Tag Economy

Take Care When Targeting Teens Online

Do teens constitute an audience for marketers when they’re visiting social sites?

Oct 5, 2009

– Mark Dolliver, Adweek

NEW YORK Teenagers are a mystery to most adults. New technology and media are another mystery to many adults. Combine these mysteries and you have ample opportunity for adult misperception of how teenagers use and feel about new technology and media. Some recent research works to get beyond popular misconceptions and provide a look at how teens actually engage with these things, including the advertising they encounter along the way.
Based on quantitative and qualitative research conducted between January and April, a report released last month by GTR Consulting confirms the conventional wisdom that teens are deeply involved in social networking. But it raises serious doubts about how congenial a medium this has been for marketers trying to reach the teen audience. Asked to cite the online activities they indulge in during their free time, 66 percent of the teens said they “use social networks” — exceeding the number who said they “watch user-generated videos” (59 percent), “send or receive instant messages” (51 percent), “play online games” (50 percent), “watch TV/movie clips” (36 percent), “get news/current events” (34 percent) or “blog” (12 percent). The report emphasizes that social-networking sites “have become more important for communication and connection among teens than the telephone, e-mail or instant messaging.” (See also: “Probing the Minds of Teenage Consumers”)
But that doesn’t necessarily mean teens constitute an audience for marketers when they’re visiting social sites. “Notably, we found that teens use social networks to socialize, not to read ads, play games or participate in marketing efforts,” says the report. Indeed, GTR finds teens critical of online advertising more generally. “They know that advertising is the price to pay for getting online services for free,” says the report, “but after spending hours online each day, they have grown weary of the many variations of online marketing. . . . From banner ads, online billboards, pop-ups and advergames to fictitious brand profiles on their social networking pages, teens universally point to these marketing efforts as their least favorite aspect of the Web.”
A report released in the spring by youth-marketing agency Fuse (in tandem with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst) found a similar aversion to advertising via social sites. One part of its polling, fielded in June, asked teens to say how they’d like brands in various categories to advertise to them. Ads on social-networking sites ranked poorly across a range of sectors. For instance, just 10 percent of respondents said they like apparel brands to reach them via social networking, vs. 71 percent saying they like those companies to use TV spots; 14 percent said they like consumer-electronics companies to advertise to them via social networking (vs. 69 percent saying the same about TV spots); 11 percent like getting food and snacks marketing messages via social networking (vs. 78 percent citing TV).
Since social networking is so important to teens, do brands risk an out-and-out backlash if they blunder intrusively onto that turf? Gary Rudman, president of GTR Consulting, suggests that they do. “If brands are clumsy and fail to understand how teens want to be approached in the social-networking environment, marketers are risking a potentially hostile reaction,” he tells AdweekMedia. As for online advertising more broadly, he adds that teens are “frustrated by ads that disrupt, distract and disturb their online experience.” Or, as GTR’s report puts it, “From what teens have told us, online advertising is interruptive, distracting and intrusive. In a nutshell, online advertising is not working for this generation.”
Bill Carter, a partner in Fuse, has also seen wariness of marketers’ ventures into social media when these are out of sync with the reasons teens go to these sites. “Teens are indifferent to advertisers on social networks who don’t participate in the actual purpose of the social network, which is to actively communicate with each other and have fun in their communities and organized groups,” says Carter. “Advertisers that treat social networks like billboards, TV, radio or other media in which they simply run advertising will be met with at best a neutral reaction from teens and can be met with real backlash.”

That’s not to say it’s impossible for marketers to create a rapport with teens via social media. “Advertisers that are proactive members and participate as any good ‘friend” does will be engaged by teens,” says Carter. Rudman notes that teens turn to social networks in part for “efficiency” in conducting their lives, and marketers that serve this end can use social media to their advantage. “One teen stated that social networks make their social life easier to handle,” he notes. “If a marketer can create and offer a branded app that can make their online experience more efficient, teens are more likely to appreciate the brand and may even forward the tool to their friends,” Rudman adds.

