- 来源｜化妆品财经在线
- 作者｜Zhang Huiyuan
From Maybelline's BA (Beauty Advisor) to web host, from beauty blogger to today's A-List live-streamer; having live-streamed for four years with a personal record of trying on over one hundred thousand beauty products, Austin Li is now again in a quest for a new identity.
The interview with Austin took place at 4pm right at the office of MEI ONE (Shanghai) Network Technology Co. Ltd.MEI ONE's office in Changning District in Shanghai resides inside a hyper-contemporary urban space, designed to integrate art, culture, leisure and business. At the entrance to the property, the security guard was taking temperatures of visitors one after another. A group of visitors carrying boxes marked with "XXBeauty" labels curiously gazed into the area while waiting in line. One of the property staff members casually asked the group "Looking for Austin?".While this location used to be known for its aesthetic vibe and historical architecture, Austin Li has now become the property's latest staple.At 4pm some chill-out tune began playing through the speakers across the property. Chic youngsters, all dolled up for a casual night of fun, gathered together in the area. In the meantime, MEI ONE was getting ready for its live-streaming session of the night.In April 2020 Austin Li relocated his live-streaming studio from his apartment to the company office. The office is a small 3-story house, with its exterior covered with a large-size image of Austin's 5 pets, usually known as the "Never Clan". As you walk closer to the building you will arrive at its gate which is only one meter wide, creating a solemn sense of ceremony as you enter the premises. When we rang the doorbell a 1.9 meter tall security guard swiftly opened the door, registered our appointment and led us to our seats.The doorbell kept ringing as visitors continued flooding in, packing the entire first floor. They were running all over the place, with samples piled up in their arms, project proposals in their hands and anticipation on their faces."Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long!" Before we even saw Austin we heard his voice from the conference room on the third floor. Austin darted over to meet us from a meeting he just finished.Austin was going to be the center of the live-streaming session scheduled to take off at 8pm that night. Together with supermodel He Sui as his co-host, Austin would launch the opening of Alibaba's 2021 Chinese New Year Shopping Festival on his livestream. However, we later learned from the interview that live-streaming no longer seems to be the center of Austin's career.From Maybelline's BA (Beauty Advisor) to web host, from beauty blogger to today's A-Listlive-streamer; having live-streamed for four years with a personal record of trying on over one hundred thousand beauty products, Austin Li is now again in a quest for a new identity.
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Live-streaming Reduced by 100SessionsThe now 28-year-old admitted that before he joined MEI ONE he had never expected someone in the beauty industry to be so closely involved in public welfare and poverty relief programs.In June 2020 Austin and his colleagues went to Ninglang Yizu autonomous county (a recipient of Shanghai's assistance) to prepare for the public benefit marketing campaign live streaming event "Ninglang Happiness promotion sales event".Located on the border of Yunnan and Sichuan, Ninglang was Yunnan Province's last county to take off the "poverty-stricken county" label. In Austin Li's personal WeChat Moments, however, Ninglang County is presented as a beautiful place at an elevation of over 2,000 meters, with crystal clear water, ivory white cliffs, and steep mountains.Despite suffering from altitude sickness on June 10th, Austin pulled through a 4-hour long live-streaming sales event the very same night, interacting with multiple celebrity co-hosts remotely. The event led by Austin connected consumers all over the country to a wide selection of Ninglang's local specialties, from buckwheat tea, Puer tea, flower cakes and terraced red rice, to ham and Crossing-over Bridge Rice Noodles. The one night sales event generated a total revenue as high as 35 million RMB.In the following July and August, Austin remained involved in public benefit by participating in a rural relief initiative by CCTV and a project by Beijing's Aita Foundation for Animal Protection.In 2020 Austin was constantly involved in similar public benefit programs. By the time the Covid-19 pandemic ended, Austin helped generate a total revenue over 200 million RMB for Hubei, Yunnan, Fujian, Henan, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, Tibet and a dozen of other provinces, cities and regions by helping these places promote their local agricultural products.On February 17th Austin Li's name appeared on the TIME 100 Next 2021 list.He was named in the Innovators Category. According to Time Magazine, Li is not only the "Lipstick King" holding the record of selling 15 thousand lipsticks in 5 minutes, but has also played an active role in public benefit and the fight against the pandemic.Austin Li's active involvement in public benefit programs is merely a small fraction of his career transformation over the past few years.Long before his current role in the public benefit field, Austin had achieved 389 live-streaming sessions in just 365 days, with the average session length of 6 hours. However, Li admitted having completed only over 200 sessions in 2020."Since 2020 I have been shifting my focus. How much money can each live-streaming session generate? Am I No.1 trending on the chart for every single session? These numbers and stats aren't the most important to me."In 2020, having reduced his live-streaming by 100 sessions, Li began phasing into a new stage of his career.
