Chapter 25 Chapter 23 New Changes in Promotion: Hand in Hand with DreamWorks

March 8, 2010, was a day with associative dimensions for the United States.On this day, Metersbonwe announced the signing of a three-year strategic agreement with American DreamWorks Animation, which is the first brand marketing cooperation between a Chinese company and Hollywood. Many people have found the large advertisement of Smith Barney in "Transformers 2", which is the first intentional appearance of Chinese clothing in Hollywood movies.This move seems to mean that Chinese companies are accelerating their internationalization.In fact, many footwear brands have already made breakthroughs in the United States.However, the significance of this cooperation is that Smith Barney is no longer satisfied with just one film, but has obtained exclusive cooperation with all films under DreamWorks.Such cooperation leaves a huge space for people's imagination.

The new year is not over yet, and the signing of strategic cooperation between Smith Barney and DreamWorks is only the first step of this year's brand strategic plan.According to reports, Smith Barney also signed a five-year strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and obtained a three-year authorization from Japan's Sanrio company "HELLOKITTY". This is an in-depth exploration of the integration of culture and brand after the establishment of the Meibang Clothing Museum. "We hope to inject more cultural connotations and bright spots into the brand and differentiated marketing." Insiders claimed that in the whole year of 2010, Metersbonwe's entire brand promotion expenses will be between 200 million and 400 million.

Another huge new promotion plan was born, which is also the habit of Smith Barney's "unconventional path" in the past ten years.From the red carpet street at the start-up stage, the giant parka, to Zhou Chengjian personally serving as the product image spokesperson, signing Jay Chou, and today's hand in hand with DreamWorks, everything is like a karma in a lifetime, and it came along in the time that passed by. . The formation of this cooperation was also exceptionally smooth.Five months ago, people in Shanghai were still experiencing the freezing cold by the Huangpu River in winter.It was the first time that JOE, president of the Asia-Pacific region of DreamWorks Animation, came to China. This was also the first time in history that DreamWorks sent someone to China. The purpose of JOE's trip is Metersbonwe.

Metersbon has been planning to land in Hollywood for a long time. Before the film "Kung Fu Panda" under DreamWorks was released, this clothing company from Shanghai, China, tried to negotiate copyright cooperation. At that time, JOE "never heard of" Metersbon prestige.At that time, it was only three months before the release, and the follow-up development and promotion could not be completed, so we had to give up.But DreamWorks still remembered this enterprise.Later, Smith Barney acquired the copyright holders of "Transformers 2" - the American Paramount Pictures and Hasbro's brand placement and the development and operation of the Chinese copyright.This set the tone for DreamWorks to seriously consider strategic cooperation with Smith Barney.

In the entire cooperation process and follow-up effects of "Transformers 2", DreamWorks specially tracked it.Americans, traditionally brash, seem to realize that this is a lucrative business.In the face of China's billions of consumers and the fiery economic situation, Westerners are always full of longing habitually. Since then, DreamWorks has contacted Smith Barney. "After the "Transformers" case, it was much easier for us to negotiate with DreamWorks, and based on the Chinese elements of "Kung Fu Panda", the cooperation process seemed to be very smooth." The person in charge of this work at Smith Barney seemed confident.

What happened next was a matter of course. Smith Barney was busy approaching his brand dream, and DreamWorks sent people to visit.Even when signing the preliminary cooperation intention, the two parties never met, it was all email exchanges, and it took about a month before and after.Of course, DreamWorks has its own plan. In fact, Metersbonwe is only their first stop in China.DreamWorks is trying to expand the dissemination of its films in China and develop its Chinese business by cooperating with Smith Barney.At the same time, DreamWorks is also in contact with China's banking and dairy industries.

After JOE inspected the scale of Smith Barney, the 9,000-square-meter flagship store on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, and the "Chinese Clothing Museum" built by Smith Barney, he greatly changed his previous perception of Chinese brands.More than half a month later, S Clarke, Director of Global Operations of DreamWorks, and Metersbonwe were in Hong Kong to further discuss cooperation details. Some changes in the details of the cooperation herald the full rollout of a plan.Unlike the last time the advertisement was placed in "Transformers 2", this time, Smith Barney is no longer satisfied with the cooperation of only one film, it hopes to obtain a strategic cooperation with DreamWorks. "In the past, the authorized signing was once a year, but we took the initiative to 'sign for three years and do four years'." That is to say, within three years, DreamWorks is expected to release 8 to 10 animation films, and Smith Barney can use them all. , for a period of four years.The advantage of this is that after the company launches the first series, the commercial value of the following years still exists.Moreover, the cooperation between the two parties is exclusive.

