---
title: "How to Make Your Brand More Appealing to Young People?"
description: "Adapting to the new era's context can reactivate aging brands. Like products, brands have their own life cycles, and only through continuous rejuvenation can they maintain vitality and avoid being abandoned by users. Brand rejuvenation is a frequently discussed topic, and many traditional brands have shown personality in new media, which is a clear sign of rejuvenation. However, it is not as simple as writing jokes or acting cute on Weibo or WeChat. This article discusses the topic of brand rejuvenation."
author: "Zzz"
publisher: "New Distribution"
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published: "2018-06-06"
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# How to Make Your Brand More Appealing to Young People?

> Adapting to the new era's context can reactivate aging brands. Like products, brands have their own life cycles, and only through continuous rejuvenation can they maintain vitality and avoid being abandoned by users. Brand rejuvenation is a frequently discussed topic, and many traditional brands have shown personality in new media, which is a clear sign of rejuvenation. However, it is not as simple as writing jokes or acting cute on Weibo or WeChat. This article discusses the topic of brand rejuvenation.

Adapting to the new era's context can reactivate aging brands.
Like products, brands have their own life cycles, and only through continuous rejuvenation can they maintain vitality and avoid being abandoned by users.
Brand rejuvenation is a frequently discussed topic, and many traditional brands have shown personality in new media, which is a clear sign of rejuvenation. However, it is not as simple as writing jokes or acting cute on Weibo or WeChat. This article discusses the topic of brand rejuvenation.

**- 1 -**
**Why Rejuvenate Your Brand?**

**I. Mismatch Between Demographic Changes and Brand Positioning**
Brands position themselves based on user needs, but when users' needs change as they age, conflicts arise between brand positioning and consumer needs. At this point, brands generally have two options:

**1. Follow the original user group and provide them with new products.** However, this approach usually fails because users will perceive the brand as "immature," and their personal growth is achieved through upgrading their consumption to higher-level brands. This strategy of following the original consumer group requires sub-brands to succeed. (This mainly refers to B2C brands.)

**2. Another option is to abandon the group whose needs have changed, stick to the original brand positioning, and continuously update the target user base.** But new consumer groups will perceive the brand as designed for the "older generation," and it may not meet their psychological or product needs. In this case, brand rejuvenation is necessary.

Compared to the first strategy, brand rejuvenation has many successful cases in the market and has become the best choice for brand owners.

**II. Changes in Era Context and Pop Culture**
Changes in communication channels, user scenarios, and pop culture all drive changes in communication context, which is particularly evident in internet communication.

When the internet first emerged, many traditional brands were ill-adapted to mobile communication because they were used to traditional advertising and approached internet communication with a one-way communication mindset, causing many official brand accounts to degenerate into platforms for press releases.

Mobile internet further amplified internet culture, and the new context forced brands to adopt new communication methods. A key focus of brand rejuvenation is aligning brand promotion with new user communication habits.

Pechoin's one-shot long image advertisement

**- 2 -**
**How to Determine if a Brand Is Aging**

The most direct way to determine if a brand needs rejuvenation is to look at the age data of user profiles. However, drawing conclusions from user data is often too late. We can observe other indicators to make early judgments.

**I. Weak Growth and Over-Reliance on Marketing to Activate Users**
Unless the market is saturated, weak growth often indicates that users are not buying in. If product positioning and functionality are not major issues, it may be due to an aging brand image.

Weak growth is usually accompanied by other phenomena, such as low repurchase rates and an inability to form brand recognition. Another sign is over-reliance on marketing: if sales drop sharply once advertising and promotions stop, it indicates that sales are driven by benefits rather than brand recognition, and your brand may no longer attract users.

**II. Poor User Interaction and Low Comment/Share Rates**
Interaction is the best indicator of brand affinity. Every brand has a certain number of core fans, and on social media platforms or self-media, you can roughly estimate content interaction based on historical data. This interaction feedback can effectively guide product, content, and campaign planning.

If interaction and share rates are declining, even without data, frontline marketing and operations staff can clearly feel it. This indicates that your brand is losing its appeal.

**- 3 -**
**How to Rejuvenate Your Brand**

Post-90s and post-00s generations are gradually becoming the mainstream consumer force. Today's brand rejuvenation is closely related to these generations and internet culture. Therefore, you can start from the following directions:

**I. Content Output Should Have "Internet Flavor"**
Communication between brands and users is mostly achieved through content, whether it's advertising visuals or WeChat articles. The biggest characteristic of internet-native content is that it is more entertaining and personified. This is why we see many serious brands acting unserious on Weibo—they align with the online reading context.

Users want a personified brand that can communicate and interact with them, not a corporate media outlet that only spouts brand slogans. Brands need to continuously build their personified labels, and playing with users is the first step in brand rejuvenation.

How to make content output more "internet-flavored"? In terms of direction, you need to define the brand's persona attributes; in execution, you need a content operator with "internet sense." Here are a few tips worth referencing:

> a. Tell brand stories in an entertaining way;
>
> b. Occasionally engage in harmless self-deprecation to increase brand affinity;
>
> c. Pay attention to hot topics and internet slang, and quickly understand and apply them;
>
> d. Use new presentation formats such as long images, emojis, jokes, and short videos;
>
> e. Understand and pay attention to internet subcultures;

Of course, the above tips should be used according to the situation; overuse can also cause aversion.

