Youth Marketing: China Youth are calling these brands ””Tu”” (Not Cool). Why?
Posted: November 13th, 2009 | Author: Kevin Lee | Filed under: Kev's Thoughts On... | 8 Comments »Recently some of the younger people in my company were talking about brands they buy. No surprise there. But then their conversation led to talking about which Brands they did not buy and why. They used the Chinese word “Tu” to described these undesirable brands — ”Tu” a Chinese word often used to describe a country bumpkin, an old-timer who is behind in the times, or just something a little low-brow or crass.
I asked these brand-savvy Chinese colleagues to list for me the brands they could think of that fit their description of ”Tu”. Here is what they came up with:
Now this list is in no way compiled by any scientific method, nor is it complete, and perhaps there are some brands that wouldn”t be included by all youths of the same generation. But it is just one example by some youth in China of brands they call “Tu”. Brands that are still popular with other (older) generations.
There are two reasons why I can see this happening:
1) First mover luxury brands that gain a bad reputation for being first movers in a developing country
This almost seems counter-intuitive, as we have been taught that first-mover advantage typically means domination of the marketplace, which all things being equal, is usually true. But things aren”t equal. First-mover brands can easily fall out of favour with very little brand equity given to being first in market.
Some people would guess that this generation”s distain for these brands may come from a reaction to differentiate, reject or rebel against the brands that are identified with their parents. This phenomenon is seen time and again in developed countries like America. However, this is mainly not the case in China. As I have learned from Mary Bergstrom, a China Youth expert, most kids today help their parents select the brands that they buy. Household consumption is a concertive effort.
Then if it is not an act of rebellion to their parental generation, what then? Discussing with my young colleagues, I get the sense this phenomenon is more a reaction to something I call ”New-Money Syndrome”: As experienced in rapidly developing countries, individuals & families instantly finding themselves wealthy often-times try to ”buy” status and taste, as an expression of their wealth and accomplishments. The over-extension/abuse of this action is what I call ”New-Money Syndrome”. The First-Mover brands came into China at the exact time to become the object of desire, the love affair of the ”First-Monied” generation and became the hallmark brands associated with ”New-Money Syndrome”. We””ve all seen this syndrome in the flesh; people dressed head to toe in brand logos for the sake of the brands and less attention paid to how the clothing matches. Today”s China and today”s Youth have grown up in a world where the ”New-Money Syndrome” has been an ever-present reality for a long time. Now, these young Chinese consumers are more sophisticated, needing individuality while still buying brands for their quality, but assigning brand value a new meaning, and using brands to reach different objectives.
So did First-Mover Brands make the wrong decision entering China early because they did not foresee the negative reaction to the current stigma of being the ”New-Money Syndrome” brand? Is it better to delay market-entry to be a brand that stands with the second wave of reactionary, ”value”-driven consumer generation?
Having thought through these questions, I would answer for myself No, it is still better to be the first-mover brand in a developing marketplace. Here””s why:
a) First-Mover Brands get all the revenue from the ”First-Monied” generation b) First-Mover Brands still have perceived value within the reactionary generation c) Branding is a fluid thing, brands disdained today can be turned around and loved tomorrow. There is always the next generation counter-reacting against the current reactionary generation.
Here is the second reason why I believe brands are being called ”Tu” by the current Youth in China:
2) ”Tu” Brands entered into China simply trying to replicate what worked in other countries, without localizing to the norms and intricacies of the Chinese market. This strategy is now met with negative reactions from a generation that demands localization and a form of communication they appreciate.
The Chinese Youth place brands in the same realm as the rest of their constructed world: as interactive relationships. Chinese Youth treat brands as they treat the numerous ”Wang You” (Net Friends) that they have. These Net Friends remain faceless (or have make-believe personas aka avatars), and many may never meet face to face in person. The Chinese Youth is grounded in a blending of virtual and real relationships and conversations. Chinese Youth perceive brands in exactly the same context and hold the same expectations: a brand must be an identity, a real relationship, a conversation.
Pepsi engaging Chinese Youth Gamers (Pictures from Printeresting.com, China.org.cn)
I had two very enlightening conversations recently specific to the issue of Youth Marketing. One was with Graham Brown of MobileYouth and Lisa Li of China Youthology (you can hear the conversation as an online TV or radio broadcast here and here). The second conversation was with Mary Bergstrom of Begstrom Trends, another China Youth research specialist at Omnicom & Fudan University”s Executive Digital Marketing training course, Digital:Works. Both Lisa Li and Mary Bergstrom on their own pointed to the important insight that China Youth were becoming much more vocal and widespread in their support for causes such as environmentalism, nationalism, and specific rights issues. As we discussed further for elaboration, the same conclusion from Lisa Li and Mary Bergstrom was the same: the proliferation of new media and the ability to communicate simultaneously one-to-one and one-to-many has allowed China”s Youth to realize that they, as an en-mass group, have the ability to make their collective voice heard. An example of this can be seen in the “Love China” phenomenon preceding the Olympics. It is of profound importance that this generation of Chinese Youth feel like they have an outlet for expression, a factor that earlier Chinese generations did not enjoy. Leaving aside the question of how and why China Youth are taking up personal causes, this observation illustrates that China Youth have an intrinsic need to be interactive with the issues and influencers around them.
This brings us back to the brand question of why some brands are perceived as ”Tu” and others not. Brands that do not understand how to engage China”s Youth — an interactive, communicative, co-creative generation — will ultimately come across as out of touch, stale, and immobile. Active brands must seek out the local influencers of today”s Youth generation. Brands must take their identity and go to the topics and issues that China”s Youth are already concerned with. Brands cannot sit and wait for China”s Youth to come to them, because China”s Youth will pass them by, on their way to those brands that are meeting the youth on their level. Perhaps having difficulties engaging in two-way conversations is a curse of Early Entrant brands. They were so successful marketing to the older, “First-Monied” generation — a generation that only needed direct, one-way brand statements — that these Early Entrant brands have not grasped the communication and branding demands of the new generation. Now their brand is paying the price, and being called ”Tu” by today””s Chinese Youth generation as a result.
