Chapter 103: The Only Non-Human
Translator: BeetleBarker Editor: Tennesh
For any virtual idol, receiving Fiery Bird's endorsement deal was like winning the lottery, with the prize being a rising popularity.
Fiery Bird were not lacking customers. Finding a spokesperson was equivalent to finding a cooperative partner in Yanzhou. Promotion was a cooperative effort by Silver Wing and Fiery Bird. Once Fiery Bird's massive campaign started, it would be everywhere.
Throwing money!
Ruthlessly throwing money!
In Qi'an City's center, on many high rise buildings, screens in public squares, huge entertainment centers, and public transportation, "Battle of the Century" advertisements could be seen.
It was still some way off from October. However, for a company that only produced a game every ten years, many people felt that their advertisements had started late.
Although what attracted the interests of gaming fans was the publicly released short film, all the people that normally did not follow the film and entertainment industry more or less remembered the virtual idol Polar Light.
The frenzy was in full swing the whole of May. Ten years after ten years. The money that gaming fans had saved up for a long time was used to make preorders of the latest models of gaming hardware to upgrade their rigs. Those that were richer would just get themselves a brand new gaming setup and were only waiting for Oct 1 for the game's release.
In a highrise apartment complex in Qi'an city, Big Dipper, a gaming team well-known within Qi'an City were very busy.
"Captain, we are running out of water, meat too. Everything is running out!"
"Got it, I will get someone to go get more. Just eat whatever there is or order some takeout."
"Hey, Captain. Let's change brands this time. Buy Four Elephants this time."
"All the stuff from Muzhou is the same; was the previous brand no good? An old brand is always reassuring."
"But I heard from my younger cousin, they tried Four Elephants today and it was not bad. Furthermore, it's endorsed by Polar Light."
"Endorsed by Polar Light? Let me see... All right, let's try this brand."
...
At a public squad, a teenager stood in front of a vending machine, thirsty from playing. As he scanned through all the different types of mineral water inside and decided on a brand he'd drank once before, he caught sight of a "Battle of the Century" advertisement on a billboard in the distance.
The teenager looked at the image then looked at the printed tree man on a certain bottle and made his choice.
...
Although online shopping was very efficient and popular nowadays, in large cities, there would still be shopping centers. These sorts of ancient shopping centers still existed to provide those sentimentalists with a place to feel nostalgia and antiquity.
Gaming sections were always packed recently. Youngsters could always be seen coming and going. At the same time, Four Elephant's products were all the rage too. Endorsing a game and endorsing foodstuff, Polar Light was the only one doing it!
In schools, many secondary school students were more inclined to pick the Four Elephant drinks that had Polar Light on them. Other products might be too expensive for their allowance to afford, but drinks were still fine.
...
In Muzhou, Su Feng listened to a report from his subordinate regarding the sales volume of every continent in the last seven days.
Huangzhou, slowdown in sales.
Leizhou, sales remain largely unchanged.
Lazhou, sales remain largely unchanged.
Yanzhou, 500% increase in sales volume...
Hearing this, Su Feng was so surprised he nearly fell out of his chair.
"The result is that obvious?!" Su Fang got someone to hand over the detailed information, and he proceed to carefully investigate it, checking whether there was any manipulation or if the market had really started to incline toward them.
After he had done so, Su Feng had only one thought. That 100 million was well spent! This gamble really paid out!
Su Feng felt himself shaking from excitement when he spoke. "Is there enough stock over at Yanzhou?"
"As there was a surplus previously, there aren't many places that are lacking. We have already hastened our deliveries over there."
"Boss, Huangzhou's side has suddenly increased their order," another person abruptly said.
"What? Why did this happen?"
Su Feng had not gotten a new spokesperson for Huangzhou. His farm's products were wrapped in the same packaging that had Polar Light's image. He did not have much hope that many people in Huangzhou would recognize Polar Light. All he wanted was to imply the products were natural. As Fiery Bird was based in Huangzhou and their company had used Polar Light for advertising, there would be some effects, but it would not be that effective.
Now that Huangzhou had requested to increase their order, Su Feng was puzzled. He contacted his people in Huangzhou to get to the bottom of the matter.
It turned out that, in Huangzhou, the boss of a large shopping center was a gaming enthusiast and had pasted 12 advertisements on the exterior of the building. Every advertisement was of a product. Normally, such an advertisement would require that the brands pay additional fees, and sometimes, if there were others competing for the spot, the prices would be high. This time, the gaming enthusiast boss had willfully placed twelve advertisements on the exterior, each one being endorsed by a celebrity. There was endorsed foodstuff, endorsed clothing, endorsed kitchen equipment, and others including exercise equipment. And these twelve celebrities endorsing these twelve products were none other than the virtual idols in Fiery Bird's promotional image!
And what was different from the hot-blooded styles of the promotional image of "Battle of the Century" were the styles of these advertisements. Some of them were elegant, some charming, some witty, and Polar Light had a fresh and clean style.
Compared with the promotional image of "Battle of the Century," many people thought it was rather meaningful. Compared to their intense looks, the boss of the shopping center took delight in it.
Occasionally there would be utterances of "Woah, isn't this the tree man endorsing 'Battle of the Century'?" heard from the people visiting the shopping center.
Among the twelve virtual idols, the tree was the one that left the deepest impression for gamers.
Four Elephants left an impression among customers who visited the shopping center. Even if they had not known of this brand before, since the others were all big brands that could be trusted, Four Elephants would not be any shoddy brand either, and it was from Muzhou.
As for Polar Light being the only nonhuman spokesperson endorsing "Battle of the Century," in addition to Yanzhou and Huangzhou, the other continents gradually showed signs of its influence.
At the same time, many people also inquired with Fiery Bird's relevant department on why they had chosen Polar Light to be Yanzhou's representative when it was not even a human virtual idol and had so few works and insufficient popularity. Fiery Bird's reply was just this: "He is worth it."
At Fiery Bird's headquarters, the engineers in the technical department were yawning. They had continuously worked overtime for quite a number of days in a row.
"People outside are discussing why we chose Polar Light as Yanzhou's game representative."
"Who we choose is none of their g*ddamn business!"
Why choose Polar Light?
Probably, it was because they had poured so many deep sentiments into producing "Battle of the Century." When they saw the "100-Year Period of Destruction" music video, they'd felt that the world in which this tree existed was the same world they had created in the game and that it was no longer a game but reality.
Therefore, during the discussions for the spokespersons, there were disputes for the other continents, but when it came to Yanzhou, it was an almost unanimous vote in favor of Polar Light. From their point of view, he was the most suitable candidate and most worthy of the chance.
"Who is the head of the Polar Light team? I thought someone mentioned it before."
"Fang Zhao, he is a composer. '100-Year Period of Destruction' was created by him. Previously, the sound effects head Hua Li mentioned they had used Fang Zhao's composition. However, for the fee, he was given two choices: cash or a gaming console. Fang Zhao chose the console."
"Woah, that fellow has good taste. There are only a hundred sets that'll be released in the entire world. However, for someone that dabbles in the arts, he probably will not get used to it and will probably resell it. What a pity."
"Yeah, a pity. However, whatever his choice, once it is sent out, we don't have to bother about their decision. Speaking of which, I rather like that little fellow's works. Oh, right, the opening scene's background music was composed by that fellow."
"The one we listened to that time? Where you get goosebumps just listening to it?"
"Yep."
"Ha! That was really impressive. What was the title of that background music?"
"Hua Li said that the piece is called 'Immortal'."
Translator's Thoughts
BeetleBarker BeetleBarker
Immortal... Hmmmm...