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Transformation for the 4th Time"Seen the 'Never Clan' decor at the entrance?" Li said with a smile. "We are taking that off and putting up some New Year themed decors tomorrow."In addition to the gigantic picture covering all three stories of the building's exterior, elements of Austin Li's beloved dog (named Never) and the "Never Clan" can be seen at every corner inside the MEI ONE office space.Austin Li's live-streaming sessions were the birthplace of "Never Clan", a brand-new IP (Intellectual Property) with which he plans to develop some content-oriented new products in the future."In 2020 we were involved in tons of new projects. First, back in April and May when the pandemic was still going on, we upgraded our live-streaming sessions with an emphasis on 'the community vibe', so as to make our viewers feel not alone; second, we also led a bunch of charity live-streaming events during the year as a way to support the country's efforts toreopen businesses and production; then we also made it into China International Import Expo (CIIE), which pushed us to take on more social responsibilities; and lastly, we created '+7 Fresh on Shelf', a new online show that recommends products instead of selling them, so customers can stay updated with the world's latest fashion and lifestyle trends without ever leaving their homes."Meanwhile, Austin Li is breaking open new business territories for beauty influencers. Since the beginning of 2020 Austin has been diversifying the product range included in his live-streaming sessions, adding snacks, fashion, lifestyle and even maternity into his content.These actions - in his own words - have enabled him to complete his career transformation for the 4th time.What about the previous three transformations?"Hater of repetition" is the label Austin Li has given himself, similar to the "Innovator" title that Time Magazine has given him. No repetition means that Austin often has to be the dare devil that ventures into unexplored territories. During the heyday of live-streaming on e-commerce platforms, while endless waves of late comers kept rushing into the race, and everybody wanted to be the "flyingpig', Austin was ready to accomplish new heights in a new field.Ever since 2015 Austin Li's "hatred for repetition" has been sustaining his inner drive to constantly step out of his comfort zones.Li's first transformation took place back in April 2016, when he chose to enroll in the BA-turned-Influencer training course co-founded by L'Oreal and MEI ONE. At this point, he had just become Maybelline's No.1 salesperson in Nanchang after working at the brand's beauty counter for merely a year. The course enrollment marked Li's first official career transformation - from an offline salesman to a web host.With offline sales experience under his belt, Austin decided to make lipstick try-ons a regular part of his live-streaming sessions. He often tried on dozens and even hundreds of lipstick shades in one single session. In his most extreme record, he consecutively tried on 380 different lipstick shades on camera. "So that was the moment," said Li, "when I got nicknamed 'the Iron Lips'."In 2018 Austin Li achieved the Guinness world record for "most lipstick applications in 30 seconds", and competed against Jack Ma in selling Lipstick at the Double Eleven Shopping festival that year. At that point, however, Austin only identified as "one of the moderately known live-streamers on Taobao".According to Austin himself, he did not become a real household name until the explosive popularity of short video apps, which he defined as his second major transformation. In 2019, he went "viral" with the help of his short video series, transforming him from "Austin Li the web host" to "Austin Li the beauty influencer"."Back then we tried different approaches to making short videos, and also wanted our content to be more refined. But then I realized that I can be the most natural only when live-streaming."Beginning in January 2019, Austin Li's team experimented with editing his most relaxed and fun moments from live-streaming sessions into short video clips, which would then be uploaded on various social media platforms, including Xiaohongshu, TikTok and Weibo. The feedback went far beyond the team's expectation. "Whenever we posted a video," Li recalled, "the lipstick colors mentioned would be sold out in aninstant."Throughout the entire year of 2019 Austin Li's fame gradually multiplied along with the explosive popularity of short videos and his viral catchphrases such as "oh my god" and "get it, get it".During 2019's Double Eleven Festival Austin Li's live-streaming sessions generated over 1 billion RMB worth of sales revenue. It was exactly then when Austin Li became a household name for being the "Lipstick King" and "Sales King". In the following year, having just completed his very first live-streaming session for 2020's Double Eleven Festival, Austin made that number soar up to 3.9 billion.Austin is currently followed by 45.272 million fans on TikTok alone. Since the end of 2020 his account has been seemingly shifting its content, gradually transforming from a channel previously known for lipstick try-ons and product reviews to a campaign platform for public interest and content creation."When all the influencers are serving the same content, it does get boring, repetitive and meaningless." Li is not interested in that type of competition.He is more inclined to listen to the voice within. "Either it is live-streaming or short videos, there needs to be new blood. I want to make fresher content.".Beginning in 2020 Austin kicked off his third major transformation: brand empowerment.
