"Fake corpse"
"Late but arrived"
…
With the broadcast of the 2020 New Year special of "Rampage Incident", Wang Nima wearing a hood once again appeared in the public eye, and fans of Rage Comics worked hard to brush up the barrage. In the last episode of last season, "Wang Nima, who was defeated by the disease" miraculously resurrected.
The 58-minute New Year special of "Rampage" continues the previous nonsensical style, and also makes the public have more expectations about whether there will be a seventh season.
The sixth season of "Rampage" ended on September 6, 2019 with "Grave Fun". "Two thousand" employees of Bazao Comics, accompanied by the soundtrack of "Today is a Good Day", bid farewell to Wang Nima, who was defeated by the "disease" in a joyful and peaceful atmosphere.
It was also the video of this issue that caused the Rampage incident to fall into the vortex of rumors of "disbandment" and "stoppage". Wang Nima quickly refuted the rumors on Weibo, "Who said we were disbanded?"
Where will "Rampage Incident", launched by Rage Comics, go after six seasons and multiple "stop" rumors?
The "Business School" reporter saw that on the official account of Rampage Comics at Station B, a short video was updated every day from February 16 to 18, 2020. Although it was labeled "Rampage Big Event", the content was The three- to four-minute short video is different from the previous season-by-episode length, which was about 23 minutes long. At this point, it is still a mystery whether there will be a seventh season of "Rampage".
After experiencing the real and fake Wang Nima, Tang Maru's contract, insulting the martyrs and other incidents, coupled with the setback of the self-made movie, rumors of employees resigning and the company disbanding have been surrounding Baozou Comics. The once popular Baozou Comics have also become popular again. Where will it go?
The "Business School" reporter interviewed Baozao Comics about whether Baozao Comics would be disbanded, whether "Bangzao Big Incident" would be suspended, contracts with actors and other related issues, but no response had been received as of the time of publication.
The reporter noticed that the Rampage Comics APP has been removed from the Apple and Android app stores, and only its official PC website can still be used normally.
prosperity and decline
Ren Jian, CEO of Rampage Comics, once said in an interview with the media that "Rampage Event" can grow into a hit, thanks to two characteristics: first, the content is funny, sharp viewpoints, and attitude; second, "Rampage Event" Always speak up at critical moments.
According to data from Qichacha, Baozou Comics received an investment of 1 million yuan from Shanda Group in May 2012. In 2013, 2014, and 2015, it received investment from Innovation Factory, Shanghai Yongxuan Venture Capital, Youku Tudou, and Changna for three consecutive years. Fund and Jinglin Investment invested tens of millions of yuan. The last D round investment was shown in August 2017. The investor was Shengdao Investment and the investment amount is unknown.
Data shows that when Rampage Comics was at its peak, its valuation was approximately 4 billion yuan.
However, Rampage Comics quickly turned from prosperity to decline. The turning point came in May 2018. "Rampage Incident" was removed from the shelves for rectification because it parodied national heroes and violated the requirements of laws and regulations such as the "Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law" and the "Cybersecurity Law".
For a time, Toutiao, Weibo, Youku and other platforms banned accounts related to "Rampage Comics". Subsequently, CEO Ren Jian came out to apologize, saying that he would take all video programs offline such as "Bangzao Big Event", "Bangzao Movies", "Bangzao Games", etc., and at the same time, the official website and related apps of "Bangzao Comics" will be closed indefinitely. Stop rectification. Rampage Comics has also fallen into the biggest crisis since its establishment.
Wang Dayong, founder and producer of Shougong Film Media, said in an interview with a reporter from "Business School" that for self-media, creative awareness and management awareness are inseparable. We media is not an "enclave" of content. It is not only about complying with the law, but also the implicit moral values and recognized values that should be observed.
"Since content is regarded as a business, market risks must be fully considered when creating." Wang Dayong said.
Disorganized management
Although Rampage Comics has undergone rectification, its decline has already appeared, and it is difficult to regain its former glory.
