Definition of 'cool' in China goes beyond being anti-establishment: TBWA

Partnering with 1626, a local youth magazine, TBWA China first conducted focus groups and in-depth interviews with key opinion leaders in four important cities in China: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu.

In the second phase of the study, quantitative research covered 13 key cities with more than 1,000 respondents aged 16 to 30, with half of them male and half female.

The agency identified 10 key learnings, called the ‘Levers of Cool’, which are aimed at helping clients market effectively to youths.

"Marketers have been asking us to help their brands be 'cool', but have a fuzzy definition of it," commented Kevin Choi, director of creative strategy at TBWA China, also leader of the project.

What is cool is supposedly mapped by imagery that includes items as distinct as James Dean, alcohol, graffiti, and skateboards. But the study is more about the 'substance of cool' rather than just the superficial 'style of cool', said Choi.

What is cool in the West has two stereotypes: either about an anti-establishment attitude, or about an expression of endorsement. "But these are cultural baggage that Western marketers bring to China, so we needed to reframe the definition," said Milo Chao, chief strategy officer at TBWA China.

TBWA's hypothesis before the study was based on an assumption that the definition of cool was the same in China as in the West.

The Chinese character for cool (酷), in its original meaning, was used to denote extremities in a slightly negative way—for example the phrase 酷热, which means 'extremely hot'.

But typical 'cool' symbols, such as tattoos favoured by people who live life to the extreme, were shrugged off by the Chinese youth. "If a tattoo is just graphics with no meaning, it's not cool," one interviewee said.

The study featured interviews with young Chinese role models, including Le Hua Zhang, a young conceptual artist from Shanghai; Yuan Yuan (weibo: @源远), a writer from Beijing; Joe Xu (weibo: @彳余真真), a famous rapper in Guangzhou; and William Chen (weibo: @豪猪一小条), an entrepreneur from Chengdu who owns a trendy coffee shop and a lifestyle boutique that specialises in American vintage clothing.

Cool celebrities include: Nicolas Tse, David Beckham, Fan Bingbing, Liu Xiang and Han Han.

49 per cent of respondents may say being cool is to break the rules, but more (79 per cent) say being cool is to think differently. What is cool now is no longer about being rebellious, but being optimistic, creative, persistent, and knowledgable.

In fact, a cool person in China can even be equivalent to a 'geek' in the West, as evident by the popularity of the US television show Big Bang Theory in the mainalnd. Its humourous and socially awkward characters are actually viewed as cool by the Chinese, who hold a non-judgmental attitude to geeks unlike in the West.

Chao told Campaign Asia-Pacific that Chinese youths are embracing optimism and creativity "like at no other period in modern Chinese history".

"They are opinionated," he said. "They know what they want in life, and if they don’t know, vow to keep exploring until they do."

It is not surprising then, that youths in China say people who radiate positive energy, who are open-minded, who take action, who lead and influence others, and who persist until they achieve success, are cool.

The immediate implication for marketers is to link positivity with brand proposition. Brands that can raise a flag for youths to rally behind will be considered cool, said Chao.

Another is for brands to become even bolder than before. "Many brands who want to reach the youth market are surprisingly appealing to the lowest common denominator by hiding behind safe and broad taglines," said Chao. Often times, this means doing something beyond the brand's product category.

Once a brand establishes a strong point of view, it should "do what you mean" and be action-oriented, added Choi.

Other agencies who have published similar youth studies are Youthology and Frog, but they often focus on the differences of youths in different tiers instead of the similarities, and also depict youths as "little emperors", or with serious self-possessed syndromes.

"Most youths have the same aspirations across tiers. Finding the differences has a good case as it makes segmentation efficient, but it applies to more of media execution than creative strategy," pointed out Choi.

What is lesser known about some Western marketers targeting Chinese youths, apart from not fully understanding their target audience, is the bias they hold. One unnamed marketer, not disclosed due to sensitivity, called young consumers 'monkeys'.

"Demonising your target audience is hardly the way to change consumer behaviour. You can't hope to change someone you don't have an affection for, and we recommend marketers not to view Chinese youths with Western lenses," said Choi.