inquiringeyes

The chariot and the palanquin

Car ownership and gender-mediated needs in India and China

Hair clips, left over food from yesterday’s trip to Mc Donald’s, child’s sipper, lip balm, broken hair dryer, dirty laundry, two extra pairs of shoes, last year’s wall calendar, cuddly toys, wrapping paper for gifts the list goes on and only becomes more unusual - you see these things in a car and you know that the driver is a woman.

Contrast this with a high definition car stereo system and speakers that match, a certain car perfume, no additional fitments inside the car other than those outside, viz. an extra spoiler, collar for the silencer and stickers that match the color of the car, and similar stuff that makes the car look like a potent metal carriage that moves around - you see these in a car and you know that the driver is a man.

What do these two examples show? What do things in a car say about the driver?

A lot, to say the least.

For a man, his car needs to be all loaded, state of the art, well-oiled, prepared for any emergency - almost like it were a phallic symbol in the body of a motorized metal carriage that were designed for mating calls -both overt and covert. Of course there are men whose cars are extensions of their beer bellies – out of shape and full of waste, but we do not see many such men driving good cars, do we? 

What we do see though are young men driving around the city streets – steady around neighborhood markets and zipping on trunk roads, with their car stereos blaring music, as they look sideways. Do not panic - they are only checking out those who are checking them out - modern day mating calls I say!

Such kind of contemporary masculinity is just another version of the refined aggression of a well-heeled businessman or successful company executive walking proudly towards his shining new BMW – be it in a car park in Beijing or Bangalore.

For a man his car is like a chariot that he steers in this society’s resource constrained war zone. A war zone with too many successful men and too few suitable women, too many cars and too little space, too many people and too few who can really stand out.

For different kinds of men, the chariots are different too - there is the ceremonial ‘peace chariot’, the one that seeks nothing more than prestige. It is usually a luxury sedan - symbolizing class more than control, pragmatism more than power. Usually it is the business executive, or the young achiever who is seen in the company of such three-box metallic wonders.

There also is the ‘war chariot’ or the SUV, which is about Power more than Prestige, Dominance more than a subtle statement of Superiority. It does not believe in peaceful coexistence - not in life, not on the road. Little wonder, that the more chauvinistic among the men in India - the political leaders, landlords, aristocracy and the likes, are regularly seen in the vicinity of their 4-Wheel Drives.

Even in China, where political leadership has already standardized the choice of power statement (in Audis they trust and a black A-6 is the badge of power in Middle Kingdom!) But in spite of this, many still go for their Q7s. PLA personnel and their Audi SUVs with the trademark white number plates are hard to miss in all major cities in China and especially in Beijing!

But that’s about men, for most of the women on the other hand, a car is like a Palanquin. It is an extension of her living space. It has to offer, at an arms length, all that she needs, or needs to do – be it the make-up kit, hair comb, many shoes - “the stuff she needs”; or gifts, dirty laundry, broken hair dryer, child’s sipper - “the stuff she needs to do”.  

Try overhearing conversations that women have about cars – they usually hover around the brand names and quickly move into a discussion about the interiors. Many of them just want a nice cup holder or a bigger vanity mirror under the sunshade! Their needs speak volumes about their expectations from the car. For a girl the way a car feels from inside is any day more important than the way it looks on the outside.

Such needs are in sharp contrast to a man’s need for the ‘spec-fest’ loaded with numbers- 1.5/1.6@ 2000 and the self-styled platoon of reassuringly complicated abbreviations  - BHP, PS, rpm, DOHC, ROCAM, VTEC and the list goes on.

There of course are exceptions to this, because Tomboy girls like SUVs and bikes just the way safety obsessed moms like the extra armour of a 4-Wheel drive. And not to miss China’s er nais (Mistresses), who can be seen driving almost anything - from a Beetle to a Bentley; QQ to Q7s with as many Cayenne’s, Mini Coopers and Lamborghinis in between!

In developing countries like China and India, cars have classically been marketed either to the man or to the family. Seldom do we think about the implications of gender preferences in car purchase. In China unlike in India – a man’s car does not have much of a chance to look especially masculine. This is because of the prevailing regulations that prohibit any modification to a car’s exterior – thus leaving the male of the species with a generic logo that could be just about as exclusive as the price tag attached to it. 

The personal feminine touch is more visible for a woman’s car. Women, especially those who are single, have a bigger playground on the inside of the car. Little wonder you see Hello Kitty’s with their potent pinks and hug-worthy panda’s by the million. China, which is already world’s biggest market for cars and India, which is on its way to the No. 4 spot in 2015 have a growing number of female drivers (and owners!). For example 15-20% of hands behind the wheels in urban India are females.  Contrast this with still bigger numbers from China, where as much as 40% of Beijing drivers are women. The trend is not limited to big cities – south China’s Hainan Traffic Police data suggests that female license-holders account for over 17% of the total number of drivers. Even in Shouguang in Shandong (East China), with a population of just over 1,080,000 - one third of students in driving schools are women!

