Week 5

In November 2024, Li Ziqi, who had been off the air for three years, updated his videos again, sparking widespread discussion around the world. This is not only the return of an influencer, but also an important case of combining advertising and media content in the digital media era.

Initially known as a Chinese countryside food influencer, Li Ziqi quickly attracted a large global viewer base by showcasing traditional culture and simple countryside life. Her videos show the unique charm of China’s reclusive culture and convey a self-contained attitude towards life. Her high-quality original content, rich culture and artistic video style have reacquainted the global audience with a real image of the Chinese countryside.

However, in 2021, due to a conflict with her agency, Li Ziqi suspended her updates. This return proves that she has regained control of her brand and further expanded her reach through digital platforms. Li Ziqi is now not just a content creator, but a unique personal IP and commercial brand.

Li Ziqi’s videos combine native advertising with content to promote the brand softly. For example, in a video for ‘Cinnamon, Nut, Lotus Powder Mixed’, Li Ziqi documents the entire production process with beautiful images and naturally showcases the brand’s product at the end with the copy: ‘Cinnamon, Nut, Lotus Powder Mixed: a delicious meal replacement in three minutes! My grandma is crazy about this!’ By integrating narrative into the content, the advert has a good promotional effect and brings the brand closer to the viewers. This type of implicit advertising can influence the viewers’ consumption behaviour while avoiding the resistance that traditional advertising can cause. Li Ziqi’s videos are also directly connected to e-commerce platforms, realising the interface between content and purchase. This type of advertising distribution demonstrates how content creators can transform the emotional resonance of viewers into commercial value.

Li Ziqi’s videos provide insights into viewers’ needs in the content and achieve precise advertising through targeted placement. And it maintains the brand image, making it gradually become a representative cultural brand. She maintains high-quality output in content creation, which reduces viewers’ rejection of native advertising, and also prolongs the brand’s vitality. 

Li Ziqi also cooperated with oriental intangible cultural brands to film videos of non-heritage items to further enhance the brand’s cultural connotation. This collaboration has promoted the spread of China’s intangible cultural heritage and also added more social value to her brand. As an important representative of China’s cultural output, her influence is reflected in the recognition of her global audience and has been reported and recognised by Chinese official media such as Xinhua News Agency.

Li Ziqi transforms her labour into commercial value by documenting rural life in China. However, with the development of digital media, some problems have been revealed. Advertisements are hidden in the content and viewers may find it difficult to detect them, thus questioning the authenticity of the content. This may have some impact on the credibility of content creators. Increased commercialisation may make creators cater more to market demands and deviate from their personal values. Li Ziqi needs to balance commercial interests and content value in the future. The media industry needs to address this issue as well.