Internet celebrity hunter Lei Binyi: Looking for the next Liu Qihong

Economic Observer reporters Chen Bai and Xie Chuchu/Wen

You may not have heard of Lei Binyi and the MCN agency Worry-Free Media he founded six years ago.

But you must have heard of Liu Qihong's name, and may even have become a basically qualified "Qihong Boy" and "Qihong Girl". In Douyin, Liu's number of fans has exceeded 60 million, and he is already regarded as the next Li Jiaqi-style existence.

Even if you are not a fitness enthusiast, as long as you have brushed the short video of the mobile phone, you should brush the short video of too much and Mao Maojie, the big wolf dog Zheng Jianpeng & Yan Zhen, Liu Siyao, Zhang Xinyao and other talents in various fields.

From the friends who were once praised by Jay Chou to the various grassroots short video internet celebrities in tiannanhaibei, what you don't know is that most of them are signed masters of worry-free media.

As the founder of Worry-free Media, Lei Binyi still insists that Worry-Free is a start-up company. "Whether I can make self-breakthroughs and self-revolution is what I value most at the moment."

Unexpected

Since Liu Became popular, Lei Binyi has been praised by the media as the "behind-the-scenes driver". However, in an exclusive interview with the Economic Observer reporter, Lei Binyi said that Liu Qihong's popularity was a complete accident for Worry-free Media, "From me to the company, everyone did not expect Liu Qihong to become such a phenomenon-level IP as it is today; this is indeed something we did not expect before." ”

However, if we look back at the layout of Worry-free Media, we can see that this accident is somewhat unexpected. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, Worry-free Media has been accelerating the layout of fitness and outdoor exercise talents; and Liu Qihong, a star with decades of fitness experience, is the talent signed by Worry-free Media at the end of 2021.

"This kind of discovery of internet celebrities stems from our whole set of decision-making systems. At the beginning of the establishment of the company, I thought that the traditional star brokerage is a high-input, high-risk, but once successful may be high-output 'single-wood bridge business'; therefore, worry-free based on the new media platform incubation network students to build a set of incubation and growth system for artists, based on five considerations in the selection criteria: appearance, emotional intelligence, talent, appeal, character; and then on the basis of selection, we then do hierarchical incubation operations according to different development directions, and then according to data feedback, Combined with our needs and development trends for the entire market and society, we will judge and determine the key support targets," Lei Binyi said.

After Liu Qihong became popular, Worry-free Media has not yet had time to conduct a comprehensive and systematic review of this phenomenon-level event; they are busy with how to make this IP more full and extend the matrix.

If you open Douyin now, the platform may push you the latest short video of Liu Qihong. In this short video, Liu And his wife Vivi introduce their new Douyin account, "Liu Qihong Fat Oil Clicks Off", which is different from Liu Qihong's original account content, focusing on a 90-minute long video that includes the full version of his famous Materia Medica, in order to facilitate professional users who want immersive training. Not only that, Liu Qihong's wife vivi also opened her own food short video account.

In addition to helping the talents to carry out the matrix operation of the content, Lei Binyi also set up a complete set of feedback systems for them. "We also have a very good mechanism, which is data authentication; through the feedback of operational data, this will constantly correct our judgment." Help us form a more accurate vision. ”

The way forward

"There are thousands of Douyin Internet celebrities, and half of them are worry-free media", there is such a saying circulating in the short video circle.

But in an exclusive interview with the Economic Observer reporter, Lei Binyi said that now he is more worried about the pressure "under the fame": how to manage a team of more than 2,500 people and more than 80,000 anchors, talents and artists who have signed contracts? Lei Binyi said that compared to creating a phenomenon-level Internet celebrity like Liu Qihong, he is now more troubled by the fact that he has never encountered such a big pressure.

