International Digital Marketing

We all want our brand to be attractive, exciting, trendy, sexy and … young. Our society adores youth, we want the young generation to buzz about us, brands and campaigns winning awards are aimed to youth. Facing declining sales, we cannot help hearing that we must rejuvenate, rejuvenate, rejuvenate…

However, many times there is a big conflict between the people we want to buy our brand and the people who actually buy it. Too many times the marketing and communication target is 20-30 years younger than the loyal consumers forming the grand majority of the database.

Cosmetic “brand” surgery?

Some brands tackle this by going through a long process of changing their brand image. More or less successfully. Ford experienced this problem in Spain with its upcoming launch of the new, young, trendy Ford Fiesta. In Spain this particular car model was perceived as a car for 40-50-year-old women, but few years before the launch, Ford Spain started creating a community especially for youth www.maskedummies.com. The booming trendy community changed slowly the image of Ford Fiesta and made the marketing message more believable in 2008. Another example of successful change of brand image is of course Old Spice.

But is it really so bad to be a brand for “old” people? What if the sales are declining, not because our brand is getting older and new generation does not buy it, but because we are ignoring the older generation who does?

Aging global population

With the declining fertility and improved health and longevity, the population aging has become the biggest demographic trend globally. In 2009 the global population of +60-year-old people reached 680 million, 11% of the world’s population. It has also been predicted that by 2030, the amount will increase to 20% in 55 countries.

By 2050, Europe will increase its elderly population from 40 million to 219 million, China will experience a growth of 30% from 109 million to 350 million and India will increase the number of elderly from 62 million to 240 million. Japan, with the largest percentage of +60 people, will increase the current amount from 27% to 44%.

While number of youth decreases across the planet and the number of older people increases, does it not make more sense to take advantage of the “older” brand image instead of investing resources and money to desperately rejuvenate the image? Older people are more loyal to the brand than the new multitasking and impatient generation. Besides – they have also more money and time to spend.

Aging Social Media and Blogosfare

Yes, but young people make more noise in the Internet you might say. Not true.

In January 2011, +55-year-olds represented 7% of the global Facebook users, however the amount of 45-54-year-old users reached 12% and the percentage of 35-44-year-old users increased to 18%. What comes to Twitter, +55-year-olds represented 9% of the global Twitter users, while 45-54-year-olds reached 17% and 35-44-year-olds 27%.

Meanwhile, the older generation is also getting more comfortable with blogging: 11% of the over 30-year-old adults blogged in 2010, compared with 7% in 2007. Also, during the last two years blogging by the 34-45 year-old Internet users has increased 6%  (up to 16%), 46-55-year-old bloggers saw an increase of 5%  (up to 11%), and even 65-73-year-olds blogged 2% more (up to 8%).

But how to reach the increasing older generation?

#1 Stay cool, but use more mature marketing message

Older generation wants to remain cool, but also see people and situations they can relate to – people little younger they are, well aging and sophisticated, such as Meryl Streep and George Clooney. What comes to the situations, if you know that 90% of the people in your cruise are +55, do not show images of young people and babies in your advertising – it pushes older generation away. Instead, show older generation having fun, flirting, enjoying life in a cool environment.

#2 Aim advertising for the right target

In advertising we are so youth focused, that we often forget that the hopes and dreams are different in each age group. They change as people get older, handling more relationships, family experiences, health, happy memories and personal fulfilment. If you are too young to know what your target group dreams about, ask them. They are happy to share their opinion.

#3 Listen and influence in consumer forums

Age makes us more wise and careful. Older people do a lot of investigation before spending their time and money. Older generation compares prices, goes to consumer forums and listens what people have to say in social media.

#4 Focus on emotional bond and quality

Older generation is more interested in quality and value for money than latest fashion. They do not like to be rushed into a decision, but have time to compare different options. However, older people are also more loyal and stay with brands they trust. If you success creating an emotional bond with older users, they do not hesitate to promote your brand to their friends and other users across the social media.

Old trends in young generation, new trends in older generation

To stay always ahead of the competition targeting older generation, it might be a good idea to remember that in the end young people are early adopters of the new technologies and communication channels and “old” people are slow to follow. It means that you can observe youth-focused brands while they try to exploit new trends and conquer new channels by trial and error, and once they become “hot” in your target age group you are well prepared to be “trendy”.

With 43% of South Koreans maintaining an online profile or blog site and 90% of Korean twenty-somethings logging into a social network daily, the market seems like a perfect Social Media playground. Searching for a stronger position in Asian markets, Coke decided to experiment in South Korea with a new strategy. Instead of one-off promotions, Coke preferred to study their participants and reach out for them when they knew each influencer’s tastes and interests.

“Lots of companies are engaged in blog marketing nowadays, and we, as bloggers, do get lots of requests,” admitted Eun Ju Kim, one of Coke’s Korean mommy bloggers. “But Coca-Cola Korea was different. The company really listened to us from the beginning. The company fully allowed me to enjoy the area that I was most interested with and share my experience through my blog. Lots of people ask me how to become a Coke blogger.”

To build a sustainable blogger outreach program the company wanted to find out how Coke could better communicate with local bloggers, especially young mothers.These influencers were introduced to the company through special blogger-only events and their opinion and advice was asked. Was it easy? No. Did it need patience? Yes.

It did not happen overnight: Coke has devoted 2 years to build relationships with powerful bloggers who are important local “digital influencers.” The company contacted these 8 “mommy bloggers” tagged as “Coke friends” back in 2008, and they voluntarily become Coke evangelists connecting Coke with Koreans who visited their blog.

“These women are not simply in charge of a onetime event or project but are vitally important stakeholders,” declared Kenth Kaerhoeg, group communications director for Coca-Cola’s Pacific Group in Hong Kong. “Each blogger has been paid careful attention to, various brand and company information appropriate to each blogger’s interest and inclination has been continuously provided, involving them into a variety of marketing and corporate events, therefore enabling them to share unique and exciting Coke experiences.”

After two years Korean families are talking more about (and drinking) Coke. The company is planning to expand the blogger dinner parties into larger programs involving also young bloggers also in other Asian markets. The company has already created social-media programs in China, Singapore, Australia and Japan, particularly to promote Coke in the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

According to an interesting study on the global trends of social media use, released recently by Trendstream,  consumers in the Asia Pacific region trust and engage with brands that communicate with them through social media.

Compared with the rest of the world, respondents in the Asia Pacific region appreciate more the brand-driven communities, fan pages, and blogs and declare that these improve their opinions of the brand. In the US, Latin America, and in Europe, consumers prefer the face-to-face communications, however the Chinese and South Korean consumers prefer online recommendations from a contact or a friend.

“This trend may well be based in certain Asian populations’ positive attitudes towards technology and the Web, coupled with their preference for privacy”, mentions Idil Cakim of Golin Harris in his article.

The used Global Web Index, based on 32,000 online interviews across 16 countries, can be a good indication what programs and channels should be used across the world. It is important to know how your audience prefers to receive the communications to get the message through – and in a positive way. In 2010, if you are calculating the media budget for the Asia Pacific region: invest in Social Media!

Read more about the study at Golin Harris’ Blog