Youth trend in Asia
One of my colleagues gave me these insights into Asian youth culture, during a brainstorm for a pitch… Thought I would share it with you:
In north Asian beauty point of view, cuteness/ innocent power is greater than sexiness…BUT IF YOU ARE CUTE AND SEXY (look at those Japanese AV idols), then you definitely sell. The Asians grew up with Japanese manga, plus they have the cuteness complex even when they grow up.
With such audience mindset, “figure” (See picture) actually starts from toy collection ex. Hello Kitty / Doraemon… And almost every adult do not want to fully grow up, even when they physically grow up, they still tend to collect something cute to present they are still child like sometimes.
Figure doll was initially started in HK, then spread out to Taiwan and China, south east Asia… (http://www.figureexchange.com/). You can go into the figure store and tailor made your own figures, based on your feature, personality, and they can even make the scene with your own figure in it.
Figure has become a common marketing tool for brands / celebrities to engage their consumers, almost every idol / singer in Asia north has their own figure when they launch campaign / release album, and fans collect, trade and even auction them. Gwen Stefani’s 2nd parfume ”Harajuku Lovers” also adopted this trend: http://www.hlfragrance.com/ Even young adults will… Keroro and Tuziki are 2 recent popular iconic figures as well, they were created by students then got popular.
If we can base on such trend / behavior of why North Asians are crazy about such little things, then maybe we can find relevant elements to engage consumers. Just wait and see, soon South East Asia might follow this trend…at least it has blown to Thailand recently already….
