Why does Lei Jun always sit at the top of the list of “Internet celebrity entrepreneurs”?

This article deeply analyzes how Lei Jun became a representative of the "Internet celebrity entrepreneur" with his unique personal charm and successful experience, and explores the dual impact of this phenomenon on brand image and marketing. It is recommended for readers who are interested in entrepreneurial personal brand building and marketing strategies.

"In his spare time, Lei Jun found a "cool article" to read. Inner thoughts: "Isn't this so cool?" This is the impression of many netizens after reading "Lei Jun's cool article".

After the Xiaomi Auto launch, what became even more popular than the Xiaomi SU7 was the resume of the founder Lei Jun, who once again became a popular figure among entrepreneurs, thanks to his academic excellence, successful career, marrying his first love, and youthful appearance at the age of 55.

Currently, on platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Weibo, and Bilibili, the "cool articles" featuring Lei Jun as the male lead have become "predestined" hits. From marketing accounts, bloggers to ordinary people, it can be said that whoever posts it becomes popular. Among them, the highest number of likes on Douyin's related content exceeded one million, and the related forwarding exceeded 500,000. Many netizens lamented that in the future, when Lei Jun calls Xiao Ai, they should reply: "Host, I'm here."

In fact, the topic of Lei Jun's cool writing became popular after his fourth speech in 2023. At the speech, Lei Jun recalled his interesting stories such as completing all credits in two years in college, having his sophomore homework written into textbooks, and making an encryption software in half a month "making a lot of money". These stories combined together have a strong "cool writing color". With the blessing of netizens' "brain hole", Lei Jun has become the strongest cool writing male protagonist.

Making friends with users has always been the core of the "Mi Fan" culture, and the continued spread of Lei Jun's cool articles has directly expanded the circle of "Mi Fans". Many major social platforms have seen the phenomenon of people getting to know Xiaomi products because of Lei Jun. With the blessing of Lei Jun's personal charm, many netizens have realized the transformation from "Lei Fans" to "Mi Fans".

In addition, an interesting phenomenon has emerged in the comments of many fans: some people who have never paid attention to Xiaomi are very "addicted" to Lei Jun himself. In their eyes, both Xiaomi cars and Xiaomi phones are Lei Jun's peripherals.

Why is Lei Jun so popular among so many business leaders? Has Lei Jun's personal charm overshadowed Xiaomi's products? Is this a marketing success or failure for the brand?

1. The "cool male protagonist" with his own system

In the novel world, the personalities of the "cool male protagonists" are varied, and their appearance is entirely up to the readers' imagination. "There are a thousand Hamlets for a thousand readers." Many popular "cool male protagonists" have one thing in common: successful careers + marrying their fair moonlight.

Source: Screenshot from Xiaohongshu

And Lei Jun's resume fits the bill perfectly.

In 1969, Lei Jun was born into a teacher's family in Xiantao, Hubei. Influenced by his father's teaching profession, Lei Jun loved learning since he was a child.

Lei Jun's excellent math, physics and chemistry scores in high school also laid a solid foundation for his future programming potential. According to Jimu News, Lei Jun's math, physics and chemistry scores were always excellent during high school. Lei Jun's high school class teacher Xu Zuyang recalled: "Lei Jun's college entrance examination score was 588 points, ranking fifth in the class, which was more than 30 points higher than the admission score of key universities in Hubei Province that year."

In 1987, Lei Jun was admitted to the Computer Science Department of Wuhan University and started his college life. The playground of Wuhan University was where Lei Jun decided to "pursue his dream". At that time, Lei Jun read "Fire of Silicon Valley" in the library, and the dream of starting a business was successfully ignited in his heart. This book tells the stories of some computer amateurs who realized their entrepreneurial dreams with their love and enthusiasm, including Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

Influenced by the legendary entrepreneurial stories of computer giants, Lei Jun was so excited that he couldn't sleep and walked around the playground of Wuhan University all night. That night, he figured out his future path: to start a great company.

However, for a freshman, this "grand" goal is a bit like "a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger", and even Lei Jun himself ridiculed it as "outrageous".

In order to have time to study his dream, Lei Jun decided to finish his studies quickly. So he "took twice as many classes, wrote twice as many homework, and passed twice as many exams", completing all the credits for four years of university in two years.