Although the revamped Rampage comic has been renamed and launched online, its content and tone have undergone serious and unnatural changes. "Rampage", which originally conveyed values in the form of satirical humor, became controversial, and the program's forced "positive energy" made the original audience feel uncomfortable.
An important change is that the "Rampage Series" that was originally distributed across the entire network can now only be broadcast on Station B, and there is only one program, "Rampage Event".
An industry insider who did not want to be named said that the 2018 incident was the result of the long-term content control and personnel management disorder of Baozou Comics.
The early runaway comics were actually an open comic creation community. Public information shows that Rage Comics originated in North America, and its English name is Rage Comic. It was introduced by Wang Nima in 2008, and founded the "Rage Comics" web page. At the same time, he also developed a Rage Comics maker, and users can use its materials to create for free. Share short comics.
Rampage comics originating from North America have a rough style, simple images, exaggerated expressions and rough lines. Users usually rely on this strong visual impact to express the mood of comic characters, usually angry, happy or speechless. At that time, Baozou Comics, which was only operated as a community, quickly attracted a large number of users. However, the disorderly state of the community itself did not have mature profit ideas, and it was impossible to judge users' willingness to pay, which also left hidden dangers for Baozou Comics.
In 2010, community organizers Wang Nima and Ren Jian jointly established Xi'an Momo Information Technology Co., Ltd. Since then, Rampage Comics has officially begun to operate as a company, and has begun to produce TV programs, cultivate artists, develop and distribute animation games, etc.
However, the corporate-run Rampage Comics did not change this disordered situation. According to the descriptions of its early employees who left the company, the internal management of Baozou Comics was chaotic. When he first entered the company, it was not clear who his direct superiors were. The management did not understand the product, which led to increasingly confusing product positioning. The superiors of the product do not know the content and layout of the product.
An obvious example is a program called "Brain-Dead Brother" once launched by Rampage Comics, hosted by Muzi, Pino, and Tissue Paper. The content of the program mainly focuses on abnormal experiments, including experiments that challenge the limits of smell, and abnormal food challenges. For example, the experiment of mixing worms with bean juice, etc., the content is mainly based on curiosity, challenging experiments that ordinary people may not have the courage to do.
"Brother with Brain Damage", which focuses on novelty hunting, does not have many clicks. Rampage Comics itself is also aware of this problem. In the last episode of "Brain-Dead Brother", the three hosts announced in a press conference that the show would be suspended because "they really couldn't find the positioning of this show."
The development positioning and goals of the entire company are not clear, which is a common feeling of many employees who have resigned. "A considerable number of the management of Rampage Comics were mainly creative staff, not management professionals, and lacked sufficient understanding of how to balance personal desires and company interests, and how to formulate department development strategies and plans," said a former employee.
Disorganized management makes it difficult to find accurate positioning of program content, and it is also easy for content control to be lax.
"Content companies still have to stay within the mainstream value system. Relying on novelty can only be a market gimmick and will not last long. The most popular products in the content market in recent years are innovations within the mainstream value system." Wang Dayong said.
Another is the disorganization of personnel management.
An important incident is the contract dispute between Li Di, the actor who plays Tang Ma Ru. In August 2018, Rampage Comics was involved in a contract dispute with Li Di. Li Di wrote the article "I am not Tang Maru" on Weibo on August 1 after the last lawsuit was finally concluded.
He stated in the article that "Bangzao Comics has lax contracts, breach of contract, squeezed shares, wages, etc. when signing contracts with actors." In the same month, Ren Jian also explained on social platforms, but did not disclose specific details.
The Tang Maru incident exposed Baozou Comics’ disorderly management of its artists. According to Tang Maru's description in the article, he joined Rampage Comics at the invitation of his former senior. A former employee said that "human relationship" management was the management model of early Baozou comics. However, as the company gradually grew bigger, the drawbacks of this kind of human relationship management gradually became apparent.
