In China, a local who goes by Kangkang began posting short videos on social accounts dubbed “Kangkang and Grandpa” in late 2019. Each only features his 84-year-old grandpa’s streetwear outfits. Grandpa Kang had previously retired from his college teaching career and found himself trying to occupy his time at home in Wuhan. Now, they have around 3 million followers across social platforms in China and have worked with sports brands including Adidas, Lining and Anta. “I’m a senior citizen, but it doesn’t mean I’m disconnected with society. I want to evolve with the times,” said Grandpa Kang, who chose to not disclose his real name.
In China, there has been a growing number of senior influencers across popular social platforms including Douyin and Little Red Book. On the latter platform, a user with the account “Miss Tracy” often posts about her grandma’s casual outfits, which worked to get them both tapped by Kate Spade for an advertorial in Elle China’s April 2021 issue. Little Red Book also sees shares of fashion posts from non-Chinese senior influencers such as Asami Naito and Lyn Slater (also known as “Accidental Icon“), who are both around age 70. However, promising grey-haired influencers have largely been overlooked by fashion and beauty brands.
China’s rise of senior social app users and influencers has a lot to do with the growing number of grey-haired citizens. In China, 264 million people — more than the population of Brazil — are 60 or older. That age group has been the fastest expanding in the country in the last decade, according to the recent Seventh National Population Census published in May. The large population and government policy support provide a great driving force for China’s senior economy, which is expected to reach 5700 billion yuan ($880 billion) in 2021 with a 15.2% annual growth compound rate, according to Chinese market research firm LeadLeo.
Having noticed the ascent of the senior community, Douyin, TikTok’s local version, launched an “old friend” initiative to improve the user experience of senior users in March. One of the main things that involved was recruiting older representatives to work with Douyin’s product team on the app’s user experience.
Read More at https://www.glossy.co/fashion/the-fashion-and-beauty-brand-opportunity-in-chinas-influencers-over-50/
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