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Growing Together with Brands
The majority of MEI ONE's visitors were seated on the couches in the first-floor lounge, anxiously waiting for their turn. Whenever a ding came from the elevator, or footsteps were heard from the staircase, the visitors would all stop what they were doing to look up. Then some of them would get up, drag product-packed luggage bags behind them, and then follow a staff member into a small conference room in the back of the company.The entire process was serious and the visitors were all filled with excitement, just like students heading to a major exam.There were two brand representatives who came all the way from Hangzhou. They sat on the couch and checked their phones, holding the bags of their products firmly in their hands. "I really hope we get to meet Austin today.""You didn't come here for acelebrity meet-and-greet! You're not going to see him today. I am grateful enough that he didn't talk poorly about our products."The person who hoped to see Austin Li stared blankly at the MEI ONE employees going in and out for their food delivery for quite a while before he laughed and asked, "when are we becoming rich?""Appearance in Austin Li's live-streaming session," replied the other brand representative, "almost equals to massive sales." That was no joke. Many beauty brands regard Austin's live-streaming a key to success.After all, too many brands aspire to be the next Perfect Diary and Florasis, the two cosmetic powerhouses that successfully established highly integrated business partnerships with Austin Li.How many beauty brands does Austin Li come across within a year? He himself cannot recall either. "For the past few years I have tried more than 100 thousand beauty products," explained Li, "either given by the brands or purchased by ourselves. The quantity is unaccountable."Among all the products, 70-80% are samples voluntarily given by the brands for free. The products go through a full series of "auditions" at MEI ONE. The first round is the initial filtering by the business development team. Once the products pass the first round, they will be sent to the next round – a product selection meeting. The third round is a strict and thorough quality assurance on the safety and legitimacy of products, conducted by MEI ONE's in-house QC team, which is also the first in-house QC team in the beauty product marketing industry.The final round with Austin Li as the judge is only open to products that have survived the previous three rounds of selection. At this point Austin personally tries on the products and determines the final product list. Some specific products are given to female staff members for try-ons. Beauty products are the absolute center of Austin Li's career. Through such a careful selection process a product only stands a 5% chance of eventually landing in Austin Li's live-streaming session.However, even Austin himself cannot guarantee that an appearance in live-streaming is a promise of a product's breaking success."As long as it is a great product, even if it is currently unknown, I am able to help it go from 0 to 1," Li paused before continuing with a more serious tone, "but from 1 to 100, the brand has to set up its own goals. It also depends on the brand's sensitivity to the market, how much it values its customer feedback and so on. Most importantly, the brand has to evaluate whether it has the capacity to handle the traffic brought by live-streamed sales."Austin Li is clearly aware of what he can offer brands.Such clarity comes from his experience of "auditioning" countless products, as well as the strength "all the girls" have given him.During the interview Li mentioned multiple times how grateful and proud he feels for "all thegirls" that watch his live-streaming sessions. "These women look at all the products through a critical lens. Once the brand manages to achieve a certain reputation, 'all the girls' will then turn into its advocates, enabling asecond wave of promotions for the brand, which will be completely consumer-generated."