After mastering the theory, Lei Jun quickly began to practice. But more than 30 years ago, computers were a "new" thing, and even computer science students only used them for a few hours a week. In order to save time using the computer and practice writing programs more, Lei Jun came up with a good idea: "Use printing paper to copy the keyboard." After getting familiar with the code, he rewrote all the demonstration programs on paper until he could write at the same level as in the textbook.

After countless times of practice, Lei Jun's sophomore programming assignment was included in the textbook.

Moreover, in his sophomore year, Lei Jun, who was less than 20 years old, and Wang Quanguo, a senior student with whom he had a good relationship at the time, developed an encryption software in half a month. The huge sales of this software not only made Lei Jun earn his first pot of gold in life, but also made him famous in the software circle at the time. Lei Jun once proudly introduced: "This software is priced at more than 2,000 yuan, and the sales volume is good. We have continued to upgrade several generations and sold it for six or seven years, making a lot of money."

After the funds were in place, Lei Jun began his entrepreneurial journey in his junior year. From selling computers to writing software, to typing and copying business, Lei Jun's business scope was very diverse. He described his mentality at the time in his own words: "For the great dream, I am not afraid of hard work and do all kinds of business." Soon, due to the lack of a mature business system, the "fruits" of the first entrepreneurial venture were strangled in the cradle.

After graduating from university, Lei Jun had his first transformation. With his solid professional skills, Lei Jun was brought into Kingsoft by Qiu Bojun, the author of WPS. Here, Lei Jun devoted 16 years of hard work, starting as the sixth employee of Kingsoft, and became the CEO at the age of 28.

Lei Jun has played a crucial role in the development of the WPS software we use now, from its initial iteration to the capital game during the battle with Microsoft Office and the subsequent spin-off and listing of Kingsoft subsidiaries, and has successfully created tens of billions of wealth for Kingsoft Group.

At the age of 31, Lei Jun sensed the development opportunities of e-commerce and founded Joyo.com. Although he did not stick with it, he successfully cashed out $75 million, and the company that bought Joyo.com is the well-known Amazon.

At the age of 40, Lei Jun founded Xiaomi. In 2023, Xiaomi achieved annual revenue of RMB 271 billion and net profit of RMB 19.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 126.3%.

However, the growing accumulation of wealth did not stop Lei Jun. The 51-year-old Lei Jun started the car-making plan again. Xiaomi SU7 delivered 1,095 units in the first week, ranking fifth in the brand sales ranking of pure electric vehicles above 200,000 yuan, surpassing Zhijie and Xiaopeng Motors. At present, the sales of SU7 are still growing. Some netizens said: The author of the cool article still remains at the level of linear growth, which is nothing more than a larger slope, and has not yet realized the horror of exponential growth in reality. And Lei Jun is one of the representatives of exponential growth.

Source: Weibo screenshot

In addition, Lei Jun's love story from school uniform to wedding dress also made many netizens very envious, which also emphasized the cool color of Lei Jun's novel. According to media reports, Lei Jun's wife Zhang Tong and he met and knew each other in college, and Zhang Tong was Lei Jun's first love. Many fans said: "It fits the male protagonist of the novel better."

2. No "daddy flavor", full of youthfulness

In addition to his resume of cool articles, Lei Jun's personality charm of "not having a daddy vibe and being full of youthfulness" is deeply loved by young people.

Amidst a host of comments such as "lying down and doing nothing is a sign of young people's incompetence", "I haven't seen the pay slip", "sometimes look for the reasons within yourself: has your salary increased over the years? Have you been working hard?" and "only thinking about making more money is no different from being a zombie", Lei Jun seemed particularly sincere.

Regarding gap year job seekers who are not welcomed in the current workplace, Lei Jun said: "In fact, taking a gap year occasionally and relaxing may help you go further"; Regarding the young people who flock to join large companies, Lei Jun said: "Joining a good small company and growing with it is also a good experience"; Regarding people's current dependence on mobile phones, Lei Jun said: "My family happens to sell mobile phones, but I also suggest that everyone spend less time on their phones, go out more, meet friends, and see the scenery"; Regarding how young people choose their future path, Lei Jun said: "I suggest not giving young people too much advice, just believe in them, and don't dictate what young people can do or how they can do it. Everyone's life has infinite possibilities."

We cannot ignore the inspirational stories of our "predecessors" who have achieved success in their careers, but in today's Internet age, the advice of "experts" can no longer be the only answer to solving problems. Each generation has its own propositions of the times. Compared with the rigid preaching of "daddy", today's young people need more sincere and equal experience sharing. As the famous writer Yu Hua said: "Now if someone comes to tell you that you have to work hard and be motivated, you will get a good reward, such chicken soup is no longer true. Times have changed. When I was young, to be honest, as long as you work hard and keep motivated, basically most people can get rewards. Now it is not the case."

