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For Xiaomi, Lei Jun is not only the founder, chairman and CEO, but also an image ambassador, a top-selling anchor, and the "ancient Greek god in charge of traffic." Under the pressure of huge traffic and sales growth, perhaps even Lei Jun himself has gradually lost the right to interpret "Lei Jun."

Text |Chang Fangfei

Editor |Yang

Operations |Kojiro

A CEO who doesn’t want to be a racing driver is not a good anchor

Lei Jun once again showed everyone how to use the smallest incision to leverage huge traffic.

On the evening of July 19, Lei Jun's annual speech was live-broadcasted on major platforms. The speech was divided into two halves. In the first half, Lei Jun reviewed his three-year car-making story. In the second half, Xiaomi released new products.

Lei Jun's speeches are nothing new, and this year is the fifth year. Unlike previous years, this year's story line has become more clear - car manufacturing. It starts with the opportunity when Xiaomi mobile phones were sanctioned by the United States, then recruits talents, personally test drives, and finally goes online as scheduled with record-breaking sales. Although much of the information in the speech has been spread in fragmented form on the Internet, Lei Jun used his own personal experience to string it all together and build a refreshing story of "turning the tide against the wind".

This kind of narrative is precisely the story template that is most easily spread on the contemporary Internet.

Although Lei Jun has repeatedly explained on various occasions that he is not the male protagonist of a hit drama, if you look at this live broadcast separately, especially the part about the car-making story, it seems to have all the elements of a hit drama - detailed reversals, the protagonist's highlight moments and a happy ending that was destined from the beginning.

▲ Picture/ Screenshot of Lei Jun’s 2024 annual speech live broadcast

All the challenges, difficulties, and entanglements are just foreshadowing. The sentence after each "but" is what Lei Jun really wants to say.

As soon as the decision to build cars was made, the young executive Zhou Shouzi resigned. However, another large number of professional talents joined the Xiaomi Auto team.

After working for more than half a year, at the first project review meeting, everyone had a lot of disagreements and argued a lot. However, after a 21-day marathon closed-door meeting, a consensus was reached.

Before the Xiaomi SU7 was launched, the media predicted that "it would be a blessing to sell 3,000 units per month". However, in the end, 28 days after the official launch of the car, the number of orders locked was 75,723 units.

In addition to team stories, Lei Jun is of course better at telling his own stories. At the event, Lei Jun released a video of himself drifting in a Xiaomi SU7, which became the most popular material of the night. Fans quickly created a new "stalk" - the billionaire CEO tried hard to get a racing driver's license just to make me laugh.

▲ Picture/ Screenshot of Lei Jun’s 2024 annual speech live broadcast

Before the video was released, Lei Jun said with a smile: "It's not well shot, please just watch it." But in fact, this is not a "boss test drive drifting VLOG" shot by the staff, but a sophisticated Xiaomi SU7 promotional video. The camera movement, music, and editing are all meticulous.

Soon, "Lei Jun drifting" became the first hot search topic that night. The short video of just over a minute was screenshot and circulated frame by frame. Among the various comments of "Lei Jun is so handsome", "Trams can also drift" became another spread point.

In addition to showing off his drifting skills, the most important thing about Lei Jun's personal appearance in the "commercial" is that he wants to firmly stick to his image as a person who "knows cars".

Other details in the speech include: Lei Jun regained his driving skills and test-drove 170 cars; he wrote down 200,000 words of test-driving notes and materials; he personally participated in the winter and summer tests of Xiaomi SU7, and the summer test was in Turpan, where he fell in love with the local watermelons; he personally went on the highway to test the intelligent driving despite the opposition of the public relations department...

Lei Jun had deeply experienced the "huge wealth" brought by traffic when Xiaomi mobile phones were launched. Now that he has come to car manufacturing, he is just sharpening this weapon.

During the three-hour live broadcast that night, the number of people online in the Douyin live broadcast room remained above 100,000. According to Chanmama data, the peak popularity of the live broadcast room reached 510,000, with 14.89 million viewers.

