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Chapter 388: Advertisements that break the rules

"So your opinion, we need a story to highlight the selling point of Diet Pepsi? Right?" asked Ronald's old friend, creative director Darcy Maguire.

"Yes, I have seen all the recent Diet Pepsi ads. You have invited many Hollywood stars, but you always highlight the stars themselves. Diet Pepsi is a product that the public does not know much about, so why not highlight the product itself?

, what are the characteristics that make young people like them?" Ronald replied.

Niceta contacted Ronald's old partner. Darcy Maguire was very happy to learn that Ronald could come back to the world. He immediately contacted the Pepsi project and asked him to direct a small TV commercial.

Her current big client is Pepsi-Cola. Recently, Pepsi-Cola has fired its old marketing director and has begun to reorganize its advertising ideas and re-select advertising companies. She really wants to keep this big client.

"Which star do you think is more suitable, Ronald? They found Billy Crystal last year." Maguire asked.

"I heard that Pepsi's advertising slogan is 'the choice of the new generation'? Why did you choose a middle-aged comedian? Wait, they are looking for celebrities to star in the advertisement. They have a sufficient budget?" Ronald suddenly discovered the problem.

"Hahaha, yes. Pepsi is beating Coca-Cola very hard now. They want to increase their advertising budget and truly become the winner of the cola war. This is a good opportunity, Ronald. As long as you are willing to take action, I will win the new season.

The possibility of advertising contracts is very high.”

"Of course, we have known each other for a long time, so I speak frankly. The cash for the new movie's release budget is a bit tight now, and I hope to be able to pay it as soon as possible."

It turns out that after the sales of the new flavored cola launched by Coca-Cola last year increased in the first few months, the overall sales began to decline again.

The formula of New Coke has a softer and smoother sweetness. This new taste is loved by consumers who often drink Coke in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Market surveys show that their willingness to buy New Coke is as strong as that of old Coke.

Coke hasn't changed much.

However, in the southern states, New Coke's sales suffered a setback, and PepsiCo largely occupied the previously stable market.

The Chicago Tribune, where film critic Gene Sisco works, also published a special report specifically describing the cultural resistance to the new flavor of Coke in southern states.

Those states all belonged to the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the Coca-Cola Company, headquartered in Atlanta, has always been regarded by the Southerners as one of the few products that could conquer the Yankees in the North.

The new flavor of Coke was viewed by the Southerners as a capitulation move based on Yankee tastes. Many consumers in southern states originally believed that Coca-Cola represented the South, while Pepsi, headquartered in New York, represented the North.

The new flavor has added sweetness. It is a Pepsi-Cola imitating the Yankees. It is a surrender to the Yankees. It is the Yankees who once again conquered the South.

"This is too exaggerated. How can Coke be related to the Civil War?" Ronald actually doesn't like New Coke, but he is just used to the old taste. What is the conflict between the North and the South, and what is the cultural inheritance?

Relationship?

"What's even more exaggerated is that some Southerners think this is a Cuban conspiracy."

"Huh? What's going on?" Ronald was stunned.

It turns out that the new flavor of Coke made residents living in small towns in the South very dissatisfied. Unlike residents of big cities such as New York and Los Angeles, they often drink other flavors of drinks and appreciate the ability to tolerate innovative flavors.

The carbonated drink that small town residents drink their whole lives is Coca-Cola.

After the old taste they had been drinking for half a lifetime was replaced, they felt something was wrong, so many conspiracy theories emerged.

The Coca-Cola Company, who led this taste change, is the company's chairman and CEO Roberto Guzueta. He is a descendant of Cuban immigrants. His father escaped from Fidel and smuggled his family to Florida...

So residents of states close to the Caribbean began to spread the news that this was a conspiracy by Cuban leader Fidel to destroy America's capitalist tradition.

The Coca-Cola Company has a hotline to handle orders and complaints. After the new flavor was launched, the number of complaint calls per day increased from 400 to 1,500.