Since 2015, Rampage Comics has entered a stage of rapid development, but its internal management is still chaotic, with unclear division of labor and inadequate implementation of responsibilities.
The direct consequence of this disordered state of personnel management is a massive loss of personnel. On Zhihu, a post titled "Why did you leave your job at Baozou Comics?" mentioned that from 2016 to 2018, the staff turnover rate of Baozou Comics soared.
"Wang Nima"
Tang Maru's departure means that Baozou Comics has lost a valuable "company property". The character of Tang Maru will no longer exist in Baozou Comics. This also exposes the problem with the IP business model of Baozou Comics: once these IPs are dissatisfied with the system and flee, these IPs will cease to exist.
What makes these runaway IPs sad is that these IPs that exist in runaway comics seem to only exist in this specific scene.
When Wang Nima appeared in front of the audience wearing an exaggerated headband and complained about current hot events in a funny tone, this "Wang Nima" who came out of the violent incident became instantly famous.
With the popularity of Wang Nima, Baozou Comics launched the animation "Bangzao Editorial Department" and also produced a series of original programs "Bangzao What Movies to Watch", "Bangzao Horror Stories", "Brainless Brother", "Bangzao Lua Lu", "Bangzao Ao" "Nima" and so on, but among these programs, only "Rampage" was widely praised.
From the first season of "Rampage" in 2013 to the completion of the sixth season in September 2019, "Rampage" lasted for six years.
In the program "Rampage Incident", IPs such as "Foxconn quality inspection worker" Zhang Quandan and yellow appraiser "Tang Maru" have appeared one after another. Baozou Comics is a big IP, more like an MCN company. In Baozou Comics, Wang Nima, Zhang Quandan, Zhao Tiezhu, Tang Maru, Pino, Muzi, Axiang and other Internet celebrities have become famous.
Unlike Wang Nima, the "big-headed pervert" who wears a balaclava all year round, Zhang Quandan, Tang Maru, Zhao Tiezhu, Tissue Paper, etc. are all actors who appear without any modification. After the IP "Wang Nima" became popular, Baozou Comics launched the operation model of "using content to bring IP, and using IP to bring products".
At this time, the sponsorship of "Rampage" has changed from a small brand single-episode sponsorship to a big brand exclusive sponsorship model for the entire season. While making every effort to cultivate IPs such as Zhang Quandan, Tang Maru, and Tissue Paper, we are also doing our best to launch new IPs such as Ahua and Captain.
Cultivate IP in content, and then use IP to incubate your own products. With the continuous development of these IPs, "Rampage Events" began to set up new columns, such as "What Movies to Watch on Rampage" hosted by Tissue Paper.
A reality that Baozou Comics has to face is that the Internet celebrities hatched by Baozou Comics are no longer the same as Wang Nima wearing a hood, whether they are Tang Maru, a gold connoisseur, or Zhang Quandan, a Foxconn quality inspector, etc. None of these people can be replaced or dubbed by other actors.
This also means that Tang Maru, Zhang Quandan, Zhao Tiezhu, etc. are all property of the company. Although Baozou Comics has incubated these IPs, how to actually realize these IPs has become a problem that Baozou Comics has to consider.
Tang Maru's resignation means that the Huang Jianshi of the Rampage Comics has no future. Li Di, who plays Tang Maru, has re-entered the entertainment industry as an entertainer.
Different from these real characters, some fans believe that Wang Nima is now a brand of Rampage Comics. It doesn’t matter what the real person looks like. Anyone can be Wang Nima wearing a hood, but the Wang Nima of Rampage Comics can only be one.
Whether there will be a seventh season of "Rampage" has always been a mystery. Actor Zhang Quandan wrote on Zhihu: "Will there be another season? The company has put it in the plan, and it will take some time. Not only does it take time for dramas, but netizens also need time to put all kinds of positive and negative things together. If the evaluation is more objective, everyone will get together in a better way."