In spite of these pointers, it is difficult to think when was the last time a car was marketed to women, by pre-fitting it with things that acknowledged the presence of the female buyer.

Adapting a car to a woman’s needs does not require a lot of reengineering, basic adjustments on the inside can already help the women in many ways. There is no rocket science in visualizing a special under-seat shoebox that can hold the extra pair, so that everything need not be kept in the boot. Imagine seat belts that do not spoil ironed clothes and back of sunshades, that not only has a vanity mirror but can also hold lipsticks and eyeliners. Think of special LV steering wheel covers, visualize an extendable massage arm under driver’s seat that can soothe strained legs, and also a window glass that blocks out harmful UV rays while minimizing skin tan. The possibilities are endless – all it takes is the conviction and the will to do it.

Gender roles are becoming increasingly prominent in car purchases. Heroic hunter’s power and prestige has had more than its share of limelight, it is time to turn attention to feminine fairy’s cool comfort, which is looking for wheels to match. Are we listening? 

 

Intergenerational Intimacy - Is China's 80s generation discovering their real companion (依靠)?

You can spot them everywhere, from subway stations, to public parks; from shopping arcades to busy restaurants and even in far-off holiday destinations. There is a distinctly visible trend in big cities, where a young woman in her late 20s or early 30s is often seen in the company of her mother, doing things with her. Isn’t this a little surprising given that we are made to believe that China’s 80s generation (which is now in its 20s and early 30s) is a pampered lot and more self-centered than any generation before them; And also that this generation does not understand their parents and considers them totally out of sync with today’s world!

If this how the 80s generation is, then how do we explain this intergenerational intimacy and companionship that they are discovering with their parents, and especially girls with their mothers?

All that has been said about the 80s generation and its self-obsession is true, just the way it is also true that 80s generation is not a teenager any longer. Those among them, who were born in early 80s, are young adults now and entering a new phase of their life, both personally and professionally. Personally, they are getting into or feling the need for a long-term relationship and professionally they are looking at building a career, which is different from just doing a job.

In China, 三十而立 (san shi er li or the 30s) is considered to be one of the toughest points of transition in a person’s life. This transitory phase forces them to think both personal and professional choices from a long-term perspective. But the need for transition from a job to a career and from a romantic relationship into long-term commitment is not coming out to be the smoothest. What makes this transition especially tough for this generation? After all many before them have passed through this stage.

The 80s generation is a high-expectation generation. They have high expectations from almost everything that they engage in. At work, they have high expectations about monetary compensation, growth and attention from superiors and peer group; in everyday life they have high expectations from the life partner and friends. These high expectations are a result of the life that their parents made them used to as they pampered them extensively during their formative years.

In most cases parents of this 80s generation belong to the 50s and early 60s generation. These parents have come from poorer backgrounds with families characterized by many kids. (More than 30% of parents of 60s generation on an average had 5 to 6 siblings in their childhood¹). As a result the spotlight was not on a single child. Everyone had to find his or her own way and struggle as they became independent. When these children became parents, they took extra care to ensure that their only child does not have to struggle like they did.

This extra care, pampering and protection has lead to 80s generations developing a fragile and inward-looking personality. They find it difficult to forge new relationships and are always looking out to get rather than give.

As this generation moves into their late 20s and early 30s they exit the comfort zone that their parents created for them. The transition exposes them to a world that challenges their high expectations. At work, a highly competitive environment requires them to work hard before they can earn the right to expect, and in personal relationships, the significant other, who is usually from the same generation is also expecting to get rather than give. Both ways the realization begins to dawn upon them, that they are not the center of the world. Given all this, it is not surprising that a large proportion of those who are from the 80s generation, have turbulent marriages, disenchantment with work and change jobs frequently.

Turbulent Marriages: The extra pampering and protection that this generation has received from their parents, has lead to slower and delayed maturing of their personalities. This becomes more pronounced in their married life. Marriage requires forgiveness, understanding, tolerance and compromise – but these are not the traits that this generation is best known for.  Poxi guanxi (婆媳关系)viz relationship with in-laws and forging new bonds after marriage, becomes increasingly challenging when both partners are expecting from each other but unable to give as much. Many experts working in marital counseling, blame the lack of responsibility shown by the spoiled one-child generation as the reason for the many broken marriages. As a result today, one out of every five marriages in China ends in a divorce. This rate is double of what it was a decade ago and Beijing tops the charts with the highest divorce rate nationwide with 39% of all marriages in the city ending in a split! More importantly divorce rate among those under-30s has doubled annually over the past five years, and 97 percent of these couples are from single child families!  