It is said that some people were very emotional, as if a relative in their family had died, and cried bitterly over New Coke's betrayal of American tradition.

"Those people really like conspiracy theories," Ronald shook his head after hearing this. In the Deep South, conservative evangelical religious forces are growing rapidly, and many farmers and small-town residents who are scornfully called "rednecks" by big cities do not

There was limited television, and there were no popular magazines that are common in big cities.

With little information, many things they cannot understand are often attributed to the conspiracy of anti-Christian elements.

"It's ridiculous. In fact, Cuba's Fidel also made a public statement saying that he didn't like the taste of New Coke. He called New Coke a symbol of America's degeneration. Coca-Cola was originally one of the few people in this imperialist country to like.

Everything was destroyed."

“Then Pepsi is making a lot of money, isn’t it?”

"Of course, why else would they put out a full-page ad in the New York Times saying Pepsi had won the decades-long Coke Wars."

Darcy Maguire gave Ronald a newspaper, which made Ronald laugh out loud.

Above, Roger Enrico, Pepsi's head of North American operations, announced a company-wide holiday to celebrate winning the Coke War.

“Pepsi’s sales increased by 14% year-on-year, so they want to increase investment in one fell swoop to defeat Coca-Cola.

What they are focusing on promoting this year is the sugar-free Diet Pepsi, which is a new trend that has started in big cities in the past two years. We start with diet to solve the weight problem."

"Pepsi's slogan is the choice of the new generation. In short, Billy Crystal can no longer be used. We have to find a star who can represent the image of young people to do this advertisement. Your advertising company should have survey data. Who has been in the past two years?"

Is he the most influential star in the eyes of young people?"

"Of course it's Michael J. Fox, but he's a movie star now, and movie stars don't do advertising."

Maguire replied that some advertising companies had contacted Fox and wanted to leverage his influence among teenagers, but without exception, they were all rejected by his agent.

"Wait a minute, don't say no so quickly, I'll give him a call."

"Hi, Ronald, how are you? I heard you've finished editing your new movie?"

Michael J. Fox has a very good relationship with Ronald. His famous work "Back to the Future" was the opportunity that Ronald proposed to change roles. After receiving the call, he deliberately found a time to meet with Ronald

Let's meet and chat.

"good……"

Ronald exchanged a few words with him and said, "I'm here this time to convince you to participate in a Pepsi commercial."

"Hey, I actually don't care about these. The price offered by PepsiCo is very good, but my agent said that the advertisement will affect my personal image and will be detrimental to my future movie shooting. So my attitude towards TV advertisements is to avoid them.

of."

"Why? Even though others say so," Ronald knew that he had to challenge this ancient Hollywood iron law this time, otherwise Michael J. Fox would not agree.

"Isn't that just the same thing? The image of movie actors should be used in movies. If they appear too much on TV, the audience will know the actor's image too well, which will have a negative effect on the role played in the movie."

"Michael, this reason may be true for other people, but it is completely false for you."

"Why?" It was Fox's turn to ask.

"You are a TV actor, have you forgotten? God, the audience sees you on TV every day, and your image has long been stereotyped as an independent, smart, and street smart young man who goes to the big city to work hard."

"Haha, that's true." Michael J. Fox laughed. He first became famous in the TV series "Ties", and "Back to the Future" came later.

"There used to be legends in Hollywood that if you act in movies, you cannot act in TV series, and vice versa. The two acting methods are very different, and actors cannot do both. But haven't you achieved great success across both movies and TV?"

"You are absolutely right." Michael J. Fox took out a new cigarette and lit it with the old one. "I can promise, Ronald. But you have to promise that it will be your personal guidance. I don't want to

When shooting a simple and repetitive advertisement, I hope it is an advertisement with a story, similar to my screen image, Marty in 'Back to the Future'."

