In the marketing and advertising industry, youth marketing consists of activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 11 to 35. More specifically, there is teen marketing, targeting people age 11 to 17; college marketing, targeting college-age consumers, typically ages 18 to 24; and young adult marketing, targeting ages 25 to 34.
The youth market is critical because of the demographic's buying power and its members' influence on the spending of family members. In addition, teens and young adults often set trends that are adopted by other demographic groups.
Formats
Youth marketing formats commonly include television advertising, magazine advertising and online marketing. Today, young people expect to be able to learn about, interact with and be entertained via brands or services targeting them online. Other common youth marketing tactics include entertainment marketing, music marketing, sports marketing, event marketing, viral marketing, school and college programs, product sampling and influencer marketing.
Examples of brands embraced by youth and used as examples in marketing cases are Vans, which used youth marketing tactics to grow from a niche skateboard shoe brand to a successful international business, Mountain Dew, a well-known soft drink brand that expanded market share through youth marketing tactics in the 1990s, and Nike, namely utilizing endorsements from athletes, celebrities and influencers, combined with deliberately powerful language in its advertising.
While frowned upon for teens and young adults, another common way advertisers target the older youth market is through product placement, which occurs when a brand name product appears in a medium not necessarily related to the product itself. Companies often pay for their products to be placed in a movie or on a television show. This act, while not an overt form of advertising, seeks to target teens and children in a subtle manner.
Strategies
Youth trends, according to Professor Frank Biocca of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, are part of an environment pertaining to information regarding youth marketing rapidly evolving and interconnecting with the advances in technology alongside content quality. Besides word-of-mouth interaction, marketing can easily be seen through new media formats such as social networking, allowing youth marketing to occur on a multi-sensory level.
Social status and brand loyalty Products and brands with Social Power encompass the notion that “Corporate cool hunters are searching for teens that have the respect, trust, and admiration of their friends.” The American Psychological Association said, “Advertisers understand the teen's desire to be "cool," and manipulate it to sell their wares, a concept that's been offered to marketers by psychologists including James McNeal. Marketers assume a silent role as manipulators and the role they manage to play is not only in the purchases of teens but also in the social statuses of teens. A key aspect to youth marketing or any targeted demographic marketing is that these products are supposed to fulfill the needs or desires of the consumer. A large portion of sales promotion is dedicated to accomplishing this. However, according to Ainsworth Anthony Bailey of University of Toledo in "The Interplay of Social Influence and Nature of Fulfillment: Effects on Consumer Attitudes," not much of this research has focused on non-fulfillment of promotional promises which in turn, breaks the trust of the consumer and hurts the entire image of the brand and its product.
The role of brand loyalty and/or belonging to a brand becomes a primary act for the young consumers. Promotion is always positive; commodities are presented as the road to happiness. In short, advertising uses existing values and symbols rather than reflecting them. Child psychologist Allen Kanner states that “The problem, is that marketers manipulate that attraction, encouraging teens to use materialistic values to define who they are and aren't.” It's key that we acknowledge the need for teens to not only identify but to let the brand identify them. It's what feeds into the notion that Marketing and Branding affects teen consumerism. Salancik & Pfeffer's (1978) Social information processing theory addresses mechanisms by which peers influence individuals' behavior and attitudes. According to this theory, social information consists of comments and observations made by people whose views an individual considers relevant. The literature on social influence suggests that this could impact consumers' perceptions.
The role of brand loyalty is the notion of a consumer preferring to buy a specific branded product in favour over another. This is becoming to play an important role in a consumers purchase behaviour. Celebrities who hold expertise and trustworthiness are typically used to positively promote a brand. The portrayal of celebrities through brand endorsed advertisements, result in the youth admiring them.
