The Emerging Millennial Market in China

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By TobaccoChina Online

As the new generation of Chinese consumers born in the 1990s emerges as a leading force of consumption in China, an important marketing focus for brands (including cigarettes) is on how to win favor from this group. Aware of such a situation, manufacturers take unremitting efforts to closely watch, study, and attract young millennial consumers.

In July 2017, Kentucky Fried Chicken in China announced their new brand ambassador, the TFBOYS (also known as The Fighting Boys), which is a very popular teenage Chinese boy band. Earlier, in June 2017, McDonald’s – which had no prior brand ambassador – hired Kris Wu, a Chinese-born Canadian actor, singer, and model as its brand spokesman.

Meanwhile, Wong Lo Kat, a Chinese herbal tea packaged in its characteristic red containers, recently had a new product using black as its primary color, and the container has 88 types of small icons dotted with blue, green, and pink colors, corresponding to different popular elements including flip-flops, cosmetic contact lenses, and instant noodles. The container is longer and slimmer than its predecessors. The cool, playful packaging design of the container is a serious subversion of the traditional style of the time-honored Wong Lo Kat brand, making it more attractive to millennials.

Such developments seem to reflect a reality – if they do not wish to be abandoned by these younger consumers, manufacturers must follow their rhythm and habits.

Chinese cigarette brands have all felt pressure to meet the increasing demand of young adult consumers over the past two years and looked at packaging improvement and design conception.

Minor Goal quadratic impression

Golden Leaf (GL), from China Tobacco Henan Industrial Co., Ltd. (CT Henan) is a mature and stable high-end cigarette brand and line extensions include Heavenly Leaf, Heavenly Aroma, Centennial Strong Aroma, Great Gold Coin, and Golden Age. CT Henan chose the GL brand to launch a unique product, Golden Leaf (Minor Goal).

At first sight, Minor Goal presents a quadratic impression with the packet covered by different types of popular online terms. The design of the cover of the packet is a “live broadcast barrage” designed in a quadratic form. The packaging of the brand further highlights its quality with a gold stamping on the back of the packet, which introduces different marketing themes and gives much individuality and surprise unexpected by consumers.

New packaging design is just one example of what could be done to attract the millennial market. What is more important is the determination and confidence of manufacturers to develop new products for these consumers. In this respect, it is obvious that CT Henan is very firm. Minor Goal drew doubts from various parties. To present such a distinctive product – which is to some extent quite different from leading members of the GL brand family – required great courage. But it paid off. Even though Minor Goal was marketed only in its home province of Henan, the sales volume topped 100 million cigarettes in merely 36 days since it went on the market, and the sales value topped RMB100 million (US$15 million) in merely 47 days.

Baisha (Dayday Up) – a new rising star

China Tobacco Hunan Industrial Co., Ltd (CT Hunan) manufactures Baisha (Dayday Up), regarded as the most youthful product presented to the market in 2016. The naming and packaging design of the brand both reflect strong youthfulness.

To make Dayday Up well known and popular, CT Hunan decided against using its traditional serious pattern. Instead, it adopted cartooning and enabling the new product to become naturally appealing to young adult consumers. Meanwhile, CT Hunan launched a series of activities to promote sales, allowing consumers to have a sense of participation by winning recognition from them. Also, this brand shows a more delightful attitude as a new member of the Baisha brand family. It breaks existing restrictions of the Baisha brand, makes the brand family better known, and enriches the supply of the brand products. More significantly, the processes of follow-up marketing, promotion, market development, and stimulation of consumer demand have all reflected the intention of youthfulness.

Zhongnanhai (Black Eight) – simplicity and no preaching

Shanghai Tobacco Group’s (STC) Zhongnanhai cigarettes used to be very popular among young smokers in China. In a popular TV series, Struggle, portraying the lives of people who are struggling to make a living in the capital city of Beijing, its 8 mg version was one of the cigarette products consumed by leading young characters As a result, Zhongnanhai (8mg) has become a favorite for young adults who are struggling to have a better life.          

The Black Eight line extension recently introduced positions itself as a new product for young adults and influenced by the popularity of 8mg version.

As the consumer group of traditional Zhongnanhai cigarette products aged, it became imperative for STC to adopt the policy of developing new products oriented toward millennial consumers. Black Eight better meets the characteristics of young people to attach importance to life sentiments and to seek individuality, and better meets the demand of young consumers.

The primary color of the packaging of Black Eight is black, which is virtually a synonym of cool in the eyes of many young adults, and which, meanwhile, serves as a perfect background color. With an extremely simple style and a large blank space on the packet, it leaves greater room for imagination and offers consumers a greater right of interpretation. At the same time, it reflects the claim of “simplicity and no preaching” resonating with young millennials.

The front of the Black Eight packet is a dark background with a number “8” outlined in red lines, and which symbolically represents the low-tar-level characteristic of the product. The red number “8” effectively livens up the design of the packet front and streamlined dark crinkles are adopted to provide shading. The overall design of the packet, in an extremely simple way, expresses a mysterious, youthful, passionate, active, vigorous, and high-quality sense.

Sources within China’s tobacco industry believe that the drive launched by Chinese tobacco manufacturers to develop new cigarette products oriented toward young consumers is a realistic and imperative subject. Although it would not produce immediate results to increasing cigarette sales and increasing the value of cigarette brands, the drive could play a role in rescuing some mature brands from further decline in value, image, and public comment. The emergence of these products contribute to breaking people’s stereotypical understanding of cigarettes and addresses the changing demands in a new market.