Chapter 717: Xiao He's Gangster Ties Confirmed, Marketing Worse Than a Movie with Dogs
Chapter 717: Xiao He's Gangster Ties Confirmed, Marketing Worse Than a Movie with Dogs
"Has our marketing really sunk to such unscrupulous levels now?"
Xiao He clutched his chest, struggling to keep himself from fainting.
By now the short video had finished playing and started replaying automatically. The slightly distorted, shrill voice of the marketing account made Xiao He's head ache even more. He couldn't help rubbing his temples as he pleaded with Liu Rulan: "Sister Liu, pause it, pause it - it's so noisy my brain hurts!"
Liu Rulan smoothly turned off her phone screen.
Xiao He finally felt the world grow much quieter.
He could finally breathe fresh air again.
"So, please don't tell me this is our company's new marketing strategy for the movie."
After a moment of relief, Xiao He asked again.
Because the domestic marketing and promotion for *Fast Speed Shadow 7* was handled by their Linghui Entertainment, Xiao He refused to believe their Operations Department had nothing to do with it.
Oh, and he had just noticed it had been liked - at least five hundred thousand likes. It was a major trending video, probably with some special paid promotion...But... but why did it have to be this kind of video?
So cringe!
And that line about gang members actually being his fans, going to the theater to support his movie... such an awkward script, anyone could tell at a glance it was movie marketing for *Fast Speed Shadow 7*! How was this different from that exaggerated marketing gimmick about "bringing a dog to watch a movie, and even the dog was moved to tears"?
It wasn't like casual observers were stupid - how could they not see through it?
Besides, did he even have any connection to those foreign gangs?
Huh???
Liu Rulan seemed to sense Xiao He's confusion. She shrugged and said very sincerely: "This really isn't our Operations Department's doing. It's from other accounts. The subsequent stream push was also organic - people actually enjoyed watching it, so it just kept getting pushed further."
"Huh?"
Xiao He's hands were trembling: "So it's organic traffic?"
Just how many people had seen this?!!!!
"To be honest, we're not entirely sure either why those marketing accounts randomly claimed those gangsters went to support you." Liu Rulan looked somewhat helpless as she analyzed for Xiao He. "It's probably because last year there was a very widespread rumor about you being the 'Gangster Crown Prince' on foreign websites, with extremely high discussion volume. So when these marketing accounts were gathering foreign information and writing articles, they deliberately included this content, forcibly linking your relationship to attract traffic."
"Gang-gangster crown prince... dead memories are attacking me."
Xiao He finally remembered this incident and directly slapped his forehead.
When he had blown up overseas last year because of *Twelve Mirrors*, there really was a bunch of Chinese internet users who loved watching the world burn, spreading the story that he was a gangster crown prince who had connections in both the underworld and the upper class, with an incredibly impressive background. It had caused quite a stir at the time. When the marketing accounts brought it back to China, it prompted even more mischief-makers to go overseas and "help spread the rumors."
Except foreign internet users weren't stupid either, and there were honest folks domestically who helped explain things. So eventually, many people abroad also understood it was just meme-spreading, just a joke not meant to be taken seriously.
And Xiao He's camp certainly couldn't proactively clarify such an absurd rumor. So in the end, they just let it blow away with the wind, slowly fading along with the internet's information tide, hiding in a corner of the web, becoming an amusing past event.
But in the end, who would have thought that a whole year later, these boring marketing accounts would dig it back up!
And reheat it into such a hot topic!
"Um, actually the main thing is..."
Liu Rulan's expression was a bit strange as she continued, "Our Operations team immediately went to check foreign websites and found that this matter actually seems to be true. There really are casual observers abroad who caught footage of those gangsters."
Xiao He: ???
Things that made your vision go dark happened every year, but this year was especially abundant.
"It really happened? Then it should be those guys doing their own team-building. What does it have to do with me - "
Xiao He couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried, so he simply pulled out his phone to check the foreign websites.
But before he could even log into his account to check, he saw a bunch of private messages from Ban Zheyu on the relevant foreign social platform.
[Ban Zheyu: Bro Xiao, my sister and I are ready to go to the cinema to support you!]
This was the message he had sent before going to watch *Fast Speed Shadow 7*.
Then about two hours later, he had sent a new message.
[Ban Zheyu: Whoa, Bro Xiao, you're actually a turncoat! Riding that motorcycle through the castle was just too awesome! You have no idea, the moment you burst through that car window on the bike, how many people in the cinema jumped up and screamed. My sister almost bounced out of her seat from excitement! It's just too bad this is the last installment of *Fast Speed Shadow*. Watching it till the end really gave me that teary-eyed feeling. I think if I get the chance later, I should go back and binge the whole *Fast Speed Shadow* series, then watch it again in the theater!]
Xiao He skimmed through it. After that came Ban Zheyu's movie review essay.
He couldn't help but find it amusing.
Even though after that incident last time, they had already exchanged contact information and didn't need to communicate through this troublesome channel anymore, this guy still used his platform account's private messages as a diary and notepad.
Sometimes, certain behaviors from fans were genuinely polite, restrained, and yet oddly interesting.
But the next moment, Xiao He saw the photos attached after his essay.
[Ban Zheyu: Reporting to Bro Xiao! I heard today that the theater next door had a gangster team-building movie session, so I ran over to check it out. It turns out it's true! So your underlings are already this impressive now! They've booked out the entire box office over there! A bunch of people saw it! It's really shocking! But don't worry, Bro Xiao - I absolutely won't tell anyone about your people's affairs!]
Xiao He: ???
Xiao He immediately opened this photo and finally saw the legendary "gangster team-building movie session" photo -
In the frame was a slightly unfamiliar street background. Of course, that wasn't important.
The main thing was, on this street, there was a group of guys dressed in all sorts of colors, looking like no-good riffraff, gathered at the cinema entrance smoking, as if waiting for something.
Many of those guys were covered in tattoos, with cold, icy eyes and sharp, harsh faces. You could tell at a glance they were ruthless characters not to be messed with. Some others looked mentally drained, with dark circles under their eyes, appearing poorly rested, their bodies somewhat emaciated, like a gust of wind might blow them away...
In short, while these guys didn't fit the public image of well-dressed, high-cold gangsters, they certainly weren't anything good. Instead, they looked more like desperate, dangerous thugs with nowhere left to turn.
Just by crowding together there, without saying a word, just by gathering as a group, they were enough to draw attention and make nearby passersby actively avoid them with wariness.
No wonder it had attracted so much attention on foreign websites.
The corner of Xiao He's mouth twitched.
And those marketing accounts hadn't even used the actual videos and photos circulating on foreign websites!
So presumably, since this bunch of people really did look fierce and ugly, not like good people, and lacked the cool factor of gangster characters from film and television works, when they made their videos, they intentionally used movie clips instead. This downplayed the danger of the actual incident and added more entertainment value.
But -
Xiao He kept zooming in on a certain corner, repeatedly examining one spot in the photo, until he finally confirmed one thing.
"They're the guys we ran into that day!"
Xiao He gritted his teeth.
"These are Moses's men!"
Moses definitely needed to be taught a lesson! On his way back to China, he should have sent that guy to eat prison food!
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