What is the value of getting personal with teenagers?
Today’s teens have a profound influence on trends and family purchasing habits. Globally, they are spending more than $100bn a year on music, clothing, electronics and other products.
It is such an important market that it should not be ignored by companies. Building brand awareness in the youth market should be a key strategy for mainstream marketers who wish to build brand loyalty now to sustain them in the future.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi have led this charge for years. Take Pepsi’s recent association with David Beckham. Pepsi is leveraging his popularity and charisma to strengthen brand awareness and drive sales—another extension of its celebrity advertising strategy.
Campaigns which effecitvely promote brands to today’s teens create loyalty, ensuring future growth. But keep in mind teens are sophisticated consumers with short attention spans. They are also early adopters of new technology, and being the first completely Internet-raised generation, teens are technologically advanced.
There are particular benefits in communicating with teenagers one-to-one. Their adherence to mass marketing has significantly waned in the past decade, but they are receptive to new ideas and technologies and willing to pass on information to friends.
They are also more comfortable buying online than older generations, once they acquire credit cards. The combined purchasing power of teenagers in a few short years will completely change the e-commerce landscape. Small companies and virtually unknown brands will replace recognised brands and the way the Internet is currently used will change dramatically.
Adults use the Internet for research and entertainment. Teenagers use the Web as a meeting place. Pop-up Hotmail tags and SMS messaging allow teenagers to chat with each other, anytime, anywhere while separated from each other. This has allowed teenagers to become experts in multi-tasking.
One marketer to tap into this is Cadbury with its “Suck & win a Vespa” campaign for Chupa Chups. Through SMS this campaign gave teens and young adults the opportunity to win a Vespa scooter.
Similarly, Arnott’s Austin Powers SMS campaign generated more than 10 million responses to its on-pack promotion. Channel V and Virgin Mobile have also used SMS messaging successfully.
Don’t assume teenagers are like everyone else. It’s important to understand they consist of many smaller segments—each unique unto itself, which further adds to the complexity of targeting this group. It’s all about getting personal with them and tools such as SMS greatly help.
Although teens are difficult to pin down, the good news is they are influencing family purchasing decisions like never before, across all products and categories.
Christian Roth is managing director of brand consultancy agency The Marketing Store, Asia Pacific.
