Chapter 397 Build an indescribable sign for New York
In an alley in Washington, D.C., an eight-story building was the Chinese Embassy in the 1980s.
Compared with the nearby Korean Consulate in the United States and the Japanese Consulate in the United States, both the scale and the furnishings are inferior by several colors.
But compared with the business volume in later generations, it is still enough for nearly a hundred personnel stationed in the United States today.
In the first few years after the establishment of diplomatic relations, the embassy received various calls for help almost every day, both from domestic and foreign sources.
But this is the first time I heard that some people came to compete with the locals for business.
"Nowadays, our domestic advertising companies are so good," the counselor looked at the newspaper in his hand: "I won a big prize as soon as I made a move, and it was gold."
"It seems that this team of people really may have earned that advertising fee."
"Well," the counselor said with a smile on his lips: "As long as they can earn this money, we must help them provide a certificate so that they can bring the money back home."
"That's right, you don't have to pay any tax at all."
…
"Little Italy" in New York City is decorated like a flower.
Under the eaves along the street, you can often see a few people holding cups or paintbrushes.
On a terrace above the small hotel, Huang Yongyu also set up an easel.
While painting, I was chatting with Yu Sigui.
"Why do they stay on the street all day long and don't have to go to work to earn money?" Yu Sigui held a cup of black tea in his hand and looked downstairs with envy.
"Don't we see the same thing?"
Huang Yongyu looked at Yu Sigui's position and drew an owl stuck on the fence: "Staying on the terrace all day eating, drinking and having fun."
The guest rooms in Jiangshan do not have balconies, but are only connected to a terrace of about 20 square meters.
As a result, this place became a place that everyone loved to stay.
At this moment, Jiang Shan, who had moved the table to the terrace, was actively creating.
Zhang Lu and Huang Hua, who never left each other for a moment, stood by each other with a learning attitude.
"Is this good?" Before Zhang Lu could understand, Jiang Shan put away his pen: "Is it that simple?"
"What else do you want?"
Jiang Shan began to close his stall: "Chinese people always pay more attention to meaning than form when painting."
Huang Hua blinked hard at the drawing: "But you are too careless about appearance. How can you show the advantages of hair dye?"
Listen to what the three of them say to each other.
Wang Fulin and Wang Shixiang, who were sitting in the room watching TV, came over.
"How long has it been since then," Wang Shixiang asked curiously, "Xiaojiang, have you finished it?"
Wang Fulin didn't say anything. He picked up the drawing and read it: "Didn't the advertisement target a colorful hair dye? Why do you only have black and white lines?"
"Don't worry, you'll understand in a moment," Jiang Shan had already arranged the things: "Open the road and set up the machine."
"Okay."
"What about me, what should I do?"
During my time in New York, several comrades from all walks of life really fell in love with the feeling of working in a group.
After a while, several people assigned according to their work were busy working on the terrace again.
…
At the appointed time, you will arrive as soon as you speak.
After watching the car disappear in front of them, Huang Yongyu, Wang Shixiang, Cao Yu, Ying Ruocheng, and Zhang Lu were still lying on the railing of the balcony, watching eagerly.
"Why don't you two come over and take a look?"
Cao Yu likes to go here a lot recently, firstly because the food is good, and secondly because the wine is friendly.
"No," Huang Yongyu took a sip from his cigarette: "I can't help you even if I go, the key point is still nervous."
"You think you won't be nervous if you stay,"
Wang Shixiang was already getting nervous: "If I had known earlier, I would have followed."
Zhang Lu: "I also regret it a little bit."
"Definitely," Huang Yongyu regretted it a long time ago: "Next time, no matter what it is, we will all do it together."
"okay,"
Ying Ruocheng found a recliner and sat down: "It's too late to say anything now, let's just drink and wait."
After meeting his old friend by chance these days, he and his group leader finally no longer have to search the streets for low-quality cider.
…
In a multifunctional conference hall of Ogilvy Advertising Company, Jiang Shan, Wang Fulin, Huang Hua, and Yu Sigui filed in.
Before the pitch began, Ogilvy's top executive Ogilvy shook hands with Wang Fulin in a friendly manner.
Since we had already taken over the work the afternoon before, this meeting saved a lot of trouble.
After more than 10 minutes, the real owner finally arrived.
After several L'Oreal executives wearing gray suits and white skirts walked in, the atmosphere in the conference hall immediately became lively.
Regarding the "pitch" activity proposed by Ogilvy, L'Oreal at first felt that it was redundant.
Until I heard that the target of the pitch was the gold medal winning team from the New York Advertising Festival.
L'Oreal finally got interested.
Not only did he not object, he also expressed his strong welcome.
No, even Nicolas, CEO of L'Oréal in the United States, was very dignified and came to the scene in person.
If you think about it, it makes sense, after all, Ogilvy himself came to take charge.
