"Plants vs. Zombies Online" achieved a breakthrough from Online to Offline in the blink of an eye. The speed was so fast that it once again shocked the world.
Since the birth of cartoons and online games until now, no cartoon product has become so popular all over the world so quickly and contains such strong vitality.
What is even more talked about is the case of Li Mu’s cooperation with Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. When the Western media got the exact news that Li Mu’s cooperation with two world-class companies only charged one dollar in copyright royalties, one by one They were all dumbfounded.
These days, the business model of the Internet and intellectual property is still very simple. Even online games still rely on paying for game time as the key to profitability. The same goes for copyright owners around the world. They are all thinking about one thing now. That is how to maximize the benefits of copyright. Even if Coca-Cola wants to cooperate with Marvel, Marvel will put a high price on each of their cartoon characters and wait for a buyer. Marvel will never appear Licensing your image to offline companies for free.
However, Li Mu just gave up the copyright fee. The only requirement is that users should maximize the usage rate of their authorized cartoon images. In other words, the more times they use it, the more money they will get. More money means less.
A few days later, McDonald's, which had been advertising in stores for many days, also officially launched "Plants vs. Zombies" meals and toys in stores around the world!
This time the influence is greater than Coca-Cola!
On the day of the sale, there were queues at almost all McDonald's stores around the world. Even in China, which was shrouded in the clouds of SARS, a large number of gamers and enthusiasts wore masks and queued up at McDonald's to buy related packages. The enthusiasm was particularly high. .
Coca-Cola only printed the image of "Plants vs. Zombies" on the packaging. However, this time McDonald's not only printed them on the packaging, but also launched a large number of physical toys, which immediately increased its appeal to users.
In Japan, South Korea and Western countries, because there is no piracy, there are currently no peripheral products of "Plants vs. Zombies" on the entire market. Even though it has become extremely popular, even though peripheral manufacturers in these countries are already jealous. , and no one dares to create an unauthorized peripheral product, so these authorized toys from McDonald's have become the only "Plants vs. Zombies" peripherals currently available on the market.
This is why consumers are crazy about them.
Consumers queue up in long queues at McDonald's stores just to buy game-related set meals, or order set meals and add money to redeem them for toys, because according to regulations, these toys cannot be sold directly and must be purchased with a designated set meal. Give as a gift, or purchase any package and add a certain amount of cash.
Many consumers with collecting habits will even buy multiple packages in order to get as many toys as possible, so that McDonald's had to temporarily introduce a new store sales policy in order to consider more consumers, one person, one person at a time You can purchase one "Plants vs. Zombies" package. If you purchase other packages, no matter how much you purchase, you can only exchange for one "Plants vs. Zombies" toy.
But even so, the number of dolls is still far from enough.
As a result, McDonald's began to urgently customize new dolls and greatly increased order volume.
Li Mu will not charge profit share for these authorized derivatives from McDonald's during the next one-year licensing period. McDonald's is aware of the influence of these peripherals on users, so it hopes to seize the opportunity and continue to invest more resources in McDonald's and " Plants vs. Zombies” activities to promote.
What Li Mu didn't expect was that McDonald's actually approached Makino Technology, hoping that Makino Technology could authorize them to add elements of "Plants vs. Zombies" to McDonald's global advertising!
Although Makino Technology has given McDonald's the authorization for "Plants vs. Zombies", the direction of the authorization is clearly stipulated. It can only be used for display elements in its own stores, and for the production of derivative peripheral products only for its own stores. Others All rights and interests belong to Makino Technology, and McDonald's is not allowed to infringe in any way. Therefore, if McDonald's wants to use elements of "Plants vs. Zombies" in its external TV and print advertisements, it must obtain another authorization from Makino Technology.
When Li Mu heard the news, he almost agreed to McDonald's request without hesitation. What McDonald's wants now is to let more people know about their cooperation with "Plants vs. Zombies" through their own advertising promotion, so for them For example, if you can add elements of "Plants vs. Zombies" into McDonald's own TV commercials, you will definitely be able to greatly increase the conversion rate.
What Li Mu thinks is that this is the effect he is most looking forward to, so that these companies will spare no effort to help him promote "Plants vs. Zombies" without having to spend money, because this is McDonald's using its own advertising budget. To promote itself and Plants vs. Zombies.
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Therefore, Li Mu asked his interface person to convey his attitude to McDonald's: Authorization is OK. Makino Technology can not only authorize it, but also authorize it for free, but McDonald's must ensure that the video advertisement and elements of Plants vs. Zombies must account for For more than 80% of the entire advertising duration, the surface area occupied by the elements of Plants vs. Zombies in print advertising must reach 20% of the entire advertising surface area.
In other words, if McDonald's wants to make a 30-second commercial, then there must be 24 seconds of footage that contains elements of Plants vs. Zombies. It is not required that there are only elements of Plants vs. Zombies in the screen, but the screen time cannot be Less than 24 seconds.
