After copying Dong Yuhui, Western Selection has "come back to life"

In this era where traffic is king, imitation may also be a new way to rise. Let's read the full text together to find out the mystery of the "Western Selection" explosion~

The "small essay" incident of Oriental Selection has come to an end.

"Sales champion" Dong Yuhui stayed in Oriental Selection and set up his own studio. His personal account gained more than 10 million followers in 15 days, and his newly opened account "Walk with Hui" gained 1.7 million followers in just three days. Oriental Selection, which was behind him, also announced on December 27 that it would sell its education business for 1.5 billion yuan and focus on e-commerce operations.

At the same time, another popular and then banned "copycat Dong Yuhui" quietly returned to the attention of netizens. This square-faced anchor who looks like Dong Yuhui on the "Western Selection" live broadcast was reborn through the "Ordinary People's Choice" account after being banned by Douyin, and took advantage of the popularity of "ordinary people" such as Yu Wenliang and Wen Huijun.

Copycat stars and internet celebrities are nothing new. Some are controversial, while others have won a lot of attention and favor. In the era of short videos, copycat stars and internet celebrities have become a shortcut to quickly attract traffic. One after another "imitation game" is staged on multiple platforms, and the interests behind it are beyond most people's imagination: "Lu Ha", a copycat of Lu Han, revealed that he made 35 million yuan by bringing goods in 7 months, and "Angry Xiaopeng Brother", a copycat of Xiao Yangge, has sold more than 190,000 goods on video accounts...

From becoming a traffic model to imitating a traffic model, the copycat accounts that wander in the gray area have taken the shortcut of quickly attracting traffic and realizing profits, and to a certain extent have won over many people who started at the same starting line. However, "those who imitate me will live, and those who imitate me will die." In an era where traffic is born and dies quickly, how fast you go is not the key, but how far you go is the key.

1. Selected from the West, becoming the “best choice for ordinary people”

On December 17, the “small essay” incident of Oriental Selection was still fermenting, and an account named “Western Selection” suddenly became popular.

Western Selection Live

In the video of this account, a man who looks very similar to Dong Yuhui said, "I'm going to the Western Selection Live Room", which attracted many netizens to rush into the live room and joked, "Is this Dong Xuehui?" "This should be Wu Yuhui." The number of online users of this live broadcast reached 40,000, and the number of views was close to 1 million.

But the good times did not last long. On December 18, the relevant account could no longer be searched on Douyin. The relevant person in charge of Douyin stated that the "Western Selection" account was involved in counterfeiting and improper hype, and the platform has banned the account.

Western Selection registered a Weibo account and bluntly stated that it was reported by Eastern Selection. It also posted its ID card, saying, "Anyone who looks alike is guilty. Our team has creative ideas and we don't steal or rob, we don't cheat or defraud, but now it has become a crime. There can only be Eastern, not Western."

Not long after it "vouched for itself", Western Zhenxuan returned to the stage and registered a Douyin account called "Ordinary People's Choice". Its profile reads "As a group of ordinary people among the vast majority of people, we only hope to be of benefit to others." It told the media that it will focus on content production in the future and that live streaming is also in preparation.

Although it is said that it will focus on content production, the overall style of the account still tends to be closer to Dongfang Zhenxuan and Dong Yuhui's personal account. The anchor who looks like Dong Yuhui took photos in the snow and easily received 13,000 likes. In addition, there are also female anchors who speak elegantly and introduce Chongqing's cultural tourism, but the number of likes is not as high as the first short video. Most netizens in the comment area are still playing memes, "I have already registered for Dongwan Zhenxuan, and all I need is to find a Dong Ninghui."

Compared with Western Selection, which had no products on the shelves before, "Ordinary People's Selection", which currently has 2,964 fans, has not yet started live streaming, but has already opened a window display and put 41 items on the shelves, including 18 snacks and 15 household daily necessities. The average customer spending is concentrated between 9.9 and 40 yuan, and the current window sales are 0.

From the Western Selection to the "Ordinary People's Selection", the operators behind the scenes seem to have changed direction. Because of the sudden popularity of Wen Huijun, an ordinary person, their direction of taking advantage of the popularity has also shifted from the Eastern Selection to "ordinary people".

In addition to the banned Western Selection, there are quite a few high-imitation accounts of Eastern Selection, such as "Northern Selection", "Eastern Selection" and "Dongpo Selection" on platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou and Xiaohongshu. Many accounts have opened windows and started live streaming to sell goods, and even the live broadcast rooms and the styles of the anchors are difficult to distinguish between the real and fake.

Behind the crazy emergence of high-imitation accounts is the tempting interests. In the Internet age, traffic is money. There is no clear plan and path for how to create traffic templates. Imitating successful traffic templates is obviously a shortcut with low threshold and easier to take.

2. Imitation, a shortcut to making quick money?

The traffic charm of top anchors has long been confirmed by many people. As long as you use their names and avatars, you can attract traffic and then realize monetization.

The most direct manifestation is the slicing authorization number: using the name, avatar, and live streaming content of the top anchor, you can attract many fans and then earn considerable profits through the shared bike display.

Crazy Xiao Yang's many slice numbers

At the Three Sheep Network press conference on April 14 this year, Xiao Yangge said that in 2022, more than 11,000 people obtained the slice authorization of his company, with an average income of 17,000 yuan per person, of which 316 brands achieved sales of over one million yuan through slice sales. The income of slice account operators alone reached 187 million yuan, and the amount of sales was an even larger number.

Many high-imitation accounts also target the traffic behind the top anchors, relying on traffic templates to take the shortcut of quickly attracting traffic and realizing monetization.

