"I’m sorry to keep you waiting."
Dean Lowenbaum cut straight to the chase. "Time is limited. If you trust me, just tell me your proposal. If you’re planning to make me sign a non-disclosure agreement or something of the sort, then please take your proposal and leave."
Wendy Lynch pulled the printed proposal from her file folder. "Mr. Loland, I believe the core issue of Forrest Quinn’s current crisis isn’t the ad copy itself, but the attitude behind it."
"How so?"
Dean Lowenbaum raised an eyebrow slightly. He had intentionally put on an unapproachable demeanor to drive her away, but to his surprise, she completely ignored his attitude. Seeing this, he grew a bit more serious.
"What netizens are truly angry about isn’t whether the mixed nuts mooncakes taste bad, but the feeling of being lectured. Therefore, the key to the solution is for Forrest Quinn to step down from the pedestal of an arrogant lecturer and become an approachable friend."
Dean Lowenbaum nodded, signaling her to continue.
"The specific operation is divided into three steps. First, the boss must apologize in person, admitting that he finalized the copy without considering the feelings of young people. His attitude must be sincere, with no shirking of responsibility.
"Second, launch a brand-new, subversively cute ad campaign to completely overturn the previous stereotypes. It’s best to mingle with the consumers and use younger, fresher copy and advertisements to reshape the brand image.
"Third, push both online and offline simultaneously. Offline stores will roll out tasting events, while online channels will offer discounts and custom Mid-Autumn Festival gift boxes."
Wendy finished her pitch in one breath and looked at Dean Lowenbaum. His expression morphed from initial dismissiveness to confusion, and finally to profound shock.
"Miss Lynch, your proposal is indeed outstanding." Dean Lowenbaum paused. "But I’m sorry, we can’t use it."
Wendy frowned. "Why? If it’s outstanding, why can’t you use it?"
For a moment, Wendy even suspected he was trying to steal her public relations strategy for free. This exact PR strategy was clearly laid out in the email from the future. It made no sense that they would use this strategy in the future timeline but reject it now.
Dean Lowenbaum rubbed his chin in conflict. After hesitating for a long while, he pulled a document from his briefcase. "The reason we’re rejecting it is that we already have an almost identical plan."
He slid the document across the table toward Wendy.
Wendy opened it and froze. The proposal on the paper was more than eighty percent similar to what she had just pitched. Staring at the familiar copy in the document, her mind buzzed. These advertising slogans were exactly the same as the ones in the future email.
In a flash, Wendy figured out a lot of things. In fact, she felt a surge of relief that she hadn’t had time to explain the specific measures in detail earlier. Otherwise, if even the exact ad copy had been completely identical, she would have had a very hard time explaining herself.
"This..."
Dean Lowenbaum looked at Wendy, who remained silent for a long time. He assumed she was just as shocked by the similarity between the two PR strategies. He understood the feeling perfectly, having just experienced the exact same sensation himself.
"Miss Lynch, I don’t think you plagiarized this.
"This plan has been kept strictly confidential; only our company’s core team knows about it. It just goes to show that great minds think alike. The fact that you could come up with this proves you truly have real skill. This plan is the result of a full day of discussions between our company and OmniScreen Media."
She looked up at Dean Lowenbaum’s shrewdly smiling face. "You already prepared this plan?"
"Exactly." Dean Lowenbaum nodded. "Actually, the moment large-scale negative public opinion surfaced, we were already considering a response. We had this PR strategy ready to go from the start."
Wendy felt as if her entire worldview had been fiercely shaken. "Then why didn’t you deploy it sooner? The heat is already so high. If you don’t handle it now..."
"If we don’t handle it now, we’ll be completely ruined?" Dean Lowenbaum chuckled. "Miss Lynch, do you think the heat is high enough right now?"
Wendy was stunned. "Three trending topics and the entire internet cursing you. Is that not high enough?"
"Far from it." A hint of slyness flashed in Dean Lowenbaum’s eyes. "Do you know how many peers are slinging mud at us right now? Riverbend Delights, Golden Harvest Bakery, Heart’s Delight, and over a dozen smaller brands—they’re all piggybacking off our heat.
