Scan the QR code in the image to register Post-80s wave pushes forward, post-70s left on the beach Recently, two age-related news stories have ignited the internet. One story sparked discussions about midlife crisis. In Shanghai, a 48-year-old highly educated foreign enterprise executive with two children, after being unemployed for two years, finally put aside his pride and even dignity to write a public letter to the mayor of Shanghai asking for help. Another story caused heated debate in the liquor industry. Luzhou Laojiao issued an appointment announcement: Zhang Biao (born 1985) became General Manager of Luzhou Laojiao Sales Company; Dong Hujie (born 1987) became Executive Deputy General Manager; Zhang Liang (born 1988, known as Little Zhang Liang) became General Manager of Luzhou Laojiao Guojiao Liquor Sales Co., Ltd. Each generation produces its own talents, and new replace old; talent turnover is normal. But why do these two stories—one about the plight of post-70s, the other about the vigor of post-80s—strike such a sensitive nerve in society and the industry? These stories share the same essence as the recent news about delaying retirement age: in today's mainstream trend of "betting on young people" and "heavily investing in young people," how should the middle-aged post-70s position themselves and where should they go? Especially the vast number of post-70s marketing professionals have many doubts and confusions about reality and the future, and even feel indignant when facing career setbacks. When post-70s were young, all teachings were to respect and learn from predecessors. But now that they have become the predecessors, why are they being disliked, eliminated, and abandoned? Should it be "age" or "mindset" that becomes younger? In fact, many well-known companies today have clear rejuvenation strategies for different levels and positions, with clear age limits. For example, frontline sales staff should generally not exceed 30 years old, middle-level cadres not exceed 38, and senior cadres not exceed 45. Of course, besides age limits, there are also restrictions on education and other aspects. First, we need to understand why favoring young people has become a mainstream view today. The main reasons are as follows: 1. The business environment changes too fast, requiring team members, especially supervisors, to have faster market response, stronger innovation awareness, and greater decision-making courage. It is often believed that younger marketers possess these characteristics. 2. Increasingly fierce market competition demands higher execution, work energy, and even physical strength. It is generally believed that young people are stronger in physical and mental energy than post-70s. 3. New technologies and models emerge endlessly, requiring teams to have stronger learning ability and adaptability. Companies generally believe that older people are weaker in this regard. Of course, some companies also think that older marketers have too much life experience and are too complex-minded, unlike young people who are simpler. Given these reasons, what truly deserves our serious thought is: should corporate team rejuvenation be about "mindset" or "age"? If it is merely for the form of "age" rejuvenation, then ask: which company or brand's competitiveness has ever been built on "we have the youngest team"? Except for internet tech companies, none—not a single one. On the contrary, we can find many examples of companies that fell into chaos and decline due to frequent team changes. So, are post-70s marketers really as useless as some claim? Absolutely not! On the contrary, in many brand companies, whether at middle or senior levels, post-70s still play the role of the mainstay. Fenjiu is the most dazzling famous liquor brand in recent years, without a doubt. But in Fenjiu's market of about 14 billion yuan in 2020, the leaders of the top 7 core markets, including Shanxi, Henan, Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, and Shandong, are all post-70s without exception. These 7 markets account for over 70% of Fenjiu's total sales. Especially commendable is Mr. Ma Zhaoxing, the current General Manager of Fenjiu Beijing Company. Before being transferred to Beijing, he fought in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang markets for nearly 20 years. He started with annual sales of 70,000 yuan in Jiangsu and broke through 300 million yuan by 2020. His best years were almost all spent in the Jiangsu market, which is truly remarkable. Friends in the liquor industry know that it is quite difficult for other baijiu brands to make breakthroughs in Jiangsu. Jiangsu is Yanghe's home base, and there is also the small giant Jinshiyuan, so the market threshold is high. Yanghe is also recognized as a marketing master in the industry. Fenjiu's historic breakthrough in scale in Jiangsu cannot be achieved without Ma Zhaoxing's contribution. Yang Qingzhu, the head of Uni-President's Northwest market, is known internally as a marketing warrior. In recent years, he has maintained excellent business performance with product structure upgrades and volume-profit growth, making it one of Uni-President's best-performing markets. He is also post-70s. Wu Chengan, General Manager of China Resources Snow Breweries Hubei Marketing Center, is also