The "old man" of the car company, striving to be an Internet celebrity?

China News Weekly

2024-07-01 13:27China News Weekly official account

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01 More and more CEOs of car companies are pouring into the live broadcast room, such as Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, Li Bin, founder of NIO, and Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group.

02 The live broadcast of the CEO of the car company has become a new battlefield for brand marketing, showing their magic powers, and directly interacting with the public with a more humane attitude that is close to life.

03However, after the traffic poured into the live broadcast room, there are still doubts about whether sales can rise, and the creation of personal IP of car company CEOs is also a double-edged sword.

04 In fact, the senior management team of car companies is building a full lineup of IP, including short videos, Weibo and other interactive methods, so that executives can show their true side to C-end consumers.

05 The content presented by the CEOs of car companies in the live broadcast generally does not have the shadow of "tall" and meticulously crafted, but directly interacts with the public in a more humane and humane manner.

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In the past few months, more and more CEOs of auto companies are pouring into the live broadcast room.

On March 28, Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, conducted a live broadcast of the launch conference of Xiaomi SU7 on Douyin, with the highest number of online users and nearly 200 million likes, topping the TOP1 of the hot list on the Douyin platform. After two hours of live broadcast, Lei Jun's personal Douyin account increased by nearly 890,000 fans. According to data, from March 28th to April 18th, in just 20 days, Lei Jun's major media platforms increased their fans across the board, with a cumulative increase of nearly 5.1 million fans, and the attention skyrocketed, and Xiaomi Auto was in the limelight for a while.

The pouring traffic smashed into Xiaomi cars, which also made the car company bigwigs see a new direction.

On March 14, Li Bin, founder, chairman and CEO of NIO, made his live broadcast debut on social platforms. The number of online users exceeded 100,000, and the cumulative number of viewers exceeded 10 million.

On March 28, Li Shufu, Chairman of Geely Holding Group, and Yu Minhong, founder of New Oriental and CEO of Oriental Selection, held a three-hour live broadcast to visit Geely Satellite Gigafactory.

On April 15, Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, started the live broadcast for the first time to personally test Great Wall Motor's full-scene NOA (pilot assisted driving technology).

Image source: Chery Automobile's live broadcast room

At half past 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, Robin Li, founder, chairman and CEO of Baidu, and Xia Yiping, CEO of Jiyue, conducted an experiential live broadcast of "point-to-point pilot assisted driving". The day before, Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Group, Luo Zhenyu, the founder, and Wu Pei, a car critic, also conducted a live broadcast.

In the past two months, the live broadcast of the CEO of car companies has become a new "battlefield" for brand marketing, and both new car-making forces and traditional car companies have begun to compete for "traffic".

Lu Fang, CEO of VOYAH Automobile, once joked, "I really want to become an Internet celebrity." Lu Fang believes that in the current automotive market environment, users are more willing to understand you in this way, or through you to understand the products and brands behind them.

For car companies, live broadcast has become an indispensable marketing channel, "if you don't do it, you will be left behind", because whoever masters the game of Internet marketing will master the new traffic password.

It's no wonder that Yin Tongyue said with a smile: "This is also forcing me, an old man in his sixties (live broadcast), everyone came out." ”

Each has its own powers

Including Li Bin and Wei Jianjun, CEOs are not just a superficial taste of live broadcasting, but a long-term plan. Wei Jianjun said in the first live broadcast that he would increase the frequency of live broadcasts in the future.

Following the live broadcast on April 15, Wei Jianjun started the live broadcast many times. On May 10, Wei Jianjun broadcast the shareholders' meeting of Great Wall Motors live. On May 26, Wei Jianjun launched a live broadcast called "Wei Jianjun's Weekend", driving a new generation of Haval H6 to share the natural and cultural scenery of Baoding with everyone. After experiencing several live broadcasts, Wei Jianjun said that in the future, live broadcasts will be like eating, and you can broadcast them if you want to.

"Recently, the industry has rolled out four 'old men', and they have all started live broadcasting." Zhu Huarong, chairman of Changan Automobile, said at the 2024 China Automobile Chongqing Forum a few days ago that traffic is becoming a productive force and a factor of production, and (many people) also find that business leaders themselves have their own traffic. At the same time as making this remark, Zhu Huarong was even broadcasting live. In addition to himself, the four "old men" in his mouth include Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holdings, Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, and Yin Tongyue, chairman of Chery Automobile, whose average age is 60 years old.

Zhu Huarong said, "Originally, we said that product is king, channel is king, and now we have to pay attention to long-term traffic, learn from Lei Jun and Yu Chengdong, and we want to cultivate Changan Automobile's own 'Rebus' and 'Yu Dazui'."

