245: Chapter 245 Joint Promotion

Chen Fan leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers lightly on the desk. "There's a movie called love is not blind that's about to start filming soon. Get in touch with them and see if we can get our products placed in it."

Li Nan froze for a moment upon hearing this, her brow furrowing slightly as she spoke with clear hesitation, "Mr. Chen, our company was only founded recently, and our products haven't even been produced yet. Will they agree? Even if they do, I'm afraid their quote will be very high. Besides, this kind of product placement in films and TV is usually done by big brands. We..."

She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was already clear.

Fanti hadn't even sold a single piece of ready-to-wear clothing yet, and its brand awareness was zero. Why would a movie production team agree to product placement?

Even if they agreed for the sake of money, based on her experience in the e-commerce industry, the quote for this kind of product placement would easily run into hundreds of thousands or even millions.

Although Fanti's current cash flow was sufficient, hundreds of thousands or millions was still a significant expense for them.

Chen Fan understood her concerns. For a startup company whose products hadn't even hit the market yet to rashly seek product placement in a movie indeed didn't align with normal business logic.

Normal people would wait until their brand had some awareness and sales before considering high-level marketing like product placement.

But he wasn't a normal person—no, he was a normal person, but his head was packed with information from the next ten years. He knew which movies would become hits and which product placements would bring the most exposure.

This advantage was not something Li Nan could understand, nor was it something he could explain clearly in just a few words.

However, since Li Nan was the backbone of the company right now, Chen Fan still had to explain a bit.

"Don't worry about that," Chen Fan said unhurriedly, leaning back in his chair. "This movie isn't some major investment; it's just a low-budget film with a total investment of only around ten million yuan. Neither the director nor the lead actors are well-known. For a project like this, if someone reaches out to them for a partnership, they will most likely welcome it with open arms."

After hearing this, Li Nan's brow smoothed out slightly, and she nodded.

What she had been worried about earlier were those big-budget productions with big stars and big directors, who wouldn't care at all about a startup brand like Fanti.

But if it was just a low-budget movie, it was a different story. For such projects, an extra sponsorship meant extra money. Who would refuse that?

Chen Fan continued, his tone a bit more confident, "As for the funding, you don't need to worry either. In the next few days, I will inject another 5 million yuan into the company. Combined with the previous 5 million, that's a total of 10 million yuan in capital. For the apparel sector, that's more than enough."

Li Nan looked up at Chen Fan, the doubt in her eyes fading even further.

Ten million yuan in startup capital was definitely not a small amount for a fledgling apparel brand like Fanti.

With that thought, Li Nan's gaze turned resolute.

"Mr. Chen, don't worry. I will get in touch with them as soon as possible."

"Alright, thanks for your hard work during this period. Once our apparel line is officially launched, I'll give you a raise."

Li Nan was taken aback for a moment, then she smiled.

"Mr. Chen, I'll hold you to that," she joked, her tone much more relaxed. "Don't go back on your word when the time comes."

"I won't," Chen Fan waved his hand. "Go on."

Li Nan smiled, turned around, and pushed the door open to leave.

The meeting room fell silent. Chen Fan leaned back in his chair, his gaze drifting out the window.

His promise of a raise for Li Nan wasn't just empty talk.

Once the Fanti brand was established, let alone a raise, if Li Nan had the capability to run the company, he could even offer her stock options.

Chen Fan still understood the principle of "buying horse bones for a thousand gold"—showing generosity to attract talent.

If you want your subordinates to work their hearts out, empty promises won't work; you have to let them see real, tangible benefits.

The next day, Chen Fan had just arrived at the game company and hadn't even sat down when his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID; it was Li Nan.

"Mr. Chen, I've contacted the movie's producers." On the other end of the line, Li Nan's voice carried a hint of excitement she couldn't quite suppress, though she kept her speaking pace steady. "They are very welcoming of product placement and have offered several options."

Chen Fan leaned back in his chair, his lips curling up slightly. "Let's hear them."

"The first option is product sponsorship plus brand exposure," Li Nan said. "This means directly providing Fanti's clothes to the crew for the female lead, Huang Xiaoxian, to wear as her daily outfits. The female lead has a lot of outfit changes in the film, so our clothes can naturally appear in those scenes. This option has the lowest cost and is the most natural way to integrate, so the audience won't feel like it's an advertisement. Their asking price is free clothing sponsorship, plus a sponsorship fee of two hundred thousand yuan."

"The second option is deep integration." Li Nan flipped a page in her notebook. "In addition to the clothing sponsorship, we can also integrate elements like our brand logo, shopping bags, and store business cards into the plot. For example, the female lead could be carrying a shopping bag printed with the Fanti logo, or a poster of Fanti could be in the background of one of her scenes. This costs more, with a quote of around five hundred thousand yuan."

"The third option is joint promotion." Li Nan's voice went up a bit. "As a joint promotional partner of the movie, the brand not only gets product placement in the film but can also use movie materials in promotions outside the film. For example, our Taobao shop can display the label 'Official Partner Brand of love is not blind,' and our promotional posters can co-brand with the movie posters. This cost is even higher, with their quote ranging from eight hundred thousand to one million yuan."

"We'll go with the third option." Chen Fan didn't hesitate and directly gave his choice.

Compared to the first two, the third option was undoubtedly the most effective.

Not only would they get product placement in the movie, but they could also leverage promotional resources outside of it.

Displaying "Official Partner Brand" in their Taobao shop and co-branding promotional posters with the movie would bring far more cost-effective exposure than simple product placement. Of course Chen Fan would choose this.

Hearing Chen Fan's choice, Li Nan fell silent for a moment, then spoke up with some hesitation, "Mr. Chen, wouldn't this be too risky? We aren't sure if the movie will be a hit. What if it flops?"

"Then what is your suggestion?" Chen Fan asked.

"My suggestion is to go with the second option," Li Nan said, her tone growing more serious. "The first option only has clothing without brand exposure, which won't do much for our publicity. The second option has both clothing and the logo, which offers the best balance, and with a cost of three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand yuan, we can absorb the loss even if the movie flops. As for the third option, although the effect is better, the price is too high and the risk is too great."

After Li Nan finished speaking, the other end of the line fell silent, waiting for Chen Fan's response.

Li Nan's thinking was that of a qualified manager—playing it safe and controlling risks.

But Chen Fan knew this movie would become a massive hit once it was released, which was why he chose the third option—joint promotion—without any hesitation.

"I understand what you mean," Chen Fan said unhurriedly, leaning back in his chair. "But Fanti is a new brand. If we want to get our name out there as quickly as possible, we have to take risks. If we fear wolves in front and tigers behind, we won't get anything done."

There was a silence of two seconds on the other end of the line, then Li Nan gave a soft "Mhm" and didn't try to persuade him further.

"Then I'll go negotiate with them," her tone shifted from hesitant to firm.

"Alright, go ahead," Chen Fan said. "You can try to squeeze the price a bit more, but don't push too hard. The partnership is more important than the price."

"Understood, Mr. Chen."