[Exposure of celebrity delivery price: Zhao Lusi 800,000]Not long ago, a brand publicist revealed to Sohu Entertainment that celebrity endorsement fees are now diving.
There are first-line artists who paid a full 20 million for their endorsement three years ago, and now they can ask for 7 million; some people have their endorsement fee reduced by half, and the brand has to offset it with goods. The waist artists are naturally even worse, they can’t reach the big-name endorsements, and there is no filming yet.
So they turned to short video platforms one after another.
It used to be Taobao and Douyin, but now it is Xiaohongshu.
Different from the quarrel-style selling in the live broadcast room, on Xiaohongshu, stars with their own “exquisiteness” are often more popular. They not only earn money, but also gain face.
Celebrities flock to Xiaohongshu
When we mentioned celebrities before, people thought they were star-studded under the spotlight, but nowadays, more and more celebrities gather in Xiaohongshu to share their outfits, skin care, cooking, sports, etc., and try their best to show them.” life” side.
Among them, there are Lin Yun, who teaches skin care, Yin Zheng, who basks in diet meals every day, and Jing Boran, who sends Xiaohongshu as a circle of friends.
Why did the stars start to be “grounded”?
Da Jin, the head of Chijin Studio, which specializes in cooperating with brand artists, revealed that most celebrities only started playing Xiaohongshu during the epidemic. One of the important reasons is that they saw the dividends of Xiaohongshu.
“In the beginning, many stars were not optimistic about this platform, and the platform still needed to pay for stars to settle in. Stars such as Lin Yun were the first to eat crabs. She has 10 million fans so far, more than many first-line artists.” Dajin said.
The emergence of the new platform has redefined the “coffee position” of celebrities. Some artists have tens of millions of followers on Weibo, but they have less than 100 likes and comments on Xiaohongshu. Some artists seem to have no works, and rely on interesting Content becomes the head blogger.
Dajin classifies the stars on Xiaohongshu according to their commercial value. In addition to top-notch Fan Bingbing, the first echelon at this stage are first-line rising actresses such as Zhao Lusi and Bailu. They currently have the highest traffic and the most suitable products. The wave of people with the best conversion data is quoted at around 800,000.
The second echelon is Lin Yun, Ouyang Nana and others, who rely on interesting content to attract fans on Xiaohongshu. They are well-known and have the attributes of bringing goods, but they are not so popular. The price is around 600,000.
The third echelon is Zhu Zhu, He Chaolian, Yu Shuxin and others. In the “per capita rich woman” Xiaohongshu, this kind of “exquisite” artist will be more favored by the brand side.
For example, Yu Shuxin had the label of “Miss Qianjin” when she debuted, so after entering Xiaohongshu, the starting price for a piece of Xiaohongshu was 300,000. Now that she has the hit drama “Canglan Jue” in hand, her net worth has naturally doubled.
Zhu Zhu also likes to cooperate with some noble lady brands because of her “lady” image and maternal and child attributes.
“Celebrity endorsements rely on fans to pay, while Xiaohongshu relies on passersby to grow grass.”
Dajin said, “It will be more convincing for those artists who have their own extravagance to share good things. They recommend cheap products, and they will give you a feeling, ‘She is so rich and uses it, she must not be wrong’, and They use expensive things, and you won’t feel that people and things don’t match.”
Of course, what most affects an artist’s business value is his work.
Like Zhao Lusi, when she first became popular with “The Rumored Chen Qianqian”, because her image at the time was a bit of an internet celebrity and was not an official female star, so Xiaohongshu couldn’t advertise the price, and it was only 120,000 yuan. Now she has been promoted perfectly, Worth not what it used to be.
Just like Zhao Lusi, Bai Lu, Yu Shuxin, Wang Hedi, Tan Jianci, Zhang Linghe and others also increased their commercial value this year because of the popularity of their works.
In any case, the starting point for celebrities entering Xiaohongshu is already higher than that of most amateur Internet celebrities.
“With the same number of fans, if the price of an amateur Internet celebrity is 10,000, the star’s price can be reported five or six times that of them, because the star brings goods, not only has the function of planting grass, but also has the effect of promoting.” Professional star Sasy Tang, founder of Shuge Media, which is operated by Xiaohongshu, said.
The business model behind “good things sharing”
The commercial forms of celebrities on Xiaohongshu are mainly divided into three categories.
The first is unpacking and sharing good things.
“Artists are going to put on a makeup today. After the whole process, they will inadvertently reveal a certain brand, and that brand is basically business.”
Dajin said, “It’s not ruled out that there are celebrities who really like a certain brand and are really happy, but this is rare, especially big-name artists, who are very afraid of this practice, because they know that after the brand sees them using it, they will definitely Use screenshots of his videos to promote.”
This kind of “good thing sharing” type of soft implantation is a popular form of promotion used by celebrities on Xiaohongshu. In the words of industry insiders, “pseudo-collection, true and false” – half of a video is Maybe half of the celebrity’s good things for personal use are branded goods.
