Hot characters along with the Internet, exploding again and again in the world of young people, after the hustle and bustle, we found that only the story behind the characters can touch people's hearts
Wen | Yan Kaiwen Chen Min Ye Xutong
Editor | YuLe
2021 is the starting point of the meta-universe, and it is also a year for the post-90s to enter the workplace and the post-00s to enter the workplace. "This young people" "big factory youth"... We are defined, we are speculated, we are sought after. New brands value our future spending power, and workplace culture is overthrown and rebuilt after we enter the market.
The year 2021 we live in is also a society shaped by young people: Internet celebrities emerge in an endless stream, fresh "melons" everywhere, lying flat and inner rolls all represent attitudes... Hot characters accompanied the Internet, exploding again and again in the world of young people. After the hustle and bustle, we found that only the story behind the characters can touch people's hearts:
Zhang Kun climbed to the top of the fund circle under our support; Li Ziqi's battle against mcN institutions touched our hearts; Musk "Amway" gave us Dogecoin and clubhouse, and the title of "brother with goods" was well-deserved; in the face of the strength of He Classmate, Yang Qian, and EDG, we never spared our applause; we also appreciated Ding Zhen, Xu Zhisheng, and Li Luxiu, who had gone from obscurity to becoming the top class- Under the lens, the appearance value may be righteous, but the attitude and content are king; at the end of the year, We have the cuteness and innocence of Lingna Belle, and Disney has once again possessed our consumption and enthusiasm.
Let's look at these characters again, their 2021, is a story completed in our company.
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Zhang Kun
Financial Person of the Year
"Kun Kun fly bravely, iKun will always follow." Kun Kun is not old, blue chips are old. Before 2021, Zhang Kun, a fund manager of E Fund for nearly nine years, may have a hard time predicting that he will one day become a popular idol in the fund circle and have an exclusive global fan support association.
As the first fund manager in the history of public funds with a scale of more than 100 billion yuan, Zhang Kun is good at consumption, medicine and machinery, and has a stable trading style, tending to concentrate on positions and hold them for a long time. On January 25, Zhang Kun's "E Fangda Blue Chip Select Mix" was driven by a heavy liquor stock, and the net value of the single day soared by 5.05%.
Behind Zhang Kun's being sent to the "altar" is the embodiment of the younger generation's financial awareness and financial anxiety.
According to data from the Mob Research Institute, about 60 million new basic people will be added in 2020, of which more than 5 will become post-90s, most of whom will be attracted by the fund boom driven by the A-share bull market in 2020. For the novice jimin who lacks the knowledge of systematic fund financial management, Zhang Kun's aura of "star fund manager" is equal to income protection. However, the continuous shock of the fund market after the opening of the Year of the Bull made the illusion of "anyone can make money" shattered overnight, and the unstable new base people began to buy and sell frequently, chase up and kill the fall, and finally lost money.
On October 27, Zhang Kun released the third quarterly report of his fund, and the total scale of the four products reached 105.748 billion yuan, a decrease of 28.73 billion yuan compared with the end of the second quarter. At the beginning of the year, many basic people who cared about the performance of "Kun Kun" had scattered away from the scene, and the former "E Fangda Zhang Kun Global Support Association" has now found no such number, according to the words of the rice circle, one Zhang Kun flop (paste), there will be thousands of "base gods" standing up. But Zhang Kun, as the enlightenment mentor of the Young People's Fund, will forever remain in their financial memory in 2021.
Li Ziqi
Influencer of the Year
Li Ziqi's updates on various platforms stopped on July 14. Since the release of the final article "Well Salt" of "Chai Rice Oil Salt Sauce Vinegar Tea", the top Internet celebrity who became popular with pastoral poetic videos has disappeared from the online world. Gradually emerging is the contradiction between Li Ziqi and the MCN agency behind him, Hangzhou Weinian Brand Management Co., Ltd., caused by the distribution of benefits.