"They’re spending money to buy traffic and hiring water armies just to crush us completely.
"But what they don’t know is that every penny they invest will ultimately serve as our nourishment."
Wendy’s heart gave a violent lurch. This kind of maneuver was practically playing with fire. "What if it backfires?"
"It won’t backfire." Dean Lowenbaum’s tone was exceptionally certain. "As long as we grasp the right moment to strike, there’s zero chance of a blowout.
"The heat of internet trends won’t rise forever. According to the single-peak theory, once a trend hits its zenith, it will start to decline.
"At the same time, netizens will become fatigued and bored after being bombarded by a massive amount of singular information.
"Once a reversal happens at that critical point, all the traffic accumulated in the early stages will be swiftly devoured by us."
Dean Lowenbaum paused, a gambler’s characteristic fanaticism glinting in his eyes. "At that point, it won’t just be about recovering our losses. It will be about reaping the entire field."
Wendy drew in a sharp breath. She finally understood.
Forrest Quinn was playing a massive game of chess. They had been standing by, letting public opinion ferment and allowing their competitors to frantically pour resources into stepping on them. Just when everyone thought Forrest Quinn was finished, they would launch a sudden, desperate counterattack.
By then, all the negative public opinion would instantly convert into positive traffic. And the resources their competitors had invested would instead end up paving the way for Forrest Quinn.
"This... isn’t this too risky?"
"The business world is a battlefield. How can you win without taking risks?" Dean Lowenbaum picked up his teacup and took a light sip. "As an emerging brand, if we want to seize the market, we have to make risky maneuvers. This is a rare opportunity!
"If we can successfully ride this wave of public opinion, our share in the youth market will rapidly expand."
Wendy looked at the seemingly ordinary middle-aged man in front of her, a wave of awe rising in her heart. Anyone who could concoct such a strategy was absolutely no ordinary character.
"Your proposal is outstanding, really." Dean Lowenbaum’s tone turned sincere. "It’s just unfortunate that we were already prepared."
Wendy gave a bitter smile. Her attempt to hijack the opportunity had failed. And it was a complete defeat. She had originally thought that by grasping information from the future, she could easily reap the rewards of this crisis. She never expected that the other party had set their trap long ago.
"However..." Dean Lowenbaum suddenly shifted the conversation. "If you’re interested, we can add each other on WhatsApp.
"In the future, if there’s a suitable project, I’ll consider collaborating with you."
Wendy’s eyes lit up. Although she had failed this time, getting to know Dean Lowenbaum was an unexpected gain. After all, if she wanted to establish a legitimate public relations firm, simply having information from the future was far from enough. She had only managed to contact him this time because his contact info was listed on the official website. Under normal circumstances, it would have been incredibly difficult for her to even secure a meeting with him.
"Alright. Thank you, Director Loland."
The two added each other on WhatsApp.
Dean Lowenbaum checked the time. "The food is about to be served, so I won’t keep you any longer."
"I understand. I’ll get going, then." Wendy stood up and grabbed her file folder.
"By the way." Dean Lowenbaum suddenly called out to stop her. "That performance-based agreement you mentioned earlier is quite interesting.
"Most PR firms collect the money first before getting down to business.
"The fact that you dare to play it this way shows that you either possess genuine skill or you’re just a newborn calf unafraid of tigers.
"I believe you’re the former."
Wendy smiled. "Thank you for the compliment.
"There will definitely be opportunities to collaborate in the future."
Stepping out of the restaurant, Wendy hopped onto her electric scooter and slowly rode in the direction of her company. The autumn sunlight filtered through the sycamore leaves, casting a warm glow over her.
Her feelings, however, were somewhat complicated. Disappointment was a given. She had originally thought she could make a massive fortune from this opportunity, only to end up empty-handed. But thinking about it carefully, this experience wasn’t entirely without its rewards.
[Author’s Note: The stats for this new book are a bit dismal!]
[My precious readers, please don’t stockpile Chapters during the new book phase!]
[This book has a fixed update rate of 4,000 words a day. Stockpiling Chapters will kill the book!]