Archive for 20 January, 2008
I’d like to speak to a Grown Up please
I had a friend over on Saturday night for a girlie put-the-world-to-rights session and we both ended up reaching the conclusion that we don’t feel like proper Grown Ups yet. To put this into context, I’m in my early 30s and she’s in her early 40s.
Its like when I had a blow out on the motorway last year. I got the car onto the hard shoulder and called the RAC. They promised to come and help me asap, but when I asked for some advice about what to do (seeing as I was stranded on the hard shoulder, in the dark, in the rain and there wasn’t an embankment handy to climb to safety) they put me through to a recorded message. What I really wanted was to speak to a nice reassuring Grown Up who would know what to do.
With all this social mobility and families spread across continents and I-am-Singleton-hear-me-roar independence, there isn’t always a parent or older sibling around to offer advice to the first generation that has been expected to just crack on and magically have a demanding-yet-fulfilling career while popping out babies, having a perfect home and garden, a lively social life and enjoying Nigella dinners every night. No wonder we’re anxious and confused.
There does seem to be a real opportunity for brands aiming at the 30-something market to position themselves as reassuring, knowledgeable Grown Ups to come to for advice. I’m sure its no coincidence that a quarter of B&Q’s staff are over 50 – I’m much more likely to ask a staff member who looks like someone’s Dad for advice on what paint to buy than a spotty adolescent.
It’s the 30-somethings who are buying their first lawnmower, pension, dishwasher, pram or puppy, and the brands who start offering the kind of reassurance (not bossiness or dominance) and guidance that we seem to be looking for are going to clean up.
Brand Managers – just watch 13 going on 30 to get an idea of the kind of inner turmoil we’re going through here…
