Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 443 Romantic encounter and final hand in hand

  Pepsi and Burger King finally decided to team up. In the future, the beverages in Burger King will use PepsiCo products.

  Two brands with the second largest market share join forces to challenge the leaders in their respective fields.

  This kind of strategic cooperation of large enterprises must be advertised on TV, so that the KPIs of the marketing managers can be seen well and make achievements in the year-end evaluation.

  Although I don’t know what effect such an advertisement has on the sales of the two, Ronald was still spotted by the two companies because of the Burger King advertisement, and invited him to shoot this “engagement” advertisement.

  Because it is a cooperation between the two companies, the cost of the launch is also shared by the two companies, so Ronald can only give advice to the actor representing Burger King, while the actor representing Pepsi has his own plans.

   "Which actress are you going to invite?" The creative director of the advertising agency, Ronald's old friend Maguire, was also responsible for half of the production of the ad.

   "Lee Thompson is better." Because it was a temporary project, Ronald wanted to find actors who had worked with him before, Leigh Thompson's acting skills were more natural, and Elizabeth Shue had already gone to Wesleyan College for college.

"Lee Thompson is out of this advertising business," said Eddie, who was her agent. "She has a very good future in the film industry now. 'Step by step', co-starring St. John's, will no longer advertise fast food and carbonated drinks."

   "Then... why don't you get in touch with Elizabeth Sue", Ronald still likes to work with familiars. Sue, who has acted in several versions of Burger King commercials, doesn't need to be run-in after being caught temporarily.

   Elizabeth Sue agreed to appear in the new version of the commercial, just to make money to meet the various social expenses in college. Being able to perform this kind of advertisement can not only make money, but also become a social celebrity in the school.

   "So should we meet romantically, or should we finally hold hands?" Creative director Maguire, still wearing a male suit, asked aggressively to the male director of Pepsi's advertising service provider.

   "Although it's not the first time our two clients have cooperated, I still tend to have a romantic encounter. After all, this is an advertisement for the teenage market."

"I disagree, and you also said that it is not the first time for the two companies to cooperate. There are many consumers in the audience. They will laugh when they hear the two brands that they have cooperated with before and have a romantic encounter. "

   Ronald looked at the magazine next to him, ignoring the quarrel between the two directors. The creative directors of two multinational corporations are fighting for dominance in such collaborative projects.

Their differences are very simple. This advertisement is shot in an anthropomorphic way. The young men in Pepsi and the young women in Burger King uniforms represent the brand image, a romantic love, and represent the two big companies. strategic cooperation.

   So should we film the romantic encounter between the two (MeetCutes) or the final hand in hand (TogetherAtLast)?

   This is a term used in two romantic comedies, where a romantic encounter refers to the first time the hero and heroine meet. They must be arranged in an interesting or embarrassing meeting scene, so that when the two look at each other, they find that a certain quality of each other resonates with them.

   And finally holding hands is the end of the romantic comedy, the hero and heroine either get married, or live together, or finally get in touch. That is, "they lived happily together afterward", the favorite of American audiences.

   "What do you think, Ronald?" Maguire asked Ronald after arguing with the other party to no avail. The creative director hired by Pepsi also looked over.

"Why don't you all make a compromise and openly admit to your friends that your relationship is good. Anyway, it's not the first time you've cooperated, but you just lack a strategic agreement. This time, the advertisement is mainly to tell the world that the two are finally together. isn't it?"

   The two directors exchanged opinions and agreed with Ronald's idea.

  A few days later, Elizabeth Shue came to the studio in Los Angeles, put on her Burger King uniform and hat, and she met Ronald.

   "Hi, Lisa. How was college life at Wesleyan?" Ronald was delighted to see her.

   "I've transferred to Harvard."

   "Oh yeah? Congratulations. Should I say congratulations?" Ronald was a little surprised when he heard that the little girl went to one of the three best colleges in the United States. It seemed that she was really a very smart girl.

"I accept your congratulations. Although there is a transfer agreement between Wesleyan College and Harvard, it also requires application and multiple rounds of interviews. Moreover, my advertising shooting experience has added a lot of points to my application. Thank you, Ronald."

   "You deserve it, is the actor from Pepsi here? It's called Andrew." Ronald was busy and turned to his assistant.

   "Come, come" A tall American handsome guy came to the set with slightly longer hair and a baby face. It was Pepsi-Cola advertising actor Andrew McCarthy.

  He is a little different from the average American handsome guy. He doesn't look like an athlete or a social madman, but a bit of a nerd, but his temperament is obviously a rich family, and the academic style cultivated in college preparatory school.

   "Hello, Ronald. Rob Lowe talks to me a lot about you, and he says you're a great director." Andrew McCarthy offered to reach out to Ronald.

   "Hello, Andrew", Ronald shook hands with him, "Just take your place here then."

  Andrew McCarthy just met Ronald's old acquaintance, and Rob Lowe, who played the second brother "Soda Soda" in "The Outer Boy", completed the shooting of another movie "Top Student".

