Youth marketing is a term used in the marketing and advertising industry to describe activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 13 to 35. More specifically, there is the teen marketing, targeting people age 13 to 19, college marketing, targeting college-age consumers, typically ages 18 to 24, young adult marketing, targeting young professionals, typically ages 21 and 35
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.
Reaching the market
While frowned upon for teens and young adults, another common way advertisers target the older youth market is through product placement. Product placement 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 youth in a subtle manner.
Youth marketing strategies commonly include television advertising, magazine advertising and online marketing. Today young people expect to be able to learn about, interact and be entertained with 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 Footwear, it used youth marketing tactics to grow from a niche sneaker brand to a successful international business and Mountain Dew, a well known soft drink brand that expanded market share through youth marketing tactics in the 1990s.
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Consumer behavior and attitude towards youth marketing
Since the 1980s, the marketing industry has seen an increase in research as well as an increase in spending. The marketing industry's budget in 1992 was $6 billion and by 2003 this figure had risen to an estimated $15 billion in marketing efforts. According to Tim Kasser of Knox College, there is little that is known about youth marketing opinion. He states that since the late 1990s there have only been two large-scale opinion surveys conducted. The first of these surveys was sponsored by Center for a New American Dream, which consisted of 400 random parents nationwide. The second was sponsored by power exchange and took its survey participants from people who make a living off of youth marketing. The purpose of this survey was to assess a participant's attitude towards a variety of youth marketing issues. Respondents to the survey were asked a range of questions regarding the ethics of youth marketing. The public opinion on youth marketing ethics according to this survey was mostly negative. An overwhelming 78% of respondents agreed that the current practices used in youth marketing were harmful to children, whereas 3.7% believed that the current practices were fine the way they were, while the remaining 85.1% didn't believe that youth marketing had any ethics. The results of this survey shed light on youth marketing's pros and cons. But this survey has shown that respondents clearly view the current tactics being used as potentially harmful and in need of structure. By the end of this survey, Tim Kasser concluded that a large portion of respondents to his survey felt that youth marketing morals were unacceptable and that they contributed to a range of youth-oriented problems. Also he found that marketing that took place in public schools was unacceptable and that governmental regulations should be put in place to prevent marketing groups from advertising to eight-year-olds. Talks on youth marketing have been ongoing; there have been few changes to policy or law in regards to marketing to youth. The results of the survey done by Tim Kasser suggest that people are ready to change public policy and legal initiatives in regards to these issues.
Youth trends
On the other end of the youth marketing spectrum, It could be stated that the traditional definition of "youth" doesn't really exist. This assumption was based upon consumer behavior in a study done by Viacom Brand Solutions International called the "Golden Age of Youth". This case study was designed to focus on adults from 18 to 34 years old who primarily delayed their adult responsibilities in favor of staying younger in all aspects of life. According to this study, 16- to 19-year-olds are considered to be going through the discovery period. As people grow older they usually phase out of the discovery period and into the experimentation period, when they hit the age range of 20 to 24 years old. Usually those that don't fit into the groups above are part of the golden category, which consists of anyone 24 to 34. Some of the key results that were produced from this case study were that 24-34-year-olds usually don't respond to the same marketing techniques as teens and those that think so are being fooled, whereas in reality only 8% in the study were actually true teenagers. It also showed that the golden youth were the happiest out of all the categories and drawn towards expensive brands compared to teens. Based on the categories provided by Viacom and the results of the case study, it goes to show that over 52% of adults from 25 to 34 still have a lot of growing up to do.
Youth trends are part of an environment pertaining to information that we know as youth marketing and is rapidly evolving and is interconnected with the evolution of transmission systems and content quality. It is easy to give very little weight to these new trends that are evolving in this information environment, but these changes should not be taken lightly because it will affect how youth communicate and absorb this information. These changes can easily be shown through various media such as smart phones or social networking sites like Facebook, allowing youth marketing to occur on a sensory level.
