This round of new consumer brands is going through a big rout. Only from a marketing perspective, I think the new consumer brand has not seized power under the conspiracy of capital, because the entrepreneur has not figured out one question:
Where is the "new" of new consumer goods?
New crowd? New product? new media? New channel? In my opinion, these so-called "new" are just a self-delusional hoax.
The new crowd
Is Gen Z a special generation?
The emergence of new consumer goods, first of all, because of the emergence of new groups of people. For example, Generation Z. There are many “new” traits in Gen Z:
Unlike those born in the 1980s and 1990s, who still have mortgage pressures, Generation Z is the easiest generation and has more control over wealth, so they are more willing to pay for their interests. For example, the trendy figures represented by Bubble Mart, as well as the three-pit consumption of Hanfu, JK clothing, and Lolita dress.
Generation Z is a generation of online students. They have been in the Internet since childhood, and are more easily influenced by social media and have consumption behaviors. For Generation Z, a lot of consumption is just to pursue social identity and maintain the personalities in their circle of friends, a typical "personal concept of consumption".
Generation Z has a better educational atmosphere than us, and their aesthetic power is stronger than the previous generation, so they are willing to pay for their appearance.
Do you agree with the above statement? In my opinion, all of the above "new" traits about Gen Z are pseudo traits.
First of all, it is said that Generation Z is more willing to pay for interest, which I disagree with as a post-80s generation. When I was young, anime figures like telemarketing list Gundam were not called figures, but toys. At that time, my daily pocket money was only a few cents. I would save up the money my parents gave me to buy popsicles and potato chips, and I could buy a favorite toy at the end of the year.
Just buy a Bubble Mart figure, and save up a year to telemarketing list buy a figure, who is more willing to pay for the interest between me and Gen Z?
Hanfu, JK clothing, Lolita dress, this kind of "exotic clothing" in our eyes is easier to understand. Because the seizure of power by the younger generation all started from the rebellion in clothing.
For example, in the 1970s, "flare pants" became popular on the streets of China. At that time, people who wore such pants were called "hooligans" by the older generation. We see girls wearing Lolita dresses now, and it's the same mentality that we saw people wearing flared pants on the street.
It is said that Generation Z is more inclined to "personalized consumption" and "social consumption". Is there no humanized plot for the post-60s and 70s?
Mothers go to tourist attractions to take pictures, and like to pull a colorful silk scarf to take pictures. How did this silk scarf become popular? Isn't this social planting among mother circles?
If the Z generation uses Hanfu, JK clothing, and Lolita dress to establish their personality, then the northeastern women born in the 70s and 80s use mink to express their identity, and Shanghai women use cheongsam to confirm their taste.
While the Gen Z girl is posting selfies in Moments, her mother posts her daughter's selfies in Moments. Generation Z is posting their own trendy characters, and her mother is posting the characters of "successful parents". Everyone is drying, but the things they are drying are different.
It is even more unreasonable to say that Generation Z has better aesthetic ability and believes in "beauty is justice". Don't the post-60s and post-70s care about being "good-looking"? I think it's not that the older generation doesn't care about looks, but their standards for looks are different from yours.
You think cyberpunk is avant-garde, and parents think that cyberpunk is the decoration of the auto repair department; parents think that European style is the most high-end decoration style, and you think it is the standard of rural home.
There is no generation of children who will agree with their parents' aesthetics, and there is no generation of parents who do not consider themselves old.
As the Hedgehog Band sings, "A generation will eventually grow old, and someone will always be young". There has never been a new crowd, just young people. Any new generation of young people will enter the field of public opinion as "rebels".
When doing marketing, it is not about looking at where the younger generation is different from us, but about looking for the new and old generations, where they are the same. Only by grasping the commonality can we grasp the pulse of youth. Otherwise, we are just at the mercy of trends.