The urban 40+ male: A puppet in the hands of his family?

He is Mr Moneybags and, yet, he is often overruled by his family. His wife buys his clothes, wallets, belts, shoes, even his innerwear for him. His kids zero in on the happening restaurants when the family goes out for dinner. The overbearing Dad is no more, neither is the stereotypical arrogant, domineering husband.

Welcome to the evolved world of a typically successful, 40-45 year old, SEC A male, who is, perhaps, becoming a puppet in the hands of his own family. To explore this loss of control in this age segment, Grey Cells (a part of the Grey Global Group) conducted a study to check out what drives this segment and came up with some interesting results.

“It’s funny how we have so many studies on the youth and women of today. But this is one very important segment which marketers tend to miss out on, which, incidentally, has tremendous purchasing power,” says Naresh Gupta, national head, account planning, Grey Cells.

These are affluent men at the peak of their careers and the chief wage earners in the family. It is widely assumed that they are the ones that make the decisions in the family, which may not be true necessarily all the time. The first point the study throws up is the changing equation of the husband-wife relationship. There is a mutual feeling of closeness and friendship among the two, which the respondents admitted was lacking in the earlier generation (their parents). The husband, no longer overtly domineering, helps his wife in the kitchen occasionally. But this is not to say that the 40+ urban husband has turned into a metrosexual. “In fact, metrosexuality is a myth in this segment,” Gupta reveals.

He supports his point with the finding that at a very basic level, the mindset of these men is still pretty much what it was: They want housewives who can cook, clean and be a caretaker. They wouldn’t say no to their wives wanting to work, but would prefer it if they didn’t. In fact, a majority of these men, who are recruiters themselves, feel that women get jobs on the basis of their looks and treat work purely as a pastime. While on the topic of working women, 60 per cent males say that they feel relatively younger when working with young women.

Another finding is that for this segment, family equals responsibility and duty, whereas ‘fun’ essentially means hanging out with friends. While spending time with the family, 78 per cent men preferred spending time with their wives over their kids (which only 15 per cent preferred). Wives are also the purchasers of most men’s products, including their clothes and hosiery. In fact, an astounding 78 per cent of wives buy hosiery for their husbands, as the belief is that ‘My wife is the shopping expert’. This is true not just for personal items, but also categories such as durables (55 per cent purchases made by wives), grocery (68 per cent) and holiday choices (38 per cent). Men console themselves with the thought that their wives consult them before making the purchase decision.

Regarding friends, non-metro men were found to be more friend-centric that metro men. In addition, while the regular partying/ pubs/ discos were identified as hot spots, there was the growing trend of these men chilling out with friends at coffee bars, even at drink bars. So, maybe, a Barista or a Café Coffee Day is the perfect place to tap this segment.

With reference to kids, it was noticed that the father plays a more indulgent role, while the mother calls the shots. Fathers defended themselves, saying that lack of time with kids is an issue, but the underlying reality is that they have given up control of their kids’ lives. A father no longer decides what career his kid should take up, or whom he should marry, as was the case earlier.

Besides, instead of convincing them to spend their money in a certain way, today’s Dads are content with letting their kids decide what to buy. ‘At least, that way he’ll use it’ is the passive mantra. Fathers still prefer it if their daughters/sons don’t go out for late night parties, but if they do, they only want to know when they will get back. In all, they wish to be a part of their kids’ lives in some way or the other.

The Dads also have a growing respect for the younger generation as they tend to feel left out when it comes to knowledge about the changing times. Kids are also their entertainment consultants, as they take the decisions on food and entertainment.

However, as stated earlier, one can’t deny the fact that the father holds the purse-strings at the end of the day and makes all the key financial/investment decisions, but he lets his wife know of his decisions. These men are driven by personal ambition, with 43 per cent of them claiming that money is more important to them than relationships. Non-metro males in particular displayed this relative preference.

The urban 40+ male is an optimistic person; he has aspirations of holding an office of power and wants to be a famous personality. Perhaps, advertisers need to highlight the positives here, instead of reducing the negatives. Kitchen items, convenience snacks and durables aren’t a woman’s domain any more; it’s time to think plural, as per the findings.

This study was a result of quantitative research done across 1,400 males, 40-45 year olds, SEC A, across seven towns, four metros and three mini-metros. In addition, qualitative research, such as 24 focus group discussions across cities and in-depth interviews with the families of these men, was also conducted. Purchase behaviour was observed at various last-mile connectivity places such as shops and malls.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!