EFB Chapter 81 Earned Money
Chapter 81 Earned Money
"Our mission as 'Jiaotong University Matchmakers' is to address the serious relationship needs of highly educated young people. We greatly admire the courage of the 'If You Are the One' program in planning to make relationship topics more social."
"We have also been thinking about whether our limited experience in working in universities can become a unique catalyst for this program that is destined to attract widespread attention."
At first, when Geng Zhi was explaining, Li Shaobin and Lin Zixia just listened politely with a perfunctory smile on their faces, occasionally nodding in agreement.
Their core objective has always been the "If You Are the One" trademark; they have shown little interest in these superficial collaboration ideas.
Geng Zhi didn't take it to heart and continued speaking at his own pace.
"Before designing the 'If You Are the One' program, I conducted in-depth research on almost all successful dating shows, both domestic and international. Their initial success stemmed from 'conflict' and 'topics,' but the secret to their longevity was undoubtedly 'authenticity.'"
"A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Mu Yan, the CEO of Baihe.com, and learned that your station's current guest recruitment mainly relies on public auditions and recommendations from several large dating websites."
Li Shaobin and Lin Zixia's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly at the same time.
He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping over Li Shaobin and Lin Zixia.
"Forgive my bluntness, but the guests selected in this way are not only likely to be questioned by the audience for their 'authenticity,' but may also lead to serious homogenization of the guests' backgrounds—most likely urban professionals."
"I guess that even if the audience is initially attracted by the novelty of the format, they will soon experience aesthetic fatigue and think, 'Why is it this kind of person again?'"
Upon hearing Geng Zhi's words, Li Shaobin and Lin Zixia's hearts were simultaneously in turmoil.
There's a lot of information in that statement!
It turns out that this straightforward guy had researched so many dating shows before he even started working on "If You Are the One"!
They truly are outstanding students from Jiaotong University!
More importantly, his summary was accurate and to the point—no wonder their "If You Are the One" event became an instant hit.
What startled Li Shaobin the most was that he also accurately pointed out the program team's long-standing concern about "homogenization of guests".
This student... is really something else!
Geng Zhi actually knows Mu Yan and even learned about the program's format through Mu Yan?
However, what made the two of them feel uneasy was that Mu Yan broke his promise and revealed many inside stories about the "If You Are the One" program to the public.
At this moment, Li Shaobin's body had unconsciously leaned forward slightly, and the initial perfunctory smile on his face had long since disappeared, replaced by focused attention that had been aroused.
Geng Zhi keenly noticed the subtle changes in the expressions of the two men and knew that the time was almost right.
He looked directly at Li Shaobin, cutting to the chase without beating around the bush:
"Director Li, Director Lin, what we at Jiaotong University Matchmakers can offer is a brand-new, high-quality, and sustainable 'guest solution'."
This sounded a bit arrogant, but Li Shaobin's curiosity had been piqued, so he asked, "Oh? I'd like to hear more. We have indeed been exploring higher-quality and more diverse channels for sourcing guests."
"We have a deep presence in the top university circle, based at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and radiating to renowned universities such as Fudan University and Tongji University," Geng said in a steady and straightforward manner. "We can reliably supply master's and doctoral students from these prestigious universities. Their status as current students at these top universities naturally filters out those with impure motives, ensuring high authenticity. Their trustworthiness and reputation are far superior to traditional dating platforms."
He paused briefly, then offered a vivid and evocative idea:
"Director Li, think about it, among the 24 female guests, there might be one or two future scientists majoring in aerospace engineering from Jiaotong University, a well-known Hanfu culture blogger from the philosophy department of Fudan University, or a top-performing engineering student from a poor county who got into Tongji University..."
"These characters come with their own compelling backstories, far exceeding the scope of ordinary urban white-collar workers. Their positive and uplifting images are highly engaging for discussion and align more closely with mainstream values. How good will the show be?"
……
"In the future, we will expand to cities such as Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing, and Guangzhou, where more master's and doctoral students from prestigious universities will join us. At that time, we will be able to provide the program with a wider range of highly educated college students."
He spoke candidly for several minutes, from analyzing pain points to providing solutions, and from specific cases to long-term value.
After listening, Li Shaobin's heart was stirred, because Geng Zhi had opened a whole new window for him.
Before that, all he could think about was "how to get his hands on that troublesome trademark".
But now, the blueprint he described—"enriching the program's content and style with top university students"—made him temporarily forget about the trademark issue.
His mind was filled with more enticing terms like "highly educated female college student," "ratings hit," "social issue," and "brand enhancement."
If "Jiaotong University Matchmaker" can truly deliver highly educated female guests with interesting backstories, as Geng Zhi said, it would be of great value to the production team and would greatly benefit his personal KPIs.
Even if "Chung Hsiao University Matchmaker" can't do it, he can use this approach to require Baihe.com, Century Family Network, and True Love Network to conduct their open selections according to the same standards.
In any case, he has already made a profit from this trip to Shanghai.
He remained silent for a moment, then exchanged a glance with Lin Zixia beside him.
Lin Zixia nodded slightly, her eyes revealing her approval of Geng Zhi's analysis.
Compared to Li Shaobin's inner turmoil, Lin Zixia's excitement was practically written all over her face.
She saw a source of high-quality content that was actionable and had predictable results, which greatly alleviated the pressure and uncertainty she felt when selecting guests.
Li Shaobin suppressed the turmoil in his heart, his tone regaining some caution, and pressed on:
"Straightforward guy, your insight is indeed unique. The types of people you mentioned are indeed rare resources in our current pool of guests. But..."
He then changed the subject: "How do you ensure these top university students are willing to appear on television programs? How do you guarantee their on-screen presence and resilience under pressure?"
"President Li," Geng Zhi said calmly, turning to Li Haipeng, "take a few copies of the student information we selected and show them to Director Li and Director Lin for review."
Upon hearing this, Li Haipeng opened his backpack, randomly pulled out three bound personal documents from a thick stack of files, and handed them over with both hands.
"Please take a look, leaders."
These three documents are from Wang Qinqin, a foreign language major; Sun Xiaowen, a psychology major; and Huang Haitang, a computer science major.
Wang Qinqin genuinely agreed to appear on the show, while Sun Xiaowen and Huang Haitang were brought in temporarily to fill in the gaps, and their profiles were also appropriately packaged.
Due to time constraints, they did not have time to screen more candidates. The seemingly abundant stack of documents was actually just multiple copies of these three documents.
However, Li Shaobin and Lin Zixia were unaware of this.
The two were once again taken aback by the thorough preparation of the straightforward team.
They even prepared detailed information about the candidates in advance?