  Ronald heard Eddie say something about the movie, "The Best" is a **** comedy. Jonathan, played by Andrew McCarthy, and Skip, played by Rob Lowe, are two college students who share a dorm.

  Jonathan has been bullied by Skip and teased him in various ways. Skip also asks Jonathan to do all sorts of outrageous things in order to join the most popular fraternity in college. The condition he put forward was to let Jonathan find a beautiful woman and end his virgin career.

   Finally, Jonathan went to the bar, accidentally soaked Skip's mother, and had a long-term love with her.

This kind of male teen **** comedy is also a kind of exploitation film, but the difference in this film is that "Orion" invested five million, and Mama Skip, by British beauty Jacqueline Starring Match.

   Contest played the **** and glamorous Duchess Andrei in "Murder on the Orient Express", and Ronald subconsciously felt a little jealous of McCarthy, who played bed scenes with her.

  In the studio is a set shot for the movie "Mother and Daughter Love", which just meets Ronald's requirements. A small wooden house in the southern style, outside the white wall, is a small step leading to the main entrance.

  After the busy lighting and positioning, Ronald stared at the camera and watched the final rehearsal.

   "Action!" Ronald started his first shot.

   "We have something to tell you." Elizabeth Shue sat with Andrew McCarthy on the wooden steps. After she said a word, she looked at McCarthy lovingly.

   "There is progress", Ronald thought to himself, when the filming was officially launched, Elizabeth showed a very good foundation of lines and a natural emotion. Compared with the previous time when she filmed the Burger King Christmas commercial, her acting skills have improved significantly.

  The camera begins to move to the left, and then slowly approaches the two young men.

   "We can't keep this secret any longer."

   "Tsk, this line says no emotion." Ronald felt that Elizabeth's performance completely overwhelmed McCarthy. If the gap was too large, it would look incongruous on the TV screen.

   Fortunately, it was a TV commercial and a night scene, and the audience did not pay much attention to the facial expressions of the actors. Ronald didn't need to interrupt the restart.

   "So it's time to let everyone else know." Andrew McCarthy said this line to the camera.

The performance of   's close-up was okay. McCarthy showed a little shyness in the face of the beautiful Elizabeth, which made Ronald very satisfied. He squatted beside the camera and watched the performance of the two of them motionless.

"Burger King, has turned to Pepsi." Elizabeth Sue finally said the "secret" they wanted to tell the world. When she said this line, her expression also showed a girl who wanted to tell all her friends the news of her love with a handsome guy. expression.

   "After I went to college, my acting really improved a lot." Ronald thought to himself.

   "So in the end?" Elizabeth said to McCarthy.

  Andrew McCarthy paused for a second and said gruffly, "Together at last."

   This pause did a good job, maybe he learned it in the acting training class, but the expression still makes people feel very embarrassed, not like the way a man and a woman in love see their lover.

   "Giggle" Elizabeth was amused by this pretentious pause.

  "Cut!" Ronald called to stop shooting, and this unexpected improvisation at the end was surprisingly good. At least neither of them expected the other's reaction in their hearts, so their own reactions were also very natural.

   Ronald took a few more shots, and finally chose the first one in the editing room.

   "Although McCarthy's performance may not be the best of the few, he is more emotional and has a natural reaction. His improvisation is beyond my expectations, and Elizabeth's reaction is also very immediate."

   "Okay, you're the director." Both Maguire and Pepsi's creative directors nodded in agreement.

   A super close-up shot of the Pepsi cup with a lot of ice water outside, and the Burger King burger model rotating and touching. Finally, a Burger King theme song ends. After editing all the dailies, Ronald took out two copies of the master tapes and handed them over to the two creative directors for approval.

   "Why does Burger King use Pepsi?" Ronald asked Maguire, who was dragging behind.

   "Don't you know? Pepsi launched an all-out offensive and defensive war against Coca-Cola. Not only did they have a strategic cooperation with Burger King, but they also spent a lot of money to hire the most popular pop musicians to shoot commercials."

"who is it?"

   "MJ? Have you seen his moonwalking spacewalk? After it was broadcast on TV, girls all over the country screamed for him." Maguire also showed a rare smile of a fan girl.

   "Why is Pepsi so rich all of a sudden?"

"They've always used this strategy. For the same price, Pepsi has more capacity than Coca-Cola, and in marketing, they're happy to pay big stars to shoot commercials. That's why they can get a market share second only to Coca-Cola. Maybe They found a weakness in Coca-Cola?"

   Maguire gave Ronald a minimal marketing lesson.

   "Things are cheaper, there are more advertisements, and the sales are not as good as Coca-Cola?" Ronald also had a minimalist conclusion in his mind.

   When he got back to the apartment, he called the accountant Lawrence, "Hey, Lawrence, what do you think of Coca-Cola stock? Can I increase my position with my recent income?"

   (end of this chapter)