NIS Agent Reincarnated as a Genius Actor - Chapter 225

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 225. Unexpected CF Response

Around evening, Yeon-woo drove directly to Mokwha Building.

 

He parked his car in the underground parking garage that had become quiet after staff went home and took the elevator.

 

When he entered the cafe on the 3rd floor, CEO Kim Ju-seong, who had been wiping cups with a dry towel, greeted Yeon-woo.

 

“Oh, Actor Ryu is here. Congratulations on your award.”

“Thank you. This is all thanks to you, CEO.”

 

Yeon-woo smiled and greeted him in response to CEO Kim Ju-seong’s congratulations.

 

This wasn’t just polite conversation.

The works that won awards yesterday were “Sketch” and “White Blood”.

 

“Sketch” was an independent film that CEO Kim Ju-seong had personally invested in under Yeon-woo’s name, and “White Blood” was also a work he had supported with his own money in the early stages of production despite opposition from the board.

 

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that CEO Kim Ju-seong’s contribution was enormous.

 

Therefore, Kim Ju-seong, who received Yeon-woo’s greeting, grinned and nodded slightly before organizing the cups.

 

Yeon-woo turned his gaze to look at the opposite side of the cafe. It was a space divided into two sides with the elevator in the center as the reference point, but now temporary walls were set up and construction was ongoing inside.

 

“CEO, how much progress has been made on the company cafeteria?”

“We’re in the final stages now. I think we can start as early as next week.”

 

After hearing the explanation and Yeon-woo nodding, Kim Ju-seong continued speaking.

 

“I decided on the head chef for our company as the catering truck lady I’ve known for a long time. I hired her entire team. She’s getting older now and said it’s difficult to move around, so she wanted to settle down, which worked out perfectly.”

“Oh. I was thinking about how to organize the staff, but I hadn’t thought of catering trucks.”

“Ah, come to think of it, Actor Ryu must have eaten her food when filming ‘Master Plan’, right?”

 

At CEO Kim Ju-seong’s words, he recalled previous memories.

 

He remembered that she was kind and the food was delicious, plus she paid good attention to hygiene, so she had a good reputation among the staff.

 

“Ah, that person. I didn’t know you had a connection with her, CEO.”

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, Kim Ju-seong waved his hand lightly.

 

“Well, it’s not really a connection, but since she’s been doing this for so long, she was already running catering trucks when I used to go to filming sets. It would be more accurate to say it’s a long-standing relationship rather than a deep one.”

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong, who had been quietly looking across at the cafe, continued speaking.

 

“Anyway, since you suddenly asked me to create a company cafeteria, I had to pay attention to various things for the first time in a while. Of course, I did it because it was necessary work.”

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong glanced at Yeon-woo while speaking.

Then Yeon-woo smiled brightly with an expression that was impossible to dislike.

 

As if he wouldn’t be fooled by that expression, Kim Ju-seong continued speaking.

 

“Ah, I know you’re trying to brush this off with that innocent smile. I’m someone who’s been watching Actor Ryu since high school.”

“That’s… I wasn’t trying to brush it off, but rather asking for forgiveness in advance.”

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, Kim Ju-seong tilted his head.

 

“Hmm? Forgiveness?”

“There’s another task I need you to handle, CEO. You just said the company cafeteria will be completed soon.”

“…”

 

CEO Kim Ju-seong’s hand, which had been wiping cups, paused for a moment before naturally picking up the next cup as if nothing had happened.

 

“I’m sure the letter you sent me before establishing the company said to just enjoy retirement life and give advice…”

“Well, these days they say it’s the age of living to 100, and retirement is another beginning…”

 

At Yeon-woo’s words, Kim Ju-seong shook his head as if he couldn’t win and spoke up.

 

“What is it this time?”

 

Then Yeon-woo handed over a report he had roughly prepared at home in advance.

 

“A report? Did Actor Ryu make this yourself?”