Li Ziqi's collaboration with Wei Nian began in September 2016. In November of the same year, the popular video "Lanzhou Beef Noodles" was played more than 50 million times on the whole network, which made Li Ziqi famous for the first time. During the honeymoon period of the cooperation between the two parties, Li Ziqi gained 27 million Weibo followers and 16.5 million Youtube subscribers, setting a Guinness World Record for "the most subscriptions of YouTube Chinese channels". On the other hand, weinian has completed six rounds of financing in five years with the help of Li Ziqi's head cultural IP, with a valuation of 5 billion yuan at one point.
However, due to the fact that Li Ziqi himself did not hold shares in Wei Nian, but established a joint venture with Wei Nian to establish Sichuan ZiQi Cultural Communication Co., Ltd., the issues between the two parties regarding the proportion of revenue share and the ownership of related trademarks were in a vague area, which also became the main fuse for Li Ziqi's complaint against Wei Nian.
All along, Li Ziqi has appeared in the public eye with the image of the quiet years, without endorsement or live broadcast, which can be described as a "clear stream" of the Internet celebrity. Even if she is involved in a commercial dispute this time, the reason she gave is "want to protect Li Ziqi's three words." But when the internet celebrity economy entered the second half, the influence of individual creators in the content production chain was further weakened, and even Li Ziqi, who became a cultural symbol, had to spend huge energy against MCN agencies. How Li Ziqi and Wei Nian's lawsuit will end is still uncertain, and at present, it seems that the outcome of this capital game may be a lose-lose situation.
Musk
Belt master of the year
As the founder of Tesla, Musk's ambitions are not only in new energy vehicles, or even not only in the earth. Musk's Tweet is a belt owner position, which currently has more than 68 million followers, "Use Signal", "Doge", "Gamestonk!!" ...... Every tweet Musk tweets are a wealth thread for a wall Street youth. According to incomplete media statistics, in three years, Musk has directly or indirectly brought fire to at least 18 companies and products, and there is also a nickel concept stock outlet. This year alone, Musk has brought two products on fire within the scope of China: Dogecoin and Clubhouse.
In January, Musk added the hashtag #Bitcoin to his profile on Twitter, a move that caused the market to skyrocket for a short period of time — the price of Bitcoin rose more than $6,000 in one hour, breaking through $38,000 per coin. Musk then shouted again in favor of Bitcoin, lamenting that he should have bought it earlier, and a week later, in Tesla's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it was found that Tesla had already purchased $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and would accept bitcoin payments shortly thereafter. Immediately after, Musk went crazy "Amway" Dogecoin, calling it his favorite cryptocurrency, and even sent a composite of himself and dog emoji without a shelf. However, everyone has been prepared for this shipment, because according to the survey, Musk is likely to be the owner of 36 billion Dogecoin, equivalent to 27% of the entire market supply, worth about $2.5 billion.
The audio social software clubhouse is another successful example of Musk's carrying goods. In early February, Musk appeared in a room at the clubhouse, sharing his views on the Mars project, Bitcoin, and brain-computer interfaces, and invited the founder of Robinhood to join in and talk about the retail investors' impact on Wall Street; then Musk interviewed Kanye West, which caused the clubhouse server to crash for a while.
Every young person who craves the freedom of wealth and looks forward to "science fiction into reality" is a big fan of Musk; and his own wealth advice to young people is: work hard, focus on the focus, and take risks in time.
Classmate He
College Student Entrepreneur of the Year
The success of He has run through the entire year of 2021. Although only five videos were released, almost every piece of content can be on the list of major platforms: in January, He students designed and developed a "time lock" app, specializing in mobile phone addiction, and the download volume of the app in the Huawei app market was close to one million; in February, He talked to Cook, was liked by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and forwarded by the mainstream media; in April, He compared several AR glasses on the market, followed by the shining debut of the meta-universe; in July, He graduated, and he creatively mixed the video and graduation design together. The rigor and romance were brought to the extreme, and also drew a satisfactory end to his graduation; in November, He, who chose to start a business in Hangzhou, released the first commercial video, which lasted less than 8 minutes, but directly led the listed company Lege shares to rise by 13%, #He Classmate AirPower # on Weibo hot search.