Foxx put out the old cigarette that was about to burn out on the sole of Ronald's raised leg. He smoked cigarettes very fiercely, one after another, which was a sequelae left behind by rushing to film a TV series.

"I'm ready. Here's the script. Take a look." Ronald looked down and saw a scar burned by a cigarette butt on the sole of his shoe. Fortunately, no one saw it underneath.

"Ah, hahaha..." Michael J. Fox was very happy after reading the short three-page script. Ronald wrote this script according to his own star image, and it is in line with the ideas of Pepsi's younger generation.

"I accepted it. This script is very interesting. It is a replica of the 'Secret of Success' story. No problem." Fox took another puff of cigarette, "By the way, who do you plan to cast as the heroine? Is it you?

My girlfriend Helen? That’s not bad, it’s like a warm-up advertisement for our movie.”

"This...?" Ronald didn't expect Fox to mention Helen, and he couldn't deny that he always wanted to find her. After all, when he asked Helen Slater to replace the heroine, he was hiring Michael in the name of his girlfriend.

J. Fox helped cooperate, "I'll call Helen."



"Ronald, why did you think of asking me to act in this commercial?" Helen received Ronald's call and rushed to Ronald's apartment in the evening. She looked at Ronald with a pair of big blue eyes.

.

"Don't you know that movie actors don't accept TV commercials?" Helen pointed at Ronald with her finger, "I know, hehe. Are you regretting that you have never directed me in a movie? You want to use this advertisement to

Can you make up for your regrets a little bit?"

"Ah..." Ronald had no choice but to touch his beard. This could not be denied.

"You are so romantic, Ronald." Helen happily wrapped her hands around Ronald's neck, "I know you are actually regretting not directing 'The Secret of Success', right? Although I am a movie actor... but you

If you say so, I’m willing to go.”

"Um..." Ronald looked at Helen. Anyway, Helen's acting potential was limited. After a few movies, Ronald had basically confirmed that she could only play roles that matched her true nature.

Although she talks a lot about Broadway and acting theories, and even started an experimental theater company with her best friend Helen Hunt, her actual acting skills are far from these well-versed theories.

"Well, anyway, this role is similar to your screen image." Ronald replied.

"Well, I also want to try some different roles. My acting skills have improved a lot. But the role in this commercial is similar to 'Secret of Success', so I will treat it as a warm-up for the release of the movie.

"Helen replied.

"good……"

Ronald was about to say something, but he swallowed it back. Helen herself was still very pursuing.

But it doesn’t matter. In the one-and-a-half-minute commercial, Helen’s acting skills are always good. And the heroine I wrote is actually more like a vase.

As for the height difference between Helen and Michael J. Fox, anyway, I took into consideration that Fox was always shorter than the actress, so during the storyboarding, I tried my best not to let him and the heroine appear in the same shot.

"Ronald, in this script of yours, Fox and I don't have the same scene. When you wrote the script, did you write it in my image to prevent me from bending down and stepping in a ditch again to be as tall as him?"

Equivalent, right?"

"This...probably, maybe, this is what happened."

"I never thought that someone would be so romantic to me." Helen closed her eyes and was intoxicated in her imagination. Then she got close to Ronald, imitating the dance in "Dirty Dancing" and using her hip movements to

Ronald rubbed his waist, "This is your reward, my dear."

"oh……"

Ronald also imitated the male protagonist. After a minute, he couldn't stand the teasing anymore and picked up Helen into the bedroom.

"By the way, who are you going to use for the actress at the end?" Helen asked Ronald, lying on her side with a flushed face and a little short of breath.

Ronald lay beside him leisurely, "Let CAA audition. Many newly debuted actors and models will be willing."

Soon, Pepsi found a weekend and started shooting the commercial.

Michael J. Fox was only free on weekends and did not need to film TV series. Ronald also prepared all other things in advance. He only had one day on the weekend to shoot all the scenes.