“Yes. I wrote it simply in the report, but there’s a project I’d like you and planning team member Gong Min-jeong to work on together.”

 

Kim Ju-seong’s expression was peculiar as he skimmed through the report Yeon-woo handed him.

 

“Goods… Of course I know what this is, but goods from an actor’s agency?”

“I think it would sell well enough. It would also be good for collaborating with future projects.”

“Hmm, Gong Min-jeong from the planning team would be the staff member who wrote that report about first movers and fast followers.”

 

Seeing CEO Kim Ju-seong remember the report he had briefly looked at, Yeon-woo nodded.

 

“‘Saebyeol Family’ was also Min-jeong’s idea. She seems to be good at coming up with marketable ideas that are appropriately realistic and appropriately idealistic at the same time.”

 

Then CEO Kim Ju-seong, who had been looking at Yeon-woo, grinned.

 

“It’s like seeing my younger self when I discovered Team Leader Yoon Mi-yeon. Ah, she’s Director Yoon Mi-yeon now.”

 

Seeing Yeon-woo take the lead and Saebyeol growing reminded him of his own image when he started from scratch and built up LN.

 

“Hmm, anyway, it looks like I’ll be working like an ox in my later years. Alright. Let’s give it a try.”

 

***

 

Meanwhile, when the TV CF filmed by the White Blood expedition members was released, the response was quite strong.

 

An ultra-high-quality CF with Director Jung Yo-han, who had directed “White Blood,” holding the megaphone and featuring all the main cast members.

In a way, because of that quality, it looked like a trailer for a spinoff series continuing from the drama.

 

However, no matter how high-quality the filming was, the people of South Korea, a content powerhouse, already had some resistance to high-quality video content, so they didn’t get excited over just a CF.

 

And anyway, the domestic market was already experiencing such severe supply shortages of the new smartphone that they couldn’t sell enough to meet demand, to the point where CF promotional effects weren’t even necessary.

 

Executive Managing Director Noh Gang-seon was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the wireless business division, overseeing everything from development to sales of SL Electronics’ core business – smartphones.

 

While receiving a briefing about the special edition version of the newly released smartphone Universe, he thought to himself.

 

‘Still, it’s hard to say that the domestic popularity is thanks to marketing utilizing “White Blood”. Korea originally has strong early adopter tendencies, so frenzies often occur when new products are released…’

 

It was ambiguous to evaluate whether the marketing featuring Yeon-woo and the expedition team members had influenced domestic sales performance.

 

However, the other side of the globe was different.

The reaction had exploded not domestically, but overseas.

 

“The place where initial stock was completely sold out after Korea is Brazil. Other South American regions are also selling at a rapid pace, and we expect the entire first production run to be sold out within this week.”

 

Executive Director Noh Gang-seon listened to the strategic marketing team giving the briefing and fell into thought.

The first place where reactions exploded was South America, just as the briefing staff member said.

 

Most global brands typically shoot different CFs for each country and do marketing suited to local markets.

 

Since SL Electronics is also a global brand, they usually deploy country-optimized marketing, but this time they started simultaneous global marketing worldwide.

 

Because “White Blood” was a globally successful series, there was no problem using the same version of the CF in most major countries.

 

“South America is really beyond expectations no matter how I think about it. What were our South American results when we launched previous versions?”

 

At Executive Director Noh Gang-seon’s words, the staff immediately displayed prepared materials.

 

Until now, there had never been a record of initial stock selling out in South America before the second shipment was supplied.

 

“Hmm, so that means the only factor that changed this time was marketing…”

“That’s correct. The analysis is overwhelmingly that the CF we shot this time was effective. I’ll brief you on the related content right away.”

 

Noh Gang-seon focused again on the strategic marketing team’s presentation.

 

The culture of large countries naturally tends to influence neighboring countries.

In Asia, this was how Korea and Japan influenced Southeast Asia.

 

Similarly, Brazil, the largest country in South America, influences all of Latin America.

