(Thanks to Alston-King for the big tip!) Although the writing is slow, there must be an attitude. ）

The observation and report room of the marketing department is actually a brightly lit conference room.

This conference room is different from other conference rooms in that the observation and lecture room decoration costs a lot of money.

It is separated from the 1:1 [bookstore] experimental field built by the marketing department in the building, only one wall.

The main wall of the lecture room is covered by a two-meter-high and five-meter-wide double-sided mirror, opposite which is the reading sofa in the corner of the bookstore.

From the end of the volunteers in the bookstore next door, you can only see a reflective mirror, but the people in the observation room can see the various activities and demeanors of the volunteers clearly.

In fact

When all the tests are completed, reading the various questionnaires filled out by the volunteers can have a similar effect.

However, the textual questionnaire is far less clear and intuitive than this kind of ability to monitor the scene at any time.

There are also various camera screens and sound recording devices in the observation room, so that the VIPs in the observation room can always understand what is happening in the bookstore.

"It's very well prepared."

The stocky director Morgan smiled and looked at the marketing staff behind the screen, who were using a small cart to pull fairy tale books neatly arranged like bricks, and busily arranged the shelves in the children's literature section of the bookstore.

The marketing department has bound 50 copies of the "Little Prince" version of "Detective Cat" and 50 copies of the "Little Prince" version of "The Little Prince" of the [Villerhine] version overnight.

Of course

Both are hand-bound versions, with cover illustrations provided by two illustrators simply typeset and printed, glued to the blank text.

There was only one book cover, and the contents inside were blank.

But as long as the outer plastic package is not opened, it will not look much different from the final commercially available version.

In addition to the new edition of The Little Prince by the two illustrators, the marketing department has also put on the shelves several old editions of The Little Prince, both hardcover and paperback, that are already circulating in the book market.

Since you have to do market research,

While determining the merits of the two illustrators, it is also possible to investigate the volunteers' acceptance of the group's upcoming release of The Little Prince, compared to the old version of The Little Prince, which has been sold by competitors for more than half a century.

In this way, we can have a rough estimate of the market share and annual sales of Scholastic Group's new edition of The Little Prince after it is actually launched into the book market in the future.

"If all the volunteers are there, let's get started, I'm going to fly back to North America in the afternoon." Director Morgan touched his chin and ordered.

The marketing department selected groups of volunteers from all ages, each group of 80 to 100 people, and they all entered the bookstore as "buyers" to choose their favorite "The Little Prince".

The content of the test is not complicated, and it does not count the time to rearrange the test site.

Each test takes about 20 to 25 minutes, and you should be able to complete it in the morning and afternoon.

The Morgan director was prepared to just look at one or two groups of volunteers for the quiz and then leave.

In his experience,

Unless the gap between the two artists is very close, whoever paints well is the one who paints well.

Win or lose, the first group of volunteers is basically determined after entering the field.

Market research is not a bloody variety show.

It's hard to get a bad response to your illustrations from the first few groups of volunteers, and then a reversal in the later investigation groups.

Morgan's directors even rejected the marketing staff's plan to send two different versions of "The Little Prince" in advance, Detective Cat and Vellein, to the observation room for everyone to see.

Market research is market research.

Mr. Director does not want to establish any subjective inclination, everything is left to the final data results.

……

Separated by a wall,

Inside the bookstore, volunteers are entering the bookstore one after another under the guidance of the staff.

These volunteers are diverse.

There are people of all ages, from old gentlemen in their fifties and sixties, college students who have graduated from internships, to little girls who look eight or nine years old under the leadership of their mothers.

Kelly is one of them.

She is a third-year student at the Royal College of Art and is an art professional, but Kelly majored in fashion design.

She has loved the art of illustration since she was a child, and if it weren't for the pressure of AI painting now, the career prospects of middle and low-level illustrators would be average.

Kelly may seriously consider becoming a professional illustrator.

Appreciating colorful illustrations can always bring Kelly some sense of relaxation full of free imagination in addition to the heavy academic pressure.

This is something that more serious art occasions such as art exhibitions and art museums cannot provide her.

Because she likes it, Kelly knows a little more about the illustration industry.

Large publishing houses and high-end illustration studios are the best options for illustrators to find employment.

There are only two publishing giants in Europe and the United States that attach great importance to the quality of illustrations – Scholastic Group and its main market competitor, the Townesmann Publishing Group.