"This is Kristy, this is director Ronald Lee." Niceta led a tall beauty to Ronald.

Ronald stepped forward and shook hands with the second female lead in the advertisement. This was a three-way audition between the advertising agency, Pepsi, and CAA, and the final candidate was Kristy Turlington, who had just signed a contract with New York's Elite Model Agency.

.

"Very good, is your hair originally dark brown?" Ronald lifted her hair and looked at it. Under the light, it had a slight golden-red glow.

"Yes, I have dyed it blonde before. I can dye it back as requested." Christy Turlington quickly replied, she didn't want to lose this opportunity because of the details of hair color.

"Let the hairstylist and the director of photography confirm that if there is no gold-red color in the film, it will be fine."

There are two heroines in the entire advertisement. Helen has always been blonde since she played "Superwoman". Therefore, the second beauty needs to have brown hair to balance it out.

"Hi, honey!" Ronald dismissed Kristy Turlington and turned to say hello to Helen Slater, who was putting on makeup.

"We mainly shoot indoor scenes in the morning. Your dress and makeup are all close to the 'secret of success'. When acting, you should also look for the feeling in the movie."

"ok!"

"a!"

"Tuk Tuk..." The wooden door in the studio was knocked. Michael J. Fox wore a white shirt, a gray woolen vest, jeans and running shoes, very similar to the look in the movie "The Secret of Success"

Yuppie style.

The door was opened a crack by Fox, and the beautiful face of a blonde stretched out from the door.

The camera retreated along the pre-laid track and kept taking a close-up of Helen's face as she slipped in through the crack in the door.

"Hi, I'm the new next door neighbor and I was wondering if you could lend me a can of Diet Pepsi?"

Helen's voice was very nice, and the recording pole on site recorded all her conversations.

"cut!"

Ronald stopped, stepped forward and whispered in Helen's ear, "You made a mistake. You have to talk to Fox, not the camera."

"Oh, I thought it was a close-up of the front." Helen knew that Ronald wanted to protect himself.

"It's okay, let's do it again."

After filming several scenes of Helen indoors, Ronald asked Michael J. Fox to go to the dressing room to touch up her makeup.

"Kristy?" Ronald called Kristy Turlington over, "Wait for a moment until Michael says the line 'Danny?' and then you can sneak in from behind the door."

Kristy Turlington looked a little nervous, but nodded in agreement.

"Pay attention to your appearance. You treat the camera as the designer of your favorite fashion. You want to show him your modeling skills. Do you understand? Give it a try." Ronald saw that she was a little nervous and hurriedly stepped forward to give her a

Let’s talk about how to allocate attention.

As long as this young beautiful model has enough imagination, she can perform good visual effects. Anyway, she is a long shot, and more advanced acting skills are not needed.

"a!"

Michael J. Fox's head was sprayed with water from the dressing room, making it wet as if he had been caught in the rain.

Holding a can of Diet Pepsi, he gasped and appeared in front of Helen, handing it over, "Your Diet Pepsi!"

"Dudu..." Another knock on the door came.

"That must be my roommate, Danny." Helen gently took the Diet Pepsi and said to Fox.

"Danny?" Michael J. Fox had an embarrassed look on his face. Could it be that he had gone through so much trouble to help his beautiful neighbor find Pepsi-Cola, and she was actually living with her boyfriend Danny?

"Hi, my name is Danielle," Christy Turlington walked into the door with a catwalk, holding her waist with one hand, a standard debut action of a model on the catwalk.

"Do you still have Diet Pepsi?"

"Of course", Michael J. Fox's expression immediately changed to happy.

"cut!"

Ronald stopped, "Very good, let's do it again."

Soon, all the scenes for the two actresses were filmed in the morning. While Ronald was discussing the next shooting session with Michael J. Fox, Helen came over to say goodbye.

"My dear, I have to leave first. There is an acting training class in the afternoon."

"Okay, I'll see you off." Ronald greeted Fox and sent Helen outside the set.

