Meizong Wealth Life

Chapter 124 Creating a TV Shopping Version of "Modern Family"

The next day, on the way to Kingston, Brooklyn, Jamie explained his idea for a TV shopping experience to Michael Ovitz.

Ovitz has great doubts about the idea that the popularity and income of future product anchors will be comparable to that of Hollywood stars.

After all, TV shopping has been booming for more than ten years, and there is no TV shopping guide host who is very famous.

Not to mention comparable to Hollywood stars, even the fame of many TV show hosts cannot be compared.

But Ovitz was very interested in the idea of ​​embedding plot into infomercials.

After all, QVC does not exist in this world.

QVC in its previous life was only established the year HSN went public, but it was able to catch up and not only become the No. 1 TV shopping company in the United States, but also eventually acquired HSN.

One of the secrets of QVC's success lies in its innovation of traditional TV shopping programs.

It is no longer the host constantly promoting, introducing, and displaying products in front of the camera, but a family scene similar to a sitcom is constructed. Several hosts sit together like a gathering of friends, and in the chat they bring out the things they are responsible for recommending. product.

In this life, due to the lack of strong competition from QVC, even in 2001, HSN's TV shopping programs still stayed in the traditional model of more than ten years ago.

So when Jamie proposed innovating existing TV shopping programs based on the QVC model, Ovitz immediately realized that this business was very promising.

First of all, in terms of funding, with the support of Jamie, the son of the largest and richest rancher in the United States, start-up companies can obtain investment as quickly as possible.

At the same time, Ovitz has been in Hollywood for many years and has single-handedly developed CAA into the largest agency in Hollywood. He has very high-quality human resources at his disposal and can help the company connect with many resources in the television industry.

According to Ovitz's idea, they can completely skip the start-up stage, directly acquire a small and medium-sized TV shopping company, and directly enter the stage of rapid expansion.

This coincides with Jamie's thoughts.

But what Jamie wants to acquire is not the TV shopping company, but the marketing company behind the Joneses.

Jamie had made an appointment with the owner of the company behind the Jones family to meet today, and he took Ovitz with him to negotiate with him.

Ovitz was still puzzled when he saw the car turning into a high-end villa area.

Shouldn't we go to the company to discuss business acquisitions?

Why did you come to the other party's house?
After seeing what Ovitz was thinking, Jamie explained.

“Because home is where they work.”

Ovitz was immediately confused.

A marketing agency, working from home?

If Jamie hadn't sworn that he was looking for the right place, Ovitz would have suspected that this was not an April Fool's Day joke.

The car stopped at the Jones family's garden gate.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Jane and Mike were all standing at the door, and behind them stood a tall and thin middle-aged man whom they had never seen before.

After pushing the door open and getting out of the car, Ovitz's doubts became more intense when he saw the Jones family approaching.

At this time, Jamie had already shaken hands with the Joneses, and got acquainted with the tall and thin middle-aged man under their welcome.

His name is Barbara Schultz, the owner of the company behind the Jones family.

Jamie then introduced Ovitz to the Jones family and Schultz.

The two parties shook hands and sat down together in the living room of Jones' house.

During this period, Ovitz finally saw a little clue.

He found that the Jones family treated Schultz with the same deference as the owners of their belt company.

This is true not only for the Joneses, but also for their two children, Mike and Jane.

This is very different from Ovitz's initial belief that the Jones family and Schultz were friends.

The first words Schultz spoke after sitting down also confirmed Ovitz's guess.

"Mr. Dutton, you said you have a big deal to discuss with us, and you asked to see me by name. I wonder what kind of business you want to discuss?"

Jamie put down the coffee cup in his hand and replied calmly:

"Mr. Schultz, before I answer your question, may I venture to ask how much revenue your company can achieve in a year using the current marketing model?"

Schultz visibly hesitated.

It was a company secret and he wasn't sure if he should tell Jamie the truth.

Seeing Schultz's hesitation, Jamie was not embarrassed.

"Okay, let me rephrase the question. Mr. Schultz, the TV shopping giant, must be familiar with HSN, right? According to the financial report disclosed by HSN last year, the company's revenue exceeded US$2000 billion for the first time in 50. Compared with HSN, your company Can your revenue reach one-fiftieth of the other party’s?”

Schultz's answer was very vague, saying that it was almost the same number.

Jamie nodded and continued:

"Ever since I accidentally broke into your company's marketing model last time, I have always admired the person who came up with this genius marketing idea. It happened that during this time I became somewhat interested in TV shopping, and then I immediately thought of it. Mr. Schultz, your company.”

“I have to say that the method of letting company marketers pretend to be successful people and subtly guide neighbors in the entire community to make various purchases is really eye-opening. It also gave me a great inspiration, why not use this model How about moving it directly to TV shopping programs?”

Schultz looked thoughtful.

Ovitz was shocked.

He stared at Jamie with wide eyes, and was about to ask, but Jamie, who saw what he was thinking, said first:

"Yes, the Joneses are employees of Mr. Schultz, and everything you can see in this home is what they use to display and sell merchandise to their neighbors."

These words completely subverted Ovitz's understanding of marketing.

It turns out that products can still be sold like this!

Ovitz was immediately interested.

"So your actions have never been discovered by the neighbors?"

Schultz shrugged.

Of course they have been seen through, but there are not many failures.

After all, who in the right mind would have thought that the enviable neighbor next to him turned out to be a professional actor hired by a marketing company.

Ovitz looked at the Jones family in surprise.

"So you are really actors?"

Mr. Jones and Mrs. Jones looked at each other, and it was Mr. Jones who spoke.

"Our family has all received professional acting training. Jane and Mike are both newcomers, and Kate and I have both been actors for a while. I almost signed a contract with CAA, led by you, Mr. Ovitz."