Rudman also stresses the effectiveness that can come from a marketing approach that lets teens feel they’ve “discovered” the brand or its message. “If teens feel like they’ve discovered something, they’re so apt to pass it on,” he says. “They feel so empowered when they feel they’ve discovered it on their own.”
Along with social sites, video games and online gaming sites have become important venues for teens to use their free time. And, of course, this has lured marketers who wish to reach teens on their home ground. But this entails its own challenges. In the case of online gaming sites, the broadening of the gaming audience beyond its youth-oriented roots can be a complicating factor. Rudman mentions that teens who go to such sites are frustrated by the proliferation of ads that have nothing to do with their own interests. “If you have a Depends ad there, it’s obviously not relevant to teens,” he remarks.

Teens also bring a judgmental eye to in-game advertising. Says Carter: “Teens apply much the same authenticity test to in-game advertising as they do to other media. Is the advertising authentic? Is it credible? Does it belong in the game? Is it a distraction? Does it bring something positive to the game experience? If an advertiser can pass this test, it will be met with either a neutral to slightly positive response from teens. If the advertising fails this test, the best the advertiser can hope for is a neutral response, and the more likely response is disdain.”
In their eagerness (or, at times, over-eagerness) to connect with teens via newer media, marketers may be underestimating the efficacy of an older medium: television. For one thing, despite their immersion in new media, teens still spend plenty of time watching TV — 2.1 hours a day, according to the GTR report, a shade more than the 2 hours per day they spend online “for fun.” (They spend another 1.4 hours a day online “for school work,” or so they say.) And, what’s at least as important, TV is a medium where teens aren’t congenitally averse to encountering advertising. “When it comes to options for advertising, traditional TV advertising resonates best for teens,” says the GTR report.

“Marketers that fail to emphasize television in their marketing efforts risk missing the boat with teens,” says Rudman. “Teens are visually literate, and a good television ad will engage them. They remember funny, interesting, engaging, unique ads. In fact, if they like them enough, they will look for them online, such as on YouTube, so they can forward them on to their friends.”

GTR’s findings are consistent with those of Fuse Marketing’s survey. Seventy-five percent of the teens polled by Fuse agreed that TV is the “best way” for advertisers to reach them. The teens also ranked TV as their favorite platform for messages from all the advertiser categories about which they were asked, ranging from health and beauty to quick-serve restaurants.

Carter says that noticing which media teens consume is “the easy part” for marketers. “The difficult part is deciphering in which media teens are inclined to listen to a brand’s message versus those media they consider more sacred and want free from advertising.” Nobody ever accused TV of being sacred, and Carter identifies it as a medium “in which teens are open to an advertiser’s message.” Perhaps surprisingly, TV’s utility for reaching teens extends to products that have come along in what some people imagine to be the post-TV age. Thus, when the GTR polling asked teens to say where they “typically learn about electronics and technology,” 56 percent included TV among their sources, putting it slightly ahead of “online” (56 percent) and outpointed only by word of mouth (77 percent).

Those numbers are particularly telling when one considers the importance of technology in the lives of today’s teens, for better or worse. The GTR survey found 21 percent of its teens agreeing at least somewhat that “I have experienced peer pressure to have and use the latest technology.” But that phenomenon does not translate into any general aversion to new technology. One reason for this: 76 percent of the teens polled by GTR agreed (including 42 percent agreeing strongly) that “Technology helps me socialize/communicate with friends.” In other words, it is integrated into daily life for teens in a way that is generally not the case for their elders, even if the latter make ample use of new technologies.

“When it comes to technology, it’s almost universal that teens are not ambivalent about adopting it,” says Rudman. “In fact, technology adoption is part of the teen DNA. They have grown up in a world where technology drives communication and social interaction. They must jump on board so they don’t fall out of the loop. They really do not know any other approach. But although they are pushed on board, they quickly wrest control of new technology and make it their own.”

The numbers in GTR’s report certainly make it clear that engagement with multiple technologies is more the rule than the exception for teens. Given a list of electronic products and asked to say which ones they have, majorities pointed to the cell phone (85 percent), video-game console (79 percent), TV (79 percent), desktop computer (76 percent), digital camera (69 percent), portable gaming device (56 percent) and MP3 player with video (51 percent).

