Bangkok--20 Oct--GHC Asia
Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living ASEAN (“HILL ASEAN”), a think tank established in 2014 in Thailand by Japan’s second largest advertising company, Hakuhodo Inc., announced findings from latest research into “The New ASEAN Family” at its first ASEAN Sei-katsu-sha Forum 2014 in Bangkok on October 9. It was attended by over 200 marketing staffers and managers from ASEAN, Thai and Japanese companies as well as Thai media.
Hakuhodo President & CEO Hirokazu Toda introduced the forum explaining the group’s fundamental ‘sei-katsu-sha[1]’ philosophy in support of marketing in ASEAN countries – which involves understanding and appealing to lifestyles of people, not just treating them as “consumers”.
In summary, this latest research found a “new type of family is emerging in the ASEAN region”.
As elsewhere in developed and developing countries, nuclear families have become more commonplace throughout ASEAN – driven by economic growth and urbanization.
“But we believe that rather than diffusion and division of families seen in Japan and other developed countries, ASEAN families are taking their own distinctive course,” concluded the report.
“ASEAN families still yearn to achieve happiness as an extended family unit, despite the spread of the nuclear family.”
Smart technology is the key link – to the extent that being connected to social media links like Facebook and Twitter is a major lifestyle priority for many.
“The house may have no air conditioning, no running water, or be missing a wall, but everyone in the family owns a smart phone,” the report noted. “They’re more interested in human interaction than improved housing. Relatives living in the countryside are getting smart phones too, so that they can stay in touch with their family members in the city.”
Surprisingly, the research indicated “this situation has not been noticed in other parts of the world”.
It suggested the emergence of “a new type of ASEAN family” – an extended family that on the surface appears to have split into several nuclear families, but whose members “actually share bonds that are closer than ever”.
HILL ASEAN has created a new term for this “invisible extended family unit that on the surface appears to be divided” – the Connected Family.
Research across the ASEAN countries revealed a common picture of this Connected Family “which is neither an extended nor a nuclear family, but seeks happiness as an extended family unit”.
HILL ASEAN notes that extended families interacting both online and in the real world despite living in separate households are often “overlooked by censuses and standard surveys focusing on the household, since they do not live under the same roof.”
From a marketing perspective, also overlooked is that “anyone in that family can become an “influencer” sharing information and contributing to the clan’s wellbeing” in whatever field they know best, whether IT, food, travel or any other product.
And unlike before, when family elders tended to take control of all matters, today, “anyone in the family can become an influencer sharing information”, depending on the topic of interest, regardless of age, sex, or status.
What this means to marketers and companies is acknowledging, appreciating and understanding the importance of the ‘connected family’ as a “connecting platform disseminating the message more effectively than conventional approaches”.
The latest research findings are based on Hakuhodo’s original survey and database ASEAN Fixed Point Survey (see Note 1); ASEAN Home Visit Survey (see Note 2), which uses family mapping; and demographic and other data study, which look at ASEAN sei-katsu-sha using quantitative and qualitative approaches. It monitored changing attitudes, values and lifestyles in six ASEAN cities – Bangkok, Jakarta, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur and Manila.
HILLASEAN will continue its research, observing sei-katsu-sha from its unique viewpoints and making proposals from insights gained from these fresh perspectives.
[1] Sei-katsu-sha are more than simply consumers, just as people’s lives and lifestyles include more than just shopping. Hakuhodo introduced this term in the 1980s to emphasize its commitment to a comprehensive, 360-degree perspective on consumers’ lives.