In an era where the boundary between corporate identity and personal brand has all but vanished, Yu Hao, the CEO of high-end appliance maker Dreame Technology, has issued a provocative decree. On April 30, Yu announced a new mandate requiring every employee at the firm to maintain active social media accounts. The directive is specific: staff are expected to spend 15 minutes daily producing three short-form videos that pull back the curtain on their specific technical roles or product developments.
To incentivize this pivot toward decentralized marketing, Yu is dangling a significant carrot. Any employee who manages to cultivate a following of 100,000 'real' fans will be rewarded with a 100,000 RMB (approximately $13,800) bonus. This move signals a radical shift in Dreame’s strategy, moving away from traditional top-down corporate communications toward a 'human-centric' approach that leverages the collective reach of its workforce across platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu.
This aggressive push for employee-led content comes on the heels of Yu Hao’s own struggles in the digital limelight. The CEO recently faced intense criticism and online friction on Xiaohongshu, particularly from the 'momo' collective—a large group of anonymous users who use identical profile pictures and names to critique public figures. Yu candidly admitted that his personal social media presence had become a 'negative asset' for the brand, prompting this pivot to a broader, more diversified front of brand ambassadors.
The strategy reflects the hyper-competitive landscape of China’s consumer electronics market, where giants like Xiaomi have successfully utilized 'CEO influencers' to drive sales. However, by extending this expectation to the entire payroll, Dreame is venturing into uncharted territory. While the goal is to humanize the technology and foster organic engagement, the move also raises significant questions regarding employee burnout, the authenticity of 'forced' content, and the potential for a public relations minefield if individual accounts deviate from the corporate script.