Or, teens may decide that a particular technology simply isn’t for them. This is what has happened with Twitter, suggests Rudman. “Teens as a whole have rejected Twitter as a tool for adults,” he says. “Twitter seems to be an announcement to the world, while things like Facebook and texting are a way of announcing to the people they care about.”

One wild card in how teens will interact with the world around them is the recession. As is the case with respect to consumers in general, marketers are wondering whether the severe downturn will have a lasting effect on teens, persisting even after the economy has recovered. Carter suspects that it will. “Teens are observing an economy with real consequences,” he says. “Maybe one or more of their parents have been laid off, maybe they hear the conversations about not being able to pay a mortgage on time, maybe they won’t go away to summer camp or on a family vacation this year. In any case, their lives have been affected, and they are not going to soon forget the significance of what they are feeling.”

Understanding those elusive teens

September 25th, 2009 by brand-e.biz

By Steve Mullins.

Teen feeling. Ambassatechs have become the bridge between companies trying to figure out the next big thing and parents seeking to determine which new piece of technology to buy, according to the gTrend Teen Report from US-based GTR Consulting.
Ambassatechs? They’re those trendsetting young consumers whose judgment and behavior are the best barometer of future technology adoption, the consultancy reckons. ”Today, adults take their technology cues from teens, whose ability to incorporate innovation into their lives far exceeds their parents’. Nothing may be more important to successfully engaging teens than understanding their role as Ambassatechs.”
However, in a recession, money is tight, forcing teens to become ‘Neo-Frugalists’. So, GTR rightly asks, how young consumers still manage to buy the latest techno-bling.
The answer? “Our research shows that instead of buying on impulse, today’s teens have become more value-driven consumers. If they’re interested in the hottest video game, they’re inclined to find a used copy. Many are now waiting for sales to make a purchase. Or they scour Craigslist, eBay and the rest of the web for a killer deal.”  So, that means they’re innovating with old tech. Clever Neo-Frugalists, indeed.
Wait, there’s more. “Teens remain as elusive and contradictory as ever,” GTR says. (And they’re not kidding if these findings are anything to go by). But don’t worry, the consultancy has also identified a new teen social dynamic known as ‘Textual Feeling’. Before you ask, we’ll tell you that this phenomenon means that many teens routinely express their secret hopes, dreams and fears via social networking sites and online.

“In many ways, teens today are an open book,” says GTR. “Yet, most are conscientious about not posting telephone numbers, addresses, and other critical personal information on the web because they recognize the dangers. Our research, however, consistently shows that many teens feel it’s safer and more comfortable to engage peers through technology than in face-to-face interaction.”

We know just how they feel.

Neo-Frugalists: gTrend Teen Report – Preview No. 3

For teens, having less to spend is a shocking new experience.  But with fewer available jobs and smaller allowances from cash-strapped parents, teens are confronting a new economic reality.  So how do young consumers still buy the latest Techno-bling?  They get frugal and turn it into sport.  In the new gTrend Teen Report, Neo-Frugalism has emerged as one of the unexpected byproducts of the recession.  Neo-Frugalism is the skill and passion that resourceful teens are applying to the acquisition of technology and other badge items.  Our research shows that instead of buying on impulse, today’s teens have become more value-driven consumers. If they’re interested in the hottest video game, they’re inclined to find a used copy.  Many are now waiting for sales to make a purchase.  Or they scour Craigslist, eBay and the rest of the web for a killer deal.  Interestingly, with thriftiness going mainstream, it has become cool to be the first one to “find the deal” and spread the gospel of their thrifty ways.

In short, frugal is the new hip, but it is no real surprise.  American teens continue to make a virtue of advancing and adopting to a world often beyond their control.  To find out how to reach young consumers who are both frugal and highly acquisitive, read the new gTrend Teen Report.  Contact GTR Consulting at gtrend@gtrconsulting.com, or 415.713.7852.

Lessons in youth marketing during a recession

by Inyoung Hwang
May 05, 2009

WASHINGTON – Companies have felt the need in this recession to ramp up innovative advertising tactics when targeting young adults, a demographic that has been elusive to marketers in recent years.

