BINI: Bullish or Bust?

Generation Z (Gen Z) is a demographic invented by the Americans. This age group is composed of individuals born from 1997 to 2012. The oldest members of Gen Z are mostly three years shy of 30. At 27, majority of them are starting their post-education years, with careers and, possibly, families; the youngest ones are about 12 years old.

Do the math and you already know the percentage of the Gen Z group still dependent on their Gen X parents for their basic necessities — food, shelter, clothing, education and allowances. The concept of “purchasing power” is possibly alien to them. In the Philippines, in our present economic circumstances, most of the Gen Zs belong to the “kalabit, pahingi” battalion; they are also likely the most susceptible to fads, hype and even peer pressure.

Bullish

The e-commerce company Shopee recently conducted a study alongside Kantar about how Filipino Gen Zs shop.  Among its most relevant findings are “that one in four Gen Zs, aged 18 to 24, use e-commerce as their primary touch point for shopping,” and “Gen Zs were found to be even more discerning as compared to older generations, and were more particular about quality of products, the shopping experience, or services they avail themselves of.”

Given these findings, after Vice Ganda, Shopee’s wisest choice to become its latest ambassadors are BINI, the P-Pop girl group responsible for “Pantropiko” and “Salamin, Salamin.”

The e-commerce company is bullish and confident that with BINI as their endorsers, the Gen Zs will use their shopping app for their specific needs, preferences and wants.

Shopee regional marketing head Huiyan Pan welcomed BINI during their recently held launch. She even danced to the summer anthem that was “Pantropiko” with BINI.

“Shopee needs to collaborate with ambassadors and representatives whom Gen Zs could relate to,” said Pan. “Their energy, youthful vibe are aligned with the online experience that we want our users to have on Shopee: Easy, feel-good, reassuring and effortless.”

The eight members of the girl group did not hide their elation on being Shopee’s latest ambassadors. It is their most used shopping app, they said. For them, the prices are reasonable, products are of high quality, and almost always everything is always a steal and up for grabs especially when the monthly sales come.

It is undeniable that everything associated with BINI thus far have become hot items. To cite some examples, there is a soap brand for which they performed a short and LSS-inducing commercial jingle plus a dance trend on TikTok; campaigns for a telecommunications giant and a shoe brand, a sanitary napkin, soft drink brand and makeup company. These, plus their hit songs, have bolstered their value as the nation’s girl group.

Impressions

BINI is composed of Aiah Arceta, Colet Vergara, Maloi Ricalde, Gwen Apul, Stacey Sevilleja, Mikha Lim, Sheena Catacutan and Jhoanne Robles. At the launch, they were all clad in outfits in various hues of orange, Shopee’s brand color. They enthralled and entertained the crowd with their bubblegum ditties and dancing.

Vocally, in what seemed like a shortened version of their most popular ditties, three stood out as main singers. The other members were chorus crooners. With the type of songs they performed, which can be best described as cotton candy-ish, girly-girly and fun, they had the right attitude for it. The anthems did not require the need for lung power, vocal embellishments or even distinctive harmonies that bring out their high registers and lower octaves.

In the realm of dance, anyone who has studied modern jazz will have a fit as BINI’s moves bordered on the steps that were staples of commercial TV dance troupes of yore. Not the Sex Bomb Dancers kind of swag, sensuality and precision. It was more of those that reminded you of the backup dancers of Ms. Alma Moreno when she reigned in a musical variety show.

Looks-wise, it seems there are no headturners among the eight young misses. The styling and packaging are of the girl-next-door type, prom queen wannabe. They are sugar and spice until you get your fill. Their sense of fashion, all of them conformists, following the dictates of whoever styled them. True, that is not bad for an upstart female group, but for them who are labeled as the nation’s girl group, much more is expected, fashion wise. They must inform and shout, without a sound, that fashion is what they wear.

All the hype can only bring BINI to a certain level, when it all fades and wither, what now? When the inevitable comes, will the real BINI muster enough grace, style and most especially talent, to stand up and be truly worthy of their tag?

BINI is set to have its first solo concert this June at the New Frontier Theater. Shopee’s next sales spree with BINI as endorsers is on 6 June.