In order to solve the problems of organizational management and corporate innovation, he has even begun to return to the classroom – now Lei Binyi is a member of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business's Entrepreneur Scholar Program. This program is one of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business's most influential business school programs, and most of the previous students have been the heads of large companies in various traditional fields. Lei Binyi said that he still remembers that during the entrance interview of the Entrepreneur scholar program, Professor Liu Jin of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business told him that China's entrepreneurial group should be supplemented by young entrepreneurs with new formats.

Graduated from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Lei Binyi has been working in the video industry for nearly 20 years, and has experienced the challenges of product, operation, copyright and marketing. In 2011, he was the director of the multi-terminal department of Phoenix.com, in 2014 he was the director of the promotion and cooperation department of YY entertainment channels, and in 2016, he chose to start a business and founded Worry-free Media. He took the lead in the industry to propose to build an Internet-based brokerage company, dedicated to live broadcasting, short video, e-commerce, integrated marketing, commodity IP, music production and distribution, star brokerage and other businesses, and won the first place in the monthly list of Douyin MCN agencies 36 times.

However, in contrast, the cultural and entertainment industry in advanced economies has no successful precedent for business models such as Worry-free Media.

Lei Binyi said that he did not position his company, but wanted to "explore according to our ideas." On the basis of the business model of the traditional brokerage company, he wants to do something different, and now, Lei Binyi and the worry-free he led have begun to explore these new content sections of knowledge sharing.

"Can more talented young people be seen?" Can we let Chinese brands contribute to our strength in the process of going global? This was my vision at the beginning of my business, and it has not changed to this day. Lei Binyi said.

【Dialogue】

A new stage

Economic Observer: Is Liu Ruihong's explosion inevitable?

Lei Binyi: Unexpectedly. When I signed him before, I thought I could do it, but I really didn't expect it to be so hot. This phenomenon-level explosion is also very rare on the platform. However, our basic plan is still there, because we have no worries about basically one or two red people who are all over the Internet every year, so we have a plan in each section of content and channels - of course, because each sector has previous lessons, so after the opportunity comes, we can seize it and let him jump up a little higher.

Economic Observer: From liu qihong's body, what is the difference between celebrities and previous internet celebrity creations?

Lei Binyi: Traditional brokerage companies are actually a high-investment and high-risk area, but it is also an area with high output. This means, first of all, that the requirements for "selecting seedlings" will also be higher.

In the early days, for the show business, the Mei Lanfang Grand Theatre may be their stage. Later, it was the training class model that was born of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Later, like the "Super Girl", "The Voice of China", etc., which we are all familiar with before, the last variety show may be on fire.

In the era of new media, if we push a person, the upfront cost may not be so high. For example, if we are an artist, he may not need to spend much money on the stage, it may be a microphone, some costume props, staff, the cost is actually relatively low. But he gained a bigger stage, and through the live broadcast room he gained more audiences than ever before. This is a big change.

For example, Liu Ruihong, who may also need to go on variety shows before, but this will be subject to his time arrangement and energy allocation; and when he comes to new media platforms, he can display his talents, output content, interact with the audience at home, and finally generate commercial value. So we think that new media does open a ceiling: in the future, the boundaries between celebrities and influencers are relatively blurred.

Of course, the potential chain of disdain in the circle may still exist, but as the user base of new media platforms grows, we may find that this main stage is changing.

This change is inevitable, because where the audience is, the stage is there; where the users are, the marketing is where it is.

So I think the concept of future talents and stars is vague. The key lies in your talent and what you are willing to learn later, what you are willing to consolidate, what you are willing to precipitate, and in addition, whether your company can bring you new space.

Influencer methodology

The Economic Observer: How did you discover the "Liu Qihongs" in advance? What is the cooperation model between Worry-free and signed artists?

Lei Binyi: Traditional brokerage companies often face a big problem, that is, a company may sign a few people, dozens of people, up to a hundred people, they face the channel and the market is relatively single and solidified; this means that the traditional brokerage company is a one-way bridge business. There are so many explosive variety shows, TV series, and movies that can be produced in a year, and the actors and stars needed are also limited. This determines that the traditional brokerage business is a high-input, high-risk, but it is also possible to truly become a high-output field.

