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This original article comes from the WeChat public account: DT Business Observation, ID: DTcaijing; author: Hu Hansan, data: Hu Hansan, editor: Zheng Xiaohui, design: Zheng Shuya, operation: Su Hongrui, producer: Li Jingyu.

Lei Jun once again proved his ability as a "traffic black hole".

On July 19, Xiaomi held Lei Jun's fifth annual speech, describing the ins and outs of car manufacturing and introducing new products in the Xiaomi ecosystem. According to Chanmama data, the Xiaomi press conference had 14.89 million viewers in the Douyin live broadcast room, with a peak popularity of 510,000.

Lei Jun used his personal experience of "making cars and taking racing licenses" to highlight Xiaomi's "serious" spirit in making cars; he even put netizens' "negative views" on Xiaomi cars in a picture and amplified the widely circulated joke: "Jun'er, stop it, there are XX people outside."

His down-to-earth speaking style has led to the Weibo topic #Lei Jun's Annual Speech# being read nearly 3 billion times, and has also spawned hot topics such as #Lei Jun's Exam Photos# and #Lei Jun Drift#.

According to Xinbang statistics, there are only six Douyin accounts whose fan growth exceeded 10 million in the first half of 2024. The top three are "Yuhui Xingxing", "NetEase Egg Party" and "Guo Youcai", followed by Lei Jun.

Why is Lei Jun so popular? When all the big names in the auto industry want to create their own IP, can Lei Jun be copied? DT Business Observer tries to find out.

What are the major platforms talking about when they talk about Lei Jun?

Although Lei Jun is very popular, the discussion directions and interests of each platform are not the same.

"DT Business Observation" checked the high-frequency words related to Lei Jun in social media and found that major platforms generally pay attention to the stories of the press conference and Xiaomi products, but apart from these, each has its own characteristics.

Discussions on Weibo and Zhihu are more centered around Xiaomi products themselves.

Weibo is a place for real-time, fragmented discussions on new products., everything from the performance evolution of mobile phones, product quality and price to appearance and folding are all under observation.

Zhihu is a more systematic and comprehensive platform for rational analysis, not only cares about the sales volume, technology and traffic of automobiles, but also cares about the profits, systems and cost-effectiveness of products.

Douyin and Bilibili also pay attention to Xiaomi's new products, but the former is more concerned with the price war and brand competition in the automotive ecosystem, while the latter is more concerned with the smart ecosystem of Xiaomi factories and brands.

Users of both platforms love to play memes, but the former is more popular.For example, when "Singer" was recruiting contestants, many netizens called out to Lei Jun;The latter continues the consistent characteristics of Station BFor example, they made secondary creations and ghost videos of Lei Jun’s “March” of “Are you OK” and the biography of Lei Jun.

In Xiaohongshu, in addition to the immersive test drive content, there is also an inventory of Lei Jun's inspirational quotes. "The courage to burn your boats is the key to breaking through the siege" and other golden sentences in his speeches are considered by young people to be "another lesson for people in the workplace."

Lei Jun's outfit is also popular on Xiaohongshu"The gradient gray or distant blue of the suit is full of intelligence, and the seemingly casual white shoes create a sense of ease and leisure." Some netizens joked that Lei Jun has created a track for the middle-aged elite style with his own dressing style.

(Image source: screenshot from Xiaohongshu)

One point worth noting is that when Xiaomi Car was first designed, many women's needs were taken into consideration, such as sun protection when driving in summer. It is quite popular and adds a lot of points to Xiaomi's corporate image and Lei Jun's personal image.

In general, in the discussions and fragmented assembly on different social media platforms, Lei Jun has become a model worker in the technology circle who is an honest entrepreneur, an Internet singer who comes with her own BGM, and a reliable, practical and stylish boss with good taste in clothing.

How come Lei Jun is becoming more and more popular?

DT Business Observation traced back Lei Jun’s past events and found two key points:

• The character is likable: Although it has a strong "chicken soup flavor", it is "not daddy-like" and has a certain basic traffic base;

• Event promotion: The popularity of Xiaomi SU7 car manufacturing and the team's marketing ability to attract traffic made Lei Jun more popular.

Judging from the changes in the volume of topics related to "Lei Jun" on Internet platforms in the past year,Since the beginning of Lei Jun’s 2023 annual speech, Lei Jun’s visibility in the public eye has gradually increased.It is reported that the number of people watching the live broadcast of this annual speech on the entire network exceeded 200 million.

