Youth is often considered the most-difficult-to-reach demographic for marketers. On the one hand they could be naive and persuadable, and on the other, savvy, fickle and cynical to brand messages. However, once earned, they stick to a brand like leech. DNA tries to decode the revolution that is the youth.
If India could use youth as a hook to lure top brands, it would be the world’s most brand-rich country. This is the reason why international brands are making a beeline to tap the Indian youth. Top brands are setting up shop here and have a varied marketing mix to tempt them. After all, they know once they get them, they really have them.
Youth marketing, by sheer definition, describes activities to communicate with the young people, typically in the age group of 12 to 34 years. More specifically, there is tween marketing — targeting people in the age bracket of 8-12 years, teen marketing — for 13-19-year-olds, college marketing — targeting 18-21-year-old college-goers, and young adult marketing — targeting young professionals, typically in the age group of 22 years and above.
Social networking vs TV
Ten years ago, television was the de facto advertising channel to win the hearts and minds of the youth. Since the rise of social networking, television has been replaced by internet and mobile. The new media, as experts put it, is a better and cost-efficient way to reach the youth.
“Doubtless. But, this would be a communication that is strictly promotional or tactical in nature. I do not expect too many brands to be built using internet and mobile space,” says Bob D’silva, national creative director of AMO Communications.
However, for Shivanandan Pare, chief operating officer of Bigadda, internet and mobile are a steal for any advertiser reaching the youth.
“Internet and mobile are the future of advertising and the most cost-efficient ones. The factor of instant interactivity that these mediums offer have made them a runaway hit with advertisers,” says Kare.
According to the Dentsu Youth Tracker 2009 survey on the youth’s use of digital media, 85% of respondents said they spent more time online in the past 12 months than on any other media.
The survey covers which media the youth favour, their online behaviour, sharing of content, content consumption online and on the third screen- mobiles.
The survey was conducted on 1734 respondents who were 25 years old or below that age, across 68 cities.
62% of the respondents were male and the remaining 38% were female.
Rajesh Aggarwal, president, Dentsu India, explains why. “The rise of social networking indeed, has opened up new frontiers for reaching out to the youth. In this context, internet and mobile are the emerging media vehicles of choice,” he says.
Aggarwal, however, says that “it could take some time before campaigns for mass youth brands go without TV and use only these two media.”
The Youth Tracker survey showed 49% of respondents still spent time on television. In fact, TV was the third most popular choice in the categories — ‘the medium that I cannot live without and ‘enjoy spending time on it’. Television also topped the ‘best entertainment and leisure source’ category in the survey.
Prem Kamath, GM Channel V, plays television up in the battle. “Every medium has its role. Television is still the most effective to reach any demographic. Every youth brand has television in their advertising mix, which emphasises the importance.”
Persuadable vs cynical
Youth, as target consumers, is often described as naïve, inexperienced and hence persuadable. However, on the flipside, they also can be savvy, fickle and cynical to brand messages. How would a brand approach the target group, which is easily pursuable at one time and a hard nut to crack in another?
Dentsu’s Aggarwal says, “It is beyond doubt that Indian youth, as a target audience, is extremely savvy. Exposure to multiple media has expanded their horizons and they definitely have a defined worldview. They are not fickle but dynamic — so there is a need to engage them with innovative offerings every time. And in terms of messages, I would say they are more critical rather than cynical.”
According to the Dentsu survey, majority of Indian youth spend most time on the Internet (85%) and mobiles (59%), but many still cannot live without television. They rely on outdoor media and dailies to keep themselves up-to-date with the current affairs.
So, merely reaching them on social sites would be very one dimensional when they could be reached through different mediums.
“The Indian youth is an unpredictable lot. There was a time when humming Hindi numbers was “like… so LC”. Now they won’t start swinging unless you are playing the latest Hindi numbers. Nonetheless, naïve or savvy, they dig creative communication (read whacky and wild),” adds Bob D’silva of AMO.
Suited vs casual
The dilemma for every brand when it seeks to tap the Indian youth is whether it should knock the door as a suited brand or be a part of the collective inner circle, where they carefully manage sophisticated and considered relationships, rather casual ones.
“Youth are youth, you can’t tell them what to do, where to go… you get too intrusive, they scatter… you get too friendly, mistrust sets in. However, when it comes to well deliberated and timeless relationships, I do not see casual brands going too far,” D’Silva adds.
Experts see youth market as a difficult group to connect with and sell to, based on the fragmented media landscape and the keen ability of the youngsters to identify and reject marketing messages that lack credibility. For some, inner circle is the Gospel’s word. Aggarwal says, “Engaging the brand at the target audience’s inner circle is an eternal quest. Emergence and expansion of experiential marketing is a testimony to this truth. Suited or casual, the moot point is to move beyond these stereotypes and make the interactivity comfortable for the youth.”
The fact remains that the brand has to position itself in a manner where it is able to build and instill trust, ‘I m there when you want me’. Channel V’s Kamath adds, “We have 300 million youth in India and painting them all with one brush isn’t fair.”
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