Wearing it throughout.
Recommended via voiceover.
The duration should be no less than five minutes.
Su Wei went through these four conditions in his mind.
Creating a dedicated video means it's not product placement, but rather a customized project.
The entire video will serve Polaris; his video will become an advertising space in front of the audience.
Wearing this throughout was fine; he also wore a windbreaker during normal filming.
Verbal recommendations are simply reading advertising copy into the camera.
They are at least five minutes long, making up nearly one-third of a fifteen- to twenty-minute video.
A picture quickly formed in Su Wei's mind.
He stood in the snow by Emerald Lake, wearing a brand-new North Star windbreaker.
Pointing at the Sony FX3 camera, he said, "This jacket uses three layers of GORE-TEX fabric, which is waterproof and breathable..."
Then the comments section will be filled with messages like "selling out," "unfollowed," and "another one selling himself."
Su Wei chuckled.
The laugh wasn't loud, but Catherine heard it clearly on the other end of the phone.
"Mr. Su Wei?"
"Ms. Catherine, I understand your demands."
Su Wei's tone showed no displeasure, but it also lacked the politeness she had shown when she answered the phone.
"But I can't accept this proposal."
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone.
"May I ask why?"
Catherine reacted quickly, immediately switching her tone from sales pitch to negotiation.
The reason is simple.
Su Wei held her phone between her shoulder and took a packet of noodles out of the cupboard.
"You've probably seen how many videos I've posted about Wilderness Creations."
I read every single one.
"Then you should know why my audience follows me."
Su Wei unpacked the noodles and pulled out a handful.
"Their focus was on peat moss in blizzards and on manually piecing together a basalt cliff face at minus twenty degrees Celsius."
"It's about watching a 21-year-old transform an abandoned log cabin into a living eco-museum in the Alaska wilderness with their own hands."
He put the pot on the stove and turned on the fire.
"They're not here to see the ads."
"If I post a five-minute custom-made ad video with a voiceover, I'm not selling your rain jackets, I'm selling my account."
Catherine did not immediately refute this.
Su Wei poured water into the pot.
"Ms. Catherine, $150,000 is indeed a sum of money for me."
"But what I spent a lot of time building isn't worth 150,000; it deserves more."
Small bubbles began to rise from the bottom of the pot.
Su Wei paused for a moment.
"Of course, if Polaris is sincere, I don't rule out cooperation."
Catherine immediately seized the opportunity.
"You mean €€€€"
"I can wear your windbreaker in my next video."
Su Wei put the noodles into the pot.
"Normal filming, normal content. A brief introduction can be inserted in the middle of the video, but it cannot exceed thirty seconds and should not be spoken; the focus should be on visual presentation."
"The content, pacing, and editing style of the entire video must be entirely determined by me."
"The way Polaris appears in the video should feel natural to the audience, rather than being shoved into their head with an advertisement."
Catherine remained silent for about five seconds.
Su Wei could hear the sound of pen and paper scratching on the other end of the phone; she was taking notes.
"Mr. Su Wei, I understand your insistence on the tone of the content. But from the brand's perspective, your proposed solution... [incomplete sentence]"
"Exposure depends on the quality of the video itself, not on how many times I recite 'Polaris '."
Su Wei's interruption was swift and decisive.
"How many views did your commercial, which cost 800,000 yuan to produce, get?"
Catherine did not answer.
Su Wei didn't press further, because no answer was needed; both sides knew the number.
The water in the pot started to boil, and the noodles spread out in the boiling water.
Su Wei turned the heat down and took out two eggs and half a cabbage from the refrigerator.
Let me say a little more.
Su Wei cracked the eggs into a bowl and stirred them with one hand.
You should have done some analysis on my audience profile.
"I've done it."
Catherine's reply quickened.
"The group is primarily composed of men aged 25 to 45, concentrated in North America, with above-average spending power, and a strong interest in outdoor sports and wilderness survival."
Isn't this your target customer group?
Su Wei poured the egg mixture into the pot and quickly stirred it twice with chopsticks.
"I wore your rain jacket and carried 60 pounds of peat moss for an hour and a half in a blizzard."
"This visual presentation is more effective than any spoken announcement."
"The audience doesn't care what I say; what they care about is whether this garment can withstand the Alaska winter."
"I managed to stay warm wearing it, and that's enough."
The sound of pen and paper stopping on the other end of the phone.
Catherine changed her tone; it was no longer the standard rhetoric of a business director, but rather the tone of someone genuinely discussing business.
"Mr. Su Wei, I need to confirm the revised plan with the marketing director."
"But before that, I'd like to confirm a few details."
For the next twenty minutes, the two began to pull at each other.
Catherine compromised, agreeing not to request a specially commissioned video and instead to use Su Wei's own content as the main body.
But she went a step further, demanding that the windbreaker appear in at least 80% of the entire video.
Furthermore, there should be at least one close-up shot from the front, clearly showing the brand logo.
Su Wei appeared in 80% of the videos; after all, he was filming in the Alaska winter, so he wore a windbreaker the whole time.
But he spent five minutes working on the close-up of the logo.
The final compromise was: at least one natural shot must capture the logo, without any staged shots, but it must be retained during post-production editing.
Catherine further stipulated that the video length should not be less than fifteen minutes.
Su Wei did not object; his regular videos were usually between fifteen and twenty minutes long.
The two spent the most time discussing their introductions.
Catherine initially insisted on a 60-second product presentation, Su Wei reduced it to 30 seconds.
Catherine stepped back for forty-five seconds, but Su Wei didn't move.
Catherine tested the waters with thirty-five seconds, but Su Wei still insisted on thirty seconds.
Catherine asked if she could read the message aloud.
Su Wei said he could provide an introduction, show the video visually, add subtitles and narration, and integrate it into the overall style of the video.
However, we won't spend a specific amount of time deliberately introducing or broadcasting this message.
Instead, it should blend into the video's style and appear natural.