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"I am Capable of Brand Empowerment"In terms of brand empowerment, Austin is both cautious and confident."I didn't start out as a product manager or a designer. I have just collected the unique 'big data' through real work. This is something exclusive about Austin Li, about me. When I see a brand's semi-finished product and understand its visions, there is a lot I can add to it."Off camera, Austin is deeply integrated into beauty brands' development as their "Product Officer", empowering those brands by overseeing all stages of their products, from early stages such as visual development, content planning and even color selection, to mid stages such as live-streaming marketing, and to the later stages like product launch and campaign.Empowering brands marks the third transformation of Austin Li's career. His capacity to make irreplaceable inputs into beauty products are increasingly recognized by beauty brands.During the second half of 2020 Austin accomplished something that he thought he "is not likely to do again in 2021", which was having over 100 meetings with different brands. "Foronly half a year," said Li, "almost every single brand came to me. As a result, I was working around the clock."The process of such meetings is simply checking the new products, giving advice and polishing the brand. The objective of all brands is to be empowered by Austin Li and his effective feedback.The "Austin Li empowerment" consists of the following: It first starts with Austin helping the brand to optimize the product, using big data from his live-streaming as well as his personal experience. Once the finished product is available, Austin launches it during his live-streaming session, allowing customers to give it a try. When the customers return to Austin with their feedback, he then again works with the brand to modify the product direction. Such aprocess creates a closed loop of "supply chains-sales-feedback".Florasis and Perfect Diaryare both the best cases of Austin's brand empowerment. "Before a product comes out, or before a brand develops an idea, they just come to me for a meeting. The most frequently asked question is 'can we go further with this direction?' Or 'if we move along in this direction, how should we present our product?'.""As long as a brand takes its products seriously," Austin Li frankly admitted, "I am willing to give them a shot."Two years ago a brand called LAN brought its new product line to MEI ONE. The line survived all the preliminary rounds of selection, but was immediately rejected as soon as it reached Austin.The brand owner, after learning that his products had been rejected, made the following statement : "it will only take me a year to prove to Austin Li that we actually are committed to creating great products."In the second half of 2020 the brand owner of LAN booked another appointment with Austin through an acquaintance at MEI ONE. To his surprise, the upgraded LAN products made Austin "happy beyond words".Li was pleasantly surprised that this fledgling brand really took a year to rebrand itself, from its visuals, packaging and products categories to even product positioning. The new LAN managed to truly evolve from the brand that Austin had previously rejected.And the rest is history. LAN effortlessly made it into Austin Li's live-streamed sales, and successfully managed the massive traffic from Austin. According to Li, even without the boost from live-streaming, the sales number of LAN's oil makeup remover remains rather stable at 100-200 thousand bottles per month.There are many more similar cases.Another bestselling Chinese skincare brand once sold its products for three consecutive years through Austin Li's live-streaming, but Austin advised the brand owner, "a good product speaks for itself. Please stop overhyping it." On the one hand, Austin did help push brands like Florasis to become "overnight sensations"; on the other hand, however, Austin is convinced that each brand should have its own pace.Another case is QUADHA, a premium clinical skincare brand by Bloomage Biotech. QUADHA completed its 1-to-N growth thanks to Austin Li's empowerment in 2020. Within only 7 to 8 months it even surpassed many A-list brands in live-stream-enabled sales.
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Driving the Rise of China's Domestic Beauty ProductsBy the Double Eleven festival of was already at the top of the live-streaming game inthe beauty and skincare industry. Many top-tier brands were also launching online preorders exclusively through Austin's live-streaming.That was unimaginable even three or four years earlier, when Austin was still unsure about incorporating pricey items in his sessions at the initial stage of China's live-streaming e-commerce.In 2018 the burgeoning beauty brand Florasis took the initiative to contact Austin Li, who also had just started live-streaming. Both parties were just taking off in their own fields. "Since I had just started out as a live-streamer," Li recalled joyously, "I would feel tremulously blessed as long as any brand even thought of collaborating with me."When Florasis presented their now bestselling setting powder to Austin, he was bamboozled by its priceat 159RMB. "The price is crazy," he thought, "who is this brand even?"Austin compared the Florasis product with the then popular setting powders priced around 49RMB from affordable Korean brands and those priced 200-300RMB by upper-tier brands. After some thorough consideration, he tried to persuade the brand into reducing the price down to 99RMB as the prerequisite for its appearance in his live-streaming.However, as Li remembers vividly until this very day, the brand owner of Florasis rejected the price reduction strategy by replying, "we created Florasis really because we want to communicate the eastern aesthetic to our customers."Austin eventually changed his mind when a famous veteran makeup artist used Florasis's setting powder by chance and praised it for being "so lightweight and effective". The endorsement from a professional triggered Austin Li's interest in Florasis. Austin began studying and researching the brand and managed to achieve a deeper understanding of the brand's visions and products.A few months later, Florasis's setting powder successfully ended up on camera with Austin. Thanks to his excellent on camera demonstration and heartfelt endorsement, Florasis miraculously sold 700 thousand jars of its setting powder during the 2019 Double Eleven festival, replacing the former bestseller as the most bought setting powder on Taobao.Austin often brings up an example of how much Florasis values the advice from him and the brand's