post-70s. He led his team to win the battle against the epidemic in Hubei in 2020, and in the first half of 2021, their performance ranked among the top three nationally, with overall performance being the best in ten years. Especially in product structure, Hubei Snow's high-end products grew more than 5 times year-on-year. In 2020, Wu Chengan led his team to start digitalization and established the only real-time online digital command center in Snow Breweries nationwide that can reach frontline terminals at any time. Who says post-70s are not good at innovation? We can easily cite many more brilliant post-70s figures and cases. Who says post-70s are no longer capable? It's you who are no longer capable, not the post-70s. Favoring young people is certainly correct; the future of enterprises will inevitably be led by them. What is wrong is that a toxic trend is spreading in the corporate world: under the banner of favoring young people, they marginalize, attack, and abandon the post-70s marketers who are actually in their prime. This toxic trend is so pervasive that it even affects some post-70s marketers themselves, causing them to doubt and deny themselves, and eventually sink into self-abandonment and self-exile. Post-70s are in their prime, the most precious asset of FMCG enterprises Objectively speaking, post-70s marketers are at the best time of their lives today; they are absolutely the most precious asset of FMCG companies. Many companies, including post-70s marketers themselves, may not realize this. Let's not talk about marketing experience and resources, because some will use "experience is a trap" as an excuse to attack. Let's first analyze from the perspective of age: why is now the best time for post-70s marketers? Post-70s marketers are now basically between 40 and 50 years old. Given the WHO's average life expectancy of 77 years for Chinese people, this age can be called the new middle age, with at least 15-25 more years of career. If we assume they started working at 22, their career is only about half over! Moreover, post-70s marketers have the following advantages: 1. Most post-70s marketers have lighter family burdens and can devote themselves more fully to work. At this age, most marketers' children are in high school or even college and can be more independent; their parents are still healthy, and their families are relatively stable. When companies need people to work in different places or for long periods, post-70s marketers often have an advantage over younger people. Many post-80s marketers either have newly formed families or very young children. Sending them away for long periods is not humane for their families, regardless of the results. In fact, many marketers have missed the best time to accompany their children's growth, becoming a lifelong regret. 2. Post-70s marketers are steady in character, mature in mind, and more resilient, with a higher success rate in important market decisions. Marketing work, especially sales management, is often not about novelty but about understanding and executing the company's established strategies. Especially when facing new things and models, experienced post-70s can often see the essence of things, avoid panic and blind action, and make the most appropriate responses. In addition, when facing market turmoil or unexpected events, post-70s managers are more composed and can often calm down and provide the most scientific solutions. 3. Post-70s life experience is better at integrating market resources and driving coordinated efforts among all parties. Most marketers' daily work involves dealing with people: terminals, channels, teams, and even competitors. Marketing can be said to be a natural science, but its essence is more of a social science. Undoubtedly, in most cases, the rich life experience of post-70s can better handle interpersonal relationships, thus effectively carrying out marketing work. As for open-mindedness and learning ability, they are not obstacles for the vast majority of post-70s marketers. If someone is truly not open-minded and lacks learning ability, then regardless of whether they are post-70s or post-80s, they would have been eliminated by marketing work long ago. The brands that survive today owe their existence to the struggles and contributions of post-70s marketers over the past two decades. At the same time, every company must recognize that in the next decade or more, the post-70s generation of marketers will remain the most valuable asset worth cherishing and reusing. So, post-70s marketers, no matter what happens to you or around you, please truly recognize your own value. Stop doubting and denying yourself, and do not adopt an attitude of self-abandonment and lying flat. Some companies will discover and cherish the value of post-70s marketers, while others may not. If you are experiencing the latter, do not lose confidence. You, who have faced and solved countless market problems, will surely not fear making life choices again. You can either rely on your skills and past achievements to find a platform that appreciates talent, or like many marketers, integrate resources to become a regional agent and lord, or even like Jiang Xiaobai's founder Tao Shiquan, lead a group of marketing brothers to create a great undertaking! Review: Asher _-END-****_