Regarding the offer of He's business cooperation, there are many opinions on the Internet, and the price of "a single 3 million" is true or false, which has raised He to the highest point of the young bloggers of Station B. Just when everyone was speculating about how the market would value He, He himself posted an advertisement for recruiting assistants on Weibo, with a monthly salary of 10,000 yuan.
"With strong hands-on and scientific research ability, can edit, understand English", such talents are worth far more than 10,000 yuan per month, but being able to join He's studio may mean greater opportunities. At present, He has nearly 9 million B-station fans, but his more precious wealth is the steady flow of power and untapped brain power and youth.
Yang Qian
Female Sports Figure of the Year
At this summer's Olympic games, we have once again witnessed the power of women. Of the 88 medals won by the Chinese Olympic team, 53 were won by female athletes, while 298, or 69%, of the 431 athletes in the entire Chinese Olympic Team, were women. Yang Qian won the first gold medal of the Olympic Games, and Shunshi became the center of focus.
In front of the media camera, the heart action has gained more cross-border fans for Yang Qian, and the public is not only Mu Qiang, but also cute. In the days after winning the championship, Yang Qianyuan was at the doorstep of Yangjia lane village in Jiangshan Town, Ningbo, and more than 1,000 people came from the surrounding areas every day to punch the clock. The little yellow duck hairpin on Yang Qian's head became an Internet celebrity and was sold out of stock; business endorsements also poured into Yang Qian like a tidal wave: Geelia Yun promotion ambassador, Extreme Kr Generation Zero ambassador, PEACEBIRD fashion women's super China, Estée Lauder and Xiaomi CIVI brand spokesperson and so on. Recently, Yang Qian was shortlisted for the 2021 Tsinghua University Student of the Year.
Whoever wears his crown will bear its weight. In the face of fame and fortune, Yang Qian does not seem to have any mental baggage. Even if she is asked to repeat the heart action again and again, even if her life can no longer return to zero, Yang Qian still retains the vitality and happiness of a young person, and ridicules herself at the Talk Show New Year's Eve conference that she has been held too high, and she is just an "ordinary" Tsinghua University student.
EDG
Hot-blooded Person of the Year
On November 7, more than 7,000 kilometers away from the Hot Spring Valley Sports Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, The Chinese LPL team EDG defeated south Korea's LCK team DK with a record of 3:2 to win the 2021 League of Legends Global Finals championship. In the early morning of the same day, the news of EDG's victory swept across social networks, triggering a carnival of young people. According to sina weibo statistics, the number of related hot searches on the list reached 80. The peak popularity of the B live broadcast reached nearly 500 million during this year's event.
For EDG, this championship is not easy to come by. Since its inception in September 2013, EDG has participated in five consecutive S Tournaments (League of Legends Global Finals) from 2014 to 2018, and has not broken through the top eight. In 2020, the sluggish EDG played the worst record in team history and failed to qualify for the playoffs. Among the League of Legends audience, there is a saying that "in the matter of disappointing people, EDG never disappoints".
Although EDG has recruited three players who cannot be underestimated in the new season and won the world finals with the best results in the spring and summer seasons with the top seed in the LPL, almost no one believes they can win the game against the championship-winning team DK. In the end, EDG seized the opportunity to reach the top of League of Legends. This is the third global championship in LPL history after Wang Sicong's IG team and FPX team, and the first time that an LPL team has defeated a South Korean opponent in the final.
The story of the counterattack after years of dormancy is always particularly fascinating, and EDG's victory has directly brought the originally niche sport of esports out of the circle. This is also the charm of e-sports, the situation is unpredictable, success or failure in an instant, whether it is a game lover or not, does not prevent us from boiling for it.
