Orchids and Onions: Now it’s Hyundai’s turn

One of the biggest – and some would say most questionable – growth industries of the 21st century is the endless analysis and segmentation of humankind into different groups based on when they were born, something which has provided myriad clever people with a very nice living indeed.

It’s questionable because much of it – which some marketers use as a Bible – relies on stereotypes and cliches … and, as we all know, people seldom lie comfortably in the “one size fits all” box.

Of course, I would say that, because I am a Boomer, the offspring of the post-World War II baby boom caused by solders returning home to peace. (I came quite a while after that, but according to the cliche, I am still in that net). Boomers are currently the derision flavour of the month. Just ask Greta Thunberg.

We (with some common purpose, perhaps a secret directive from the Illuminati) messed up the world, we pollute it, we caused climate change, we started endless wars. That technology blossomed as never before in human history; that average wealth of humanity increased and poverty shrank while diseases fell, doesn’t seem to rate a blip on the screen.

All of this was swirling around in my Boomer head when I saw the latest set of ads for Hyundai’s Atos small car.

Firstly, I take my hat off to the copywriters at Grid, the ad agency. They managed to nail every single cliché about the Generation Z demographic. (For those who don’t know, Generation Z are those born between 1996 and 2010. The much-admired – from a marketing perspective – millennials are those born between 1981 and 1996.)

So, if you look at Gen Z – the oldest of whom only turns 25 this year, perhaps barely out of university and unable to afford the just under R200,000 for an Atos – they are (supposedly) driven by technology, they “mobilise for causes”, they “value individual expression and avoid labels”, according to business analysis giant McKinsey & Company.

What they do have in common with millennials (and ironically, this is true for every generation in human history) is that they are scornful of their elders (Okay, Boomer?).

So, we see all of that in the ads. A crusty old white manager interviewing a clever young black woman. He understands nothing on her CV – including that she is a “blogger”. (Seriously – who’s never heard of blogging? That’s heading rapidly for past-its-sell-by-date status, by the way.) She’s an influencer, a coder, a DJ. All cliché boxes ticked there.

Then comes the young woman whose mother and her friend think she’s heading to study medicine or law (like all parents). When she tells them she’ll do “data” what-what, they don’t understand. She rolls her eyes. More cliché ticks.

A young Afrikaans man keeps pushing his mother away at the dinner table when she offers him a “tjoppie”, saying “Ma, ek’s ’n vegan (Mom, I’m a vegan)”. Hooray! Up-to-the-minute cliché tick there too.

Then there’s the crusty old (surprise, surprise) security guard who tries to stop the “free party” in what looks like a student residence. It’s a party demanding “hormone-free” food, and the participants are earnestly working on posters to convince people to avoid the pending environmental and social Armageddon.

The punchline in all the ads – shown as the kids (sorry, young adults) inspect the features of the Atos – is “Now it’s our turn”. Quite good actually. The cliché to end all clichés. But it does sum up what everyone thinks they know about Gen Z and millennials (who are involved, too).

They’re going to be better than the previous generations. Like we were. They’re going to end all wars. Like we did. They going to save the planet … you get the drift.

However, if the market segmentation experts are correct, then these ads are bang on. The Atos – despite that its petrol engine still spews out carbon dioxide (albeit in smaller amounts than some cars of the past) – could be the steed they ride to victory.

I am not the target market in the eyes of the admakers … although I would actually consider an Atos myself (as would many older people) because it is economical, reasonably priced, well made and quite safe.

However, I think the ads do hit home with younger people, so they work.

They are simple, they tell the story of the car through its features and they position it as specific for that generation.

They’re going to need all of that in the marketplace, though, because the fight in the car business at this entry level is fierce.

Yet, Hyundai and Grid you deserve Orchids for the series. You got my attention, anyway …

Brendan Seery.

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