In his 2023 annual speech, Lei Jun shared the key growth and insights of his personal experience. A story about "he took off the keyboard to practice air typing in order to improve his typing speed" at Wuhan University portrayed his hardworking image. The inspirational story of writing code in his freshman year and being included in the textbooks in his sophomore year conveyed the narrative of "he really worked hard for a long time to get to where he is today", which aroused empathy.

Prior to this, in order to build momentum for the annual speech, Lei Jun cooperated with People magazine and responded to 21 hotly searched questions such as #Life is a wilderness, not a track#, and talked about issues that young people care about.

For example, when faced with the life question of "Isn't it contradictory to go with the flow and stick to your dreams?", #Lei Jun said that hard work is not omnipotent#, and we must learn to reconcile with ourselves; in response to the question of "Can you give some advice to young people on whether to choose a track or to head into the wilderness?", #Lei Jun suggested not to give advice to young people#, just believe in them.

Although many people have commented that such remarks are "full of chicken soup", at least on the surface they appear "humble and not daddy-like", which makes "rice fans" feel quite favorable and does not disgust "outsiders".

Then on December 28, 2023, Xiaomi Auto's first technology launch conference attracted outside attention and laid the foundation for Lei Jun's further popularity.

At this press conference, Lei Jun stated that #Xiaomi Auto will be comparable to Porsche and Tesla#, conveying the ambition to be on par with the international level and creating quite a hype.

On the other hand, when talking about the naming of domestic cars, he bluntly said that "the naming in the car circle is very exaggerated. At the beginning, there are all Pro Max and various premium versions." He complained about the involution of the car circle and played memes with young people.

Then, this yearThe Xiaomi Auto SU7 launch conference on March 28 brought Lei Jun’s popularity to a new peak.

During the promotion period of Xiaomi Motors, a series of operations to arouse expectations, create suspense, and release price smoke bombs made Xiaomi SU7 a hit before it was released. Mi fans even shouted and guessed the price, hoping that the price would be "199,000 yuan".

However, Lei Jun also warned several times that the price would be "a bit expensive" and hinted that "we must respect technology, and there are reasons for the high prices", repeatedly lowering public expectations.

At the official press conference, Lei Jun bowed deeply and said, "Please be gentle with your words." This humble attitude was praised by netizens: "If I were in his position, I probably wouldn't be able to bend down like this."

(Source: Screenshot from TikTok)

Then the pricing of Xiaomi SU7 was revealed - 215,900 yuan. After deducting the discount of "place a large order before April 30 to get a 16,000 yuan configuration", the final price was "199,000 yuan".

As soon as this incident happened, Xiaomi was transformed into a "company that listens to the opinions of the masses" in the social media public opinion.

The overwhelming traffic and passers-by's goodwill also fell on Lei Jun.Some fans began to talk about Lei Jun's lucky life as a small town test-taker; some netizens were impressed by his art of language, declaring "I'll drink this chicken soup", and sighed that "sincerity is the greatest killer skill."

Lei Jun's image in the Internet context has gradually changed from "Mr. Lei, Jun'er" to "Thor".

In April this year, Lei Jun appeared at the Beijing Auto Show and personally opened the car door for the car owner. The standard three-piece set of "handshake, hug, and take a photo" was automatically derived by netizens into a hot topic "For only 300,000 yuan, the billionaire president will open my car door." He also became the "Xiaomi gold medal sales, the male star with traffic at the auto show" in the eyes of netizens.

It can be said that Lei Jun's characteristics of "having courage, ability and charm, being able to be humble and not put on airs, and being able to make fun of himself and entertain himself" have enabled him to find the traffic code of the Internet era and firmly grasp the public's attention.

on the basis of,People began to project all kinds of emotions and labels onto Lei Jun.

In the comment section of TikTok and the barrage of B Station, Lei Jun has become the hero of the cool novel in everyone's mind, and even the koi in the wishing pond. "Everyone is clamoring for Juner to enter the badminton, eyewear, and real estate industries as soon as possible and bring down the prices in the industries."

Interesting and meme-inspired content serves as a fulcrum for communication, spreading the message and building up an increasingly broad base of popularity for Lei Jun.

Correspondingly, Lei Jun is also good at catching traffic. According to statistics from Xinbang, after the Xiaomi Auto launch, Lei Jun's Douyin account gained 4.05 million followers in the past 30 days and published 60 works.

