Where Are The Youth In Youth Marketing?
Posted by anastasia on 02-20-2009
For any readers who aren’t aware of the Ypulse LinkedIn group – we are close to 700 members and growing. I check in on the discussion boards periodically and spotted this great question/comment: Where are the youth in youth marketing? It was posted by Taylor Wang, a 26-year-old associate producer at Zookazoo. It’s sort of a wake-up call to brands and folks in this space who may still not get it….
Where are the youth in youth marketing?
by Taylor Wang (posted in the Ypulse LinkedIn forum)
I am just about to turn 26 and am part of a generation that is twice the size of the baby-boomers, with multiple times their purchasing power, and yet I sit back in awe at the laughable attempts of brands trying to connect with my generation. Millions if not billions (Pepsi) of dollars are seemingly being WASTED from large, strong brands that simply do not have the slightest idea how to connect with the emerging markets they are targeting.
It seems like most large brands have thrown the white flag and decided the way to communicate to my generation through “sex sells,” “harness the power of celebrity,” or my favorite, “we can appeal to the youth if we look ‘urban’ and play hip-hop music.” This my friends is the biggest slap in the face to the youth culture.
I recently read an article where a brand consulting company had an open letter to CEOs of major brands on what makes a great brand and she felt the need to describe in detail what Facebook is. Now I realize that not all major brands are targeted to the youth market (yet), however I was shocked that someone who works with these companies regularly feels the need to explain one of the most major communication methods that youth are using. I may be thinking wrong here, but it seems that any brand that wants to be here for the next 20 years should understand how to send us a message let alone a “poke.” Obama practically text’d, Face’d, Space’d and Tweet’d his way to victory and now he’s “The Best Brand of 08″ by employing the youth as brand ambassadors who spoke our language(s).
Now its true I don’t have an MBA, I don’t sit behind a mirror and watch kids all day or read the reports, so maybe I’m way off tilt here, but are there any young people making REAL decisions for youth marketing?
In light of what seems to be a lot of negativity on my behalf, I did want to highlight a few companies that seem to get “us” and “it” at the same time. Let it be known that our culture has less and less brand loyalty as we have far too many options so whoever offers a better product will get our money in the long run. It also means that if we can get a comparable product for free (sharing is caring), you are SOL (Sh*t Outta Luck).
Apple Computers: You speak clearly to us and we love your products. Even if we can’t afford to buy your products, we all aspire to own them one day.
Nike: You are the best at what you do, your products not only make us feel great, but I swear my Air Jordan’s make me jump higher… Now that is an example of marketing dollars well spent.
Gatorade: You have always had a knack on forecasting the main players in our culture and for that your commercials have been forever etched into our culture.
Mountain Dew: God, do you understand your target market to the fullest. Being that you are a Pepsi-Cola brand, I don’t understand why Pepsi doesn’t seem to be able to get it. The $1.2 billion dollars Pepsi spent on their re-branding made me want to buy a Coke.
Scion: A car company dedicated 110% to what the young car enthusiasts enjoy… You did it and you didn’t even have to go green. Now please help GM get it.
… and just for the heck of it a few companies/industries that DO NOT get it…
Microsoft: Just because you put an ad out with Pharrell saying “I’m a PC” does not make your brand cool. In fact, we all know that Pharrell has his 24k gold iPhone and has always been known to be “a Mac guy.” Not only did you lie, you just called us stupid as well.
McDonalds: Your ads are border line racist and you need to find a company that understands the youth market, like two days ago. Sure that doesn’t mean we will stop buying burgers, after all we are in a recession and there is a need for .99 cent hamburgers, but come on… really? REALLY?
Print newspaper media: WE ARE YOUR ONLY HOPE FOR THE FUTURE. If you want to sell us a paper that is 80% news we read the day before, find a way to make it valuable to us. Your current market is literally dying off and although we don’t readily support big business, no one wants to see investigative journalism go away. PLEASE save yourselves and invest in us! Between the Kindle and Netbooks however, you may be a fossil waiting to happen, but I swear if you understood what makes our culture tick (no not Britney or Jay-Z) we could SAVE you.
