Click the image for details Introduction Why do we always face various 'ideological intimidations' when we do business operations honestly? With the rise of the 'post-95s market,' what's the right approach to face them? Marketing professionals confused by the young market, take a reassurance pill with Old Miao today. In our country, you need to be bold when doing business, or you'll easily be scared to death or shocked to death. When Master Kong's channel refinement and Coca-Cola's direct-controlled terminals were booming, people warned us to remove middlemen and flatten channels, or we'd die. When hypermarkets rose, they were defined as 'modern channels,' while the original channels from enterprises to distributors to secondary wholesalers were called 'traditional channels,' artificially labeled as 'progressive' and 'backward.' If you couldn't handle 'modern channels,' you'd die. Later, e-commerce emerged, and it was said that not doing it would also lead to death. With the rise of the internet, Internet+, sharing economy, community economy, ultimate products, and explosive product thinking—all were very impressive, and if you didn't understand them, you'd die. People like us, who have survived countless near-death experiences, are highly immune to these one-sided, alarmist assertions. Even Ma Yun said that pure online and offline would die, and the future belongs to new retail. But a couple of days ago, an article still shocked me: "The Rising Post-95s Market Is Cruelly Punishing Brands That Don't Understand 'Edgy and Provocative'" The general logic is that post-95s are not a generation but a type of people who like to label themselves; the labels they like are various 'edgy and provocative' ones. They were already at the center of the stage when they came into this world. Brands that don't value them will be severely punished, and if you don't understand, it's because you're too old. By Old Miao's standards, this is a good article for internet dissemination: it has emotion, sharp viewpoints, clear enemies, and, crucially, it flatters post-95s throughout, emphasizing their importance and uniqueness, which is especially appealing to kids of that age. I suggest readers check it out. But the logic and common sense in it are a bit unsettling. First, the claim that post-95s are not a generation but a type of people lacks persuasiveness. People who grow up in every era are clearly marked by the times, have their own particularities, and are unique, especially in a country like ours that has undergone such great changes in recent decades: the ownership reform, anti-rightist movement, and people's communes in the 1950s; the difficult period, the Down to the Countryside Movement, and the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s; the continuation and end of the Cultural Revolution and the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee in the 1970s; the ideological liberation and the debate on socialism vs. capitalism in the 1980s; the comprehensive launch of market economy reform and the beginning of globalization in the 1990s; and the economic takeoff and internet popularization after 2000. Every era has profound changes that can affect the thinking of an entire generation. Why are post-95s so different? Did some genetic mutation occur in these years? From Old Miao's research on consumer behavior, most consumer behavior is patterned, and changes in this patterning need to be seen over the long course of human evolution; the influence of times and subcultures is based on changes in patterned behavior, and even if the influence is significant, it can be traced. Mi Meng, the guru, had a hot article titled "It's Not That This Generation of Post-90s Employees Is No Good, It's That You're No Good," which talked about the correct management posture for post-90s and won much praise from them. But at the end, Mi Meng herself admitted that these methods work not only for post-90s but also for post-80s, even post-70s and post-60s; post-90s are not fundamentally different. Second, another basis of that article is that post-95s like to label themselves; if there's no label, they won't play with you. Old Miao basically agrees with this, but the fundamental reason post-95s like labeling is their current age, not because they are particularly special. Liking to label themselves and also label others and things is an important feature of people entering adolescence until physiological and psychological maturity. We know that during childhood, including infancy, people's view of the world is binary: right and wrong, black and white, good and bad, good people and bad people. But after entering adolescence, people begin to break the original binary cognitive model and face a diverse, complex world. At this time, people usually label the world to facilitate their cognition. This age is usually around 15-25. After that, people's cognitive patterns gradually de-label, and having fewer stereotypes is a sign of maturity. Labeling is a sign of youth, but if we say this feature belongs to this era, the older generation who experienced the era of 'landlords, rich peasants, counter-revolutionaries, bad elements, and rightists' might just say 'hehe.' To truly understand these young groups, we need deeper interpretation, not just grabbing an elephant's leg and shouting that the elephant looks like a pillar. We see the current young people's 'disobedience,' 'edginess,' and 'labeling'—some are common features of this age, meaning young people should be like this; others are era-specific features of this wave of young people. Forcing them into one type is a bit sensational.
