Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"This is nonsense." Darcy Maguire became angry. "Dan, what are you thinking about? Is it the nuclear waste from the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant?"

"There is no need for personal attacks, Darcy. If you look at the two pages of advertisements, anyone with eyes will know that Hugh Hudson's is a masterpiece, while your Ronald's is like a college student's homework."

"Are your eyes only for looking at the secretary's miniskirt? Our version of the shoot was obviously the work of a strictly trained expert. You said Hugh Hudson's shot was good, but it's just because you got the shot you didn't We deserve the resources, and with those resources, we may not be worse than him.”

Among the three partners sitting at the top, one is Darcy's supporter and the other is Dan's patron. The old man in the middle is already semi-retired and rarely appears in the office. Today, like an old naughty boy, he became interested and wanted to see the two advertisements for the company's internal competition.

The old man's hair was already gray, and he raised his hand to make a stop gesture. Both Dan and Darcy obediently stopped to argue. This kind of quarrel in the office is not actually about personal grudges.

It is more about taking the opportunity of a quarrel to tell some facts that are beneficial to oneself.

The gray-haired old man carefully reviewed the two advertisements and said, "I haven't felt this excited for a long time. Ever since David Ogilvy retired and lived in seclusion in his country, I have lost the fun of competition. Your competition today was very good." , reminds me of some of the feelings of meeting with him back then.”

"Dan is right, Darcy, your advertising shooting quality is not as high as his..."

"But...Sir, we have been treated unfairly. Dan has received greatly excessive resources..."

The old man waved his hand, "Don't be so anxious. Young people nowadays are not very patient. Just listen to what I have to say." Then he slowly stroked his beard and said, "We called all the girls and put these two pages of advertisements on They watch and then do an on-site survey to see who has the highest score and who will qualify.”

The so-called girls refer to the ladies at the front desk, secretaries, clerks, art and other types of jobs in advertising companies. The proportion of female employees in advertising agencies is much higher than that in other companies. In BBDO's office on Madison Street in New York, dozens of girls can be found casually to try out.

Ronald whispered in Darcy Maguire's ear, "Who is this old man? Why is it different from what we agreed before?"

Darcy also turned back and whispered in his ear, "He is the patriarch of the company and is now semi-retired. Dan's protection is his people, and my supporters among the partners are not favored by him. So he came here today. It’s a biased approach.”

So that's it. Ronald nodded in understanding. It was agreed that Cincinnati and Cleveland would compete for a month and the winner would be determined by sales. Now it has been changed to a vote by the girls in the office.

What does this mean? Ronald feels that the situation seems to be slightly beneficial to him in the long run.

If the competitor's advertisements have a similar effect on sales as those shot by oneself, there is no need for the other party to repeatedly use outside tactics during the shooting stage. And today, this old man was brought in to change the rules on the spot. This is because the other party obviously feels that the results of competition based on sales volume are not good.

But in the short term, Ronald faces another unfavorable situation. When girls do questionnaire surveys, they can actually use the questionnaire to guide them to achieve the results they want.

There is a lot of knowledge here, and Ronald doesn’t understand it very well. However, major TV stations have conducted many such surveys regarding the upcoming presidential election. Ronald knew that there was basically no reference value. The predictions of candidates from different TV stations were very different, and the TV stations could induce whatever results they wanted.

Besides, there are two partners who are on Dan's side, while there is only one partner who is on Darcy and himself.

As he said this, Ronald glanced at Darcy's partner supporter. He called Darcy Maguire and whispered for a while.

Darcy's face turned ugly after hearing this. After returning to his seat, he quietly told Ronald, "My supporters think the situation is not good. He said that the old man would tamper with the questionnaire. He came very early today and convened a meeting with the old department. Probably a surprise attack on us."

"But he said that even if this fails, he will compensate me and let me be transferred to other branches. I will give you the opportunity to shoot, don't be discouraged." Darcy Maguire said, He clenched his fists to encourage Ronald and himself.

"New York is the best branch in the country, right?" Ronald thought to himself. "Darcy Maguire seems to be giving up. If she transfers to the West Coast, her promise to herself will be broken. Lose this gum. Advertising actually doesn’t have a big impact on my film career, so I’ll just let Eddie find another opportunity.”

However, the relationship with Helen's father that was finally established, Elizabeth Su's expectations, and the relationship network developed by Pia, may all come to nothing.

