The next day, on a drive to Kingston, Brooklyn, Jamie explained to Michael Ovitz in detail his vision for a move into the world of TV shopping.

Ovitz has great doubts about the idea that in the future, the popularity and income of the anchors will rival that of Hollywood movie stars.

After all, TV shopping has been booming for more than ten years, and I haven't seen any TV shopping guide hosts who are very famous.

Not to mention comparable to Hollywood stars, even the fame of many TV presenters is not comparable.

But Ovitz was interested in the idea of building a plot into a TV shopping show.

After all, QVC doesn't exist in this world.

In the previous life, QVC was only established in the year when HSN went public, but it was able to catch up, not only becoming the number one TV shopping in the United States, but also eventually acquiring HSN.

One of the secrets of QVC's success is its innovation in traditional TV shopping programs.

It is no longer the host who keeps selling, introducing, and displaying goods in front of the camera, but constructs a family scene similar to a sitcom, where several hosts sit together like friends and bring out the products they are responsible for recommending in small talk.

In this life, due to the lack of strong competition from QVC, even in 2001, HSN's TV shopping programs were still stuck in the traditional model of more than ten years ago.

So when Jamie proposed to innovate the existing TV shopping program according to the QVC model, Ovitz immediately realized that the business was very profitable.

First of all, in terms of funding, backed by the son of Jamie, the largest and richest rancher in the United States, startups can get investment as quickly as possible.

At the same time, Ovitz has been in Hollywood for many years, single-handedly developing CAA into the largest agency in Hollywood, and has very high-quality network resources in his hands, which can help the company connect with many resources in the TV industry.

According to Ovitz's idea, they could skip the stage of starting a company and directly acquire a small and medium-sized TV shopping company, and go directly to the stage of rapid expansion.

This coincides with Jamie's thoughts.

But what Jamie wants to buy is not a TV shopping company, but the marketing company behind Jones.

Jamie had already made an appointment with the owner of the company behind the Jones family to meet today, and he brought Ovitz with him to negotiate with the other party.

Seeing the car turn into a high-end villa area, Ovitz was still puzzled.

Shouldn't talking about business acquisitions be about going to the company?

Why did you run to the other party's house?

Seeing Ovitz's thoughts, Jamie explained.

"Because home is where they work."

Ovitz was directly confused.

A marketing company, working from home?

If it weren't for Jamie's swear that he wasn't in the wrong place, Ovitz would have suspected that it wasn't an April Fool's joke.

The car stopped at the Jones family's garden gate.

Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Jane and Mike were all standing in the doorway, and behind them stood a tall, thin middle-aged man whom he had never seen before.

After pushing the door and getting out of the car, seeing the Jones family coming forward, Ovitz's doubts became more and more intense.

At this time, Jamie had already shook hands with Mr. and Mrs. Jones, and met the tall and thin middle-aged man under the greeting of the two.

His name was Barbara Schultz, and he was the owner of the company behind the Jones family.

Then Jamie introduced Ovitz to the Jones family and Schultz.

They shook hands and sat down together in the living room of Jones's house.

During this period, Ovitz finally saw a little clue.

He found that the Jones family treated Schultz with the same deferential attitude as the boss of the company.

Not only the Jones, but also their two children, Mike and Jane.

This is very different from what Ovitz initially thought was that the Jones family and Schultz were friends.

And Scholz's first words after sitting down also confirmed Ovitz's guess.

"Mr. Dutton, you said you had a big business to talk to us about, and you wanted to see me by name, I don't know what business you want to talk about?"

Jamie put down the coffee cup in his hand and replied unhurriedly:

"Mr. Schultz, before answering your question, can I take the liberty of asking how much revenue your company can achieve in a year with the current marketing model?"

Schultz visibly hesitated.

It's a company secret, and he's not sure if he should tell Jamie the truth.

Seeing Schultz's hesitation, Jamie was not embarrassed.

"Okay, I'll ask another question, Mr. Schultz of the TV shopping giant HSN must be no stranger, right? According to HSN's financial report disclosed last year, the company's revenue exceeded $5 billion for the first time in 2000. ”

Schultz replied vaguely, saying that it was about the same number.

Jamie nodded and continued:

"Ever since I inadvertently broke your company's marketing model last time, I've always admired the person who came up with this genius marketing idea, and it was during this time that I became interested in TV shopping, and then I immediately thought of your company, Mr. Schultz."

"I have to say that the way to have the company's marketers pretend to be successful people and subtly guide the neighbors of the whole community to make all kinds of consumption is really eye-opening, and it also gave me a lot of inspiration, why not just transfer this model directly to TV shopping shows?"

Schultz looked thoughtful.

Ovitz was shocked.

He stared at Jamie with wide eyes, and was about to ask, when Jamie, who saw what was in his mind, said first:

"Yes, the Jones family are all employees of Mr. Schultz, and all the things you can see in this house right now are what they use to show their neighbors what they are selling."

These words completely overturned Ovitz's perception of marketing.

It turns out that the goods can still be sold like this!

Ovitz was intrigued.

"So you've never been seen by your neighbors?"

Schultz shrugged.

Of course, I have been recognized, but there are not many cases of misses.

After all, who would normally have thought that the enviable neighbor around him turned out to be a professional actor hired by a marketing company.

Ovitz looked at the Jones family with a look of surprise.

"So you're really actors?"

Mr. Jones and Mrs. Jones looked at each other, and it was Mr. Jones who spoke.

"Our family is professionally trained in acting, Jen and Mike are both newcomers, and Kate and I have both been actors for a while, and I almost signed with Mr. Ovitz and your CAA."