The weakened consumer confidence and spending in the U.S. have affected an age-group previously thought to be more recession-resilient.

A survey by the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson Company found 77 percent of young adults, people 18-29, feel nervous and anxious about the impact of the recession. Teen spending on fashion also declined 14 percent over the last year, according to a report by the investment bank Piper Jaffray.

The challenge becomes twofold for companies as they combat an economic downturn, while trying to capture a new kind of savvy customers made up of teenagers and twenty-somethings living in the internet age.

“They’re not passive consumers of anything,” said Carol Phillips, a marketing professor at University of Notre Dame. “You have to kind of market with them rather than to them.”

Phillips described how, as a consumer group, young adults can be a “moving target” because of  the rapid changes in technology. An evolving relationship with technology leads to an entirely different relationship with marketing, she explained.

For marketers, young adults tend to be a more skeptical, team-oriented bunch, who are equipped with a sense of confidence that comes with the ease of finding information online. Even if an advertisement is backed by research or substantiated claims, young adults still assume it needs to be verified.

“They take everything with a definite grain of salt,” Phillips said. “They’re much more likely to rely on what their friends say or what they read in a third-party blog.”

Morris Levy, senior at the University of New Hampshire, said even if a new product like a video game sparked his interest, he would hold off on purchasing it until he understood it better.

“I’d look into it more – look at reviews online, ratings from different companies and news sources,” he said.

Gary Rudman, the president of GTR Consulting, a market research firm, said video game companies will sometimes provide free clips of games to websites like IGN Entertainment. It’s a simple but successful word-of-mouth strategy that allows young people to feel like they’re finding things on their own and then talk to friends about it.

“It doesn’t feel like a marketer is forcing something down  your throat,” he said. “You’ve gone to a place to find it, you’ve discovered it, and you share it with the world.”

The challenge in advertising to teenagers and young adults can be reaching them at their multiple methods of communication, especially since online advertising is still a tricky obstacle for marketers. Very successful brands understand there’s nothing better than having something “bubble up from the bottom,” according to Rudman.

“It’s very important to allow them to market to each other,” Phillips said. “Information is currency. Give them things that they value so they will share it with their friends.”

With the ongoing recession, however, the experiences of friends may have other ripple effects as well. Levy said seeing his friends have trouble landing part-time jobs has caused him to be more conscious of saving money.

“Small cuts whenever possible now,” Levy said.

The media coverage of the financial crisis has also changed spending .

“You stop buying random trendy items,” said Elizabeth Eun, a junior at Boston University. “You stick to buying things that are going to last longer and save you money in the long run.”

She mentioned Apple and American Apparel as noteworthy brands that have relied on pairing brightly-colored advertisements with sleek designs to project images of ‘unique’ and ‘hip’.

Apple recently launched a series of “There’s an app for that” TV commercials, one of which appeals to how the device can make life easier for students.

But in the case of American Apparel, the strategy can backfire as popularity causes the brand to lose its sense of uniqueness and consumers become less willing to spend dollars on the cotton clothing basics the company sells.

“People used to be willing to pay $40 to $50 for a hoodie, but not so much anymore,” she said.

Consumers are known to gravitate back to names they know and trust in a recession, but with young adults this trend doesn’t hold as true. Brands don’t have as long a shelf-life with young consumers, unless they continue to transform with the times, according to Rudman.

For companies able to alter their image and adapt, there may be opportunity in the economic downturn through deep discounting and heavy promotions.

“Brands need to offer more for less by offering price-conscious teens products and services where they feel they are getting a bigger bang for their buck,” said Anastasia Goodstein, founder of Ypulse.com, a youth media and marketing website.

Goodstein said higher-end brands might consider launching lower cost product lines and offering incentives like “buy three,get one free” or promoting layaway plans in order to keep old customers and lure new ones.

“They’re relatively young consumers so their allegiances aren’t completely set yet,” Phillips said. “They’re pretty open to trying new things.”

Young Consumers And This Year’s Holiday Spending: Are They Like Their Parents?

“The economy has scared me a bit, so I’ve cut back on spending all of my money. Instead, I have saved about 40% of it, so I’ll have something to fall back on later.” – 17-year-old girl from New York.