Li Bin has become the "new Internet celebrity" among the younger generation of autobots. At the end of a meeting at the 2024 China Automobile Chongqing Forum, the host improvised a shout to the audience: "Because of time, if you have any questions in the future (you can contact Li Bin directly), Li Bin is always doing live broadcasts every day anyway." In this regard, Li Bin hurriedly responded, "Correct, I have done a total of 3 live broadcasts so far, and I haven't done it a few times." Most of the energy is still engaged in research and development in a down-to-earth manner, providing services to everyone, please believe me. ”

Image source: Li Bin's live broadcast room

Although it is a joke, in fact, Li Bin's live broadcast effect is indeed quite effectiveIn the first live broadcast on March 14, the cumulative number of viewers exceeded 10 million, and the number of fans increased by more than 180,000. On May 23, Li Bin drove all the way from Frankfurt, Germany to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and started the live broadcast throughout the whole process. This 10-hour live broadcast has a total of 8.19 million viewers on Douyin, and 56,000 fans in a single live broadcast.

There was no shortage of criticism and doubts during the live broadcast, but Li Bin's approach was very pragmatic, he did not defend himself, he only hoped that netizens would not hate Weilai and pure electric car products, this low profile won a lot of goodwill. Some netizens left a message, saying, "After watching the live broadcast, I feel that Li Bin is not as annoying as the legend, I feel very kind and kind, and he is a very charming founder." ”‍‍

In the past, because Li Bin's remarks were taken out of context and disseminated, Li Bin was questioned by many netizens. But after the direct communication in the live broadcast, Li Bin's reputation has also undergone a great reversal. "Charismatic, conscientious and responsible" became his new label

In fact, different from the traditional marketing methods in the past, the content presented by the car company bigwigs in the live broadcast generally does not have the shadow of "tall" and meticulously crafted, but directly interacts with the public in a more humane and humane manner. This also made netizens feel the true temperament and honesty of the bigwigs.

The personal charm of the boss directly determines the recognition of the brand by netizens. For example, at the Xiaomi SU7 live broadcast press conference, many netizens commented that "it was the car that Mr. Lei bought". Even netizens who don't have a plan to buy a car also said, "If you can't buy a car, you have to support Mr. Lei when you buy a peripheral."

"More and more entrepreneurs in the car circle have begun to do live broadcasts and short videos, and everyone has found that this new marketing method cannot be bought by billions of advertising dollars." Zhou Hongyi, chairman and founder of 360, said at the recently held 2024 (2nd) Future Automobile Pioneer Conference that the era of celebrity spokespersons has passed, and entrepreneurs in the short video era should participate in corporate IP and establish contact with consumers.

Monetization challenges

However, when traffic pours into these live broadcast rooms, can sales really rise?

Some industry insiders said that in the past, the CEOs of car companies generally faced the B-end crowd, but in the new media era, To C is the new trend. The boss came out to be an Internet celebrity CEO, an IP, and a personified content output through social media, not only to attract traffic and realize sales, but to win people's hearts.

In the development of enterprises under the Internet celebrity economy, the founder's IP is particularly important. The boss's personal core values, cultural characteristics, and appearance directly affect the positioning of the company and products he leads, and also directly affect whether the public is willing to trust and support him.

In fact, in addition to live broadcasts, the senior management teams of many car companies are building IPs with a full lineup, including short videos, Weibo and other interactive ways to mingle with users, so that executives can show their real side to C-end consumers.

Under the huge traffic, the creation of personal IP of the CEO of an automobile company is also a double-edged sword, and the advantage is that it is easy to form a traffic siphon effect and increase the influence and exposure of the car company. However, it is also necessary to be vigilant that if the brand is overly dependent on or bound to personal IP, its direct result is that when the personal image is damaged, it will have a negative impact on the corporate brand.

Therefore, the CEOs of car companies are also very clear that their main energy is still on the "main business". As Li Bin emphasized, most of his energy is still engaged in research and development and services for everyone.

Zhu Huarong also emphasized that in the process of live broadcasting, the industry should adhere to the user-centered, adhere to seeking truth from facts, promote the brand and products, and avoid overdrawing the trust of the society and users in the industry.

Yuan Xiaolin, Senior Vice President of Volvo Car Group and President and CEO of Volvo Cars Asia Pacific, said in an interview that the concept of many traffic needs to be vigilant. There is a good side to traffic, but if you pursue absolute traffic, all flow-only theory is not only ineffective but even harmful. Businesses and brands need to be clear about their customers, express themselves effectively, and stay sober.

At the investor conference, Wei Jianjun emphasized that it is necessary to keep the bottom line in the current fierce competition, and at the same time give full play to the long board of the Great Wall, and "do something, do nothing" is the specific manifestation of the Great Wall's implementation of "long-termism" at this stage.

Yin Tongyue also pointed out in the live broadcast that the live broadcast of the top leader may be just a way to alleviate the anxiety of the current fierce competition, and interacting with consumers in a more direct and down-to-earth way is a manifestation of their attempt to embrace new things. But aside from the perspective of traffic, how to do differentiated innovation around products and services? What is the real password to win the competition in the market? These questions are more urgently waiting for car companies to answer.

Author: Zheng Yu

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