The spotlight was on Lei Jun, but behind him was the planning, packaging and management of the entire Xiaomi marketing team. Before the press conference, Lei Jun's various social media outlets released nearly 20 videos or pictures to warm up the event, and almost every one of them hit the current Internet hot spots and the mood of the times.

In the pre-launch video, Lei Jun said that he was also a little confused by the traffic, and asked netizens "how to fix this 'overwhelming traffic'"; when Capybara became popular, he said that he was "in awe" because this animal not only has stable emotions, but also "makes many friends and few enemies." However, in the next video, everyone immediately understood the real reason why Lei Jun mentioned Capybara - Xiaomi's new folding phone has a built-in Capybara wallpaper.

All the Internet memes are linked to Xiaomi in a clever way, becoming a key link in the chain of capturing traffic. He called the successful launch of Xiaomi SU7 "landing"; when talking about the "comfort zone", he said that he had recently entered the automotive industry and would sooner or later become a comfort zone; regarding the volume, he felt that "Xiaomi has never been afraid"...

Unlike his official speeches, Lei Jun in these videos wore a white T-shirt with a striped shirt, and looked casual and friendly in the fast-paced background music. On the afternoon of the day of the speech, Lei Jun released two photos of himself leaving, holding two new mobile phones that were about to be released, with the caption "Look at the manuscript again and revise the PPT."

▲ Photo/ Lei Jun’s Weibo

For Xiaomi, Lei Jun is not only the founder, chairman and CEO, but also an image ambassador, a top-selling anchor, and the "ancient Greek god in charge of traffic." Under the pressure of huge traffic and sales growth, perhaps even Lei Jun himself has gradually lost the right to interpret "Lei Jun."

A Guide to Creating an Influencer Personality

Since the launch of Xiaomi SU7, almost all brands have been looking forward to having a founder like Lei Jun who can bring products to the market. Lei Jun has opened up a new track for entrepreneur idols, turning the stage of the launch conference and the camera of the live broadcast room into a platform for bringing products to the market.

In fact, Lei Jun did not want to become an Internet celebrity in the early days of his business. Ten years ago, Lei Jun was selected as the Chinese businessman of the year by the Chinese version of Fortune magazine. At that time, Lei Jun still looked like a traditional entrepreneur on the cover. He wore a dark suit, folded his arms, and looked into the distance with determination.

▲ Lei Jun appeared on Fortune magazine. Photo/ Internet

He has no interest in becoming a top star, fearing that "too much talk leads to mistakes". He misses the first year of Xiaomi's founding, when there was no spotlight and the company was just working on products down to earth. "I will not make myself a star, attend meetings, or increase exposure just to market the company."

I don't know when everything changed.

The first step to becoming a "top streamer" is to let go of the pride and status of an entrepreneur. The external force that gave Lei Jun a push soon arrived. Because the core supplier unilaterally stopped supplying screens, the Xiaomi 5, which Lei Jun had high hopes for, was always in a state of supply shortage. At the swearing-in ceremony led by Lei Jun, the four characters "severe situation" were used as the theme for the first time.

During that time, what supported Xiaomi's brand exposure and maintained the affection of fans was Lei Jun's accented English sentence at the Indian press conference - Are you OK? Netizens edited it into a ghost video, which quickly went viral. So far, Lei Jun has become the first "B station singer" to have his own single.

It is hard to say whether he was inspired by this. In 2016, Lei Jun was the absolute protagonist for the first time and launched Xiaomi's first purely online press conference. He answered every question. Someone asked why Zhou Shouzi, the then CFO, could only be the second most handsome man in Xiaomi. Lei Jun smiled and said, "Don't you know?" He always pays attention to the needs of fans. Of course, he will not accept them all. When someone called on Xiaomi to enter the real estate industry, he immediately refused, "Don't even think about it." After a few hours of live broadcast, he had a different evaluation of the identity of "Internet celebrity". "Being an Internet celebrity, my waist is no longer sore, my legs are no longer painful, and my appetite is much better."

After taking the first step, the final right to interpret Lei Jun's personality belongs to fans. His life experience has become the most important component. Fans have given him the most popular positioning as "walking Xiao Nai". As the protagonist of an old romance novel, Xiao Nai is tall and handsome, and he has become a domineering CEO by starting from scratch. Lei Jun was born in Xiantao, Hubei, and he also said that he "has come to where he is today step by step by relying on diligence, hard work, and the opportunities of this era."