Morals and education of marketers:
Youth marketing is under increased scrutiny by many public-oriented establishments such as government agencies, academia, and the media. The increased inquiry into the marketing industry has occurred because of the increased commercialism towards kids and marketing in schools. These are just a few of the ideas that have become more saturated in mainstream society. Recently in youth marketing there has been much information and misinformation on this topic despite the issue of youth marketing. In regards to the public opinion of youth marketing, one side that has not been represented is that of the youth marketing industry. This point of view is crucial to understanding the basics to making positive progress on issues related to youth marketing. John C. Geraci, who wrote the article "What do youth marketers think of selling to kids?", gives an insight as to the mindset of those working in this industry by conducting an online polling. This polling consisted of 878 interviews each around 30 minutes. The interview covered topics such as educational background to ethics in youth marketing. According to the polling, those that work in youth-oriented careers are 92% more likely to have a four-year degree and less likely to have academic skills specifically for dealing with children. Most of these people also feel that the ethical standards are on par with other industries. But at the same time they feel that ethics can be a matter of intentions and not results. Usually companies will invest time in producing ad campaigns and products to make sure they are suitable for a youth-oriented market, which means that these ideas can easily be turned over because they are deemed not suitable. In addition, they usually spend large sums of money on market research to ensure products have some educational value for youth and are acceptable to those buying the products. Most ethical procedures in the youth marketing industry occur behind office walls and are usually not seen by the public, media, or politicians, which means that problems that arise with youth marketing don't originate from the people creating the ads but are the result of multiple causes. For example, childhood obesity has not been caused by one ad or product brought out by a marketing company. But it is a health concern that has developed due to multiple factors, that influence how the public reacts to certain ads and products brought out by these companies.
Youth consumer behavior
The Internet has ushered in a new digital media culture that allows different forms of media to converge. What once used to be multiple separate devices such as a telephone, television, or computer are now able to converge as one form of technology. Smart phones are the perfect example of this hybrid technology that the new digital media culture has ushered in. As early adopters of new technologies, the youth in many ways are the defining users of the digital media that are embracing this new culture. "The burgeoning digital marketplace has spawned a new generation of market research companies which are introducing an entire lexicon of marketing concepts (e.g., "viral marketing," "discovery marketing") to describe some of the unorthodox methods for influencing brand loyalty and purchasing decisions." The research that is done on youth marketing quickly becomes outdated by the time it is published as a result of the growth of digital media as educators and health professionals continue to get a grasp on the situation.
Youth advertising is an important determinant of consumer behavior; it has been shown to have an influence on a youths' product preference and purchase requests. There are some scientists that believe studying youth consumer behavior is a negative thing because it impacts their beliefs, values, and moral judgments. They argue this because they believe that youth are more influenced by advertising messages than adults are. Advertising impacts usually are conducted by focusing on three specific effects: cognitive, behavioral, and affective. Usually cognitive effect studies are more focused on children's abilities to distinguish commercials from reality and their ability to understand the difference between the two. When cognitive studies are being done they will follow Piaget's theory to track the concrete development of children. Piaget's theory is divided into stages; these stages are known as the pre-operational stage, and concrete operational stage. The first stage focuses on the age group of 2- to 7-year-olds whereas the second focuses on 7- to 12-year-olds. On the other hand, there are some scientists that believe youth marketing is a good thing because it helps to define who they are as a consumer. On that note, it has been proven that requests by youth for advertised products decrease as they mature (1,14,24,26). Youth-oriented audiences tend to become more critical about their purchases and less susceptible to media advertising as they grow up. Gender also tends to have a role in a youth's thought process when requesting an advertised product. In most cases, boys are more persistent in their requests than girls. Other factors that may co-determine children's consumer behavior include socioeconomic level of the family, frequency and kind of parent-child interaction, and involvement with peer groups. These are just a few of the issues regarding youth consumer behavior and it is not going on in just our country but in other countries as well such as the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a perfect example to show how youth marketing is viewed in another country. In the Netherlands youth advertising may not mislead about characteristics or the price of the product in addition to this products aimed at children cannot have too much authority or trust amongst children. But there are loopholes in the way the Netherlands protects children from direct youth marketing. These loopholes usually question concepts such as "misleading", "authority", and "trust".
