According to WHO’s data, China has one of the fastest growing ageing populations in the world. The population of people over 60 years old in China is projected to reach 28% by 2040, due to longer life expectancy and declining fertility rates. With a rapidly ageing population, Chinese will meet the unparalleled challenges as well as opportunities.
More and more brands are embracing the so-called silver economy through a series of campaigns to target the silver generation. We see the silver haired models are posing as Gen Z or dancing or moving like Gen Z in the campaign and advertisements. It denotes a huge progress from portraying silver generation as old grandma or grandpa by touting them sneakers or nutritional supplements. My mind is still haunted with the ring of “Melatonin, Stay Young 脑白金，年轻态” when it comes to marketing campaigns targeting to the silver generation.
So there is a saying that the Chinese society is embracing the aging and the brands need to take actions to make the waves by portraying those in 60s in a positive, inspiring way, which will resonate with younger consumers given that the younger generation realize that they are getting old one day. Is that true? Is the brand targeting the old or the young? If the brand is to please the older, should they care about younger generation and their feeling?
For some brands like Neiwai, I always admire their courage and being brave to tell the brutal truth about being women and being aging. I applauded loudly for their campaign that “no body is nobody” by portraying the old women being fearless accepting their aging body which is not as tight as youngster’s. Neiwai made such bold and old- positive statement because it fits their brand positioning as the most progressive and revolutionary brand in the lingerie category in China market. However, this is not one formula which fits for all.
When a brand is considering its strategy, it should bear in mind what the brand itself is positioning in the market. One brand’s successful story cannot be duplicated all the time on the other brand if they are in the different segment or owns different brand positions.
As a progressive brand like Neiwai, it can claim loud that “aging is cool”. But for most brands which are not that progressive in the market, it needs to weight the pro and cons an emerging new trend like “aging is cool”. Sometimes, it is better not to follow the trend but to create the dialogue as for most brands.
For aging, the wiser strategy is to create the dialogue with the silver generations, as a brand bends to listen to the inner voice and find the triviality on all the possible perspectives about being aging. They will find that there are uncovering truth about anxiety, panic, declining to finally letting it go, etc…
It is not following what other brands or competitors are doing something cool, but looking inward and reflecting what is going on around. Since I give up looking at the most dashing brand moves about inclusivity on aging, I found current the biggest social news about aging is that celebrities like Gong Li, who is in 60s, is still looking and acting like the youngsters in 30s when she accompanied French president to visit China. She did this miraculously. How can she make it? Is this the question posed by those in 60s as ordinary women? As I scrolled Little Red Book, all the KOL over 40s are touting the formula on how to Stay Young 年轻态 as 脑白金repeated 20 years ago. I see them dazzling beautiful with a young face of 30s. This do put a peer pressure on me. Aging is not cool as it is said from those self-promotion pictures. The truth about you looking like 30s when you are in 60s is the really cool and most consumers are more resonating and convincing to most ordinary consumers than a real women over 60s portraying with the loosen skin and body.
I wonder whether this might be the true for embracing the aging in China nowadays. So maybe it does ring true to the marketing for silver economy in China.
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