"Well..." The two kissed goodbye, and Helen got into Little Bud's car and left. Ronald turned around and saw Kristy Turlington standing next to him.

Christy Turlington saw Ronald looking over and smiled. She was different from other models, and seemed to be relatively well-educated in temperament.

"Are you waiting for the bus?" Ronald saw her smile and responded with a smile.

"Yes, I called a taxi."

"Taxis in Los Angeles are quite expensive. I'll ask the crew's assistant to take you there." Ronald turned around and entered the studio to continue filming Michael J. Fox's action scenes.

The crew moved to another studio nearby. The entire studio was covered with black cloth to cover the windows and roof, simulating a street scene at night.

Michael J. Fox had only a large, empty bottle of Diet Pepsi in the refrigerator at home. In order not to embarrass himself in front of his female neighbor, he had to open the window and climb down the fire escape.

"a!"

Under dim lighting, the set simulated a street, the camera shot from behind Michael J. Fox, and across the road was a Pepsi-Cola vending machine.

Then the Focus overcame the traffic on the road and crossed the road by jumping and crawling from the roof of the car.

After jumping off the roof of the car, another dog stuck its head out of the window of a car and barked at him.

"cut!"

Ronald raised his hand to indicate that the trainer was doing a good job.

The set crew began to clear the cars from the road, and the motorcyclists began to prepare.

A time machine in "Back to the Future", the DeLorean sports car was pushed over to serve as the background, which is a little easter egg.

Afterwards, Fox encountered a group of gangsters and girls dressed in leather jackets, who emerged from the steam on motorcycles. It was full of the style of a noir street movie like "Streets of Rage".

Michael J. Fox licked his hair, and although he was scared, he walked through them, walked to the vending machine, put in a coin, and bought a can of Diet Pepsi.

"cut!"

Within one day, Ronald shot all the clips for the commercial thanks to his thorough preparation.

"I'm waiting to see your finished film. It seems very interesting." Michael J. Fox said goodbye and left.

The next day, a copy of the negative was developed and went into the editing room again.

Ronald and several assistants cut the Pepsi commercial together.

Here, the scene where Fox is filled with pride and wants to buy Diet Pepsi for his beautiful neighbor seems a bit similar to the emotion in "Top Gun".

Ronald picked up the phone and contacted composer Kenny Loggins.

"I have a Pepsi advertisement and I want to use your 'Danger Zone'. Is that okay with you? Okay, I'll ask them to contact your agent and buy the right to use it."

"Dong...dongdong...dong..."

The familiar "Top Gun" opens with the F-14A fighter jet taking off from the aircraft carrier, and the background music is used again in the scene when Fox goes to buy Pepsi. It's quite humorous.



"This is the 90-second version, this is the 60-second version, this is the 30-second version..."

Ronald transcribed the edited footage onto a videotape and showed it to creative director Darcy Maguire.

"Oh, what you shot is just like a movie trailer."

Maguire is very satisfied with Ronald's performance.

"I think so too, so I tried to absorb some elements from popular movies. Fortunately, Michael J. Fox himself is the star of 'Back to the Future' and 'Secret of Success', so there is no problem in borrowing elements."

"And you are also the director of 'Top Gun'. Pepsi's money is really well spent. I will go and show it to Pepsi's marketing director."

"Okay, I'll just wait for your transfer check, hahaha."

Soon, news came from Pepsi's headquarters. Ronald's advertisement aroused a lot of praise there. They all felt that finding Ronald and being able to persuade two well-known movie actors to agree to condescend to shoot the advertisement was simply a scam.

Got a big deal.

So the payment was very fast. The next day, Ronald got the transfer check, which was a good supplement to the lost product placement and solved most of the problems.

"Fox and Helen's remuneration has also been paid. Pepsi is very happy. This 90-second commercial will premiere at this year's Football Super Bowl. Then the 60-second and 30-second versions will begin to be broadcast on major public television stations."