▲ Lei Jun's annual speech in 2024. Photo/Lei Jun's Weibo

Lei Jun's high-intensity surfing has given him the largest fan base. When a big anchor questioned fans about whether their salary had increased and whether they were working hard, Lei Jun took the mass line. At least it seems that this entrepreneur worth hundreds of billions is still standing with young people. He even advised fans to take a gap occasionally, "maybe they can go further."

After gaining the empathy of the entrepreneur, the fans became even more enthusiastic. Lei Jun showed his breakfast in the video and casually asked, "What do you eat for breakfast?" The fans immediately told him from the bottom of their hearts - "hardship".

Having secured the top spot as an entrepreneur and internet celebrity, Lei Jun struck while the iron was hot and immediately asked his subordinates to "form a group" to join this race. Now, almost all of Xiaomi's core executives have opened social accounts. As soon as some netizens questioned the authenticity of drifting and racing photos, Xiaomi CMO Xu Fei immediately posted a group photo and certificates of all executives on the track on Douyin. Of course, at the end of the video, he did not forget to recite the quote from "General Lei" calling on executives to "understand cars and love cars." Executives provided more content and perspectives to Lei Jun, who is at the center of traffic.

The last and most critical step is monetization. Lei Jun first proved his ability to bring goods in 2020. On the 10th anniversary of the launch of Xiaomi mobile phone, Lei Jun started his first Douyin live broadcast. In less than two hours, the GMV of the live broadcast room exceeded 100 million, and Xiaomi products sold 210 million yuan that night.

In addition to promoting Xiaomi products, Lei Jun's outfits can also trigger a buying spree. Just three months ago, Lei Jun explained that his outfits all came from Vancl, which he invested in many years ago, and 180,000 people rushed to Vancl's live broadcast room.

▲ Picture/ Internet

Lei Jun even mastered the trick of promoting products to his fans. On TikTok, Lei Jun's most popular work is a video of him riding a bicycle to work. Soon, fans discovered that this ordinary-looking folding bicycle is a British brand Brompton, nicknamed Brompton, and even the entry-level model costs nearly 20,000 yuan. Fans called on Lei Jun to "lower the price of folding bicycles." It was not until it became a hot topic that Lei Jun responded that the company had no plans to make bicycles, let alone invest in Brompton.

Anchor Lei Jun "can't afford to lose"

Lei Jun personally got involved in the event in the hope of quickly replicating his ability in marketing mobile phones to car manufacturing.

As early as the end of last year, on the eve of Xiaomi's automotive technology conference, Lei Jun, who has always advocated "spending little money to achieve great things", rarely paid tribute to Huawei, BYD, NIO, Xpeng Motors, and Li Auto through light shows on landmark buildings in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Several car company bosses also forwarded and interacted. Behind the scene of brotherly friendship, Lei Jun not only expressed his respect for his predecessors, but also accumulated heat for his upcoming conference.

▲ Xiaomi pays tribute to its competitors on the eve of its automotive technology conference. Photo/Internet

In order to make the new car more visible, Lei Jun will seize every opportunity. A netizen asked Zhang Songwen, who endorsed Xiaomi mobile phones, whether he had received the new car prepared by Lei Jun. Zhang Songwen asked half-jokingly, not knowing how to hint without losing his sense of proportion. Lei Jun, who was surfing on 5G, rushed over and immediately arranged, "The car will be delivered on April 3, welcome to come." This reply immediately became the number one hot search on Weibo. Fans lamented that Lei Jun "saved a lot of endorsement fees again."

Since then, Lei Jun has either been shooting videos or doing live broadcasts. He has been constantly running around Xiaomi Auto stores in various regions across the country. Since the warm-up of the SU7 launch conference, 90 of the 125 short videos posted on Lei Jun's Douyin account are related to Xiaomi's car manufacturing.

When Liu Qiangdong participated in a CCTV program, his judgment on Lei Jun was widely circulated: "Don't compete with Lei Jun in marketing. It's not an ordinary person to be able to sell (Xiaomi) mobile phones for tens of billions."