The simplest way to imitate is to start with the name. Dongwan Zhenxuan, Nanfang Zhenxuan and Beifang Zhenxuan simply use names to attract traffic. After Wen Huijun became popular, there were many accounts using the same or similar names.

Further imitation starts from the live broadcast room settings, live broadcast style and even the host himself.

This time, the "Western Selection" invited an anchor who looks like Dong Yuhui, and also imitated the "cultural sales". Although it was banned later, it was discussed by many netizens and was on the Douyin hot discussion list, which has achieved the purpose of attracting traffic.

Dongfangxuan and Dongpoxuan sell similar products

After the Western Selection was blocked, many netizens also mentioned the account "Dongpo Selection". According to Chanmama data, its sales in the past 30 days reached 250,000 to 500,000 yuan. The overall style of Dongpo Selection's live broadcast room is similar to Dongfang Selection, and even the presentation of fresh produce and agricultural and sideline products is somewhat similar, making it difficult to tell them apart. In the comment section of the short video released by Dongpo Selection, some netizens complained, "I'm surprised. Didn't (Dongfang Selection) say that the team building was suspended? After a closer look, it turns out that one word is different."

Previously, Ling Dale, who became famous for his appearance as Lu Han, revealed in his live broadcast that he had earned 35 million yuan from selling goods in 7 months, and was ranked first on Weibo's hot search list. According to Chanmama data, the amount of goods sold by him in the past 30 days has reached 10 million to 25 million yuan.

The "irritable Brother Xiaopeng" who imitated Brother Xiao Yang not only hung the same plaque "Brothers for life" as Brother Xiao Yang in the live broadcast room, but also imitated Brother Xiao Yang's "reverse sales" in the live broadcast style. He also had a similar hairstyle and clothes, and found a replica version of "Mrs. Xiao Yang". He carried out the imitation to the end, so that many video users thought that Brother Xiao Yang was live broadcasting on the video account.

Comparison of the live broadcast rooms of the grumpy Xiaopeng brother and the crazy Xiaoyang brother

The controversial imitation show was very effective in attracting traffic and bringing in goods. Xiaopeng’s WeChat video account showcase showed that 191,000 units had been sold, while Xiaoyang’s official WeChat video account showcase only brought in 10,000 units.

The copycat version of Xiao Yang Ge’s high-end imitation has surpassed the original in terms of sales performance on the video account.

3. Can copycats continue to generate cash?

Numerous "high imitation" accounts have attracted a wave of traffic, but what cannot be ignored is that even after gaining traffic, the audience still needs to be willing to pay.

Although Lingdale, Xiaopengge and Dongpo Zhenxuan became popular by relying on high-quality imitations, they also have considerable advantages of their own. They can make the audience pay for their live broadcasts and realize traffic monetization.

Most of Lingdale's live broadcasts are scheduled at 11 p.m., avoiding the prime time when big anchors broadcast. He transformed himself into a food broadcaster, selling snacks and beverages with low customer unit price. He even attracted a lot of genuine fans because of his "hard work in eating" in the live broadcast room, and was teased as the "Little Prince of Milk Dates."

Lingdale transforms into a food broadcaster

Xiaopeng has set his main business on WeChat Video Account. For most top anchors, WeChat Video Account is not the main operation platform. At the same time, WeChat Video Account does not have any native top internet celebrities on the platform, which can be regarded as a traffic depression. They can get a lot of attention and traffic by imitating Xiaoyang. The video account that focuses on live streaming has also given Xiaopeng more opportunities. On social platforms, many people said that they were actively pushed to Xiaopeng's live broadcast room by WeChat.

Dongpo Selection has attracted many fans with the personal charm of its anchors. Although their styles are similar, the anchors of Dongpo Selection do have some real skills. There are many singing and talent-showing sessions in the live broadcast room, which also enriches the content of the live broadcast room and account.

It is undeniable that high-quality imitation accounts have actually been operating in a gray area, hoping that the real owners will not pursue them.

Before Western Selection was banned, "Oriental Green Selection", which imitated Eastern Selection, was directly sued by Eastern Selection because of its highly similar logos and live broadcast room settings. The court ruled that it infringed the copyright of Eastern Selection's works and constituted unfair competition. Now the overall style of the account has changed.

Oriental Green Election sued in court

Brother Xiaopeng was also called out by Brother Xiaoyang, "You can't imitate the voice, the background, the clothes, the appearance, this is not called imitation, it's called plagiarism." He also said that he might take rights protection measures later.

At the same time, as live streaming sales enters the second half, top influencers such as Li Jiaqi, Simba and Xiao Yangge have already explored the supply chain and created their own competitive advantages from the supply chain end. Most accounts that became popular through high-end imitations do not have such advantages. In the increasingly competitive live streaming sales industry, elimination may only be a matter of time.

Western Selection, which has been banned once, changed its name to "Ordinary People's Choice" because it was concerned about the risks in the gray area and also found that Douyin created ordinary people as Internet celebrities, and wanted to rely on the topic of "ordinary people" to attract platform traffic and user attention. However, it seems that the two anchors of "Ordinary People's Choice" have not come up with any unique innovations. Most of the products in the window are from the official selection pool, and the number of video likes has continued to decline.

“Those who learn from me will live, those who imitate me will die.” Superficial copycats may be a shortcut to making quick money, but in the Internet age where hot spots are fleeting, it is more important to go long-term than to go fast.

Author: Wang Zhan, Editor: Si Wen

Source: WeChat public account "E-commerce Online"