"Very good, I'm very satisfied too. Michael J. Fox and his good friend John Candy are both fans of the Football Super Bowl. You can make some arrangements."

After receiving Ronald's hint, Darcy Maguire immediately went to discuss with Pepsi and gave two Canadian actors good seats at the Super Bowl. During the halftime break, after the commercial, the camera just cut to Fox.

, let’s have a linkage.

"A very good cooperation, Ronald, do you want to shoot other commercials? I also have McDonald's, Burger King, Green Arrow, Unilever, Procter & Gamble..."

"Except Procter & Gamble," Ronald interrupted. He needs cash now and has short-term and fast projects, so why not make some money.

"Ronald," Niceta knocked on the door and walked in, interrupting Ronald and Darcy Maguire's plan to get rich.

"What's wrong?" Ronald frowned when he saw him.

"There is something wrong with the rating. Eddie has already gone to deal with it. You have to be prepared," Niceta said softly in Ronald's ear.

Ronald also frowned. He turned back and asked in Niceta's ear, "Is it the old stubborn Jew who is causing this?"

"I'm going to leave first. When you are free, we will talk about further cooperation." Darcy Maguire looked at the faces of the two people and knew that there was something big to deal with, so he wisely proposed to leave first.

"Okay, thank you. I'll contact you if I have any news."

Ronald, who saw Maguire off, came back, closed the door, and immediately asked, "What's going on? Who is causing trouble? Is there any news about Michael Douglas?"

"Don't worry, I had a phone call with Michael Douglas, and he said that his father, Kirk, had no action. This was not necessarily caused by the Jews. It is very common for MPAA to bully small producers and distribution companies.

It’s just that you were so careful this time, there were no frontal exposure shots, and it was rated R-rated, which is a bit unexpected, and we still have the opportunity to appeal for revision.”

"What the hell, why are our independent production and distribution companies being bullied like this? It's hard to determine whether the Jews are using their influence."

In the evening, Ronald convened Daydream's general manager Eddie, distribution manager Michelle Cannold and others to have a meeting to discuss countermeasures."

"What if we cut out some of the explicit sex scenes?" Michelle Cannold asked.

"Don't be childish..." Eddie replied.

"Yes, I once participated in a movie called 'Endless Love'. I was the heroine when Brooke Shields was popular. Because the distributor was PolyGram, a newcomer in the industry, I was rejected five times in a row."

"Have you ever thought that if the rating is R, it might be a gimmick to attract viewers?" Michelle Cannold spoke again.

Everyone looked at Ronald together.

"Hmm...that's inappropriate." Ronald thought for a moment and rejected this opinion. "This approach of using R-rating to attract audiences is feasible for movies that are originally aimed at adult audiences. But our film

'Dirty Dancing' is aimed at teenage female audiences aged 14-18. If it doesn't reach pg-13, it won't work."

If a movie aimed at teenagers is rated R, it will almost certainly mean that the box office will be cut in half. In many big city cinemas, many teenagers will not go to see R-rated movies that require the company of adults.

"Why is this happening? I watched Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark, and there were a lot of inappropriate shots in it. Wasn't it also rated pg in the end? The rating of pg-13 was added later to specifically give these hints.

, a movie that is not explicit.”

Michelle Cannold's assistant, Dolly Bernstine, chimed in.

"That's different, Universal and Columbia, they have people in MPAA..." Niceta said, explaining that these distribution teams from Weston are used to distribution in the video tape market, and they are not responsible for the distribution of these formal theater chains.

I'm still learning and groping about the operation, and often speak in layman's terms.

"So, do we have anyone there?" Dolly Bernstine asked Ronald.

"Yes, I have someone too..."

Ronald suddenly realized, why didn't he use these connections in advance? It seemed that he was still too unfamiliar with the operation of distributing movies.

"Let me make some phone calls."

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