Not only did he himself go viral, but he also brought the "Xiaomi Team" to Douyin, creating a marketing matrix and interacting with netizens in real time.

According to FeiGua Data's Douyin version, the number of likes for the videos released by Lei Jun's Douyin account in April, May and June were 420,000, 620,000 and 640,000 respectively, which continued to rise.

Why does Lei Jun continue to build his personal IP?

Just as Apple needs Steve Jobs, Xiaomi cannot do without Lei Jun.

One of the most direct considerations is thatPopular internet celebrity founders can often build brand trust and drive sales.

Taking Xiaomi’s annual press conferences over the past five years as an example, Lei Jun always closely ties his personal experience to Xiaomi.

It not only discloses Lei Jun's personal life, shares his growth insights, and preaches his ideal spirit, but also promotes Xiaomi's new products, culture, and vision. The two complement each other.

Especially at a time when the domestic 3C and automobile industries are generally focusing on parameters, functions, and prices, making consumers feel good about the founder, or even identify with and recognize him, is equivalent to providing consumers with a good reason to buy.

However, unlike Apple's pioneering image and "Think Different",Xiaomi relies on "extreme cost-effectiveness + mass line" to win。

Lei Jun once summarized the Xiaomi model as “a model that discovers the greatest common divisor of the aesthetics of the times and consumer desires, and implements it with the highest standards.”

In other words, Xiaomi is not a pioneer from 0 to 1, nor does it produce disruptive or pioneering products.

On the contrary, Xiaomi products have been subject to a lot of ridicule and controversy for being “overly borrowed”.

For example, Xiaomi Auto SU7 was exposed for comparison. Its headlight design was borrowed from Ford Focus, its taillight design was borrowed from Lincoln MKZ, its body design was borrowed from Porsche Taycan, and its front design was borrowed from McLaren 720... Some car enthusiasts bluntly said that a product "can be ugly, but cannot be copied."

But even so, Lei Jun's "honesty" in public has created aThe underlying logic behind Mi fans’ pursuit of Xiaomi is based on an emotional bond and value identification.

When ordinary consumers choose to buy Xiaomi, they have two kinds of mentality:Either the price is low and the cost-effectiveness is high, or there is a sense of reassurance that "I can't say how easy it is to use, but I won't suffer a big loss", and this kind of reassurance is often based on trust in the founder Lei Jun.

From the perspective of product development path, Xiaomi mobile phone once ended the era of copycat phones with a price of 1999, making mobile phones a communication tool that "everyone can afford".

Later, Xiaomi's ecological chain products, ranging from small items such as scales and night lights to large items such as televisions, refrigerators and air conditioners, not only covered people's daily life scenarios, but also implanted the label of cost-effectiveness in people's hearts, "making them affordable for most young people in China."

The current price of Xiaomi SU7 also makes it more attractive than other 200,000-300,000 yuan models.new energy vehicles, with certain advantages and differences.

But the marketing and promotion behind this cannot be separated from Lei Jun.

In fact, before and after the launch of Xiaomi SU7, Xiaomi has been using the influence of "Lei Jun" IP to create hot topics. Before the launch of Xiaomi Automobile, Lei Jun's personal Weibo account posted nearly 50 posts about Xiaomi SU7, factories, manufacturing processes, etc., and also posted "Lei Jun answers questions from netizens" to interact with target consumers.

In terms of sales, Xiaomi SU7 has been on the market since March 28, and within 40 days, the number of orders exceeded 100,000. Official data shows that as of June 15, the cumulative delivery of Xiaomi SU7 exceeded 20,000 units, and the monthly delivery in June exceeded 10,000 units. It can be said thatLei Jun is Xiaomi’s biggest sales champion.

Final Thoughts

From the perspective of brand image, Xiaomi has been intentionally or unintentionally shaping an image of "technological equality" and "serving the people".

This is in line with Lei Jun's personal image of being "sincere, down-to-earth, reliable and honest".

As the book Cultural Strategy says: “If social enterprises want to cross the cultural divide, they must view customers not as potential actors but as consumers of identity projects.”

Like Xiaomi, when the target group is targeted accurately enough, the product definition is complete and accurate enough, and there is a price advantage, then the brand will most likely achieve good sales results.

butAfter all, the automobile industry is an industry with high technology content and high industrial standards, and products are the foundation of the industry.

At present, there are many doubts about Xiaomi Motors.How to make products worthy of marketing and go further is an urgent and thought-provoking issue.