For more coverage of youth marketing, check out the Ypulse Youth Marketing Channel sponsored by Youth Marketing Connection.
Categorized under: Youth Marketing
February 21st, 2009 at 12:15 am
What’s interesting about your list of companies that get it, is that I, a baby boomer, like their marketing as well. Good marketing is good marketing, even if it is targeted to youth.
February 21st, 2009 at 10:33 am
Great post Anastasia. Glad to hear someone shares my frustration – especially with McDonalds. Their marketing is the epitome of when targeting an urban market goes wrong. I think the only company you left off of your list of companies that “get us” is Google. They definitely get it as they continue to push the envelope on their products – and they don’t even have to use print or media ads for it.
February 21st, 2009 at 10:56 am
Hey Richard – I would love to take credit for this post, but it was written by Taylor Wang, a 26-year-old associate producer at Zookazoo, who posted it in our LinkedIn discussion group!
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:53 am
Great post, Taylor!
I also stumbled across this post which outlines the possibilities for mobile marketing to Gen Y. I can’t wait until I’m getting texts from McDonald’s. Seems relevant to the conversation:
http://www.youthmarketing.com/big-numbers-sm…e-of-marketingbig-numbers-small-media-and-the-future-of-marketing/
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Hi Everyone!
Thanks for the great comments. I have always enjoyed great marketing campaigns at all levels, but I really feel that in the last few years great companies have fallen flat in their attempts to connect with the youth consumer.
-Richard, you are absolutely right as Google has transformed our culture and those to come by offering not only great products but some of the BEST products all for free. I left these guys out mostly because the company was started by fairly young adults, so I figured they get “it”, because they are “it.” Monopoly on the online advertising world or not, let’s hope these guys stay around for a looong time :)
-Zach, this is an interesting topic indeed. I don’t know how you feel, however I have always been VERY hesitant to leave my cellphone number to any of these TEXT based marketing campaigns as I feel that are extremely intrusive. I will say however I did sign up for the Obama campaign text messages which I thought was pretty awesome (I mean come on maybe it wasn’t the president himself sending me a text, but it sure felt like). If someone can pull off these texts in a successful way as the Obama campaign did, I think no one can deny the massive opportunity, I just think at least the youth culture is not yet going to take these types of marketing tactics well… at least not yet.
The funny thing that I have noticed in our generation is we rarely even leave voice messages anymore. Its more: call. no answer? send text. Its even to the point where I would venture to say that most of us fear checking our voicemail because we know its just an “adult” (parent etc.) or possibly someone for work… I would like to see some data on this actually, it would be fascinating if this were true.
I hate to see this conversation stop, so I’ll post an article of another part of Pepsi’s campaign that I saw a few days ago.
http://spedr.com/4ygsg
Pepsi is due to release “Pepsi Throwback” with pure sugar once again. Now I must say I love some real sugar in my soda pop and often venture out of my way to grab a Coke Classic made from cane sugar (that still comes in the bottle mostly found at Mexican restaurants), but I feel the branding of the product as a “throwback” is another example of these guys trying to do something they hope is cool, when well… It’s not. You see Pepsi, when us youth adopt slang words, they ultimately have a fairly short lifespan. Unfortunately “Throwback” is a perfect example of this. It was a popular word about 5 years ago, the NBA hopped on board and did “throwback” jerseys, that was awesome and sold a ton of jerseys, but in 2009… that word really isn’t cool anymore. It’s kind of like when your parents use the word “dope” as reference to drugs… It’s just really corny. Well, here’s to releasing a product that is already out of date before it hits the shelves, that in itself must be some type of accomplishment. For now I’ll stick with the “Classic” and “throw back” a few beers later with my buddies.
Cheers.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:36 am
No one in advertising gets any real respect until they’re thirty – that’s your problem right there.
But more importantly, the companies that aren’t getting it have Byzantine processes for agencies to go through, and the invitations to submit aren’t being extended to agencies who “get” digital… they’re being extended to choices that would make shareholders feel like they’re in good hands.