After some necessary polite words, Nicholas, who was sitting with Ogilvy, looked at the two teams:
"What are we waiting for? Can we start?"
“At your service,”
After Paul, Ogilvy's advertising planner, said this, he looked at the Chinese representative opposite: "We are ready, what do you say?"
Jiang Shan decisively reached out and asked: "Please."
As soon as he finished speaking, Paulette stood up and stepped onto the screen.
Matching the gestures on the big screen, it looks cool and casual, but everything is carefully choreographed.
But what Jiang Shan cared about at this moment was the big screen behind him.
PPT would not be put on the shelves by Microsoft until 1984.
Long before it, the application of business slides was already very sophisticated.
But in this conference hall, all case explanations will be completed by a video recorder.
Paul held the custom-made remote control in his hand and pointed at the big screen with one hand. He spoke in French even when he opened and closed his mouth.
"How do you feel?"
Yu Sigui only made a sound, humming quietly without moving her mouth.
"that's it,"
Jiang Shan, who was used to big scenes, tried to keep his mouth shut: "I speak French quite well."
"What did you say?" Huang Hua almost stopped ventriloquising: "It seems that this foreigner can speak French better than you."
"It's good if you can speak," Jiang Shan continued humming: "Just listen to it, this is a comparison of designs, not a choice of translators."
At this moment, Wang Fulin quietly watched the performance on the stage.
"So it's French,"
After all, he is an old comrade, and he hums naturally and clearly: "Why can't I understand it?"
"Look at what you said," Jiang Shan hummed, "as if he speaks English and you can understand him."
Facing the colorful hair swaying all over the screen, four comrades from China have been communicating secretly and unnoticeably.
It wasn't until the moment of applause that they clapped their hands together.
The next moment, after a few questions, Jiangshan was also ready.
Different from the Ogilvy advertisement, the person who controls the remote control this time is not the presenter.
Since breaking through, Jiangshan's prepared war mode has also followed him.
Being accustomed to pre-war drills, he and Huang Hua had already set up their battle formations at the same time.
At this moment, Huang Hua, who was holding the remote control, was watching Jiang Shan's every move.
Jiang Shan, who took off his suit jacket and went into battle with ease, officially entered the performance stage.
Don't tell me, it's really like that.
The most important thing is that when this Chinese young man spoke, he spoke in French:
“In 1907, a young Frenchman invented the world’s first non-toxic and harmless hair dye.
Then in the same year, the world-famous L'Oreal company was born...
From now on, people all over the world can enjoy the beauty brought by L'Oreal in nature.
Based on this keyword, our team designed an outdoor advertisement tailored for L'Oréal: taken from nature, blended with nature."
"Taking from nature, blending into nature?"
Now, it was someone else's turn to whisper.
L'Oreal's Nicholas and Ogilvy repeated a sentence at the same time and adjusted their glasses at the same time.
At this time, the picture displayed on the big screen almost made the colleagues present laugh out loud.
On the screen, lines with black edges on a white background outline a bust of a woman wearing wavy circles.
Apart from the clear subtitles of L'Oréal across the lower right corner, there was nothing else on the outdoor billboard, which made the Ogilvy executives present even more certain that there must be something fishy about China's advertising design.
At this moment, Oweig, who finally saw the true face of Lushan, remained silent.
Nicholas smiled unabashedly and shook his head, which was completely his inner monologue - a third world country is indeed very naive.
Seeing that the victory or defeat was decided, he smiled and looked at the Chinese camp who was also smiling.
When I was thinking about which sentence to say to conclude my speech, suddenly,
"Um?"
"Oh~"
"This is……?"
"Gosh!"
"Wow--"
"So, beautiful..."
The next second, Ogilvy turned his head quickly when he heard the sound and looked at the changes on the big screen in disbelief.
The billboard, which was originally painted only in black and white, suddenly switched colors at will in front of everyone's eyes.
The most interesting thing is that the part that changes color happens to be Rapunzel's wavy hair.
Facing the colorful auspicious clouds that suddenly appeared on the screen.
The discussion in the conference hall then became louder.
Everyone continued to watch while whispering to each other.
As time goes by, the splendid hair on the billboard has faded into the sunset, and the water has become the same color as the sky.
To put it bluntly, the big waves are dyed sunset red again.
At this moment, Nicholas's eyes also glowed: "It turns out that she is so harmonious with nature. This is the first time I have seen such a beautiful hair color."
A senior executive from L'Oreal was very lucky to have come with him today: "Wow, this is not an outdoor advertisement. It is simply a priceless world-famous painting."
"It's still the kind that changes color sooner or later."
"Nonsense, instead of changing color in the morning and evening, it's obvious that the hair color changes 24 hours a day."
"Color is secondary. Which of our L'Oreal advertisements lacks color?"