Ovitz replied on the spot:

"That's such a pity!" These words were by no means polite.

As the most discerning agent in Hollywood, Ovitz had just carefully observed the Jones family.

From his perspective, he didn't realize that their family was actually a performer at first.

This acting skill alone beats more than half of the famous actors in Hollywood.

Ovitz then continued to ask the Jones family a few questions, and finally determined that the family was very talented in acting.

Schultz is also very proud to say that the Jones family is their company's ace sales team, otherwise they would not be placed in a key area like Kingston, New York.

"Usually in two to three years, when the consumption potential of a region has been unleashed to the greatest extent, we will move the gold medal team like them to another location, such as from New York to Los Angeles, in a new wealthy community. restart."

As soon as Schulz finished speaking, Jamie's voice rang out.

"This is exactly what I want to say. Changing places every few years will increase a lot of intangible costs for both the company and the team, and it will also bear the risk of being discovered. With such excellent marketing ideas and teams, it is completely possible. Create a whole new type of TV shopping program."

This time, not only Schultz, but also the Jones family showed great interest.

"I mean, since Mr. Jones's family's daily job is to sell and display various products to their neighbors, it is completely possible to film their family's daily life and add more product introductions and displays during the period. Isn't such a TV shopping program better than Are traditional TV shopping programs like HSN more competitive now?"

Schultz was obviously moved and asked Jamie on the spot how he planned to cooperate.

After Jamie's eyes scanned the faces of everyone present, he shrugged and replied:

"It's very simple, you sell the company to me, and I will select the most suitable people from the entire marketing team to be on the show, and create a brand new TV shopping program based on the idea I just had."

Schultz did not give an immediate reply, only saying that he would go back and discuss it with the company directors.

But the Jones family was obviously moved.

Having once been actors, they are obviously eager to return to the industry.

Although there is a big gap between being a TV shopping host and their former dreams of being actors, it is the most suitable method for them at the moment.

On top of that, they pretended to be a model family in Kingston, recommending display items to their neighbors and generating, at most, a few million in revenue a year.

And Jamie just mentioned HSN, whose revenue last year was US$50 billion.

By transforming into a TV shopping host, the Jones family's income can definitely increase dozens of times on the current basis.

This is also the purpose of Jamie speaking out about his innovative TV shopping program plan in front of the Jones family.

If Schultz refuses to sell the company to Jamie, the Jones family can consider jumping directly to Jamie.

What's more, Ovitz, a former Hollywood ace agent, endorses it, so any fool knows how to choose.

After coming out of Jones' house, Ovitz complained to Jamie as soon as he got into the car.

Jamie shouldn't have said such a good idea in front of Schulz.

Even if Jamie is optimistic about the Jones family, he can bypass Schultz and directly convince the Jones family to switch jobs to them.

Jamie also thought about this method, but finally gave up.

The main reason is that the identities of the Jones family are hidden, but Schultz and his company are the most critical insiders.

It would be okay if the Jones family changed jobs to become TV shopping hosts and it didn't become popular. If it did, their previous identities could become a bomb that ruined their careers at any time.

The safest way is to buy Schultz's company directly, so that the Jones family's control will be in Jamie's hands.

Of course, Jamie will not exploit the Jones family, but he can also use this to effectively prevent the Jones family from jumping to other competing companies.

Such as HSN.

This is also an issue that worries Ovitz.

As a giant in the field of TV shopping, HSN will never sit back and watch the rise of a brand new competitor.

If the method Jamie came up with to insert plots into TV shopping programs can really attract viewers and customers, HSN will be able to immediately copy a set of similar types of programs to compete with this one.

"So the implanted plot is the key!"

Jamie replied.

Competitors can copy the same model, but they cannot directly copy the plot.

After all, the plot is protected by copyright.

Ovitz looked at Jamie in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"To put it simply, I want to make a special program. You can think of it as a combination of TV shopping and TV series. The style combines the characteristics of documentaries, biopics, and reality shows to achieve real effects and advertising effects. of maximization.”

Jamie explained patiently.

Even so, so much information still left Ovitz a little confused for a while.

But one thing is very clear.

Jamie is trying to do something very new.

"We can set up three typical families. The Jones family is one of them, representing the successful middle class. The husband has a successful career, the wife is sexy and beautiful and manages the household well, and the two children are smart and motivated. They are the envy of the neighbors. Model family.”

"Then there is an old man in his 60s who represents the wealthy class. He has a company with an annual turnover of hundreds of millions. After his wife died of illness, she remarried a young and hot exotic beauty, forming an old husband and young wife. A remarried family, and Jay also has a daughter who is about to become an adult and has a rebellious personality."

"There is also a divorced family where a single mother lives with her daughter."

“Three families not only live in the same community, but more importantly, they are one family.”

"The single mother and Mrs. Jones are the eldest daughter and second daughter respectively of the wealthy old man in his 60s. The three families together form a big family."

Hearing this, Ovitz couldn't help but interjected:

"You mean to use the daily life of this big family as a plot and insert it into a TV shopping program?"

Jamie nodded in recognition.

He told Ovitz that the characters of the three families were inspired by the Jones family.

But in fact, this setting is copied from the character setting of "Modern Family" in the previous life.

It's just that Jamie made some changes in specific characters.

The biggest change is to change the gay family of 0 and 1 in the original drama into a divorced single-parent family.

After all, it's only 2001, and both Hollywood and American society as a whole still have a relatively conservative attitude towards homosexuality.

Especially this is not a movie or TV series, but a TV shopping program. Changing it to a divorced single-parent family will obviously be more in line with the program's positioning.

(End of this chapter)