Why Is The Millennial Generation The Most Difficult To Please A Brand?

Recently,

Released a classic IT bag (Note: "essential" package).

"Propaganda film," the strong flavor of its style attracted numerous Tucao, as follows:

It's hard to see if this is an attempt to make a luxury brand younger, but there is no doubt that this will lead to some discussions.

In the United States, the total population of the millennial generation (Note: 1982 to 2000) is 75 million 500 thousand.

In China, there are about 415 million generation millennials, accounting for 31% of China's total population. Their average annual income will increase from US $5900 in 2014 to US $13 thousand in 2024.

They have been or are becoming the leaders of the consumption pattern in the next 10 years, and all brands like new consumers.

This kind of "young people dominating future consumption" often drives marketing into a fever and tends to go wrong. We want to "brand younger" but young people do not pay.

One

Whether young and energetic is not necessarily expressed by the popular elements of young people.

Popularity is a relative concept. Popularity means that one day it will be out of date. Today's world, new and old changes are also in the morning and evening, sometimes even young people themselves can not catch up with the trend, let alone a brand.

I hope today's article will resonate with these young souls.

1, brand young into normal

Whether it is the concept of consumption or the ability to buy, it is clear that the present young people are the absolute main force.

In order to seize the core consumer group of the times, "brand youth" has become the most popular topic for many brands.

In many marketing cases of brand marketing, we can see a lot of bright works, but we also see more ineffective communication which is called "brand younger" slogan but not paid by young people.

Young people will always be labeled with many labels: rebellious, self, pleasure, lazy, not motivated.

Even those brands who always embrace consumers in good faith are constantly labeling young people with their own understanding.

From hip-hop to hip-hop this year, hip-hop, street, music and other elements seem to be the master key to communicate with young people nowadays.

Expression packages, Emoji, network language, and two dimensional elements are also common in all kinds of marketing.

If the brand is rich and capricious, it can also activate a killer weapon -- traffic star.

First label young people, then label them on themselves, trying to gain recognition from young people and infiltrate their circles.

It looks like fashion, hot and popular elements to dress up as "young people", which is a common practice of many brands in younger marketing.

But do these so-called "young" elements really make the brand reach the goal of being younger, and have touched the hearts of young people?

Before answering this question, we need to make it clear.

What is the problem of brand younger?

The brand has its own life cycle. The brand life cycle is not only defined by the age of the people, but rather with the market environment, the economic environment and the consumer behavior.

The main purpose of "brand younger" is to pour fresh vitality into the brand, extend or restore the brand's "adolescence", so that the brand can always be active in the face of the main consumer groups of the times, and will not be forgotten by consumers and the market.

The so-called "young" does not refer to a specific age range, but a vibrant way of thinking and attitude towards life.

Whether a brand is really young and dynamic does not necessarily depend on the popular elements of young people, such as the following "extreme" case:

Reebok, a 123 year old Reebok, signed the 80 year old "senior youth" Wang Shunde as spokesperson for the brand last year.

This "super age group", which is over 200 years old, is definitely not "young" at all ages.

If it is hard to find a young element from the appearance of spokesperson Wang Deshun, it may also be the "wild" in the wild white hair.

But it's such a combination that makes it impossible for you to say they are not young.

Reebok saw Wang Shunde's youthful attitude - insisting, self-confidence, breaking through the limits and passing on to the consumer the mentality of "any age that can live its way, break through the limits and break the boundaries of age".

This attitude is popular among young people, and it is pursued by many people. This can not only resonate among young people, but also create a wider radiation effect.

In addition to equating "Youth" with "age", brand aging can easily fall into the following 2 misunderstandings.

3, youth is to express the brand with popular elements that young people like.

Popularity is a relative concept. Popularity means that one day it will be out of date. Today's world, new and old changes are also in the morning and evening, sometimes even young people themselves can not catch up with the trend, let alone a brand.

However, young people are always smart. They can distinguish the difference between "young" and "soft" at first glance.

Perhaps the brand can get a moment's attention in the surface of the tender way, but mixed into the circle of young people, it is difficult to enter their hearts.

The difference between being young and strong is whether the brand is really from the inside to the outside, rather than in the tender way of flattering the young people.

If a brand breaks away from the brand core in the process of being younger, it may not be popular with young people, but it will also frighten the original consumers.