Xu Zhisheng
Comedy Person of the Year
In the fourth season of "Talk Show Conference", Zhou Qimo, known as the "ceiling of talk shows", finally won the championship and proved his strength. But as the contestant Yang Kasa joked in the show, the talk show king is not necessarily the first, but may also be the most popular one. In this way, Xu Zhisheng, who quickly became popular with hot terriers such as "comma bangs", "violent ugly learning", "talk show Lu Han" and the CP line of "North Zhisheng South Guangzhi", can be called the biggest dark horse this season.
During the competition, Xu Zhisheng, who participated for the first time, broke into the final as a newcomer and finally won the fourth place, and the paragraph about his appearance was "feeding a whole season of material library", and the popularity of his online topic was significantly higher than that of other contestants. After the end of the program, Xu Zhisheng announced continuously, in addition to various talk show commercial performances, he also appeared on popular variety shows such as "Annual Comedy Competition" and "House of the Guys", endorsed products for Yunnan Baiyao Yangyuanqing, Keyan's, Luyuan Electric Vehicle and other brands, and served as the chief "Win Jian Officer" of SF Tongcheng.
Xu Zhisheng's "appearance advantage" can only be brought into full play under the background of exquisite stage scenes and bright artists. Admittedly, his success is not only due to the appearance dividend, but also inseparable from his own comedy skills, but more importantly, in the increasingly harsh Internet discussion environment, the appearance of the terrier spoken by Xu Zhisheng, self-deprecating rather than offensive, direct but politically correct, in the safety zone to the greatest extent fit the audience laughter. He is a comedy character who belongs to 2021.
Ding Zhen
Cultural Communicator of the Year
At the end of 2020, 20-year-old Ding Zhen became famous overnight with "7 seconds smile". In 2021, he appeared on more and more performance evenings and variety shows, participated in UN speeches, brought goods for live broadcast of agricultural products, launched music singles, photographed fashion magazine covers... The Ding Zhen boom continues.
In this era of "appearance is justice", Ding Zhen initially attracted the public with his handsome appearance and simple temperament. Netizens coined a new word for Ding Zhen, "Sweet Wild Boy", describing him as "wild and innocent coexisting".
The Tibetan element on Ding Zhen's body became a greater thrust of the explosion. After being absorbed by the state-owned enterprise "Litang Cultural Tourism Company", Ding Zhen served as the ambassador of Litang Tourism and the publicity and promotion ambassador of Sichuan Cultural Tourism, shooting hometown propaganda films and live-streaming local museums. In the video, Ding Zhen is dressed in beautiful Tibetan costumes and riding horses in the steppe. Through Ding Zhen, the public saw the magnificent tibetan landscape and reached a romantic imagination of Kham Tibetan land.
Ding Zhen has brought visible tourism benefits to his hometown of Litang County. This poverty-stricken county, which had just been lifted out of poverty, was not well known in the past and suddenly became a destination for Internet celebrities. Many people know About Litang for the first time because of Ding Zhen, and even come to Litang to live, start a business, and invest. According to the data, during the Eleventh Golden Week this year, Litang County received a total of 137967 tourists, achieving a total tourism income of 152 million yuan, an increase of 72.4% year-on-year.
No matter what occasion Ding Zhen appeared, the strongest mark on his body was still that of a Tibetan teenager, whose goal was always to promote his hometown. Most of the various performing arts activities he participated in were also public welfare themes such as ecological protection, dissemination of national culture, and poverty alleviation. Under the guidance and protection of the local government, Ding Zhen was not over-consumed, avoiding becoming an entertainment Internet celebrity who quickly passed, but became an officially recognized and sustainable cultural symbol.
Lelusius
Anti-Inner Volume Character of the Year
The 27-year-old Russian man, relying on the image of "a hit worker who wants to leave work every day", accidentally became popular in the boy band talent show "Creation Camp 2021". In the eyes of many netizens, Li Luxiu is not only a "sober philosopher in the world", a world-class retired drum performance artist, but also an outstanding representative of the anti-internal volume youth in the workplace.