"We haven't lost yet, Darcy!" Ronald smiled and touched his ears. I have worked hard on two film crews, and I have experienced competition that is several times more intense.

"There is no need to be pessimistic so early. All lies have a weakness. When they encounter the truth, they will melt like snowflakes when they encounter the sun. They will disappear with a bang." Ronald deliberately said it loudly, making the gray-haired The old man heard this and smiled provocatively at him.

The old man turned around and looked at him. He didn't answer. Instead, he took out a box of cigars from the cabinet on the side. He touched the root with a cigar cutter, then took out a match, struck it with a sound, and lit it. Pick up a cigar. This set was done very skillfully, and it also seemed to be a deliberate demonstration to Ronald.

"I guess David Ogilvy must miss you as much as you miss him." Ronald approached the old man, finished his sentence, walked out of the conference room, and walked in the corridor.

The old man's hand shook, and there was a black mark on the evenly roasted cigar. The old man threw out the match unhappily, and smoked the cigar quickly, as if to eliminate the imperfect mark.

Darcy Maguire gave the old man an apologetic smile, walked out of the conference room, and caught up with Ronald.

"Today's young people are very aggressive." Darcy's supporter among the partners said next to him.

"It's a pity that they don't respect tradition and the name of this great company. Girls at BBDO should wear skirts. I'm not an old-timer. I also supported the recruitment of a large number of female employees back then, and I also approved of women entering copywriting and other core positions. Type of work..."

"But now women are wearing trousers, which is really indecent. Women still have to return to their families in order to continue our race and cultivate qualified, high-quality next generations..."

Just as the old man complained to his partners, Ronald was already standing in the open office area outside the conference room.

Many secretaries, receptionists, and art girls were summoned, and one person was handing out questionnaire scoring forms to them.

Darcy Maguire took one from an acquaintance and looked at it with Ronald.

"How would you rate the artistic expression of the advertisement on a scale of 0-5.

How would you rate the ad's humor on a scale of 0-5.

How would you rate the acting skills of the actors in the commercial, on a scale of 0-5.

…”

"This is really a tailor-made questionnaire." Ronald smiled.

Darcy Maguire couldn't bear it anymore, "This is blatant sexism and discrimination against our professional work."

"Indeed," Ronald thought to himself, "the standard for advertising is not artistic achievement, but whether you can sell goods. This scoring standard is actually tailor-made based on your opponent's version."

Smelling the paper of the questionnaire, and the smell of the copy machine, Ronald knew that it was a quick answer that Dan had rushed out this morning.

Looking at the girls who were eager to try, Ronald was a little curious, pulled Darcy Maguire over and asked, "Do you know how often these girls have the opportunity to vote to decide the fate of advertising?"

"I don't know about that. Anyway, this method is not very commonly used. Why are you interested in this?" Darcy was a little surprised. He was about to face the sentence, and Ronald still had the mind to care about this unrelated matter.

Ronald did not answer Darcy's question and walked to the secretaries. "Sorry to bother you, I am the person inside who will deal with you later." Ronald pointed to the conference room. "How long will it take for you to participate?" A poll like this?"

The secretaries and receptionists were all low-level employees. When they saw Ronald pointing to the conference room, they all thought he was someone from "above" and were very willing to talk to him:

"This is not common, it only happens once a year."

"That's right, we are actually the users of the product, aren't we? Those directors have such high salaries that they no longer use our company's products for advertising."

"We should be allowed to vote more. It would be better if each person is given some samples so that we can judge."

In the chirping reply, Ronald found the answer he wanted with satisfaction.

"Are you willing to speak your mind then? We have been separated from consumers for a long time. Using this kind of questionnaire to score, it is better to listen to what you have to say." Ronald said to the secretary and front desk staff.

There was silence.

Very few people "above" are willing to communicate truly with the employees below. When the directors talk to them, they mainly use flirtatious conversations. How can any director really treat them as intelligent people?

"If you ask us sincerely, we will dare to tell you." A fat secretary finally couldn't help but speak.

"Yes! We are not just blondes who only know how to dress up." A blonde was not satisfied with the stereotype of blondes in American society. "Just because we didn't go to college, it doesn't mean we can't think."

"Don't worry, several partners are here today. They want to hear your opinions on a chewing gum advertisement. I will ask them to prepare some samples. You just need to tell your true feelings."

Ronald said with a smile, tilted his head and whispered to Darcy Maguire quietly, "Miss Maguire, we haven't lost yet, we are still far from losing. We need to prepare some things before voting..."