Gap once did such a thing:

Gap was popular in twentieth Century with 80s and 90s. But by 2000, there was a young trend in the clothing industry. A large number of young brands were sprung up. Their designs were more fashionable and more fashionable.

Gap, which was born in 70s, has become the brand of "Mom and Dad" in the hearts of young people. GAP's T-shirt and khaki trousers, which can not highlight individuality, are naturally unable to arouse the interest of young people pursuing individuality.

Gap, who is aware of the seriousness of the problem, is determined to come to a "younger" revolution.

Later, Gap put on a series of blouses and bright pink.

A hoodie, tight fitting

Miniskirt and even the leather pants production line.

Whether in products or advertising, they are eager to add popular elements popular with young people.

Young consumers do not pay for Gap's imitation of other young brands, because they want a brand that is cool to the bone, rather than an old brand who pretends to be cool.

Later, Gap tried to pull back those old customers again, and made numerous promotion with many veteran stars, but it was too late.

Gap's wavering behavior between young people and middle-aged people makes everyone's brand cognition of Gap blurred.

It's like the evaluation of Gap in the middle market, which is "niche behavior": if a brand tries to satisfy everyone, it is nothing.

4, is younger to cater to the young people's preferences nowadays?

If we must sum up the commonalities of young people in this era, you will find it difficult to "cater to young people's preferences".

Because their common characteristics are personality, independence and pluralism. The meaning behind these adjectives is that one thousand consumers may have one thousand kinds of needs or preferences.

If you want to meet the customers' interests to achieve their favorite purpose, if you really do not know what the brand needs to be broken into.

What's more, young people need not just "cater to" their outsiders, but produce "sympathetic partners".

The spirit of like-minded is easier than any superficial youth.

Here, we share the insight that some brands may misunderstand young people:

Compared with colorful illustrations, they may prefer to taste fresh food.

"2017 Tmall international annual consumption trend report" shows that after 90 and 95, consumption is a major feature of the consumption of new forces is love tasting.

This kind of taste is not simply a good idea for a new package (which may attract them, but only temporarily), but they have great curiosity about niche products, new products and new concepts, because this is the way and attitude they explore the world.

They prefer the comfort of spiritual corners rather than the pressure of life that is widely discussed.

In 2017, the world of "lost culture" was eventually replaced by "Buddhist culture" at the end of the year.

After complaining and self mocking, they found that the pressure on survival is simply not worth calculating.

Seemingly peaceful but always helpless.

Moreover, stress is not something that everyone would like to face directly.

Compared with the pressure of real life, the satisfaction of the spiritual world is obviously more popular.

They may be concerned with self satisfaction rather than gaining recognition from others.

Objects are unique, and life needs individuality.

This is a philosophy of life for young people. They want to live and express themselves better than others.

Even the present young people have begun to enjoy the state of Independence: a person who eats, entertain and lives is not alone, but rather a more comfortable way of life, and they enjoy it.

5, the summary of younger age

Young is not floating on the surface.

The real sense of brand aging is absolutely not a new packaging, a slogan can do, these are just part of the brand younger.

Brand aging is a systematic project. It needs to integrate the concept of youth into the brand gene, whether it is brand idea, brand image, product itself, product packaging, marketing mode.

No brand can make all young people like it.

Secondly, the personalization of young people in this era is very obvious. The brand can not be "one size fits all" for this group, and no brand can be sought after by all young people.

The core audience is a topic that every brand must be clear about. Because they are too personality, their habits are too fragmented.

Youth should start with brand values.

The younger brand must start with the core spirit and attitude of the brand, form a young brand value, find out the value demand of the target consumer group, and find an attitude that resonates between you, so that they can identify with the brand.

Such values may apply not only to young consumers but also to brands of other age groups. After all, attitudes are really not related to age.

For example, NIKE's Just Do It, Johnnie Walker Keep Walking, such a spiritual level of value can not be asserted that "evergreen", but relatively limited by the development of the times, how many can maintain a decade or two.

Never follow the trend of youth, because the young rule is "no follow suit".

Therefore, it is difficult to get the recognition of young people by imitation and follow the trend. At the same time, it is easy to lose the brand "self" and let the consumers fail to see clearly the positioning of the brand.

And those brands that are in a youthful state or keep their vitality all the year round, their youth are not in the mouth, nor in appearance, but in spirit.