Both publishing groups have a market capitalization of more than tens of billions of dollars and have joined forces to nearly monopolize the entire children's literature market.

Countless famous illustrators have collaborated with them.

For this reason, when Kelly was in a bookstore near the school, she met a flyer boy who asked if she would like to participate in an internal survey organized by the Scholastic Group as a volunteer.

Kelly didn't hesitate too much and chose to agree.

"It's worthy of a giant-level business empire, it's just rich, and it is such a big physical bookstore in a financial building!"

Kelly looked at the mock test field in front of her, which looked like the bookstore chain near the school, and smacked her lips, secretly surprised.

"Welcome volunteers, please line up in an orderly manner, please get your task card from the marketing staff wearing gray uniforms before entering!"

The staff with loudspeakers instructed everyone to enter.

When it was Kylie's turn to enter,

The staff glanced at Kelly's age and gender, then handed over a blue handbasket and asked her to take an envelope from the basket.

[Scenario: You are a young girl who loves literature and art, and you are about to usher in the Christmas holiday next week, and you are going to buy a fairy tale book of "The Little Prince" from the bookstore as a Christmas gift for your boyfriend. 】

[Budget: £40 (only one book can be selected!) ）】

Please complete your selection within 20 minutes. 】

The little prince?

The task cards she drew were very carefully made, setting up relevant plot backgrounds for the volunteers, so that they could be substituted into the actual purchase scenes.

"It seems that the rumors that Scholastic Group is about to release a new version of "The Little Prince" are true, is this doing preliminary market research? I don't know which illustrator wrote it. ”

Kelly had the thought in her mind.

Twenty minutes was not very tight, she first walked around this large [bookstore], and then asked the waiter for a free Americano at the bar in the bookstore.

"Merry Christmas! Miss. ”

The little brother of the marketing department who temporarily acted as a clerk at the bar was very attentive, and it was obviously early spring, but he still said a Christmas greeting, and the Christmas greeting song of "Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell" was also played in the bookstore.

After a turn,

Kylie really got into the scene of picking out Christmas presents for her boyfriend.

"The Little Prince...... If I had to choose a copy as a gift, I would probably choose the classic one by Townesman. ”

Kelly had only had an impression of this version of The Little Prince before.

She remembers that the hardcover edition produced by Townsend S. was beautifully printed, with the original illustrations of Saint-Exupéry on the cover.

It is indeed a good choice for literary and artistic young people to choose holiday gifts.

"I don't know if the new version of Scholastic Group's 'The Little Prince' will surprise me and make me reverse this plan."

Kelly thought as she moved to the shelves in the children's literature section.

In the first row of shelves, in the most conspicuous position is a new style of "The Little Prince" that she has never seen before.

[Title: "The Little Prince"]

[Original author: Saint-Exupéry (France)]

[Translator: Charlie Hawke (UK)]

[Illustration author: Jan M. M. Vellein (UK)】

Kelly can see at a glance that the illustration on the cover of this book "The Little Prince" is a very beautiful and attentive watercolor painting.

"It's actually the work of the artist Verlein, it looks like it's okay!"

With illustrations by a well-known artist like Wehrlein, Kelly understood the Scholastic Group's courage to challenge rival Townsensmann's classic version of The Little Prince.

Art occupations are dying of drought and waterlogging.

There is the pressure of AI painting to grab jobs, and the income of small illustrators has plummeted, but the name of a first-line artist like Wehrrhine is still a guarantee of quality.

The illustrator's subtle brushwork and the degree of soul fit with the theme of the original work are still cold AI, far from comparable.

Kelly can even be considered half of Villelein's fan.

In my sophomore year, I wrote a sincere self-recommendation letter, hoping to intern in the other party's illustration studio in the summer, but unfortunately I didn't get any reply.

This did not affect Kelly's admiration for Mr. Vellein, who queued up in the early morning to buy the commemorative album "Green Wilderness" issued by Villelein.

This painting also belongs to the category of very careful work compared to Mr. Verlein's previous works.

is also the same as the original author Saint-Exupéry, expressing the content of the little prince sitting on the beach and watching the stars, Villerhine is obviously much more professional than Saint-Exupéry.

He swept away the shortcomings of the original author who was a non-professional artist.

