Text/Golden Wrong Knife Channel
This year's Double Eleven has just begun, and we can see a clear change - male consumption is no longer at the bottom of the consumption chain.
In September, Ji Yun, general manager of Tmall's fast consumption division, revealed that Tmall has split the four categories of men, perfumes, pets, and tide play into independent operations, becoming a first-class industry for Tmall.
The male group finally stood up from the consumer value chain of "women > children> the elderly> dogs> men", and male needs began to be really valued, that is, the rise of the so-called "other economy".
In fact, in recent years, capital has been focusing on opening up the male consumer market.
However, from the perspective of the increasingly perfect male consumption sector, whether it is "tide play", "3C" or "male skin care", it is more focused on young men who are "post-90s" and "post-00s".
However, the "midfield economy", which accounts for a large proportion of the "other economy", is still an untapped blue ocean market with unlimited potential.
Source: 2021 Men's Consumer Insights Report - QuestMobile
The popularity of the "midfield economy" has increased across the board
What is the midfield economy?
Whether male or female, middle-aged people, as the backbone of society, are often in a state of invisibility.
Let society begin to value this group, let their needs be discovered, be met, this is the midfield economy.
If in 2020, 30+ independent women are the absolute "protagonists" of the consumer market. So this year, with the popularity of "Brother Through Thorns", the society began to focus on the middle-aged male group. In addition to the program, "brothers" broke the barrier of "small fresh meat" traffic and became the endorsement choice for more male categories such as "tea", "wine" and "men's clothing". Let the middle-aged group have a spokesperson who is more in line with their expectations, which is the signal that the brand side has finally begun to pay attention to the middle-aged consumer group.
The "midfield economy", which was once invisible in the consumer market, is gradually becoming an unstoppable trend.
Smart companies and funds have quietly established a pioneering advantage in this field, among which the joint project of the sauce wine brand "Thick Workshop" and Southern Weekend is a typical case of the "midfield economy".
Since the beginning of September, HouGongfang and Southern Weekend have successively released a series of interviews with the theme of "Life Midfield to "Thick", aiming to focus on the "middle-aged dilemma" and give voice to the brand's main customers.
As soon as the show was launched, celebrities such as director Lu Chuan, Douyin master Lao Song, Ding Zhen's agent Du Dong, and even Zhao Wenzhuo, who participated in "Brother" mentioned above, appeared on camera to tell their feelings about the middle-aged life stage.
According to official data, this series of interviews has received 438.7w views so far, and each interview has broken 10w+ as soon as it is launched.
The success of this project, which is "looking at the "thick" in the midfield of life, has indeed verified the correctness of the "midfield economy". Middle-aged groups are not as silent as we stereotype, and when groups such as "women's groups" and "youth groups" continue to refresh their sense of existence on the Internet, they are also looking forward to seeing voices about their own groups in the mass media.
How to do a good job of "new track" for "old brands"
The sauce wine market where the "thick workshop" is located is obviously not a new track, but from the demand side, middle-aged men who are the main consumer groups of sauce wine are rarely paid attention.
In fact, on a higher level, the main audience of many traditional consumer categories is middle-aged men, but they rarely target middle-aged men for precision marketing.
While beauty brands are becoming more and more marketing for "feminism", brands like "Thick Workshop" that speak for "middle-aged men" are rare.
As the advertiser behind the whole event, Hougongfang, with a thirteen-year brand history, can be said to be the "middle-aged group" of the liquor industry. Although it is not the first batch of old qualified brands to rise like "Maotai" and "Wuliangye", it has more practical results than the new brands that follow the trend of entering the market after the sauce and wine fever.
Source: "2020-2025 China Sauce Flavored Liquor Industry Market Prospect Forecast and Investment Direction Research Report" - Huajing Industry Research Institute
Since 2017, the price of Moutai wine has been rising, and in 2019, the sales revenue of sauce wine was about 135 billion, an increase of 22.7% year-on-year.
However, the continuous fluctuations at the beginning of the year have made people wonder whether the myth of liquor can continue, which has also prompted liquor brands at any stage to start looking for new breakthrough directions.
In an era when new users are gradually saturated and foreign traffic is becoming more and more expensive, it is a wiser choice to cultivate deep links in your own customer base than to blindly pursue false prosperity.
Perhaps it is a new attempt made after considering the cost performance of traffic and investment, or perhaps as a brand that has long dealt with middle-aged groups, it has a keen sense of smell for the rise of the "midfield economy", and the planning of the thick workshop this time "life midfield to "thick" is undoubtedly a new direction in the increasingly saturated market of liquor, that is, the "midfield economy".
For example, "Maotai", a bottle that is difficult to find, let consumers only hear its name and do not see the truth, obviously does not have universality. Internet brands that have been soaring all the way to play with emotional marketing have also lost to consumers' bad reviews of the quality of wine.
The "middle-aged group" thick workshop in the liquor industry, after just signing the 500-mu core production area and 5,000 tons of sauce-flavored liquor production project in Maotai Town, took the lead in entering the newly rising "midfield economy", holding up the banner of self-worth awakening and consumption promotion of middle-aged male groups.
The convergence of traditional categories and new tracks explored by it may be a new idea for traditional brands to break through outwards, as for the road ahead, we will wait and see.