Disenchantment at Work: Disillusionment at work among younger employees is a rising concern for the human resource teams in many organizations. Companies are facing challenges in employee retention and overall morale. A recent survey shows that, as much as 80% of employees with 3-5 years of experience have switched jobs aggressively. Most of these are from the 80s generation. In some cases such switching of jobs has tripled organizational employee turnover rates to as high as 45.7%. ²

Shattered hopes and the resulting emotional crisis due to unmet expectations both at work and from the life-partner make this generation realize the ‘cruelty’ of real world outside the fort of parental protection. This personal emotional crisis prompts them to look for a support system, as they look for someone who can reassure them about themselves and provide emotional refuge from the stark realities of the adult world.

For all such emotional crises, there usually are three pressure valves in almost all the societies. 1. Friends, who reassure 2. Hobbies, those provide a new way to invest and engage the mind and emotions and, 3. A Religion or Belief that soothes and gives inner peace.

Friends, who are the most obvious support system, while is strong but is not the most preferred escape route. This is mainly because some friends move on, others might have successful marriages and work situations and could thus make one feel more miserable instead of giving reassurance.

Hobbies that help a person to engage in something beyond work are a definite route to greater happiness and confidence. Yet most of the young adults in China, while they are trying many new things are still not sure about their real hobbies and interests. It is worth mentioning that while most of the societies in the world have something that they are known to be passionate about, it is difficult to answer the same question for most of the Chinese.

Belief, be it religious or philosophical, is another way of soothing the anxiety within. In many societies this role is played by religion. In China, a mix of Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist philosophies together play this role. Yet the reality remains that most of the 80s generation is way too disconnected from their philosophical roots. Most of the time it is competition through consumption that dominates confidence through contemplation and reflection. Consumption as a way of making oneself aware of one’s existence wields additional pressure on the individual, as one tends to measure success by visible symbols of prosperity. It is noteworthy that according to a recent news report, a Chinese professor in Beijing was quoted as telling his students “if you cannot make RMB 40 million by the time your are 40, I would not be happy to acknowledge you as my students!”

The rise in the popularity of religion and Yoga among others is also a testimony to the fact that people are looking for a way to sooth their inner self. A visit to the Sunday mass in any city Church will reveal the large numbers of 80s generation attending it regularly.

In this wider context, 80s generation, especially women in their late 20s and early 30s, are rediscovering their parents as a source of unconditional love, affection and emotional reassurance. While they discover a new friend in their mother, their mother too has much to share as she is seeking a companion in her child. This is more so if the girl is single or separated from her husband.

But one may ask that the Chinese society and culture has always observed a sense of duty towards parents and elders in the family. What is so new about all this?  What separates this newfound intergenerational intimacy from the classic filial piety?

Unlike the traditional sense of duty that drove the relationships in the past, the contemporary intimacy has a sense of mutual companionship as the driving motivation behind it. 

It is also interesting to note that the intergenerational intimacy is not just a middle class phenomenon. There are many female celebrities like Fan Bin Bin and Liu Yi Fei among others, are also much closer to their parents than anyone else.  

So what does all this mean for marketers and advertisers? What can we learn from this social trend in making? For starters, the decision-making especially in the purchase of consumables and apparel would be increasingly influenced by the interplay between the mother and daughter. This would be a new dimension to the hitherto unigenerational exchange between a girl and her friends or her spouse. Perhaps mothers might be able to bring in a sense of frugality to the everyday purchases but more importantly the daughter could help her mother adopt the newer and more premium lines of products. Mothers could not just use her daughter’s grooming tips but also make herself feel younger and give her an edge in her own circle of other senior women.

Needless to mention there could be new gifting opportunities to both nourish and leverage this intergenerational intimacy, especially around existing occasions like Women’s Day and Mother’s Day.

As observers of society and culture and as futurists, we are always eager to predict the next big thing that is coming our way. Data about China’s demographics often tells us interesting things about the aging population, urbanization, and income gap, among others. While these realities are imminent, it remains that what is even more important than knowing what will happen is to reflect upon what would happen then. Although this essay is largely speculative for it does not yet offer extensive numerical evidence for many of the observations made here, yet it does provide a mental map to navigate the social changes of our times.

Boys and girls from single child families of yesteryears are men and women today. They are forming families and making a living as they join organizations in droves. As marketers, we need to understand their emotional experiences and resulting needs. Only then will we be able to solve their problems and serve them better. Are we listening?

Special Thanks to:

Ivy Liang Strategic Planner, Ogilvy & Mather, Guangzhou, China

Dr. Ting Wang, Lecturer - Communication Studies, School of Communication, East China Normal University, Shanghai, PRC

 

'Swarmonomics' and the Chinese shopper – seven things to learn

In the past four weeks we have seen two examples of swarm-style purchase frenzies by Chinese shoppers.