Wehrlein completely reconstructed the composition of the picture, using the golden ratio of professional portraiture to paint the image of a heroic aristocratic boy sitting on his knees.

Moreover, taking advantage of the realism of watercolor, the little prince's facial features are three-dimensional and exquisite, more than an order of magnitude more handsome than the children's stick figure style of Saint-Exupéry's painting with two eyes and one nose.

It's a direct way to use it as a mobile phone wallpaper for adolescent girls.

Kelly's eyes lit up at first, then hesitated.

"It's a very good illustration...... But is this really the little prince? After the initial affection, such thoughts inevitably popped up in her mind.

Kelly crouched down and took out a copy of Townsend's classic version of The Little Prince from the lower shelf.

The composition of the classic version of "The Little Prince" is much more unprofessional.

The sky is far away, the desert is wild, and the image of the little prince occupies only a small part of the picture.

The little prince is not very good-looking,

The composition has a strange and long temperament, which is unique to this lonely fairy tale.

The picture painted by Wehrlein is certainly very beautiful,

This is a very good illustration, and the composition idea is standard and can be used in art class.

The problem is that it's too standard,

It is completely based on rigorous art theory, like a model produced on an industrial assembly line according to some kind of mold.

Kylie looked at the two illustrations in front of her.

She suddenly felt that the little prince in Mr. Verlein's pen had a beautiful smile and was greasy. is like the K-pop plastic surgery star who was once a smash hit in Europe.

Pretty unreal, but also pretty hollow.

In addition, the Saint-Exupéry version is a matching illustration work created by the original author himself, which is an obvious plus.

If she could only pick one book, even if she was a fan of Mr. Verlein, Kelly would prefer to choose the classic version of Townsend Smann.

"By the way, the budget on the mission card is forty pounds."

Kelly suddenly remembered something.

The budget bar on the task card is randomly selected for each volunteer, and each volunteer's budget varies slightly, some high and some low.

Forty pounds for a fairy tale book, quite rich.

The two books in front of me are both paperback works,

Townsensmann's classic version of The Little Prince is priced at £19, and the handwritten price tag on the new edition of Welllein's The Little Prince is exactly £18 cheaper.

And if she's not mistaken, on the market, Townsend Sman's hardcover version of The Little Prince should cost £32.

If she's on a £20 budget, she'll probably have to hesitate to book two books in advance.

With the current budget,

For gifts, the more expensive and beautiful hardcover version is obviously a better choice.

Kelly stood up and walked around the shelves of this volume, and sure enough, on the other side of the shelf, she saw the Townsend Sman hardcover version of the Little Prince gift box made of more gorgeous coated paper.

The area of the bookstore is not small, but there are already many people gathered in front of the bookshelves on this side, at least a dozen people in front of a shelf.

"Everyone is here to get the hardcover version of "The Little Prince"?"

Kelly took a few steps forward.

Hey?

She suddenly realized that the volunteers here were not surrounding the hardcover version of "The Little Prince".

The focus of their discussion was another set of "The Little Prince" styles that Kelly had also never seen before, placed on the right side of the hardcover.

"It's beautiful."

"It's exciting."

"Wow, this painting is so chic, I've never seen such ethereal and dreamy colors."

There was a lot of talk.

"It's ...... Knife painting, a very unpopular way to draw. Kelly's eyes narrowed, and she whispered.

She made her way through the crowd and picked up this version of The Little Prince from the shelves.

The annotation on the cover is similar to that on the cover of the previous version of Villerhine, except that the illustrator column has been replaced by Vellein -

[Illustration by Detective Cat (Algeria)]

The painting ......

There's a very special ethereal feel to it.

She adopts a picture composition that is almost identical to that of Saint-Exupéry, and subtly retains the original author's temperament with a touch of Zen.

And it's much better.

Not only is it much better than Saint-Exupéry, but it's also much better than the artist Villerhine.

In principle, works of art of different styles cannot be compared.

But that's how Kelly feels subjectively at the moment.

The yellow sand is long, the desert is long,

The vague lack of moon, the twinkling starlight, and the boy with his shoulders moving slightly sits on his side on the high sand dunes, as if he will turn his head and smile at you at any moment.

The moment she saw this illustration, Kelly felt that the portrait was suspended on top of a hydrogen balloon, which could fly away in the air or shatter in her hand at any moment.

This illustration is so beautiful, perfect and not like a human work.

(End of chapter)