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June 21, 2004 Special Report | Youth
Brand's Toil to Make "Surfers" Loyal
They may favor lowrider jeans, but they've got deep deep pockets. Young people aged 16-24 are said to influence more than $200 billion in consumer spending, making them a make-or-break target for marketers. The problem is there's no one perfect way to reach them, since there's no "typical" 16-to-24-year-old. The youngest part of the segment is still in high school, and the oldest, ideally, has emerged from college to become fully functional, working adults. To paraphrase Britney Spears, who at age 22 is a diva of this demo: Not a child, not yet an adult. Marketing tactics favored for reaching tween may fall flat, as will appeals made to folks aged
25-plus.
Establishing brand loyalty is not only important to snare a piece of this spending, but to keep these consumers as they move through adulthood.
The good news: "This market wants to be brand loyal--to something that interests them," says David A. Morrison, president of consultancy TWENTYSOMETHING Inc. and author of a new book, "Marketing to the Campus Crowd."KEYED TO DRINKS, LAUNDRY
These young consumers tend to have "anchor" brands they always return to, even though they're willing to try new things, Mr. Morrison says. In today's world of uncertainty and an overabundance of choices, 16-24s are eager to find anchor brands in several categories to make their buying decisions easier. Mr. Morrison cites Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola as anchor brands. What he calls "brand surfing" can entail trial of sibling brands like Vanilla Coke. In footwear, he considers Nike and Reebok to be anchor brands.The need for "authenticity" comes up frequently when experts talk about this group, but it means more than just lacing a commercial with youthful jargon. What attracts them is a convergence of style and value. "They have been completely surrounded by media since the day they were born. As a result, they have good filters. They let in the things that are authentic, and everything else they ignore," says Howard Handler, chief marketing officer at Virgin Mobile USA.
Generation Y is a crucial battleground for the wireless industry as 78% of 16-to-24-year-old respondents own cell phones. Since launching in June 2002, Virgin Mobile USA has picked up 1.75 million customers, with 70% of the total under the age of 30. The "real primo slice" is 16-24, Mr. Handler says. Virgin Mobile's phones were from the get-go," says Mr. Handler. Mr. Handler says "the competition spends about three times as much to acquire a customer." The key for Virgin Mobile is location, both in retailing and marketing. Virgin Mobile's retail strategy is to go where the customers are; instead of relying solely on traditional cell phone stores, it turns to outlets like music retailers and Target Stores. In Virgin Mobile's marketing, location translates into a heavy emphasis on events. A recent effort tied into the film "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" with a dance party in Havana, Minn. About 1,000 Minnesotans attended.
VOLVO SPOT CITED
These young people "don't like to be tricked. They're looking for brands they can trust," Mr. Morrison says, adding, "Traditional advertising is still going to work, but it has to work harder." He cites as an example the videogame-inspired TV spot for Volvo Cars of North America's S40. The spot puts the not-traditionally-for-younger-folks carmaker "on the radar." Advertisers must acknowledge the power of word-of-mouth. One survey revealed that 90% of respondents said they like to get new-product information from their peers.Mr. Morrison says this group's influence is "trickle down, trickle across and trickle up"--meaning its word-or-mouth power extends to other, younger and older age groups. For Gen Y, "the [product] adoption process is happening much faster," Mr. Morrison says. With word-of-mouth being enabled by the Internet, marketers need to be careful because that cool youth lingo may already be dead by the time a campaign hits the airwaves. Also between the attention spans and the number of choices they have, things change -- and change quickly -- with this group.
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YOUNG ADULT MARKETERS!
© 2004 Crain
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