The leader in corporate new media—Haier New Media

Representative of entertaining H5—"Through the Forbidden City" H5

**II. Emphasize Users' Self-Expression**
The self-awareness of post-90s and post-00s generations is fully awakened. Unlike previous groups, they are born with strong desires for expression and control, which are determined by the era. Brands can enable users to express themselves in the following ways:

**1. Brands Help Users Express Themselves**
In recent years, nickname bottles, quote bottles, and copy posters have emerged as products that help users express their opinions. Whether through packaging or poster design, we increasingly see copy-driven packaging and promotional materials. The logic behind this is not only to establish new communication methods between brands and users and make users identify with brand values, but more importantly, to design copy that allows users to express themselves, thereby sharing and spreading brand values among user groups.

Coca-Cola's expression bottles

In other words, on one hand, brands make products new-media-friendly, with packaging serving as an output channel for brand values; on the other hand, they build social value for the brand, making products and posters a medium for users' social expression. Of course, the premise is that the brand has accurate emotional insights into young user groups.

**2. Brands Allow Users to Showcase Themselves**
Every generation of young people resents being labeled by society. Brands not only need to help users voice their opinions but also create opportunities for users to express themselves.

For example, Jiang Xiaobai's copy is often written by users themselves, then selected and mass-produced. Another example is the recent viral "My Manual" H5 and DIY H5s, which triggered an explosion of similar H5 works, all driven by users' self-value expression.

**3. Brands Value User Feedback**
Young users' affinity for a brand comes not only from product usability but also from deep interaction with the brand, i.e., users' "sense of participation." Participation is essentially users' self-expression toward the brand. Psychology has also proven similar effects: the more involved people are in an event, the more positively they evaluate it.

For brands, establishing customer service channels, comment interaction, and user feedback reward mechanisms is particularly important. Sometimes even just displaying users' nicknames in posters or product update notes can earn user recognition and praise.

**III. Quick Communication and Quick Feedback**
QQ Browser's slogan "I want it now" truly expresses the voice of the younger generation. Not only do current events and pop culture change quickly, but users' waiting time is also shrinking, and instant communication is everywhere.

For content output, hot topics may cool down after two or three days, making it ineffective to ride the wave. For crisis public relations, the previous 12-hour response window is no longer valid; if you don't proactively respond within 4 hours, it's considered unqualified. For customer feedback and service, the importance of timeliness needs no emphasis.

Durex's online promotion team, recognized for its internet sense, is famous for quickly and humorously following hot topics. Being ready to communicate with users at all times and providing rapid feedback has become industry consensus.

**IV. Rejuvenating Products and Channels**
Brand rejuvenation is not just about content forms; it involves comprehensive communication with young groups at the product demand and user channel levels.

Collect feedback on new needs from young users and make targeted product improvements to align with new usage scenarios. Generally, young groups have higher requirements for product visual design, appearance packaging, product design, interaction, and usability than before.

Additionally, young users' information reception channels have become fragmented. Covering new channels is as important as producing content. For example, the Douyin channel dividend since this year's Spring Festival has proven the sales capability and communication effects of new channels. New channels like Weishi, Xiaohongshu, and live streaming, as well as new variety shows like "Produce 101" and "Street Dance of China," are worth attention. Wherever users' attention is scattered, that's where you should promote.

**- 4 -**
**Pitfalls of Brand Rejuvenation**

**I. Changing the Logo Alone Doesn't Make a Brand Young**
When many traditional brands talk about rejuvenation, their brand departments inevitably propose changing the logo, slogan, or using new endorsers. But brand rejuvenation is not as simple as changing a logo or slogan.

Logo updates are largely influenced by flat design trends and can indeed make the brand image more modern and vibrant, but they don't solve the fundamental problem. Coca-Cola's ribbon logo has barely changed, yet Coca-Cola remains popular among the new generation.

Brand rejuvenation is essentially an overall rejuvenation of communication methods with users, involving products, channels, content, and other aspects. It's not just about setting up "Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin" and posting fresh content.

**II. Rejuvenation Is Not About Following Trends and Acting Cute**
Every brand needs its own persona positioning. Not all internet-native content needs to be jokes and cuteness on Weibo and WeChat, or force-fitting internet slang. Excessive cuteness or entertainment can easily cause user aversion.

What should be professional remains professional; what should be serious remains serious. Find the intersection between internet context and your own brand. Entertainment is just a means of expression to make content more acceptable and increase brand affinity. Even science popularizers like Dr. Dingxiang and Guokr can make content more interesting, but their scientific logic is rigorous.

Forcing awkward conversations and cuteness is just a lazy approach by brands. It won't earn user recognition and may even create a "rustic" feeling.

**III. Don't Assume User Needs**
The first two points are more about execution errors, but the core of brand rejuvenation lies in insight into young users. If the insight is wrong, the entire direction is wrong.

A famous case is Li Ning's brand rejuvenation. Li Ning once made a big decision to rejuvenate its brand, but the ads with a strong "shamate" style drew criticism from many users. A series of promotions failed to move the post-90s generation, and coupled with unfocused brand positioning, its brand reshaping ultimately failed.

Li Ning's post-90s ad visuals

Understanding target users requires actual communication and research, and tools like Baidu Index and WeChat Index can be used. Methods like internal testing and A/B testing can effectively reduce the risk of decision errors. Information between circles is isolated; you cannot describe user profiles based on your imagination.

**- Conclusion -**
Although brand rejuvenation is a frequently discussed topic in marketing and brand departments, relying solely on marketing efforts is hard to truly capture the hearts of young users. It requires a coordinated upgrade of products, marketing, and channels, adapting to the new era's context, to reactivate aging brands.

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