From Enovatechina.com
From ChinaYouthology.com
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by kevinkclee: New blog post: Youth Marketing: China Youth are calling these brands ””Tu”” (Not Cool). Why? http://genychina.com/?p=235…
Great post, Kevin. The brands here that I”ve seen doing sports marketing initiatives in China are BMW, Omega, Mercedes, Kappa and Rolex. The first two sponsor golf events, the last three tennis. I wonder how association with these sports plays into their reputation. I think golf and tennis both have a lot of upside in China, but they are definitely not very cool, youth-oriented sports.
Hi Maggie, thanks for leaving me a comment! I definitely agree with you, golf and tennis have huge growth ahead. Undoubtedly the brand associations with the sports are giving them positive benefits, but you”re right, whether these partnerships are aimed at improving brand perception with the youth, or sports-oriented youth is another question. I can only guess that the objectives of those brand managers is to market first to high-affluence consumers. Thinking about youth-marketing would be at most a second priority.
Hi Kevin
Great article.
I think a lot of the blame lies at the feet of the brand managers and their agencies, to be honest. We deal with them most days, and they are still ultra conservative and TV focused. They rarely see the value that is sitting right in front of their noses. Online conversations and activation using this huge wellspring of new talent – DJ”s, MC”s, dancers, bands, bloggers, photographers, artists.
To be fair, some brands are doing a great job (the Nike stable, some of the alcohol brands), but the majority don”t.
Conversely, we have to remember the size of China and the potential trickle down effect. Kappa for example has done sterling work in elevating their brand to mainstream status in tier 1 cities. Sure there has been a backlast in these places from the opinion formers and fashionistas, but perhaps this isn”t nearly as important as the trickle down that will happen in the rest of the country (big numbers of course) from seeing tier 1 city white collar workers wearing their gear.
Just my 2 cents. Keep up the good work…
Hi Chinamusicradar.com (Archie),
Thanks for leaving your thoughts. I absolutely agree with you on all your points. What I”ve written are gross generalities, but my hope is that it just casts a different perspective on a very specific observation. From all the experiences I have with all my friends who are brand managers or agency professionals, your comment that one of the main bottlenecks in finding a brand breakthrough for China Youth lies between the cooperation of brand managers & their agencies. Each relationship, therefore each brand has its own situation. Sometimes the brand manager has all the control and is not sophisticated in Youth Marketing or youth marketing is just not its priority. The Agency just has to follow along and please the client. Other times it is the Agencies that have control, but their profit incentives lie elsewhere and may not lead them to thinking of valuable and effective Youth-branding campaigns. And still other times, the Agencies themselves are not sophisticated in Youth Marketing strategies and are inadequate to recommend the right strategies to their clients.
The other challenge is whether or not the agency has enough connections with Youth influencers/opinion makers. You can””t expect every agency, even the big ones, to have preexisting relationships with the right brand advocate that matters to the target youth segment. But thats where a good planner/creative really really brings value. And I guess thats where these specialist Youth Marketing agencies, or Youth marketing research firms make their niche & business opportunity.
Your second point is also valid. Most definitely there is a trickle down effect between different Chinese city tiers. Though, I tend to believe with the speed of culture now, bolstered by the speed of the internet, BBS, SNS and MMORPG, the trickle down effect of what is ”tu” and what isn”t is fairly swift. The other factor of course, is still buying power and access. It doesn””t matter what is cool if you can””t afford any of it. And it also makes no difference what is cool, if where you””re living doesn””t offer anything close to what is in style.
Great points! It got me thinking in a different direction. Hope my response got you thinking too.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for starting this conversation. There is an evolution of thinking going on here. Besides just being “ku” or “tu,” brands need to stand for something. I wouldn’t assume that all brands need to aim for being at the top of the ku heap though. If everyone had iphones and the latest Nikes, how cool would those brands (and those consumers for that matter) really be?
It’s not a matter of being considered cool by most people, it’s about being the right brand for your consumers. Good brands develop relationships. They know who they are, they know who their consumers are. They want to talk with their audience, get to know each other better and in turn, be a good partner. They don”t try to be something they are not – or treat their audience into something they are not.
Kevin –
I””m intrigued by your conversation — can you think of any brands in China that have moved from Tu to relevance with young consumers… is it possible to make the shift, once you””ve been put in the ””tu”” box, as it were? Or alternatively, are there any brands that talk effectively to both groups — the older/new-money people that you mentioned in your first post, AND the younger consumers with a more interactive/fresh brand engagement model… I””m trying to think of some examples (always brings it alive for me if I can picture a brand).
hi Scapen, thank you for taking the time to read my post, and for leaving your thoughts and questions! I have yet to see any of the ””Tu”” companies move back into relevance in a big way. Though, I must add a caveat that the brands listed in this post are the opinions of a specific group of youth from a specific economic, social, and regional background, and does not reflect the perception of all youth throughout China. So some of these brands may not be ””Tu”” at all to some other youth segments. To answer your second question, there are a few stellar companies that have excelled in appealing to the masses while also cultivating a niche, geeky, cult following. Nike and Apple are prime examples and the way they engage youth (and the multiple layers of different tribes/segments) is distinctly different. But a great one would learn a great deal about the subtle art of effective youth marketing by comparing the best practices of these two in China.
Thanks,
Kevin