Of course, things won't be smooth sailing.Difficulties remained during the negotiation process.DreamWorks has strict requirements on the character image and does not allow random changes.Previously, companies such as Nike, BMW, and Pepsi cooperated with Hollywood to directly print their images on products. "We are a clothing company. If we only print the character image, the creativity will be limited, and the sellability of the clothing will be reduced." The divergence of this cooperation lies in the fact that Smith Barney can change their image. The addition and subtraction of the image reflects the fun and interesting creativity.

The sincerity of Dreamworks for the cooperation can be seen. As part of the return, Smith Barney will try its best to assist the promotion of DreamWorks films in China, and DreamWorks can also send designers to design costumes for Smith Barney.There are no ad placements in American cartoons, but Smith Barney will still be experimenting with new DreamWorks films. J Katzenberg, founder and CEO of DreamWorks, said: "We were impressed by Metersbonwe's motto 'do not take the usual path', because this motto also applies to our company." He said, "Interesting What’s more, this year marks the 15th anniversary of both of our companies, and we are both incredibly proud of what we have accomplished in just 15 years.”

S Clarke, Director of Operations of DreamWorks, expressed his excitement from another aspect: "The image created by DreamWorks encourages people not to follow the crowd, to show their individuality, and to go their own way. These characteristics fit Metersbonwe's corporate slogan. , making our cooperation seem seamless. Moreover, Metersbonwe's fun and imaginative live show, through the carrier of clothing, has injected life into the cartoon characters, and we are very excited." If the cooperation between Smith Barney and "Transformers 2" is just to test the water, then the strategic agreement with DreamWorks will open a door for Smith Barney's brand marketing.

