The Faster a Weird Tale Becomes Popular, the Better? Not Necessarily
"Xiao Wang, any promising young talents today?"
As evening fell and darkness descended, the organizers of the Dragon Gate Noodle Competition, as usual, sent someone to collect today's list.
Although the competition upholds fairness and transparency, what ultimately sustains it is commercial prosperity. Without the large sums of advertising fees and live broadcast and rebroadcasting rights fees each year, Dragon Palace City would not be able to maintain such a competition.
As a commercial project, it's impossible to let the competition grow unchecked. The most classic approach to this is pre-competition hype.
Competitions like this, which are highly professional, are not as easy to understand as sporting events, and the taste of food is not something that can be shown visually.
Therefore, to attract attention, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research. Such tactics, such as promoting a few star players, are always necessary. This also makes it easier for the organizers to prepare sufficient information in advance to avoid blunders by the commentators during the commentary.
"Yes, there should be two contestants who passed the preliminary round today." The judging panel handed over the list of those who advanced to the next round and opened two video files on their computers.
"Soup dumplings again?" The organizer frowned slightly as he looked at the first set of materials. It wasn't that he looked down on soup dumplings, but rather that so many chefs chose this dish because it was so appealing and offered so much room for skillful execution. Not counting the less skilled amateurs, this year alone, three of the top contenders were experts in making soup dumplings. He couldn't very well ignore those established contenders and promote the soup dumplings of an unknown chef, could he? Besides, these soup dumplings were made using a standard method and lacked any real gimmick...
"This one just tastes good, but the other one should meet your requirements," Xiao Wang pointed to another document and simultaneously turned on the video recording.
"This contestant specializes in Flour Fruit, and their technique is quite superb. Look..."
"Flour Fruit?" As the organizer, the person in charge naturally knew some basic knowledge about pastries, but while they had heard of Flour Fruit, this was the first time they had ever seen it at the Dragon Gate Noodle Competition.
It's not that no chef knows how to make it; it's just that this thing is purely a gimmick.
After all, steamed Flour Fruit are basically multicolored steamed buns. Under the rule of "whatever shape it is, that's what it tastes like", they can at most be filled with Fruit Puree or fruit pulp. Such pastries may have a good performance in terms of color, shape, and meaning, but it is difficult for them to compete with other pastries in terms of aroma and taste. However, the most direct value of most foods lies in their aroma and taste.
Furthermore, yeast fermentation is inherently a gamble; anything can happen during steaming. The process of making dough figurines is incredibly complicated (it's easy to make them look realistic, but the more you try to make them, the more complex it becomes). It's normal to ruin several batches in a row if you're unlucky. After all, even with the strongest Internal Force, can you control where the yeast "exhales"?
However, having a gimmick is ultimately a good thing, so the person in charge didn't waste any words, pulled up a stool, and started watching.
However, not long after, he asked in surprise:
"He only uses these seasonings?"
"Yes, the judging panel was also surprised. He brought oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and two bottles of extracts with him. We thought those two bottles of seasonings were the key, but as you can see, one of them is a coloring agent that can change color through temperature changes, and the other is probably a fruit flavor extract. They were just brushed on the surface and were not used for flavoring."
Xiao Wang explained calmly, but the organizing committee leader's eyes lit up – this was a very high-end seasoning technique!
Watching Feng Xue's competition video, the person in charge's eyes lit up more and more. Here comes the gimmick!
Whether it tastes good or not, whether it can win the championship, those are not the issues at all. The purpose of promotion is to create hype, and traffic is to generate buzz. As for the main competition... aren't upsets and overhyped results also part of the promotion?
This Sun Wukong contestant isn't from a prestigious family or a top university. He overhyped himself and got criticized by netizens. He also doesn't have the ability to put pressure on the organizing committee. If he wins, it will be a shocking underdog story, and the buzz will skyrocket.
Moreover, since he makes Flour Fruit, his advertising and business opportunities can be more extensive. No matter how you look at it, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages!
"Have someone edit this contestant's competition video to make a cooking highlight reel, and... well, never mind, let's not include him in the seeding list, but we can use him as a secondary source of publicity."
"OK."
The morning sunlight streamed through the window, but Feng Xue sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought. The incubation process of the Weird Tale of Sun Wukong was already one-third complete, but what he was concerned about at the moment was not that, but rather the large amount of [consciousness] that had already flooded in before the Weird Tale truly materialized.
"What's going on? It's gone viral already?"
Based on his years of experience with Weird Tale, Feng Xue immediately realized that this was probably related to the competition organizing committee. As he logged into the competition's official website, he indeed found his own video clip from the preliminary round in the videos recommended by popular contestants.
Numerous comments scrolled across the video, along with a large number of "on-site" and "eaten" comments saying "it tastes good."
As a seasoned Acquired Supernatural Tale in terms of accumulating Trait, Feng Xue frowned at this popularity, because it was only the "early stage of Weird Tale."
He divided the formation of Weird Tale into several stages: the early stage of Weird Tale formation, the middle stage of Supernatural Tale Transmission, and the later stage of Weird Tale formation.
The formation stage is the process of adding various elements to the Weird Tale to make it complete. If it starts to condense before filling in enough elements, the consequences will not be good.
Just like the ghost Weird Tale the Ambulance Demon, if it were exposed right after he robbed the Black-Coated ATM, it would lose its mystery and become just a simple counter-robbery. The Weird Tale would easily lose its "interest" and "mystery" and thus collapse halfway through.
If the Weird Tale of the Kuchisake-onna had been proven from the beginning to be just a woman who had gone crazy after a failed plastic surgery, and even her photos had been made public, then this Weird Tale would not have endured for so long.
Although the way the Weird Tale of Sun Wukong is condensed is somewhat different, the principle should be the same. If the audience is given a fixed image, it is easy to kill the Weird Tale.
Although a culinary student like Sun Wukong wouldn't have much need in this regard, Feng Xue felt that the name itself should be made as perfect as possible.
"Thinking about it this way, I can't just use simple Flour Fruit for the finals... No, my strength lies in my meticulous handling, and there aren't many pastries that are suitable for this kind of technique... Wait a minute!"
Feng Xue's eyes lit up as he suddenly realized that the final was different from the preliminary round. The preliminary round required one or two large meals to be served, but in the final, he only needed to be a judge!
"Thinking about it this way, maybe we can try that one that no one dares to do in a pastry competition!"