Li Luxiu was originally the Chinese translation teacher of the two foreign students in the program, but because of his good image, he was favored by the program team, and he mistakenly joined the talent show. Without any singing and dancing foundation, after experiencing a high-intensity training life, he cried out for regret and just wanted to be eliminated as soon as possible. Therefore, he never took the initiative to express himself in front of the camera, often hid in the corner without saying a word, rested when he could rest, and told fans bluntly that "becoming a boy band is not his dream".
Liluxiu's rebellious behavior, in stark contrast to other players who strive to show their best form, provides the audience with many contrasting jokes, and resonates with the majority of "social animals", making him gain a high popularity.
As a foreigner, he can always use concise, fluent Chinese to say words with philosophical meaning. His "golden sentence" was even included in the case of the Beijing Normal University's thinking and cultivation class. When he was assigned to the worst grade of F class, the other players were worried about being eliminated, but he could not hide his joy: "F means Freedom, that is, freedom, should go home"; for many fans who pursue him, he is always sober, "from like to hate, only one step"; when fans vote him to the high ranking again and again, he is not happy, "for a certain rule I won, but in a sense I lost".
In the end, LiLuxiu, who did not play cards according to the routine, became the biggest winner among all the players, won a lot of business cooperation, and the raw coconut latte endorsed by Luckin Coffee was once sold out.
The Lee Lucius effect has far surpassed a talent show. The reason why he can go out of the circle is that he conforms to the trend of the times of anti-internal volume, reflecting the psychological state of many young professionals. The young man saw himself in a loveless, decadent Liluxiu, "Isn't this me who doesn't want to go to work?" ”
Lingna Belle
Virtual Person of the Year
A pink fox, not a real person, can't speak, why was he named one of our top ten influential people?
Let's take a look at the queue that just happened at Shanghai Disneyland. At 3 a.m. on December 29, thousands of visitors lined up at the entrance of the park to buy "Duffy and Friends Christmas Series" inventory items. Lingna Belle is the hottest IP character in this series.
Released on September 29, 2021, Lingna Belle is a character played at Shanghai Disneyland by actors dressed in puppet costumes. The female star, who came out in the second half of 2021, occupied the hot search list of various social media with every move; the fan line was several hours long, just to interact with her for tens of seconds; her peripheral products were sold out as soon as they were on the shelves, and a hundred-yuan toy could be fried for tens of thousands of yuan.
Under the cute appearance, Ling Na Belle's every movement is playful, she will jump with joy, stomp her feet to express dissatisfaction, cover her face as a shy... If these behaviors appear in a real person, they may make people want to "wash their eyes", but a large doll with a sweet smile and furry will be cute enough to melt your heart, so that you can't help but gush pampering and pity off the screen.
What more people like is Lingna Belle's personality. In the interaction with the on-site visitors, the actor interprets the vivid personality of Lingna Belle through rich body movements and witty reactions: a brave and fearless, chivalrous, and lively fox girl. In the face of rude tourists, she would make a counterattack with a sword draw; when she saw a beautifully dressed girl, she would perform a gentlemanly salute; when some tourists teased her that she was fat and wanted to work out, she would stomp her feet and pretend to be angry.
Although there is no film and television work, Ling Na Belle has become a living two-dimensional role that enters the real world through the role of a live actor. Her image is not unilaterally exported by Disney, but gradually strengthened and stereotyped in the process of interacting with fans and creating secondary creations on the Internet. The popularity of Lingna Belle is both a portrayal of the cute economy and a testament to the influence of virtual characters in this era.
Epilogue
2021 is coming to an end, and 2022 will continue to be crowded.
The future is bound to be difficult, "survival" or "life" we do not know, but young people will always be "this session" better.
Welcome to a future world where Gen Z youth are mainstream.
January 9, 2021, Haikou City, Hainan Province,