lovenovelstory Chapter 58 The Final Rehearsal
Chapter 58 The Final Rehearsal
After having hotpot with Mu Yan last time, Zhu Xiaohu had nothing to do, and the image of Geng Zhi's "Jiaotong University Matchmaker" project flashed through his mind several times.
He couldn't bring himself to contact Geng Zhi again, so with a bit of curiosity, he clicked on the "Remembering the Source of Water" BBS at Jiaotong University to see if there was any news about this project.
Upon entering the BBS homepage, I saw several trending posts floating at the top, all titled "Jiaotong University Matchmaker".
He followed the posts closely, from the initial mysterious heart-shaped card to the later suspenseful poster, and then to the latest trending anonymous couple list...
The more Zhu Xiaohu looked at it, the more he felt that Geng Zhi was a real talent in marketing, at least among college students.
He couldn't resist and immediately sent the link to the anonymous CP list to Mu Yan, the CEO of Baihe.com, strongly suggesting that he reassess the value of the offline model and mentioning again the possibility of recruiting straightforward individuals.
After listening to Zhu Xiaohu's analysis, Mu Yan also felt that offline penetration was indeed a good move to break the online growth deadlock—it could open up new markets and also feed offline traffic back to online.
So, with a hint of scrutiny, he clicked on the CP ranking list.
As a result, once you start watching, you can't stop.
"Jiaotong University matchmaker"... she's really something. If they could recruit this straightforward guy and use Jiaotong University's prestigious reputation in science and engineering to counter the artsy style of Fudan University's talented Gong Haiyan, they might actually forge a sharp dagger to stab at Century Family Connection.
A top science and engineering university versus a liberal arts university... This is quite an interesting scenario.
As Mu Yan was pondering this, there was a knock on the office door.
"Knock knock knock!"
"Come in."
"President Mu," Li Li, the head of the marketing department, pushed open the door and reported, "a program team from Jiangsu Satellite TV has contacted us, wanting to discuss a collaboration on a dating and marriage program."
Mu Yan shifted his gaze from the CP ranking list and looked at Li Li: "You want to invite me to be your relationship coach? That's something I can consider."
"Uh, Mr. Mu, they want our platform to... recommend a group of high-quality female guests who have good looks, high standards, and are interesting to talk about," Li Li explained.
"Hmm?" Mu Yan raised an eyebrow. "What exactly is the collaboration model? What's the program's name?"
"We're keeping the show's name a secret for now, but from what we've heard, it's modeled after a European show called 'Take Me Out.' The format involves multiple female guests taking turns choosing one male guest, and there are segments like video introductions and live Q&A sessions."
Following that, Li Li gave a detailed report on the program format, broadcast schedule, and initial cooperation ideas that she had learned about.
"This format...didn't Hunan TV do it before? Shouldn't Jiangsu TV be considered to have plagiarized this?" Mu Yan raised an eyebrow.
"They emphasized that they had purchased the official copyright and therefore it wasn't plagiarism," Li Li replied.
"Alright, whether it's plagiarism or not is none of our business; they can handle the copyright issues themselves." Mu Yan waved his hand, then pondered, "However, this program does indeed help our platform's exposure..."
After pondering for a while, Mu Yan suddenly asked, "Could we sign an exclusive agreement with the production team? We can discuss the price."
"President Mu, I asked them about this immediately, and they explicitly refused." Li Li shook her head. "The production team wants a competition mechanism, where several dating platforms provide guests at the same time and compete with each other, so that they can maximize their profits."
She paused, then added, "The show airs weekly, so it needs a lot of guests. They also need to ensure the diversity and freshness of the guests. From the perspective of risk control and generating buzz, they can't possibly stick with just one company."
After listening, Mu Yan did not insist on discussing the exclusive matter further, but simply instructed, "Okay, arrange a time to have an in-depth discussion with them."
"Okay, Mr. Mu, I'll go and schedule a time with the production team right away." After saying that, Li Li turned to walk out the door.
"Wait a minute." Mu Yan suddenly remembered something and asked, "What date are you guys leaving for the offline market research in Shanghai that we talked about last time?"
"President Mu, we will fly to Shanghai on the evening of November 9th and return to Beijing on the evening of November 14th. We plan to conduct on-site research for 5 days," Li Li replied.
"Okay. This time, pay extra attention to a student entrepreneurship project called 'Jiaotong University Matchmaker'," Mu Yan instructed. "Give me a detailed research report."
Seeing the puzzled look on Li Li's face, he added, "This is a project from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I'll send you a website link later. There's an 'Anonymous Couple Ranking' on it. You'll understand after you see it."
"Understood, President Mu!" Li Li accepted the order and left the office.
……
November 11, 8:50 a.m.
The morning light of late autumn filters through the sparse branches of the sycamore trees, casting dappled shadows on the campus paths covered with fallen leaves.
Across the street on the campus of Huashi University, outside a spacious activity room, more than 30 volunteer university students were arriving one after another, showing their student ID cards to sign in under the guidance of Yang Mingxia.
This was the third rehearsal for the Jiaotong University matchmaking team, and the first time all the volunteers had participated in a rehearsal, making it the most complete team yet.
Among the volunteers, there were those responsible for photography and videography, those responsible for game supervision and scoring, those responsible for setting up the stage and managing materials, those responsible for maintaining order, those who acted as the atmosphere team, and those who provided emergency support.
Apart from Lü Sifeng and a few members of the photography association, all the other volunteers were selected from students who applied for the "If You Are the One" event but were not selected.
They are also users of "Jiaotong University Matchmaker".
Before coming, most people only had a general understanding through the interview, and had no idea what they were supposed to do or how the activities would be conducted.
So when they entered the activity room, many people's eyes were filled with novelty and curiosity.
As soon as the volunteers entered the door, Geng Zhi, Li Haipeng, Shu Beibei, Hao Pengxiang and others came up to them with bottled water and enthusiastically distributed it to everyone.
Seeing that they were all wearing the same volunteer badges, the volunteers assumed they were colleagues who had arrived early and didn't think much of it.
Seeing that the "official organizers" had not yet appeared, the volunteers couldn't help but whisper among themselves.
"Why was the event held at Huashi University? Wouldn't it be more convenient at our own Jiaotong University?"
"I don't understand either, maybe it's just for the sake of novelty."
"They mentioned there would be an outdoor segment during the interview, maybe they just wanted to reduce our workload so we wouldn't feel awkward on familiar campus grounds."
"Wasn't it supposed to start at nine o'clock? Where are the organizers?"
Shu Beibei glanced down at her watch; the hands pointed exactly to nine o'clock.
She took a deep breath, hung her name tag neatly on her chest, and then walked steadily out of the crowd, standing in front of everyone.
"Hello everyone." Her voice was clear and bright, with the calm smile of a host. "I am Shu Beibei, the event planner of 'Jiaotong University Matchmaker' and the host of this 'If You Are the One' show."
"Welcome everyone, to the volunteer team of 'If You Are the One'."