Due to production limitations, the market experienced extreme scarcity, making it difficult to purchase directly from counters without buying a large quantity of miscellaneous accompanying items.
Although this marketing tactic has always been criticized by consumers, those who love bags still flock to it.
First-tier artists with both excellent popularity and acting skills are like Hermès's Birkin Kelly bags – not only are they scarce and the most expensive, but they also have the ability to elevate other artists to benefit from them.
In today's entertainment industry flooded with popular idol stars, many directors and investors, in pursuit of ratings and returns, are compelled to hire them at high prices to act in their productions.
However, to balance the budget, they often only invite one popular artist to guarantee viewership.
The artists behind that popular star's company are often ignored.
If they were to invite a first-tier artist who is perfect in all aspects, including popularity, appeal, looks, and acting ability, the situation would be entirely different.
The company and agent behind such an artist would then force the production crew to bring along other artists from their company to act in the production, demanding that they receive no less favorable treatment, otherwise, the deal would be off.
This kind of bundled sale, no matter how you look at it, is distasteful, yet many production crews and directors reluctantly accept it.
After all, such artists are too rare.
When they act, they want both high ratings and good acting to ensure the drama's reputation, so they can only agree to these coercive terms.
Previously, a few arrogant popular stars, relying on their high popularity and large fan base, also wanted to bring along several artists from their own company, in the same way as these desirable artists, to showcase their status as top male or female stars.
As a result, before they could even finish their demands, the director's face darkened, and they were kicked out of the production.
They had the entitlement of a princess but the disposition of one.
Hiring a popular idol star with terrible acting was already their bottom line.
And now they wanted to bundle their company's trash along; who gave them the audacity?
Jiang Ling, however, was precisely this kind of extremely rare artist.
Spark Media was the company among the five giants that most enjoyed cultivating popular idol stars for quick profits.
It had many handsome and beautiful artists under its banner, but very few with real talent and acting skills.
These artists, who were solely focused on the path of popularity but had not yet become top-tier stars, naturally hoped that Jiang Ling would join the company and become its true face.
This way, when other production crews invited Jiang Ling to act in the future, they could also benefit.
According to unwritten industry rules, if a production wanted to hire artists like Jiang Ling, the company could arrange for up to seven or eight people to join the crew.
These arranged individuals, regardless of their lower rank, inferior ability, or terrible acting, had to be compensated and treated as second-tier stars.
This is what is meant by "one person's success lifts others."
These artists unanimously called for President Zheng Yueshan to bring Jiang Ling back and mold her into Spark Media's true representative.
"Bring Jiang Ling back? Are you all out of your minds?"
In the president's office, Zheng Yueshan's expression was gloomy and extremely irritable.
He had originally thought that once Jiang Ling left Spark Media, she would be impoverished and completely fade from the entertainment industry.
Who knew that after two years, not only had she not "cooled down," but she had become even more popular, with greater appeal, and possessed astonishing acting skills.
Such an artist was indeed a rare find in the industry, encountered by chance and sought after by luck.
Any company that had an artist like Jiang Ling would cherish them like a Bodhisattva.