With the economy tanking, how will that impact the spending behavior of kids, teens, twenty-somethings?

Even though it is in the inherent nature of teens to do the opposite of what their parents tell them, they will likely follow step and spend less this holiday season. They really have no choice – for two reasons.

First, since their parents may be cutting back on allowance to conserve cash, young consumers are likely to have less to spend. Second, young consumers who usually have regular income from a job are likely to be earning less, if anything at all. When companies cut back on employment, jobs for teens and young adults are often the first to go.

That said, the downturn should not freeze spending entirely this holiday season. In fact, young consumers will continue to spend on their favorite items – technology is still at the top of the list. Young consumers will place an even greater premium on value and they are likely to allocate fewer of their precious dollars to others and focus more on themselves. The question that remains, however, is what happens once they have quickly gone through their savings? This will be the first time that a generation who has grown up in the economic boom years, will have to answer this question.

Teenagers really can’t afford to drive now

Press of Atlantic City

By REGINA SCHAFFER Staff Writer, 609-272-7211

Published: Monday, July 28, 2008

If Rob Mancinelli takes a little longer to get to his job at Jeff’s Steaks in Egg Harbor Township, it’s because he is driving more slowly – on purpose.

Filling up his 1997 GMC truck costs $85. Not that Mancinelli can remember the last time he did that. He usually puts about $20 at a time in his tank. When he goes somewhere with friends, they try to carpool. Friends agree to give the driver gas money – something that wasn’t as big a deal even a year ago.

“I try to make it last as long as I can,” said Mancinelli, 19, of Absecon. “I drive slower. I’m slower to pull away at a red light. Pulling away quicker, that wastes gas.”

With the price of gas teetering at or above the $4 mark, area teens who typically work part-time jobs are realizing that the discretionary income isn’t quite what they expected when they account for the increasing price of fuel. It means teens are changing their driving and spending habits, holding off on the new Nintendo Wii game to pay for those trips to the mall and work.

Dan Branciforti can go through a couple tankfuls of gas a week commuting from Linwood to his summer job in Avalon, where he peddles ice cream to hot sunbathers on the beach. A round trip to work for Branciforti, according to fueleconomy.gov, costs about $8.50.

He hasn’t “filled up” his 1992 Honda Accord since he started driving it a year ago. His car gets about 21 miles to the gallon.

“I’ll put $20 in it, if that,” said Branciforti, 18.

The cost is catching teens off guard.

“Yes, they are driving less. They have to,” said Gary Rudman of GTR Consulting, a San Francisco-based firm that specializes in market research among teens. “They are on their bikes, scooters and skateboards more as parents have to tighten the screws on the budget.”

Rudman said the problem is compounded by a slipping economy, which means teens are having trouble finding part-time or summer work as those jobs are taken by adults who need the extra income.

“And parents don’t have any extra discretionary income to hand over to their teens,” Rudman said. “So teens are in between a rock and a hard place.”

When pollsters asked teens what three issues concern them most this election year, the No. 1 issue was the price of gas, followed by global warming and the war in Iraq, according to a survey conducted in the spring by TRU, a youth-focused market firm in Illinois.

Mike Castellani, 17, works at Cousins Pizza to put gas in his 1997 Buick Century. Sometimes, his dad will graciously fill the car up for him.

“Twenty dollars will get me about three quarters of a tank, so that’s actually not too bad,” Castellani said as he got gas on Saturday afternoon.

Rudman said some teens are turning to Web sites like Craigslist or eBay more to find the items they want at reduced prices as a result of gas eating their discretionary budget. Or, teens are simply buying less.

“With gas prices and food prices skyrocketing, teens are struggling to figure out where the money will come from,” Rudman said. “These (teens) still crave their expensive technology items – like the new iPhone or the latest video game system – but are having more difficulty raising the necessary funds.”

Mark Battisti works at Linwood Gulf on Route 9 to pay for his gas guzzling 1995 Chevy Blazer. He doesn’t know how much it costs to fill it because he’s never had the money to do that. Now when he goes out with friends, they carpool and share the gas expense.