Therefore, only two-way empathy based on putting oneself in others' shoes can arouse resonance among young people.

In addition, when facing negative comments such as spoof videos and ridicule for poor English proficiency, Lei Jun's generous handling of the situation has won him countless fans. At a Xiaomi mobile phone launch event in India, Lei Jun's words "ARE YOU OK" caused ridicule from the entire network because of his limited English proficiency, and many netizens complained that Lei Jun spoke "Chinglish".

Source: Screenshot of video from Lei Jun’s Bilibili account

Later, a netizen named Mr. Lemon on Bilibili made a video of a ghost-style song based on the English sentences Lei Jun said at the Indian press conference. The divine song "ARE YOU OK?" was born and quickly spread widely. After seeing it, Lei Jun not only personally said: "Study English well in the future", but also bought the copyright of this divine song and even included it in the Xiaomi mobile phone ringtone. At present, the video has been played more than 45.29 million times on Bilibili.

Now, "ARE YOU OK" has become Lei Jun's catchphrase, and even Xiaomi officials have started to play with it. Thanks to this, Lei Jun has successfully attracted many young people active on Bilibili. Until now, videos about Lei Jun's speech mistakes, Lei Jun's social death moments, Lei Jun's embarrassing scenes, etc. are still increasing on major social platforms, and the discussion is still high.

3. Lei Jun and his surroundings

After going viral time and again, an interesting phenomenon has emerged around Lei Jun: some people who have never paid attention to Xiaomi are very "addicted" to Lei Jun himself. In their eyes, both Xiaomi cars and Xiaomi phones are Lei Jun's peripherals.

Source: Screenshot from Xiaohongshu

Among this group of new fans, the female fans who "started with the appearance and are loyal to the talent" are "the first to bear the brunt". His height of 181cm + thick hair + good body management have attracted many female fans. Some fans said: Although I can't afford SU7, I don't want this man to lose; some fans are attracted by him personally and truly realize that you can choose not to buy Xiaomi products, but you can't miss the press conference.

After SU7 was launched, the proportion of female car owners was very high. Lei Jun said: "The current orders far exceeded the "most optimistic" expectations, and I plan to start a live broadcast to talk to everyone in the near future." After seeing Lei Jun "talking" about Xiaomi's car factory, 0-100 acceleration seconds and other data, many middle-aged and elderly groups of science and engineering men and fathers also became obsessed with Lei Jun and began to wait and see about SU7.

In this regard, Cui Lili, a professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said: "The discussion about founders will be more heated, mainly because, generally speaking, only brand consumers will pay attention to brands, but anyone can pay attention to bigwigs."

Romain Rolland, a famous French thinker, once said in his book The Life of a Great Man that faith is not a subject but a behavior, and it is meaningful only when it is put into practice. This sentence is the most appropriate to describe the relationship between consumers and Lei Jun and Xiaomi.

Belief is not only people's thoughts, but also their behavior. When applied to Xiaomi, it can be summarized that after fans join Lei Jun, Lei Jun's personal dynamics will directly affect their consumption behavior, realizing the transformation from "Lei fans" to "Mi fans". For example, the Xiaomi work clothes that Lei Jun has worn many times recently have been planted by many fans. In order to meet the fans' "wishes" to buy, Lei Jun limited 800 pieces to the shelves, priced at 299 yuan. In just a few minutes, they were "snatched away" by fans, and some fans who did not buy them even chose to go to second-hand platforms to buy them at a higher price. Many clothing merchants have smelled the "business opportunity" and started selling Lei Jun's 1:1 customized work clothes on Xianyu.

The emergence of the above phenomenon is inseparable from Lei Jun's personal charm and the amplified marketing of the Xiaomi marketing team behind him. For the brand, Lei Jun's personal charm and good reputation have brought positive influence to the Xiaomi brand. Consumers' trust and love for Lei Jun have a great chance to be transformed into attention and willingness to buy Xiaomi products, which to a certain extent promotes the sales of Xiaomi products and the market competitiveness of the brand.

However, the continued amplification of personal IP weight is also a double-edged sword, which means that in the future Lei Jun needs to manage his personal image more carefully to avoid affecting the entire brand due to personal problems.

Author: Xia Tian; Source public account: Clour (ID: 1093227)