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This article is from WeChat official account: a symbol studio (ID: One Symbol). The author is Jin Xin YOYO. The head picture is from Visual China

Article Summary

This article focuses on the Baidu Qujing incident, explores the four major challenges of all staff marketing, and proposes reflections.

• •    There is a competency dilemma in all staff marketing, and public relations and marketing need to be treated differently

• •    In the face of production difficulties, AI has not brought about a reduction in employee burden, and management needs to reconstruct production relations

• •    In management difficulties, it is necessary to consider the application of 4-day work schedule and amoeba business model

Recently, Qu Jing, vice president of Baidu, went on a hot search. She was "netizened" because she made improper remarks in Tiktok, and finally deleted all short videos.

According to 21st Century Business Herald reporters, in April this year, Qu Jing requested all staff in the department to promote personal internet celebrity IPs. If they cannot create short video accounts within the specified time, they may face the risk of resignation or performance discounts.

In other words, packaging personal IP for short videos has become a KPI for all members of Baidu's public communication department.

Some insiders have pointed out that "the matter of enterprise IP is meaningless to anyone except the boss himself. Even the most advanced workers cannot replace the boss. The workers will either catch fire, or set themselves on fire, and then run away." "This may also mean invisible marketing for key products, platforms, and services before upgrading."

The matter has come to this point, the small things have become more complex, and in the end, it seems to have risen to the level of labor management opposition.

Now, from the perspective of an ordinary colleague, I will talk about the four major challenges in the era of all employee marketing and my thoughts on this matter.

1、 Ability dilemma: Simple marketing for all employees, difficult public relations for all employees

As a matter of fact, I believe that Baidu's "all staff marketing" was originally a good thing, but when it comes to Qu Jing himself and Baidu, it will not be easy to have everyone speak up for you and the company.

Because "all staff marketing" is the responsibility that sales or business departments should bear, but not the responsibility of the public relations department. In other words, you can achieve "all staff marketing", but you cannot achieve "all staff public relations".

The reason is simple: everyone can sell things, but not everyone can speak and is willing to speak.

Doing business and maintaining reputation are two different things, let alone the public not liking you. Compared to Teacher Qu Jing, Jiang Chacha, a teacher born in the 1990s, appears much softer.

Many people believe that in the era of self media, public relations and marketing are no longer so distinct, but I still believe that the two are like twins, with different focuses on different goals. If you are interested, you can refer to my other article: "Public relations and marketing are like twins, but their goals are different", which has a more detailed explanation.

So if this matter were placed in Baidu's commercialization department, I think it would make sense; But when it comes to Baidu's public relations department, it not only fails to provide timely assistance, but also adds insult to injury.

The "Wei Zexi Incident" of that year had already brought many public opinion sequelae to Baidu, and the public relations department had not enough time to wipe the bottom of the business department. This time, it was equivalent to stirring up the mess again.

Now, not only did I fail to fulfill the responsibility of the public relations department, but I also became the number one scapegoat.

I actually think that with Qu Jing's background and identity, the most ideal way is to start your own MCN company and turn Baidu into one of its customers.

This is also the only solution for all public relations executives to seek self-protection in the era of AI+self media.

At the same time, this incident also sounded an alarm for colleagues: when your boss is not a public relations figure, the risk of your standing out is higher than not standing out.

Only Robin Lee himself can represent Baidu's values, and whoever stands out will be unlucky.

2、 Production dilemma: Is there always a contradiction between employees and the company?

To tell a cold joke, I have forgotten when Baidu claimed to be "All in AI", but now it looks more like "All in short videos".

Indeed, at this current juncture, Baidu's combination of "short videos+full staff marketing" may seem like a good innovative strategy, but if the enterprise management and profit sharing mechanism are not well thought out, it is difficult to motivate a group of people to work with you.

Ironically, when I visited Baidu last year, they wanted to promote their AI business through short videos the most. However, now it seems that AI has not reduced the burden on their employees, and instead, the labor management conflict has intensified.

Reality tells me that AI has indeed brought about an increase in productivity, but I haven't seen a reasonable production relationship to adapt to.

For example, if an employee has high work efficiency (whether it's due to using AI or strong execution) and only needs 3 days to complete their weekly workload, how can you bring more benefits to them with the extra time?

If AI only brings unlimited exploitation of labor, then he may prefer not to use AI, or to freely control himself by secretly fishing, lying flat, or finding a side job. He can still say that he will take a week to complete the workload that could have been completed in three days.

After all, honesty is one's own disaster, but pretending to be foolish is the boss's disaster.