customers. When Florasis established its reputation as a sizable beauty brand, its representatives came to him with a new lipstick line, offering him an exclusive low price. With just one look, Austin immediately spotted that the brand had used the universal lipstick packaging materials that other brands were using too.Lack of commitment is a big taboo to Li."I just told them that it wouldn't work out that way, however much they were willing to pay me." Eventually, Florasis took Li's advice and gave away all the lipsticks as giveaways instead of selling them.Later, Florasis began innovating on Chinese elements such as traditional engraving and Miao ethnic silver crafts, which helped to establish a strong brand image. Austin Li has gradually realized that more and more brands like Florasis are emerging, foreshadowing the eventual rise of China's domestic beauty brands and products. Inevitably, both Austin and the consumer market will need to get ready for that future.With Chinese people's rising cultural confidence making "made in China" a national pride, domestic brands innovating and developing at the "Chinese speed", and international brands relocating their manufacturing bases and logistics centers to China, Austin Lican rely on such rich resources to push the rise of China's domestic beauty brands and products."Probably there are still going to be a fraction of people biased against domestic brands, but my job is to convince them that 'Chinese brands are just as good'!"As the interview ended Austin took a quick sip of water and rushed out of the door. In the limited period of time before co-host He Sui's arrival, he was booked for another appointment with L'Oreal, whose representatives had been waiting all this time."By the end of next year you guys will see the progress of my transformation, in my live-streaming format and content, or in any other way. Simply put, it's gonna be fun…" Li rushed away and disappeared, and only his signature bright voice was heard echoing from the conference room.In 2021 what are some of Austin Li's insights for the beauty industry? Li answered 4 questions by Zhang Huiyuan, Editor-in-Chief of Cosmetic Business Online:CBO: What kind of beauty brands impress you?Austin Li: First of all, domestic brands and products will be the next big deal, just like short video apps and live-streaming once were.Second, brand founders have to develop products that they feel truly passionate about. Products speak for themselves, which is the key, and more important than any advertisement and marketing. I am just a push in the process. There can be Austin Li here today, but tomorrow there may be Austin Wang, Austin Liu or someone else. If your product itself fails to impress people, you're not going to make it however many "Austins" you have at your assistance.Third, we have to create new content that uniquely belongs to Chinese brands. I have this "Parisian water" (Perrier) here in my hand, looking like this. If a Chinese brand makes something that looks like this but just changes its name to "Chinese water" or "Shanghai water" to trick the customers, I will not tolerate that.Contentis king, but there is absolutely no need to plagiarize, copy or follow any hype. If you are not a visionary, then your slice of cake will only become tinier and tinier.CBO: Which beauty trends seem optimistic to you in 2021?Austin Li: For the recent years women in China have been learning about skincare and makeup. During this process, some people may have developed different sorts of skin issues due to improper use of products. Relying on the backend data collected from my live-streaming sessions, they were initially crazy about hyaluronic acid and moisturizers, and then skin brightening products. In the recent two years they became more concerned with skin repair products, and most recently they are interested in the prevention of early signs of aging.Meanwhile, people like me who were born in the 90s have now become the core customers of beauty products. During the stage of marketing planning, I personally suggest that brands should take the following four points into consideration: First is the gentleness of their products. Try to avoid ingredients that irritate the skin.Second is anti-aging products, such as facial creams and serums in skincare lines. I personally believe that face oils have the potential to be the next major trend. Meanwhile I have very optimistic perspectives on some internationally known aromatherapy brands, as well as some domestic brands with an emphasis on plant-based products.Third, it is actually something I've been doing for the past three years: telling "all the girls" to wear sunscreen! Wear sunscreen! Wear sunscreen!The last point is, in the makeup sector I think it is crucial to create brands that have souls. Makeup brands have to think about why they can make women beautiful and which women they want to make beautiful. You have to accurately target the demographic you intend to serve.CBO: When will you create your own Austin Li brand?Austin Li: Many people have asked me this question. I'll do it when I am ready, and I'll just wait while I am still not.Actually I gave it a shot two years ago. But after I tried, I kind of couldn't bear how it turned out. Since I was preoccupied with a heavy workload on daily basis, I didn’t have the time and energy to follow through on everything. That's why I don't think I should exploit those who trust me with a self-created brand. I actually believe that even if I just launch any random makeup product, it should sell pretty well regardless. But there is no point doing that.There is still more to learn for me. I can consult brands on how they should make their products and monitor the quality of their work. That is what I'm good at, as well as something I have to keep learning and polishing in the future.CBO: Which three words would you use to describe your personality? How do those traits impact your career?Austin Li: The first word may be "optimism". I don't get extreme, however challenging the situation is. I am fairly good at adjusting my state of mind.The second word is "passion", particularly the passion for sharing. Live-streaming allows me to share great products from all over the globe with people, which makes me both happy and fulfilled. That's what keeps me passionate about what I do.The third word is "accountability", which is a character I would like to maintain permanently. Taking accountability for your actions and tenacity eventually pay off.I guess it was possibly these traits mentioned above that kept me in the business, and made the customers like and trust me. I also plan to keep introducing great products to my followers in the future.