Salanik & Pferrer's social information processing theory addresses mechanisms by which peers influence individuals behaviour and attitudes. This includes the social information consisting of comments and observations made by people, who another individual considers relevant. This encompasses the notion of key opinion leaders, who are very influential in a peer group as they are perceived to have higher social standing, credibility and trust.Dahlen, M., Lange, f., & Smith, T. (2010). Marketing communications: A brand narrative approach. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons Social media networking sites have allowed these individuals to filter information through to peers from either imagery posts on the popular Facebook and Instagram, or written posts on Twitter. Consumers will become aware of their peer's brand preferences and this can influence and change their perception of a brand. Instead of posting information themselves, many young consumers are concerned with reading and observing what other people are posting. This has an influence on consumer purchase behaviour, as young consumers are more inclined to purchase products that their peers are purchasing and posting. Through social-mediated communication, an individual can be influenced towards buying a certain brand. This will create brand loyalty within the individual.
Brands that hold social power can influence the behaviour of consumers in what they are and are not purchasing. This plays an important part in youth consumerism and can impact the social statuses of teens. The desire for teens to be classified as “cool” are taken into account by advertisers who then use this idea and manipulate it to sell their products. Products are supposed to fulfill the needs and desires of the consumer. This relates to the idea of self-concept. Self-concept consists of actual self, how an individual sees themselves and ideal self, how an individual would like to be seen. Brands play an important role in how consumers are identifying themselves. They use brands as a tool to portray their own personal image and goals. Young consumers are still finding their own identity and are using brands to define who they are. Psychologists say that this results in children developing more materialistic values and have the tendency to own endless amounts of new products, otherwise they will feel inferior. Hence, having the latest products relates positively to their social status. For example, fashion is a powerful social symbol because when a certain trend is successfully adopted by a number of people, this can impact the perceived value of the product. A consumers social identification through a brand is important as it shows loyalty for that specific brand name. This can affect the way consumers who wear certain products and brands are perceived by others. This can determine an individual's fashion preference and the purchasing behaviour of consumers in regards to brand loyalty.
Classroom According to the Media Awareness Network, a huge space where young adults can be targeted is in the setting of education or classroom. Whether it be through sponsored health educational assemblies, or as simple as the vending machines in the lunch room, or contests/incentive programs, and the companies that supply the schools with new technologies such as MacBook computers. The academic setting becomes a prime marketing tool in reaching our youth because the classroom provides a captive audience for any product or brand to be modeled in front of. One example that the Media Awareness Network provides to explain how the academic environment can be used to silently speak and market to the youth is contests and incentive programs like the Pizza Hut reading incentives program in which children receive certificates for free pizza if they achieve a monthly reading goal. Similarly, Campbell's Labels for Education project, in which Campbell provides educational resources for schools in exchange for soup labels collected by students.
Internet
Company advertisers have exploited ‘legislative loopholes’ and have continued targeting the youth population with advertisements through the Internet. Youth Marketing has expanded to online platforms because marketers understand the importance of the youth population and how developing a strong customer relationship will allow companies to promote products when youth become adults. Advertising online has become an efficacious technique for ensuring brand awareness and persuading the youth demographic to purchase products due to the fact that advertising online can be longer, repetitive, and engaging.
Youth marketing is controversial because children are unaware that they are intentionally being targeted by company advertisers to ensure brand awareness, establish positive attitudes and encourage brand endorsement. Exposure of online advertising to the youth demographic has the ability to shape children's attitudes, cognitions and behaviour, which concerns parents because they want to be able to influence their children's buying decision, and the products and brands exposed to their children. Besides shaping children's attitudes and behaviour, parents are apprehensive about who their children talk to online, the personal information that they share and being exposed to inappropriate content.
The youth demographic prefers to be targeted by personalised advertisements because they want to be informed of a brand or product which offers a similar or related product they have previously purchased. Interruptive advertising such as television, radio, email and telemarketing are considered ineffective techniques for youth marketing because they can be ‘annoying’. The youth population approve of Internet banner ads due to the fact that they do not feel pressured by youth marketing and feel capable of assessing their own purchasing decision.
A majority of the youth population do not feel that youth marketing has inflicted any substantial pressured through advertisements. However, a minority of the youth population may not be able to comprehend the persuasive intent of an advertisement and do not necessarily feel pressured but are at risk of deception. Some argue that companies should stop targeting children with online advertisements because children have become brand savvy from being constantly exposed to them on the Internet and insist their parents purchase a certain product. However, others argue that it is important for children to develop analytical skills of consumerism and children should know the distinction between advertising and other media content, so they are not vulnerable to manipulation.