eyeing lads, dads, & metrosexuals

Asia's men are grappling with an identity crisis. By day, they're making their macho presence felt in the boardroom, and by night, they're closet metrosexuals. Men's place in the workplace and the home has been transformed in recent decades, and is still in a state of flux, but it seems that few of the brands who want to win their custom have noticed. When many in the marketing world weren't looking, a good proportion of their male targets ducked out for a facial and a pair of designer shoes. Yet the overwhelming majority of advertising messages aimed at Asia's 'other half' continue to focus on traditional male values of success in business, prestige, and physical strength. Part of the problem is that many men don't know for sure what they should, or want to, be -- lad, dad, combination of the two, or something else altogether. Rachael Tan, director of qualitative research with Research International, says women's rising prominence in the office and their expectations of men at home have brought about much of the confusion. "Women have openly charged into the world of men and have established their place in it," Tan says. "From the vote through to the boardroom, women have had a clear goal to work towards -- equality. But men don't have the same goal and they are, to an extent, in uncharted waters." There's no shortage of media aimed at this group of consumers, but they too illustrate the quandary men find themselves in. On the one hand, parenting magazines that have for years been women-only reads are now trying to broaden their appeal with sections for new dads. Among them Singapore's Today's Parents, relaunched earlier this year with four new sections: Fatherhood, Mums @ Work, Couple Time and Private Time. Young Parents, also in Singapore, was revamped late last year and now includes a father's column. At the other end of the newsstand, a toned-down version of international monthly lads' magazine Maxim recently launched in Singapore, where it is pitted against Emap's FHM and local title New Man magazine, published by Panpac Media Group. In May, British men's magazine FHM beat Maxim to the mainland market with a China edition published under the name Nan Ren Zhuang, which translates to 'men's attire'. The magazine is published in conjunction with China's Trends magazine group, also the publisher of the country's leading men's magazine, Esquire. There are at least six other men's magazines in the mainland market. And Loaded, the lad's read that revolutionised the men's magazine market when it launched in the UK in the mid-'90s, has been publishing in Malaysia since 2002, along with FHM which has been in the market since the early 1990s, and local men's lifestyle titles Men's Review and the Malay-language Maskulin. Maxim Singapore editor Dylan Tan says lads' mags are popular because men everywhere want essentially the same things. "Most men like girls, football, cars, gadgets and stuff like that," he says. "Every man wants to be king of his castle, and above all they want to be cool." A comparison done by Leo Burnett shows that not all men's magazines were created equal, however. Maxim Hong Kong's October issue, for instance, has four fashion-related ads, and 16 pages devoted to stories about sex. Esquire Hong Kong's October issue meanwhile has 27 fashion ads, but no sex. In Malaysia and Singapore, the fleshy images seen in men's magazines abroad are banned under decency laws, but even in less restricted markets, the magazines are more coy than in other parts of the world. "Asian men would have the same vices that Western men have, but are more subtle about showing it," says Linda Kovarik, Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific's regional planning director for Procter & Gamble's beauty care. "While having a few Heinekens, some guys would talk to their friends about a sexy woman, but wouldn't dare harass her to her face." This expanding range of men's magazines provides advertisers with effective means to target Asia's modern man -- whoever he is, exactly, at the time. But what kind of products does he want, and how does he want to be approached? While they don't want to be seen as weak -- or mistakenly labelled as gay -- men in Asia don't have some of the hang-ups that get in the way of marketing to men in the West. "Asian men do not consider buying skincare products or carrying a Prada 'man bag' as exposing their feminine side," says Kovarik. "It's more about taking advantage of everything this booming part of the world has to offer. This new universe for men runs parallel to the development of the region." Maxim's Tan agrees that skincare is broadly accepted as no longer being just for women. He says fragrance brands, Lux, and Nivea For Men are among Maxim Singapore's biggest advertisers. "It's OK to have a facial, and a lot of men are spending a bit more on haircuts now. As a kid, a lot of us just went to the barber and got our hair cut for under S$10 (US$6), but that's not so common now." Nivea for Men senior international brand manager Pimjan Vimuktanonda says the popularity of skin and beauty products is growing, but is far further ahead in certain markets already. "In countries like Thailand, Japan or Korea, men are very different because women's skin care is very highly developed, and men don't mind using female products," she says. In Thailand, Pimjan says 50 to 60 per cent of men use female brands because they believe the quality to be better. "But it's much easier to convince these guys of 25 to 35 compared with men over 35," she adds. Nivea For Men's strategy is to present an accessible and human image, with clean-cut Eurasian or European-looking models. Pimjan says the rugged, macho man is left to Gillette. Heineken, meanwhile, appeals to men's desire for status symbols. "Beer in general is about enjoyment and it's a very social affair," says regional marketing manager Cor Honkoop. "Heineken's a premium beer so it's internationally positioned, has a higher price and brings a certain amount of achievement and status to the party. "In Asia, that's particularly strong among young male consumers. They really want to show it if they've achieved something, more so than in Western markets. In less-developed markets, it's more about career status, but in the developed markets it's more about showing a bit of your own identity and a little bit of distinction. It's not arrogant, though. Beer by definition is not arrogant." Very few brands dare to target men as modern fathers, however. As providers for the family, certainly, but not as the cuddly care-giver. Drypers nappies, which always use men rather than women in their TV ads, are the exception, and that's despite opposition in some markets from men's own mothers, who believe that just as they changed all the nappies and did the midnight feeds, so should their daughters-in-law. Agatha Koh, editorial director at Panpac Lifestyle Magazines, which publishes Today's Parents along with NewMan and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, says few advertisers target men as fathers. "It's taking a while because sometimes the people holding the budgets are -- to put it nicely -- of the old school," she says. Most advertisers targeting men try to appeal to men's desire to succeed in business, Koh says: "Some go the 'Marlboro Man' route still, all testosterone-laden, others try the metrosexual approach. Some are quite confused." It's hardly surprising there's confusion. But where there's uncertainty, there's opportunity, and Research International says the brands that can strike the right balance between traditional values and current lifestyle trends can do well. The problem is that while women can move into what's historically been men's turf without too much difficulty or threat to their 'womanhood', the reverse is not yet true. Women can complain about being stressed at work more easily than a man who's worn out, the company says. One brand to have struck the right balance between old and new man is Lucozade, which has positioned itself as a high-performance sports drink, and Tan says other brands could use a similar association with performance and sport to position traditionally female products to men. Personal care products, on the other hand, could be promoted as aids to making men look and feel good, with the ultimate aim of improving their performance at work. "Manufacturers need to understand whether men really do desire to enjoy some of the products that females enjoy," Tan says. "If there are significant enough numbers that do, then brands positioned in a clearly masculine context, divorced from the female values that helped develop the products, seem destined to win. Brands that don't, seem destined to remain niche brands."