“If a star’s single video price is 100,000 yuan, but the brand’s budget is only 30,000 yuan, the artist will put together two more products to make a collection.” Sasy Tang said, “The collection fee is determined according to the order in which the brand is exposed. , the first appearance may be 50,000, the second 30,000, the third 20,000, the duration will be different.”
If the money is in place, the star will also recommend a whole video around a product, but it is definitely not a straightforward sale of goods, it is still “good things to share”.
The second is short video generation.
The brand will find a celebrity to promote it. If the effect is good, the brand will buy the promotional video for a period of several months and write it on its own e-commerce platform, “XXX Recommended”.
“This kind of is a bit like a short-term endorsement, and the price will double, tens or millions are possible.” Dajin said.
The last one is the most profitable one. Celebrities are deeply tied to the brand, and they only take the basic pit fee. After a certain amount of KPIs are completed, they will take a cut of the brand’s income after that.
It is reported that some female artists rely on commissions to attract tens of millions of dollars.
Of course, there are also celebrities who are their own bosses. For example, Fan Bingbing and Yang Tianzhen have their own brands. Naturally, they will not focus on how much money a single video makes, but on the traffic and profits that the entire brand can obtain.
Of course, no matter which platform a celebrity monetizes, what ordinary netizens care about most is how well their quality control is done.
Sasy Tang revealed that since some celebrities overturned because of their endorsements, now the artist team basically chooses products, such as sending some products to try before cooperation. As for whether they have really tried it, no one knows. The cycle, time does not wait for anyone, and it is impossible for a product to be tested in a day or two to see if it is good or bad.”
Therefore, the most critical quality control standards are still in the minds of artists.
Why are stars “grounded”?
Since the rise of live broadcasting, there has always been a saying that stars bring goods is the beginning of the downfall. Sasy Tang does not agree with this view.
“Before I invited celebrities to make Xiaohongshu, many artists really resisted. They would think that I did a good job in filming, and I didn’t care about that much money. Now, because of various reasons, everyone is paying attention to it. ,” said Sasy Sugar.
It is not difficult to understand the reason behind this. Under the influence of the epidemic, film and television projects have dropped sharply, and offline business activities are very few. The most intuitive manifestation is that the endorsement fee of celebrities has shrunk seriously.
Zhang Hao, a senior brand publicist, revealed to Sohu Entertainment that when a certain 85 flower spoke for a national makeup brand in 2019, the annual endorsement fee was about 20 million, and now the endorsement fee for an internationally renowned beauty brand has dropped to 7 million.
Another 85 flower, whose endorsement fee was around 25 million a year ago, is now fluctuating between 14 million and 18 million.
More brands use hot searches, opening screens, etc. to announce and distribute resources to lower prices, or use goods to offset endorsement fees.
For some top artists, Zhang Hao feels that they “talk better”.
In the past, top artists may still be picky about endorsements. For example, some people only accept the age, and now they are also considering a three-month short generation. Recently, Zhang Hao also heard that some popular female stars have opened portrait authorization.
“Open portrait licensing means that celebrities authorize their portraits to brands for use. Celebrities don’t need to shoot planes, but for TVC, the price is much lower than that of endorsements,” Zhang Hao explained.
“Generally speaking, when comparing top-tier first-line artists, they would not consider this form of cooperation. In the past, it was only some declining artists, or familiar faces in film and television dramas.”
A set of data also confirms this change.
Aiman data shows that the number of brands endorsed by official announcements in the first half of 2022 is less than that of the previous two years. In the first half of 2020, there are 619, 915 in 2021, and only 591 in 2022, which is nearly half of the number in 2021.
At the same time, in the first half of 2022, endorsements of various categories will also decrease a lot, and only IT companies will rise against the wind, but as we all know, among the endorsements of traffic artists, cosmetics and fast-moving consumer goods are their main battlefields.
“Many brands now have no budget, and it is not easy to come up with this budget. Some brands we have served before either don’t consider artists at all now, or this brand only considers the form of artist cooperation with direct sales conversion. For example, live broadcasts bring goods.” Sasy Candy said.
“For the remaining brands, most of the needs for artists are to let them bring goods, but how many traffic artists can really bring goods now? You can’t cut it after a few waves, so the brand side spends its time with it. Hiring a celebrity to be a spokesperson at a large price may still be risky, so it might be better to put in some more self-media, or have a one-time cooperation with an artist.”
On the other hand, due to the impact of the epidemic, the number of film and television dramas has dropped sharply, and many artists are in a state of no drama to film. The brokerage company is eager to monetize the artists, and will also sign their short video accounts to MCN agencies. to make up for the loss of their salary.
Under all kinds of pressure, stars are either active or passive, and squeezed into the track of short video platforms bringing goods.
The difference is, “Compared with live streaming, Xiaohongshu’s daily grass-growing sharing mode is acceptable to most celebrities. They don’t have to sit in the live broadcast room to introduce product by product, and they don’t have to worry about live broadcasts. Overturning from time to time, not affected by the epidemic, can maintain their own personality, let more fans understand themselves, satisfy ordinary people’s curiosity about artists, and make money, why not do it.” Sasy Tang said.
“Here, stars can find a delicate balance between sharing their lives and selling goods, making themselves seem less utilitarian.”