten years to reach his current fame. And his hype skills are even higher. 

Starting from the boxing ring, he has been hyped all the way to the music scene, and every hype can produce amazing results. Just like the recent 'fall and 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 and showing off your wealth' is to first create social issues by showing off your wealth by celebrities, arouse public discussion, induce public opinion controversy, and prompt mainstream media to end. No matter criticism or praise, it is a good way of exposure, with low cost and good effect. After the mainstream media enters the market, other media will also follow up with reports, forming a social hot event. When more people pay attention, focus the public's attention on the album again, create new topics, and trigger new controversies, and the album's exposure 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 high-end luxury goods. 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 minds of the public, everyone will spontaneously buy, such as drinking purified water is harmful to the body, diamonds represent love, and luxury goods represent identity. In the 'fall and show off your wealth' incident, Tiffany, Paris Hilton, Amanda Hearst, Georgia Bloomberg, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan and others are all celebrities and celebrities, enjoying a high reputation in all walks of life in the United States And fans. Their dressing style, hairstyle, body shape, etc., often become the object of imitation by young female groups. Several people classified Link's album as a luxury item. 

Owning Link's album not only owns good music, but also has a kind of identity and taste. This is a kind of concept marketing. From its launch in early May to now, there are still many people imitating it all over the world, and now even imitating 'falling down and showing off wealth' has become a fashion. According to Universal Records' estimates, the benefits of this marketing campaign are very obvious. In the United States, Link's new album has sold more than 500,000 copies, and more than 3 million copies worldwide, which will also drive Link's next album. too strong. When I heard that this marketing plan was proposed by Link, Scooter admired him very much, and became more and more sure that Link's fame was not accidental. 

At first, he turned into a mouthpiece in the boxing world, challenging more than a dozen world boxing champions remotely, and became a boxing star at the age of 19. 

Later, he entered the music scene and competed with the East Coast rap gang, and stepped on them to rise to the top. It was not a forced response, but a marketing plan personally designed and executed by Link. This plan turned Link from a newcomer in the music industry to a top player in the music industry, and it only took one year. 

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

Now hearing Link praise himself as a marketing expert, Scooter only feels ashamed. In front of a marketing god like Link, he is just a primary school student. How dare he call himself an expert.

(End of this chapter)