The first occasion was the panic-buying of common salt. Shoppers were under the impression that the iodine in salt could help in protecting them from the negative effects of nuclear radiation coming out of Japan following the earthquake-related nuclear emergency.

Stocking up on salt was also viewed as a good idea because some shoppers were convinced that the sea salt due to hit shelves in the coming months would have been polluted by the nuclear radiation, making it wiser to buy up stocks now. On a single day, around 4,000 tonnes of salt was sold in Zhejiang alone! Shops ran out of stocks, and when all the salt was gone, many zeroed in on soy sauce, due to its high salt content.

Calm had barely returned when another round of swarm-style purchasing hit the stores. This time it was laundry detergent.

Shoppers from Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Wenzhou, upon hearing that detergent prices were to go up soon, moved in hordes and wiped the store shelves clean. Shop shelves lay empty as wave after wave of anxious shoppers loaded their shopping carts with almost any pack of detergent that they could lay their hands on.

These two instances say a great deal about the attitudes of the average Chinese shopper. These attitudes include:

1. Uncertainty about the future: The average Chinese shopper is anxious about tomorrow. They are not sure what is going to come their way and want to do all that they can to pre-empt anything that might go wrong. Making oneself uncomfortable today only to avert negative effects of future uncertainty, no matter of how remote or far-fetched it might be, is not unusual 

2. Low levels of trust: Chinese shoppers do not trust reactive information. Irrespective of the assurances from various other professional agencies about the price, quality and future availability of the products, shoppers were not convinced. They went on stocking up on these products as much as they could. 

3. Risk aversion: Chinese shoppers are hugely risk-averse, especially in times of relative uncertainty. They do not like to

leave things to a stroke of luck; they want to ensure that they do the right thing for themselves and ensure that it covers any kind of potential risk. 

4. Value consciousness: The large majority of Chinese shoppers will go to any extent to save money. 'Money saved is money earned' seems to be the shopping mantra for the masses that flock to supermarkets. This value consciousness is not just unique to China, but a theme reflected in other emerging markets. Shoppers in India are not very different. The sight of Chinese shoppers jostling for salt and detergent is reminiscent of the shopper stampede in India in 2006 when the Big Bazaar (a leading retail store brand in India) announced a three-day-long annual sale that offered a heavy discount on products across categories such as apparel, electronics and other consumables. Millions of shoppers came to buy, and in some of the cities police had to be called to manage the anxious mob of shoppers. Shoppers were worried that they might not be able to get the deal if they reached the store late or missed the first day of sale. 

5. 'Swarm sense': The occurrence of a flash flood of shoppers is neither sense nor nonsense; instead it is swarm-sense.

This is propelled by a feeling that 'the crowd must be right'. There is complete lack of individual judgment in the purchase decisions, and this only becomes more pronounced in the event of insufficient proactive information from credible sources.

This swarm-sense is also similar to the way Indian masses reacted to the news of Ganesha (a Hindu deity) drinking milk in 1995 and again in 2006. Millions streamed into Hindu temples carrying their pot of milk to offer to the deity. 

6. Connectedness: Rumours behind both the events were triggered largely by misinformation that spread through mobile phone messages and online microblogs. The speed at which the messages were spread and the scale of response demonstrates how modern-day communication technology has turbo-charged age-old word of mouth. This also shows the higher credibility of communication channels like mobile phones in such rumour-laden situations. 

7. Post-fact society: At a time when we have access to multiple information sources and diverse perspectives, we do not get the truth; we only choose to believe one version of it. What might 10-15 years ago have been a journalist's dilemma about which version of a story to believe and write about, is now the dilemma of the average person. The only difference is that the average recipient of information might not always be conscious of the choices that he or she is making. 

What can all this tell us as marketers and advertisers? We can definitely do well by acknowledging the importance of speed and timeliness of response. Such situations can be seen as moments of crisis and yet they can prove to be big opportunities for brands to come across as earnest and committed to a shopper's interest. For example, in the above two situations, consumer product brands could have gained a great deal had they stepped in early and reached out to shoppers; in the case

of the detergent frenzy they could have told shoppers about the company's commitment to provide the products at constant prices.

These two incidents also show the importance of opinion leaders in shaping people's behaviour. If brands identify the opinion leaders, especially those with clout in the online space, and supply them with complete information, they would be able to counter misinformation much faster and more effectively.

While shoppers are risk-averse when they lack credible information, marketers, in spite of having greater access to information, are not much different. They need to overcome this barrier. On this occasion marketers lost the opportunity to have a socially responsive stance, but there is nothing stopping them from doing that in the future.