In addition, if McDonald's puts a graphic poster on the giant screen in Times Square, this poster has a red background, McDonald's hamburger as the core, and McDonald's brand LOGO, it is possible that the burger will only occupy the surface area. 25%, however, elements from Plants vs. Zombies must account for 20%;
If McDonald's meets these requirements, Makino Technology will not charge a penny. If it fails to meet the requirements during the promotion process, Makino Technology will demand huge compensation from them.
McDonald's almost immediately agreed to Makino Technology's request, and they quickly came up with a global version of the advertising plan. In the plan, the beginning of the video advertisement was the game interface of "Plants vs. Zombies", with zombies desperate to rush through. Garden, and various plants are also desperately resisting.
At this time, a cartoon image of McDonald's will suddenly pop up among the zombies and plants. It will say to the zombies and plants in various languages: "Hey, are you still hurting each other day and night? Just stop and have a try at McDonald's." Check out the latest "Plants vs. Zombies" themed package! There are also a large number of the same toys as Plants vs. Zombies waiting for you!"
Afterwards, every zombie in the picture stopped attacking the plants, and instead each held a hamburger and gnawed on it. The plants swayed happily from side to side, and each of them sipped a large cup with the McDonald's logo in their habitual way. drinks…
According to this plan, Plants vs. Zombies material will appear in advertisements more than 90% of the time.
Li Mu was very satisfied with this plan. Without saying a word, he waved his hand: "OK, give them the authorization letter now and let them launch a new version of the advertisement as soon as possible!"
McDonald's immediately spent money to find a well-known animation team in Hollywood to produce advertisements. The advertisements will use the materials of the game itself and then be adapted appropriately, thus completely eliminating the design process. It is said that dozens of seconds of advertisements can be produced within a few days. That's it.
While Li Mu was waiting for the new version of McDonald's advertisement to be broadcast on TV stations around the world, Makino Technology received a large number of cooperation requests from companies, including many world-class well-known companies.
A large number of well-known peripheral product manufacturers at home and abroad hope to obtain the copyright authorization of Plants vs. Zombies, and many fast-moving consumer goods manufacturers hope to learn from Coca-Cola’s cooperation method and enter into copyright cooperation with Makino Technology, because in their view, Makino Technology There is no copyright fee, it is nothing more than a commitment to the number of exposures. The worst thing you can do is commit to all the products, give Makino Technology the maximum exposure commitment, and then use this to increase sales.
However, Li Mu suddenly changed his approach.
Still want to get the copyright for free now? It’s too late. Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have strategic needs. Now that the brand premium of “Plants vs. Zombies” is already so huge, it’s unreasonable to offer it for free.
Moreover, Li Mu doesn't want "Plants vs. Zombies" to become a complete hit overnight. If any product contains Plants vs. Zombies material, it will be equivalent to overdrawing the vitality of "Plants vs. Zombies" in disguise.
Therefore, Makino Technology officially announced that from now on, the copyright authorization for "Plants vs. Zombies" will be tightened. In theory, an industry will only choose one partner, and the considerations for selecting partners will also change. From now on, Not only should we consider the exposure, but also the actual bid. Makino Technology will choose to cooperate with the one with the highest cost performance.
Interestingly, both Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PS took the initiative to find Makino Technology and proposed a cooperation intention: they hope to port "Plants vs. Zombies Online" to their console platforms, and both hope that it will be Exclusive exclusive collaboration.
As for the specific method of cooperation, the plans given by the two companies are similar. They both adopt a game charging model. Microsoft and Sony will give Makino Technology a share of game sales through the sale of games.
Li Mu rejected this cooperation model without hesitation. He just wanted to bring his games to their platform with a pure profit margin, and he also wanted to be exclusive? How is that possible? It's just a dream.
These two game console platforms want to port their own games. The purpose is nothing more than to improve their content libraries and at the same time seize the popularity so that players on their own platforms can play the most popular games on their own platforms. If they can get exclusive Cooperation is also a good opportunity to widen the gap with competing products.
In this case, their demands were far greater than Li Mu's demands, so Li Mu asked people to propose their own cooperation opinions to the two companies respectively:
First, sharing is possible, but the two companies must pay a guaranteed amount. If it is not exclusive, each company will pay a guaranteed amount of 30 million U.S. dollars. If the sharing amount does not reach 30 million U.S. dollars, Makino Technology will not refund it. If it exceeds , the two companies will divide the excess part to Makino Technology;
Second, if it is exclusive, in addition to the minimum guarantee, Makino Technology also requires the partner company to provide exclusive subsidies. If no subsidies are given, why should it cooperate with you exclusively? As for the amount of the exclusive subsidy, Li Mu did not say clearly and asked them to bring the price themselves.
This is the same as the future cooperation between video websites and content providers. If a film and television company produces a major online movie, it can cooperate with any video platform, or even with all video platforms. The settlement share, however, if any video platform wants to buy the exclusive broadcast rights of a major online movie, it must not only guarantee the bottom line, but also provide sufficient subsidies and resources. Otherwise, who will give up the potential profits on other platforms? Help it compete with other platforms
(End of chapter)