Ovitz replied on the spot:

"That's a shame!"

This is by no means polite.

As once Hollywood's most discerning agent, Ovitz had just carefully observed the Jones family.

In his eyes, he didn't realize that their family was acting at first.

This acting skill alone beats more than half of Hollywood's famous actors.

Ovitz continued to ask the Jones family a few questions, and finally determined that the family was very talented in acting.

Schultz is also very proud to say that the Jones family is the ace sales team of their company, otherwise they would not have been placed in a key area like Kingston in New York.

"Usually in two to three years, when the consumption potential of an area has been unleashed to the maximum, we will change places for gold teams like them, such as from New York to Los Angeles, and start over in a new wealthy community."

As soon as Schultz finished speaking, Jamie's voice rang out.

"This is exactly what I want to say, changing places every few years, whether it is for the company or the team, it will add a lot of intangible costs, but also to bear the risk of being recognized, with such an excellent marketing creative and team, it can be made into a new type of TV shopping program."

This time, not only Schultz, but also the Jones family showed great interest.

"I mean, since Mr. Jones's family's daily job is to sell and display various products to their neighbors, and it is completely possible to film the family's daily life and add more product introductions and displays in the process, wouldn't such a TV shopping show be more competitive than the traditional TV shopping show like HSN now?"

Schultz was visibly moved and asked Jamie on the spot how he planned to work together.

After Jamie's eyes swept around the faces of everyone present, he shrugged and replied:

"It's very simple, you sell the company to me, and I will select the most suitable group of people from the entire marketing team to be on the show, and do a new TV shopping show according to the idea I just made."

Schultz did not give an immediate reply, saying only that he would go back and discuss it with the company's directors.

But the Jones family was visibly moved.

Having been actors, they are clearly eager to return to the profession.

Although TV shopping hosts are quite far from their former dream of being an actor, it is the most suitable method for them at the moment.

On top of that, they pretend to be model families in Kingston, recommending products to their neighbors, and the revenue is up to several million a year.

And Jamie just mentioned HSN, which had a revenue of $5 billion last year.

Transforming into a TV shopping host, the Jones family's income can definitely increase dozens of times on the existing basis.

This is also the purpose of Jamie's announcement in front of the Jones family about his plan to innovate a TV shopping show.

If Schultz refuses to sell the company to Jamie, the Jones family could consider jumping directly to Jamie.

What's more, with the endorsement of Ovitz, a former Hollywood ace agent, fools know how to choose.

After coming out of Jones's house, Ovitz complained to Jamie as soon as he got in the car.

Such a good idea, Jamie should not have said it in front of Schultz.

Even if Jamie is optimistic about the Jones family, he can bypass Schultz and directly persuade the Jones family to jump ship to their side.

Jamie also thought about this solution, but eventually gave up.

The main reason is that the identity of the Jones family is not visible, and Schultz and his company are the most critical insiders.

If the Jones family jumps to become TV shopping hosts, it doesn't matter, if they do, their previous identities will become a bomb that ruins their careers at any time.

The safest way is to buy Schultz's company directly, so that the Jones family has the handle in Jamie's hands.

Of course, Jamie will not squeeze the Jones family, but he can also use this to effectively prevent the Jones family from jumping ship to other competing companies.

For example, HSN.

That's one of Ovitz's concerns.

As a giant in the field of TV shopping, HSN will never sit idly by and watch a new competitor rise.

Jamie came up with the idea of embedding a plot in a TV shopping show, and if it really attracted viewers and customers, HSN could immediately replicate a similar type of program to fight against it.

"So the implanted plot is the key!"

Jamie replied.

Competitors can copy the same model, but they can't copy the plot directly.

After all, the plot is protected by copyright.

Ovitz looked at Jamie with some bewilderment.

"What do you mean?"

"To put it simply, I wanted to make a special program that you can understand as a combination of TV shopping and TV dramas, with a style that blends the characteristics of documentaries, biopics, and reality shows, so as to maximize the real effect and the advertising effect."

Jamie patiently explained.

Even so, so much information made Ovitz a little confused for a while.

One thing is clear, though.

Jamie is trying to make something very new.

"We can set up three typical families, and the Jones family is one of them, representing a successful middle class, with a husband with a successful career, a sexy and beautiful wife, and two children who are smart and motivated, and a model family that the neighbors envy."

"Then there is the old man in his sixties who represents the wealthy class, with a company with an annual turnover of hundreds of millions, and after the death of his wife, she remarried and married a young and hot exotic beauty, forming a remarried family of old husbands and young wives, and Jay has a daughter who is about to become an adult and has a rebellious personality."

"There is also a divorced family, a single mother and a daughter living together."

"Not only do the three families live in the same community, but more importantly, they are one family."

"The single mother and Mrs. Jones are the eldest daughter and the second daughter of the rich old man in his sixties, respectively, and the three families together form one big family."

Hearing this, Ovitz couldn't help but interject:

"Do you mean to put the daily life of this big family into a TV shopping show as a plot?"

Jamie nodded in acknowledgement.

He told Ovitz that the characters of the three families were inspired by the Jones family.

But in fact, this setting is copied from the character setting of "Modern Family" in the previous life.

It's just that in terms of specific characters, Jamie has made some changes.

One of the biggest changes is to change the gay family of 0 and 1 in the original play to a divorced single-parent family.

After all, it's only 2001, and both Hollywood and the entire American society are still relatively conservative in their attitudes towards the same sex.

Especially since this is not a movie or a TV series, but a TV shopping show, changing to a divorced single-parent family will obviously be more in line with the positioning of the program.

(End of chapter)