Social responsibility and how it affects consumer behavior
Studies of social adolescents in social marketing media are usually concerned with activities that have heavy consequences. For example things like smoking, violent entertainment, alcohol abuse, and fast food consumption are all things that are negatively going to affect a young consumer's consumption behavior. Recently though the de-marketing of these harmful behaviors has started to occur slowly over the years, the focus of social and youth marketing has shifted from reinforcing positive behavior in favor of discouraging abusive behaviors. Since social and youth marketing are trying to head in this direction it indicates to the industry that youth marketing can be used for positive benefits. For example, rather than just a company associating itself with a non-profit or global aid organization is easy to understand. But youth more often than not want to actively get engaged in experiences that directly affect the world such as world hunger for example. Which indicates that companies should not just associate themselves with non-profit but actually offer their own non-profit experiences that young consumers can get involved with. Overall this idea and how it relates to youth marketing might seem a bit abstract but it potentially links to a young consumer's behavior. This idea of creating cause-related experiences is important for the industry to take note of when it comes to youth marketing. By influencing a young consumer view of a specific company as a well known supporter of a positive non-profit can create brand loyalty beyond traditional brand utilities. This loyalty to the brand in a sense makes the volunteer or youth-oriented customer are aiding in the production of more loyal customers to the brand. In the long run, these non-effort opportunities can become embedded in a generation and become self-producing for the company as long as they maintain the events that cause consumer loyalty.
Real-world examples
In order to understand the public's opinion on youth marketing, one must be able to understand the experiences that each generation has been exposed to while growing up. Generation Y is very similar to the baby boomer generation especially at different points in life. So it is essential to see what experiences each generation has experienced while growing up. But different formative experiences affect each person of Generation Y. For example, the events that made the biggest impression on members of Generation Y who graduated from school in 2000 were Columbine, the war in Kosovo, and Princess Diana's death.
Targeting the Demographic
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, PhD. 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 effects 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.
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 Mac 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
According to the director of Saatchi & Saatchi Interactive, "This is a medium for advertisers that is unprecedented... there's probably no other product or service that we can think of that is like it in terms of capturing kids' interest." Advertisers reach the young demographic by eliciting personal information. It's as easy as getting them to fill out quick, simple surveys prior to playing these games. They offer prizes such as T-shirts for filling in "lengthy profiles that ask for purchasing behavior, preferences and information on other family members." Advertisers, then take the information they obtain from these polls and surveys to "craft individualized messages and ads" in order to draw and hook them into a world centered around a certain product or brand. The ads that surround the individual in these "cyber worlds" are meant to keep a firm grip on each individual. It provides the setting for them to be completely consumed by the advertisers messages, products, and brands around them.
These games are not just games. They're "advergames", CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports for "Gotta Have It: The Hard Sell To Kids." Advergames allow for marketers to incorporate brands and products into a game-like setting where the child playing it, is exposed constantly to these brands and products. A 10-year-old girl who was interviewed by CBS, says she can score with Skittles, race with Chips Ahoy or hang out with SpongeBob.
"You think about that 30-second commercial, basically a lot of those games are pretty fun to play and kids really get engaged in them," Ted Lempert, president of Children Now, a group that has successfully pushed for limits on TV advertising to kids, says. "So really it ends up becoming a 30-minute commercial."
Kids In An Adult World
The influence that our youth have on purchases made in a household are extremely high, shockingly, even on high-end items such as what vehicle the family decides to purchase. For example, one study estimated that children influenced $9 billion worth of car sales in 1994. One car dealer explains: "Sometimes, the child literally is our customer. I have watched the child pick out the car." According to, James U. McNeal, author of "Kids as Customers: A Handbook of Marketing to Children," car manufacturers cannot afford to ignore the children in their marketing. Nissan is one of many companies know to do this. They sponsor the American Youth Soccer Organization and a traveling geography exhibit in order to promote and get eyes on their brand name and logo in child-friendly settings.
There's analysis of the process of the development of a child and how it relates to how marketers know they can have a great deal of power in the field of persuasion on them at such young ages. At the age of five or six, children have trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality and make-believe from lying. They do not distinguish programs from ads, and may even prefer the ads. Between seven and ten years-old, children are most vulnerable to "televised manipulation". At age seven, the child can usually distinguish reality from fantasy, and at nine, he or she might suspect deception. This could come from any personal experience where products have turned out not to be as advertised. However, they cannot fully decipher this logic and continue to have "high hopes" for future products produced by a particular brand. By the age of ten, the individual starts to have a cynical perception of ads, in that "ads always lie". Around eleven or twelve, a toleration of adults lying in advertisements starts to develop. At this stage, it's the true coming of the adolescent's "enculturation" into a system of social hypocrisy.
Product Placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing on children.
- Viral marketing
- Word of mouth
- Online marketing
- New Media Marketing
- Youth culture
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