Wang Quangeng, general manager of Metersbonwe, pointed out that the "Transformers" series products are a small test. Among the nearly 3,000 stores of Metersbonwe in the country, only 178 stores sell this series of products, but the total sales are more than 2 million. The sales of the entire series exceeded 100 million yuan.At the same time, through the Internet and other forms, it has gained more than 30 million people's attention. "This data is astonishing. We completed the amount of work done in two years in one quarter." Smith Barney was very excited about this result. After calculation, during this period, the sales of this series in a store in Guangzhou accounted for 35% of the total sales. % or more, the store on Nanjing East Road in Shanghai sold a Transformers T-shirt every 2 to 3 minutes on the day the film was released. According to the company's original vision, the most ideal return for this project is - "1 yuan of investment can bring 1 yuan of profit".According to a source from Smith Barney, "The investment in the entire project, namely licensing fees and advertising expenses, together amounted to 8 figures."The original return goal was easily achieved after the film was released. Visible numbers are not the only return. "Transformers 2" has brought many invisible praises to Metersbonwe. Metersbonwe was also selected as the "Best Licensee of the Year in Asia". Included in the textbook of China Europe Business School. At the end of 2009, at the licensor conference hosted by the Asian Licensing Association and the Hong Kong Foreign Trade Bureau, as the only Chinese company that won the award, the representative of Milbaria came to the stage to accept the award. "When everyone was speaking English, a voice from China suddenly appeared, which made the Chinese media and enterprises in the audience very excited." Market channels, simply make authorized images into products without redevelopment and changes.As an asset-light company, Smith Barney focuses on online and offline brand marketing. From initial product development to terminal sales, it focuses on the entire process of brand operation. For this strategic cooperation, although Smith Barney pays more attention to long-term effects, as an enterprise, the echo between input and output cannot be ignored.Smith Barney has a simple idea for this, and hopes to earn back all the money invested in this project.Fortunately, "Dreamworks' licensing fee will be cheaper than Transformers." The amount invested in the project mainly includes licensing fee, advertising promotion and event promotion expenses. The prospects look good, but the risks are not without.The first risk that Smith Barney considers is that product development should not be too biased, and the preferences of Chinese consumers must be considered.In addition, the film's popularity and box office decline basically do not pose risks. As for the early stage of project operation, relevant research will be done, but decisions will not be made entirely based on numbers. After all, the brand contains many emotional things. "Hollywood's film industry chain is very mature to ensure that the things produced are of a certain standard. Historically, most of the films produced by DreamWorks have done well at the box office." The company expects that the cooperation with DreamWorks will drive product sales of 200 million yuan, and will promote correspondingly in more than 2,000 of its stores.As the authorized party, DreamWorks hopes to gain access to the domestic platform of Smith Barney, so that well-known characters such as "Kung Fu Panda 2" released in the summer of 2011 can enter thousands of households from the big screen. While discussing strategic cooperation with DreamWorks, Smith Barney also started contact with Shanghai Animation Film Studio, hoping to inject Chinese elements into clothing, such as "Nezha's Mind", "Black Cat Sheriff", "Havoc in the Sky" And other well-known Chinese art animation films. Shanghai Film Studio is also looking forward to this cooperation, and hopes that after the integration, the brand image will be younger. "We fully feel that as long as the situation is opened, China's power can be brought into play."This kind of attempt is full of the unique imagination of the Chinese. Smith Barney invited Yan Dingxian from Shanghai Film Studio as the endorsement of its MTEE products.Yan Dingxian is in his 70s this year. He is the original painter of "Havoc in Heaven" and can draw the Monkey King in one stroke. At the same time, he is also the director of many well-known animated films such as "Nezha Havoc in the Sea". In addition, the company has obtained a three-year authorization from Japan's Sanrio Company to operate the brand cooperation of HELLOKITTY and increase the development of the women's market in clothing. "In terms of product prices, the clothes sold from Smith Barney are definitely cheaper than those sold in HELLOKITTY stores." "In the future, we will also inject the concept of environmental protection into the MTEE series." In the future, Smith Barney will have three main directions in terms of brand marketing: one is the image of the United States, the other is the image of Japan, and the other is the image of China.Through the cooperation of the three aspects, the brand image has an international and diversified color under the unified tone of Smith Barney. According to Wang Quangeng, general manager of Metersbonwe, in order to better display the products of strategic partners, Metersbonwe specially launched the MTEE series and launched nearly 10,000 products, which are defined as the most creative series under its umbrella. Using this as a platform, in the series In clothing, animation, fashion events, environmental protection, illustrations and other themes are displayed. "We hope to differentiate ourselves from other similar brands and introduce international fashion elements and culture through Metersbonwe. In addition, we also hope to showcase Chinese clothing brands to foreign countries and lay the foundation for going global in the future," said Wang Quangeng. . MTEE's products will be launched in stages, such as "anime season", "trend season" and "environmental protection season". People with dreams and full of cutting-edge consciousness. Smith Barney emphasized that MTEE is not an independent brand, but only a series of Smith Barney, and will develop other product series in the future. "Metersbonwe has many large stores with an area of ​​more than 3,000 square meters, and the capacity that can be accommodated is 5 times that of ordinary stores." ~8 times". Different from the several new brand attempts that have failed, MTEE has a clear positioning, and the investment cost is not as high as ME&CITY. The design and concept of the clothes perfectly interpret the corporate culture of "not taking the usual path". It can be said that this product series is to be made similar to the previous "cultural shirts", so that T-shirts have thoughts and souls. "The clothing industry should sell culture instead of products. Selling products has no future, because plagiarism is easy, and once culture, ideas, and brands are injected, the higher the price, the more proud customers will be," hosted by a researcher in the clothing industry of China Merchants Securities At a China Europe Business School alumni seminar on the apparel industry, Smith Barney said that popular brands such as Zara, Uniqlo, Esprit, and H&M often fight for scale and cost. Therefore, a country usually has only one brand. In this field, China In the future, there will be at most three or four brands left. For brand promotion in 2010, the budget is about 2% to 3% of the total sales. "Normally, Metersbonwe's entire brand promotion expenses this year will be between 200 million and 400 million." Smith Barney started by relying on brand promotion and asset-light model. After listing, most of the funds were also used for channel construction. Now, when it comes to a new round of advertising promotion, the wave of internationalization has come. The international experience accumulated in the previous "Transformers" played a pivotal role in the process of cooperating with DreamWorks to design T-shirt products.Metersbonwe has already familiarized itself with this set of Hollywood rules of the game through previous cooperation. Like "Transformers", the cartoon characters authorized by DreamWorks are a standard template, and the size and other details have their own standards and patents, but To integrate into a T-shirt, it is necessary to make some soft modifications. The enlargement and reduction of graphics and the splitting of elements will change to a certain extent. These changes are the two sides of the prudent DreamWorks and the ambitious Metersbonwe. Where repeated negotiation, communication, and confirmation are required. The dream come true MTEE series is another manifestation of Metersbonwe's pursuit of high added value in "virtual management": DreamWorks helps Metersbonwe successfully achieve international cross-border - this is Metersbonwe's existing experience New outlets found outside channels such as well-operated celebrity endorsements, advertising bombing, and big-budget flagship store image stores.Through MTEE, which was fully launched in the counters in the store in April 2010, Metersbonwe will continue to instill in consumers the subtext of being in line with international trends and trend culture. Because of this, in addition to product authorization, Metersbonwe pays more attention to the follow-up promotion of the strong alliance. "We don't rule out the cooperation of placing advertisements in the films after DreamWorks." Wang Quangeng said: "This strategic cooperation is actually an all-round cooperation, which is of great benefit to enhancing the international image of our brand." The integration of internationalization, diversification and national culture may become another business enlightenment of Smith Barney.