And the joyride around town? Forget it.

“We hate doing that now,” Battisti said. “It’s a waste of money.”

Is frugal the new black?

As down economy sets in, some are embracing the simple life

By Allison Linn

Senior writer MSNBC

updated 7:49 a.m. PT, Wed., July. 9, 2008

To get a sense of the American economy, consider what’s in for summer: house parties instead of bar hopping, thrift stores instead of mall shopping, gardening instead of gourmet restaurants.

Americans have spent the past year or so complaining about the rising price of everything from bread to gas, and bemoaning the ways in which it has changed their lifestyle.

Now, as the reality of a down economy begins to sink in, experts say consumers are starting to embrace the simple life: staying close to home, cooking more, planting a garden and even delighting in bargain hunting. Some retailers, trying to make the best of the situation, have begun looking for ways to latch onto the trend as well.

“Americans as a whole are pretty … adaptable, so when it gets tough, we make it cool to be frugal,” said Anna D’Agrosa, director of consumer insight with Zandl Group, a trend forecasting group.

D’Agrosa has seen a surge of interest in gardening, and especially growing food, as well as shopping at local markets and cooking at home. She’s also seeing more people having fun taking thrift store finds and sprucing them up for a more modern look.

Dinner parties, board games and rental movies are becoming more popular ways to socialize and save a buck, she said, while those who do go out are increasingly opting for dive bars or underground clubs that are cheaper than their higher-end counterparts.

“I think they’re definitely finding ways to make it fun,” D’Agrosa said.

Faced with a tight job market and less discretionary money from their parents, teenagers are often hit early and hard in a down economy. But Gary Rudman, president of GTR Consulting, which tracks the habits of teens and young adults, said this generation of teens is also quick to adapt to new dynamics.

“They’re the first to react, and they figure out how to make it work,” he said.

That doesn’t mean they are willing to give up their favorite brands or gadgets, he said — they’re just figuring out cheaper ways to get those items.

Some are looking for bargains on Web sites like eBay and Craigslist, he said, or opting for lower-end or slightly older versions of gadgets such as phones or iPods. Others are increasingly willing to go to discounters to find coveted brands.

“These guys are looking for any way possible to stretch that dollar,” Rudman said. “They’re very adaptive.”

The obvious challenge for retailers is to get consumers who have decided to go frugal to spend money at their stores anyway.

Retailers already known for bargains, such as Wal-Mart, were among the first to start promoting ways that shoppers can enjoy a pared-down lifestyle. Over the past couple months, the discounter has played up deals on backyard items that can spruce up a “staycation” —staying at home during time off work rather than traveling. In May, it even launched a campaign focused exclusively on making one summertime indulgence — ice cream — more affordable.

Many other retailers have launched similar campaigns. And as high prices and the ailing economy begin pinching even consumers in higher income brackets, brands that aren’t usually associated with bargains are getting into the game as well.

Whole Foods, the upscale grocer often referred to jokingly as “Whole Paycheck,” recently dispatched a group of “value gurus” to offer store tours for customers looking for bargains. Tips include buying house brand items and eating food that is local and in season.

D’Agrosa said some companies could benefit from a push toward frugality.

For example, people who choose to stay at home rather than go bar-hopping tend to buy higher-end liquor because it’s still cheaper than what they would pay at a bar, D’Agrosa said. Online retailers also stand to benefit because they allow customers to save on gas, and lower-priced alternatives such as grocer Trader Joe’s and clothing store H&M also stand to profit.

For frugalists, bargain hunting is a lifestyle

Those who are more practiced at living on less note that, sometimes, the “treasure hunt” of bargain shopping can be fun in and of itself.

While George Reese, 51, admits that it might be nice to get a new car or fill up the tank without a second thought, the lifelong frugal shopper also takes pride in the unexpected deals he finds during his frequent trips to discount stores. The other day, the Ventura County, Calif., resident was pleasantly surprised to come across half-gallons of name brand ice cream for just 99 cents.

“Being frugal is not anything to be ashamed of. It’s just the way of life,” he said. “It’s something you have to do to, if not to beat the system, then to keep up with it.”