A slightly tangled interlude: After seeing the 'edgy and provocative' article, Old Miao contacted the author, hoping he would dig deeper and provide more sufficient arguments, so the debate would be more lively and the matter clearer. But he was rejected. Having been scared for so many years, I didn't want to dwell on this topic, but I thought of recent client consultations about how traditional enterprises can communicate with young people and how old brands can rejuvenate. I decided to write something on this topic, since Old Miao writes articles on marketing every week anyway. First, don't overreact. When new things in this world reach us through dissemination, in most cases they are over-hyped and packaged. Reacting too fast is not good; sometimes slowing down might better grasp the essence, and success might be greater. Some people become martyrs; we are more likely to become pioneers. Of course, don't be scared either. With the internet, all kinds of concept-packaging quacks and charlatans emerge endlessly. One day they send you a death notice, the next a critical illness report. Either they have ulterior motives, or they are like the blind men and the elephant, hearing the wind and thinking it's rain. In the words of 'edgy and provocative,' either they are idiots or they treat you as idiots. If you are truly bewitched and rush forward, you often die without knowing how. Second, it needs to be confirmed that post-90s, post-00s, are not floods or beasts, not aliens; they are our consumers. Some of their features are era-specific, so we need to see what has happened in this era; some are age-specific, and they will return to normal after that age. Don't just say, 'Wow, young people all shop online now, offline has no chance,' 'Post-00s all play QQ, WeChat is doomed,' 'Young people are all like this and that now...' Following this logic, post-15s are still drinking milk powder now; when they grow up, rice sellers will also have to close. This is indeed an era where young people say 'damn' all the time. Liking to subvert and indulge is a feature of youth, but how long can that passion last? A certain big shot was a student movement leader in his youth; a certain entrepreneur liked to organize gang fights when young; Old Miao liked to carry a kitchen knife in his schoolbag when young. So what? These are just fleeting episodes in life. Third, the most important thing for enterprises is to persist in value delivery. The catering industry has produced many internet celebrities: Diaoye, Huang Taiji, Toilet Restaurant, Shui Huo, etc. Whether it's sky-high beef brisket, delivering pancakes in sports cars, or moving toilets into restaurants, they are indeed 'edgy and provocative.' But what's the result? After the excitement, most are deserted. Catering is about taste, hygiene, experience, decency, or cost-performance. If you abandon these business essences and the core value of an enterprise, you can't go far. Ma Jiajia, a smart and hardworking girl, majored in media, has ideas, and knows how to create hot topics and spread them on the internet (we won't use 'edgy and provocative' to describe a girl). However, so far, these haven't helped her startup much; what can be monetized is only her fame. She still needs to start from business operations step by step. Fourth, young people are certainly unavoidable, but understanding young people should start from the essence. This includes two layers. The first is to treat young people as 'people': they have commonalities with all humans and commonalities of people at this age, such as being emotional rather than rational, storytelling being more useful than reasoning, Maslow's five-level needs theory still applying, and at this age they like to show personality and brush up their sense of existence, claiming not to follow the crowd or worship authority, but in fact, conformity and authority effects are especially obvious. This layer is the main and mainstream. The second layer is to understand the era-specific features of these young people and respond to them. This layer is not mainstream but also important. As 'Wang Shoufu' said, 'It's a medium meaning.' Old Miao previously tore apart an article titled "You Think You're Wearing Beautiful Clothes, But I See Your Naked Butt," which had an important conclusion: In current domestic enterprises and markets, the elitist and collectivist concepts of brand and product owners, and the populist and liberal concepts of market leaders, form the biggest conflict in China's current market. Psychologist Professor Chen Mo once made an in-depth analysis of young groups: he believes that taking 1993 as a turning point is more essential than the superficial 80s, 90s, 00s, because 1993 brought a huge change to Chinese families—the abolition of food coupons. Abolishing food coupons meant that from then on, food and clothing were no longer a worry. Relative affluence, being only children, and broader sources of knowledge and information created some typical era-specific features of this group. 1. Higher demand for discourse power 2. Heavy emotional burden 3. Broad knowledge 4. Weak sense of reality 5. Unprecedented recognition of individualistic liberalism. Old Miao deeply admires the above conclusions. Over the years, dealing with the younger generation and researching young consumers, any group phenomenon related to them can be attributed to the above five features. That 'edgy and provocative' article mentioned that post-95s are indifferent to 'being aloof.' Old Miao deeply agrees. Not only post-95s, but the mainstream thought of any era is indifferent to 'being aloof.' What is real and communicative is more powerful. But not being aloof doesn't mean you have to be 'edgy and provocative.' If you deliberately pursue 'edgy and provocative,' isn't that another kind of 'aloofness'? Ren Zhengfei, Zong Qinghou, Tao Huabi, Dong Mingzhu, Ma Huateng—they communicate with authenticity and strength, and they can also become internet celebrities with strong vitality. Also, let me mention Zhang Ruimin, who was recently mocked by netizens for not using QQ. His company Haier's official Weibo, known as the '800,000 Blue V Chief Instructor,' is simply a textbook for official Weibo. Interested readers can check it out. Another phenomenon causing panic is internet language. Catchphrases change one after another, often leaving us old-timers puzzled, as if not understanding means we're old. Actually, this has nothing to do with post-90s or post-00s; it's a natural selection result in an age of information overload. Stimulating, heavy-flavored, intense, and distinctive words are more likely to stand out in massive information. So our speech is getting heavier and our words more powerful: calling someone 'Mr.' or 'Miss' is not as satisfying as 'handsome' or 'beauty'; 'male god' or 'goddess' is even more exciting; 'friend' is too ordinary, 'bestie' or 'bromance' is more flavorful; 'argue' is not as domineering and intense as 'brickbat' or 'tear each other apart'; if there's a big gap in strength, just call it 'beat down'—vivid and satisfying. -END-