What is Zhou Hongyi trying to achieve by creating a personal IP in the automotive industry?

A few days ago, car reviewer Yan Chuang released a video saying that Zhou Hongyi's 9.9 million yuan auction of Maybach was a farce, because Zhou Hongyi did not even have a driver's license and could only hype traffic with second-hand dealers, and was not worthy of respect from the automotive industry.

How could the cardinal tolerate such harsh criticism? On June 2, at the "Nezha name change" live broadcast conference, Zhou Hongyi said that Yan Chuang was too "superficial". Since then, Yan Chuang, Zhou Hongyi and even Nezha Auto have all gained a wave of traffic.

Everyone knows that Zhou Hongyi did not directly get involved in making cars, but over the past period of time, Zhou Hongyi has been commenting on heroes around the world, promoting Nezha Auto, a company he invested in, and sometimes even making a guest appearance at Yu Chengdong's place. He is very busy.

Zhou Hongyi is so "unfocused", doesn't he go to work?

The world is bustling with people all for profit, and the government is busy for fame. Mr. Zhou is doing all this for traffic, but what does he want traffic for? It seems that these bulk traffic cannot serve 360 ​​company. After losing hundreds of billions of market value from the highest point, 360 stock is now worth only 8 yuan per share.

So, is he frantically creating traffic to help Nezha bring in goods? It seems not. Zhou Hongyi is indeed an investor in Nezha Auto, but the two sides do not seem to be so close. On the contrary, they seem to be not so harmonious everywhere. Anyone who usually pays attention to the Weibo of Nezha Auto Chairman Zhang Yong can probably feel this. He usually implies Zhou Hongyi, his investor.

So, what is Zhou Hongyi trying to achieve by running around like this?

91che feels that there are two biggest possibilities. First, to build a personal IP, to give yourself an extra halo beyond your identity as an entrepreneur, and to reverse the past industry reputation in a down-to-earth way.

Personal IP is a popular way of playing in the past two years. It does not necessarily belong to a specific field. It is like a dessert that can be used in any cuisine and no one will refuse it. After the IP is successfully created, it can be applied to various industries and can bring huge attention to any industry. As for whether this eyeball economy works and can be monetized, we will have to wait and see. Anyway, Internet celebrities seem to be quite rich.

The same goes for Zhou Hongyi's personal IP. His fans just want to see what Zhou Hongyi says and does. Whether he is selling cars or raising pigs, he can find fans to support him, because fans are a highly adaptive type of "leeks" who want the emotional value of "the upper class is with me and having fun together."

As expected, Zhang Yong responded to his investors' creation of personal IPs one day after the name change conference. He said sarcastically, "I heard a cold joke today, and I have felt it recently: No one is starting a business anymore, but everyone is working on entrepreneur IPs."

The second reason is that Zhou Hongyi wants to gain more public voice over Nezha Auto through the surge in online popularity. Equity determines rights and interests, but the size of the online voice determines the amount of the other party's bid and the psychological burden to be borne.

This possibility is very high. Why? Just look at how much Zhang Yong resisted his investor. They must have argued with each other at the shareholders' meeting, and even expressed their emotions directly on the table, Weibo and at the auto show.

But it should be noted that there is an essential difference between car manufacturing and Internet IP hype. Fans are changing. Take the recently resigned director of the General Administration of Sports as an example. Fans can praise you as Director Gou today, but call you a Gou thing tomorrow. But car manufacturing is different. It requires constant and uninterrupted investment, a very long cycle, and continuous investment in research and development. Traffic can only solve the problem of "letting users know themselves". Even if the traffic is high, it still needs strong product support.

To give a simple example, Zhou Hongyi has been promoting Nezha Auto for a long time, but in May, Nezha Auto sold only 10,113 vehicles, down 22.4% year-on-year, making it the only new mainstream car manufacturer with a decline in sales. What does this mean? Most consumers are knowledgeable and will not pay for something just because someone wears a bright red dress and walks around on stage.

From the perspective of the industry, we hope to see these traffic hype masters hit a few snags, only in this way, manufacturers will focus on technology research and development and product performance improvement. This desire comes from a basic conscience: cars are not software. If the software fails, the bug can be fixed online, but if the car fails, it is a matter of life and death.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.