After all, Ogilvy’s outdoor advertisement just now was also very colorful: “The key is that it changes color.”
"I can now imagine the expressions on the lovely ladies' faces when they saw this billboard."
"If you guessed it right, they will definitely scream at our billboard."
"Not just women, the whole country will fall in love with this billboard..."
At this moment, when he thought that this billboard was about to belong to him, Nicholas clenched his fists and said excitedly:
"They say Chinese people are smart, but I didn't believe it before. Now it seems that they are indeed so!"
"So, you like our idea?"
Jiang Shan stood on the stage, always observing the other party's reaction.
“Without a doubt,” Nicholas said, “its appearance completely exceeded our expectations.
It can be said that this outdoor advertisement surpasses all previous L’Oreal advertising designs.”
Hearing this, Ogilvy also nodded.
…
A signboard is just an ordinary signboard.
No plugging in, no card changing.
The ever-changing display method originated from an outdoor advertisement of German Wella in later generations.
The setting of the Wella billboard standing with the sea behind is simply aimed at New York, a city surrounded by the sea.
The whole advertisement only shows outlines of lines, and the heroine’s hair and facial features are all hollowed out.
It looks simple when you draw it on paper, but just put it on the beach.
Not only can it withstand the sea breeze, but it can also use the sea and sky as the natural background to give the advertising girl radiant hair.
The four seasons pass, the sun and the moon are cloudy and sunny.
There are only colors you can't imagine, and there are no colors it can't change.
"Excuse me,"
At this time, Ogilvy's camp asked: "When it gets completely dark, will this outdoor advertising also get off work?"
Jiang Shan smiled and told the other party directly: "This is what I'm waiting for..."
Then, another rendering of the scene at night appeared on the big screen.
Then all the lights were turned on, and the girl on the billboard finally turned into a fashionable girl with black hair and black eyes.
"Perfect!"
Nicholas, who was sitting in seat C, stood up and applauded.
Ogilvy, who was sitting with him, stood up gracefully.
The moment I clapped my hands facing Jiangshan, my eyes seemed to see a shining advertising star.
But Jiang Shan, who was wearing a head full of sunshine, was showing the brightest smile to his Party A.
Fifty thousand US dollars, where can you run?
Applause, champagne...
Ogilvy, who has quite the style of everyone, after fulfilling his promise, opened the champagne for today's opponent and painted a pie...
"Jiang Shan, do you want to come over and develop my company?"
"Mr. Ogilvy," Jiang Shan seized the opportunity: "Do you still remember the spring style of the joint venture you mentioned? In fact, I am the founder of that company."
Ogilvy: "..." After working on it for a long time, I really suspected that I was right, but the designers of that company were still Chinese.
Seeing that the opponent attached great importance to their teammates, Wang Fulin, Huang Hua and Yu Sigui also felt bright in their faces.
After leaving Ogilvy and getting into the car with perfect appearance, the four of them, who looked calm on the outside, shook their fists and started laughing.
Until the car is driving on the avenue of Manhattan, you can still hear the uniform cheers in the car:
Fifty thousand, fifty thousand, fifty thousand...
Turn left and turn right, Little Italy.
Before the black Lincoln stopped, several heads popped out from the platform on the second floor.
"came back?"
"How about it?"
"Is it done?"
The car window downstairs rolled down, and all four hands stretched out the window.
Seeing the OK, 2 yes gestures one after another, the people upstairs immediately laughed:
"Virtue!"
…
That night, Jiang Shan dialed Yan Jing again.
"Have you heard me? Director Lu, I am Jiangshan."
"How about it?"
Lu Xuzhang's heart was pounding. He hadn't been so nervous for a long time: "Have we won?"
"Won,"
Jiang Shan, who was holding the phone, looked at the group members surrounding him: "We won!"
"good good good good,"
Lu Xuzhang stood up immediately, put his hands on his hips, and shouted: "Hello"
"Comrade Xiao Jiang, on behalf of the organization, I now formally inform you that your overseas mission was quite successful this time.
Not only did he bring glory to the motherland by winning the grand prize, but he also helped many domestic companies turn around.
Now, several departments are waiting to learn from your glorious deeds..."
"Has our little work turned into a miracle?"
Jiang Shan was so happy that he even said, "Actually, this is what we should do."
Lu Xuzhang's mouth was so happy that he never closed his mouth: "Okay, let's not say more outside.
Next, I order your entire team to fly back to me safely.
My motherland misses you!"
"Yes, I promise to complete the task!"
Not to mention, Lu Ju, who rarely spoke harsh words, was radiant after hearing this.
At this moment, everyone looked at Jiang Shan's expression.
"what happened?"
"What's your expression? What did you say on the phone?"
"motherland,"
Jiang Shan opened his mouth and almost stopped reciting: "Miss us..."