From the perspective of a migrant worker, I don't care if you want to end up doing IP. I only care about how my own interests are protected and whether I have the right to control my personal data assets.

This data asset includes new media accounts, content, fans, communities, etc. Otherwise, after resigning from a large company, what valuable things can I take with me besides experience?

So, "all staff marketing" is not something that cannot be done, but rather the first thing to consider is how to reconstruct production relations and stimulate employee enthusiasm.

3、 Management dilemma: 4-day work vs. amoeba, who is the optimal solution?

The Qu Jing incident also reflects the biggest problem of Baidu's public relations department - employees have low enthusiasm for creating IPs, otherwise there would be no need for a leading position to lead the sampling.

Some jobs don't originally require too many people, but under unqualified management, they can simply pile up a lot of people. Nowadays, after the outbreak of AI technology, this layer of fig leaf can no longer be effective.

How can you persuade a manufacturer to promote AI products every day without achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement through AI?

In situations where the public relations department cannot directly generate income or work is not saturated, it is understandable for companies to reduce costs and increase efficiency. However, it is important to choose appropriate methods, otherwise it is easy to find it difficult to please.

Finally, not only can it not cure lazy employees, but it will also drive away those who truly do things.

The Western solution to this is a 4-day workweek.

In recent years, the non-profit organization "4 Day Week Global" has conducted a series of pilot projects in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of the 4-day work system.

These pilot projects demonstrate that through reasonable planning and adjustment, a 4-day work week can improve employee happiness and work efficiency without reducing wages, while reducing operational costs for the enterprise.

Japan, on the other hand, offers another solution - the "Amoeba business model".

Kazuo Inamori proposed to divide the enterprise into multiple small, self operated units (called "amoebas"), emphasizing the autonomy of small teams, independent accounting, and a focus on profits, aiming to improve the flexibility and market response speed of the enterprise.

There is no absolute answer to whether to choose a 4-day work week or an Amoeba business model as the optimal solution for enterprise management mechanisms, as it depends on the specific needs, culture, employee characteristics, and industry background of the enterprise.

Based on China's 40 years of reform and opening up, I believe that Baidu can easily propose to "let some employees get rich first".

After all, the Chinese classical philosophy of "not suffering from scarcity but from inequality, not suffering from poverty but from anxiety" also applies to a large and mature organization.

The two modes are not opposed and can complement each other. In this way, it can not only motivate employees to do "all staff marketing" for you, but also create holidays for efficient employees, allowing lazy employees to actively improve efficiency, and ultimately reduce the operating costs of the enterprise.

Why not do more with one move?

4、 Algorithm dilemma: which is easier to hit the algorithm or please the boss?

Finally, why does Qu Jing make a big fuss about all staff marketing? From both the perspective of the client and the agent, the underlying issue is the problem of "traffic anxiety": in order to save investment costs, employees can only rely on building their own media matrix.

Speaking of this, I think of a friend's circle joke that an investor once said: "The fundamental contradiction between super individuals and the company's employment system is that algorithmic bureaucracy has surpassed capital bureaucracy."

In my shallow understanding, the original meaning of this sentence may be to express:

1. All marketing activities are driven by algorithms, and the traffic generated by bosses or investors with money can never compare to the traffic recommended for free by the platform.

2. Nowadays, traffic platforms bring greater value to workers than bosses/investors, and those who can become super individuals can choose to sign contracts and cooperate with the platform.

In short, if you can't hit the algorithm, spending too much money is useless. For many brand owners or super individuals, this is actually a tragedy.

So, should workers bet on the right algorithm or please the boss/investor, which is simpler and more reliable?

I can only say that you only found out after you did it.

In the market, there may be a small number of super individuals who perform well, but most of them only assume the role of "singing in front of the stage", and behind it is still a team supporting the operation of the business system, which also requires regular operations of capital investment to complete the business cycle.

So, which is greater, the return brought by platform algorithms or the return brought by capital operation?

With this question in mind, if a company requires all employees to become super individuals and serve as performance evaluation criteria, then the first thing the employees need to ask is: what algorithm recommendation dividends or capital investment can the company bring to themselves.

If there is nothing, then it is clear that the company is unable to support you due to ROI considerations, but cannot come up with a better solution.

In the end, by encouraging migrant workers to "kill each other and eliminate the fittest," an economic problem can be turned into a biological or political problem.

This article is from WeChat official account: a symbol studio (ID: One Symbol), written by Jin Xin YOYO

This content is the author's independent viewpoint and does not represent the Tiger Smell position. Reproduction is not allowed without permission. For authorization matters, please contact us hezuo@huxiu.com

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