Since Lei Jun started his business, he has hosted dozens of press conferences, big and small, and he has always been labeled as a "model worker". Since he started making cars, people have seen a rare fatigue on his face. Before the SU7 press conference, his eyes were swollen and his temples were covered with white hair. Fans lamented that "making cars is like a knife, and every cut makes people old". Lei Jun described making cars as a big test that he "can't afford to lose", "maybe it's psychological pressure".

The source of this pressure, to some extent, comes from the harsh words Lei Jun said. As a "top streamer", he hopes that the outside world will believe in his products, and for this he can only "bet all his reputation and achievements". As CEO, he has to bear all the consequences of this adventure. An entrepreneur who is familiar with Lei Jun once commented to the media that Lei Jun has a "hero complex" to some extent. He can endure the hardships and setbacks of entrepreneurship, but the most uncomfortable thing is the shame of not doing well.

In three years, Lei Jun has really tied himself to the matter of car manufacturing. He rejected the investment of VC institutions worth tens of billions of dollars. Lei Jun simply invested in dozens of automotive supply chain companies through his funds and Xiaomi, and began to recruit a large number of people. Even if he "received 380,000 resumes", he still always needs "core talents". The R&D team of intelligent driving alone will exceed 1,000 people by the end of 2023, and Lei Jun plans to expand it to 1,500 people by the end of 2024. Xiaomi is a few years behind its competitors in car manufacturing, but its staff size is second only to Huawei. By the end of 2023, Ideal Auto's intelligent driving team will have about 900 people, Xiaopeng Motors will have about 1,200 people, and Huawei's size will be close to 3,000 people.

This means real money investment. In the past year, Lei Jun spent more than one-third of Xiaomi's profits on car manufacturing. On many occasions, Lei Jun was full of fighting spirit, saying that he had hundreds of billions of cash reserves, "from small to large", but occasionally, he also expressed his anxiety to the media. He spent so much money in three years, and all employees, Mi fans, and shareholders were watching Xiaomi's performance. "I also said very confidently that the first battle would be the decisive battle."

▲ Photo/ @Lei Jun

In front of the camera, Lei Jun is the face of Xiaomi. In front of his 26 million fans, he made a bold statement that he would deliver 100,000 vehicles by the end of this year, and he would grit his teeth to deliver on the promise.

To this end, Xiaomi's car supply chain is running at full capacity, and suppliers are working overtime to complete the doubled order volume. The interior production requirements have increased from 160 pieces per day to 280 pieces. Workers in the car factory work in two shifts, 16 hours a day, to achieve the goal of producing 20,000 units per month. It took Wei, Xiaoli and Li Auto three years to achieve such a delivery speed, and Lei Jun plans to achieve it in nine months. But the competition is still fierce. In June, the top three Chinese new car brands had monthly deliveries of 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles.

Amid fierce competition, fans can easily find that Lei Jun has bid farewell to his signature outfit of T-shirts and jeans in public, and has put on a suit instead. The sales pitch is no longer "good products must be priced cheaply enough." The new stage and new field have given Lei Jun an opportunity to reshape his brand image.

Perhaps, he doesn't want to go through the same path as Xiaomi mobile phones. Xiaomi mobile phones, which started out with cost-effectiveness, are the most impressive. In order to enter the high-end market, Lei Jun once invested tens of billions of yuan in Xiaomi mobile phones. Lei Jun described this process as "the most painful and the most rewarding one in the past decade." At present, making cars is one of Lei Jun's few options.

In the live broadcast that just ended, the theme of his speech was "courage". In the telling of various stories, he did not forget to insert some chicken soup golden sentences. At the end, he said: "Friends, I hope you always have the determination to move forward and the courage to overcome all obstacles."

This sentence seems to be encouraging himself. However, it is obvious that for Lei Jun, determination and courage alone are far from enough. There is bound to be a more brutal battle waiting for him ahead.

References:

[1] “Xiaomi Motors 112 Days After Launch: Lei Jun Joins the Poker Table”, Tech Planet

[2] “Lei Jun’s Character and Destiny”, Caijing