We founded Worry-Free because we saw a change: now it is not everyone who is trying to squeeze a single wooden bridge, but on the platform of new media, as long as you have thousands of fans, you can get better development and income. On this basis, we have built a human-based incubation system.

At the beginning of 2017, we determined five basic points - appearance, emotional intelligence, talent, appeal, character - as a basic judgment, and then based on the development of market and social needs, to determine which ones have the opportunity to fire; finally, we have data verification, it will continue to revise our judgment.

Therefore, over the past 6 years, we have gradually formed an increasingly accurate vision of discovering "good seedlings". But we can not only find such "good seedlings", what we have to do is how to make them continue to fire, which also includes psychological construction, skill support and improvement after he is on fire, which are what we have to do.

The Economic Observer: For the video content track, do you have a new direction to look forward to in the future?

Lei Binyi: In addition to the fitness track, we will increase knowledge services, such as parenting knowledge, emotional counseling, skills knowledge, etc., focusing on the sharing and transformation of knowledge, we will strengthen the introduction of professionals in this area, and then make some courses. There are also some vocational education promotions, which we will gradually expand.

Let some people get on fire first

The Economic Observer: As the head agency in the MCN field, will Worry-Free now feel competitive pressure?

Lei Binyi: To this day, I still think it is necessary to maintain the mentality of starting a business. Now the entire industry is not only developing rapidly, but also competition is intensifying. After the epidemic in 2020, we have seen more and more capital and experts in various industries begin to enter this industry. With the increase in the number of people participating, higher requirements have indeed been put forward for the industry. We are also facing some peer competition, such as peer competition in the field of short video plus advertising, not to mention live streaming, the competition is more intense, and there will certainly be many competitors in the field of knowledge services behind.

Fortunately, this is a large enough market, the road ahead, I think there are greater opportunities; and from the perspective of the worry-free comprehensive sector, in the coverage of the whole business area, we will have relatively fewer competitors at the moment. To this end, we have set a plan to focus on only one or two directions of new efforts every year, do it solidly, and then gradually achieve the head of the industry. So I say that the most important point is how to achieve self-renewal and self-revolution.

The Economic Observer: What is the biggest problem you're having right now?

Lei Binyi: Compared to creating a phenomenon-level internet celebrity, I later encountered a challenge that I had never had before, that is, management. Now the company employs more than 2,500 people, and this year may exceed 3,000 people, they are distributed in more than 10 cities across the country, which poses a very big challenge for business management.

My solution was to go to business school and see. Recommended by friends and some background understanding, I made a decision last year, that is, to study Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, hoping to communicate with more people with mature experience and broad horizons; I also hope to have high people to guide and learn more systematically.

I still remember that during the entrance interview of the Entrepreneur Scholar Program, Professor Liu Jin of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business told me that China's entrepreneurial group should be supplemented by young entrepreneurs with new formats.

In fact, after enrolling in school, a big confusion I faced at that time was explained. At that time, I was confused about the understanding of common prosperity, but in the Yangtze River, the professors gave me a deep understanding of this problem through systematic theory and comprehensive and detailed data and cases, and later when making relevant decisions, many of my ideas became clear.

The Economic Observer: How do you position yourself to be worry-free?

Lei Binyi: When I was founded, I put forward two visions: The first was to let talented young people get more development opportunities with the help of new media platforms. I remember a platform executive in 17 years said that more than 70% of Chinese musicians do not make money, and 30% of the people who make money may have a large part of them singing in bars and have a meager income. Can we broaden the path of young musicians? Can you let everyone "not go hungry on the road to chasing their dreams"? Can we "let some people catch fire first" and let more young people see hope? I think there's a lot of room left.

The second vision is to help China's new consumer brands go global. We know that in recent years, many new Chinese consumer brands have been born in the live broadcast room, can we let our talents interact to better promote these Chinese consumer brands, we hope that in this process, we can contribute our own strength.