 

And what influences Brazil’s media culture is naturally the culture of the United States, their largest trading partner, which is why SL Electronics had been pushed back by American competitors and hadn’t seen much success in South America until now.

 

But this time was different.

Brazil’s peculiar characteristic was that while other fields might differ, advertising was heavily influenced by Japan, and this became the foundation for the White Blood expedition team’s CF to stand out.

 

“Japanese advertising has many distinctive features. They use extremely exaggerated visuals to capture viewers’ attention, or anime characters appear.”

 

Or they repeatedly show content with exaggerated movements to brainwashing-like CM songs.

 

The Japanese CFs that the marketing team showed as examples felt distinctly Japanese at first glance, even without Japanese text.

 

However, when the marketing team suddenly showed Japanese CFs as examples, the executives tilted their heads in confusion.

 

“But what does that have to do with this performance?”

“Ah, I’ll show you directly right away.”

 

The marketing team began showing TV CFs broadcast locally in South America in succession.

 

Due to Japanese advertising agencies that had entered Brazil early on, South America was also dominated by CFs that provided light laughter or addictive CM songs that lingered in viewers’ minds.

 

When the executives were about to express doubt again while watching what seemed to be actual TV screen recordings showing Brazilian company products consecutively, SL Electronics’ CF appeared.

 

The feeling was completely different from the Brazilian advertisements that had preceded it.

 

First of all, until the middle of the CF, it was impossible to tell what product was being advertised.

 

The expedition team members naturally transforming from everyday life to fantasy appearances in slow motion frames felt like promoting a well-made movie or game.

 

It was a concept that could easily look childish if executed slightly wrong, but the actors’ acting ability and CG technology that ranked among Hollywood’s finest grabbed plausibility by the hair and forcibly dragged it along.

 

Among them, the crowning touch was actor Ryu Yeon-woo’s walking scene in the latter half.

 

Yeon-woo’s facial expression acting that continuously changed as light and shadow alternated while he walked with slow steps through a near-future corridor was quiet but powerful, and that charisma was enough to capture attention.

 

“Hmm…”

 

Executive Director Noh Gang-seon and the other executives seemed to understand why the reaction in South America was particularly good this time.

 

Originally, when making music, if you want to emphasize a specific part, you don’t add fast beats or complex harmonies, but rather give a mute – intentional silence.

 

Similarly, the Universe smartphone advertisement did just that among CFs that were mainly light in atmosphere.

 

Like giving sudden silence in the middle of fast-beat music, it dropped with heavy breathing and instead made viewers’ eyes turn to it.

 

Executive Director Noh Gang-seon found himself nodding while listening to the strategic marketing team’s analysis.

 

Because he had seen the results himself.

 

“Simply a CF giving this level of effect…?”

“Of course, we think it worked in combination with the lead actor’s global popularity from various successful works, Latin America’s recent favorable response to the Korean Wave, and customer satisfaction with SL Electronics that has been steadily built up.”

 

After hearing the marketing team’s answer, Executive Director Noh Gang-seon, who had been silently tapping the desk with his ballpoint pen for a while, opened his mouth.

 

“It was Saebyeol Media, right? Ask whether a contract is possible for additional marketing activities for this project, no. Actually, inquire whether they can handle the CF for the next series launch too, and if possible, sign a contract in advance.”

“Pardon? The next series is still at least a year away. Ah, yes, understood. I’ll proceed that way.”

 

The staff member who had been expressing doubt immediately bowed upon seeing Noh Gang-seon’s firm gaze.

And Executive Director Noh Gang-seon shifted his gaze to the young actor on the screen.

 

‘Hmm, so that’s why there are rumors that Chairman Seo Tae-gwang of Ihan Group personally stepped forward to specifically designate that actor as a commercial film model? I thought it was strange since he’s someone who has no interest in such things, but if we can secure him first, it would be good to sign a contract in advance.’

 

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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