Generational mindsets are changing, so should brand images
Calvin Chen, Senior Sales & Marketing Manager and
Senior Brand Ambassador, Louis XIII
Mature brands should take the younger generation’s shopping habits into account in their development plans, Calvin Chen, Senior Sales & Marketing Manager and Senior Brand Ambassador for Louis XIII, said at a recent business event.
By 2025, half the market’s main clientele will be millennials and Generation Z. “It is a critical market – not just for China – but for the entire world,” he said, adding that he was not only referring to the top 1% of the wealthy population, but the next 10% to 20%.
Using a stereotypical image, he asked the audience to engage in a mental experiment by associating various items with cognac, Louis XIII’s first product. At the end, he revealed most people usually imagine a bearded middle-aged man sitting in an armchair by the fireplace in a wooden or rocky bungalow, sipping the drink from a glass in his hand.
Chen then critiqued this stereotypical image by noting the current target audience of Louis XIII – the millennials and the Generation Z – does not fit into that imagery, but is more chic, more tech friendly, and engages in selective spending.
Nevertheless, he said the brand is not moving away from the more mature clients, but is expanding its target audience to include the younger spenders.
Chen next discussed some of the identifying characteristics of the new shoppers or spenders. He said they will not, or will not only, see how big the price tag is – although they can afford the products – but will also examine how socially responsible the brand is, including the brand’s carbon footprint in producing and delivering a product, as well as how environmentally sustainable the production line is.
“They will look at how the grapes are grown for the wine or cognac they drink,” Chen said. “They will see if the grapes are grown sustainably and if the vineyard does any harm to the neighborhood.”
In terms of technological awareness, Chen said his five-year-old daughter once picked up his smartphone and started using some functions on it in almost no time, but it took him nearly two hours to teach his parents how to text on WhatsApp.
Because the younger generations are more tech-savvy, it can more easily delve deep into the background and practices of a company than many from older generations can, Chen noted.
Combined with their high education levels, they can easily google information and understand much more about a company than their ancestors. “Before the internet search era, it was almost impossible for us to know what a company was up to,” Chen said.
On the positive side, Chen said, companies have a good means of marketing positive images. Nonetheless, bad news can spread in a matter of seconds.
However, with the nature of technology being speedy, the brand ambassador said there are actually pros for brands. “When bad things happen, brands can manage the spread in no time,” he said. News swiftly comes under the gaze of brand people so that they can respond quickly.
Moreover, newer generations treasure a brand’s qualities rather than whether owning a brand’s products will make them “better or wealthier” than their counterparts.
In conclusion, the brand executive said newer generations are purchasing high-end products that fit and show their characters, instead of showing off how rich they are, which was a common mentality in the 1980s and 1990s. It is a display of an attitude or a way of life, Chen added.
