PREFACE

Marketing as much as any other area, is a field that requires

information for decision making. On a day- to -day bases, marketers
find themselves involved with research, investigation analysis,
evaluations, comparisons qualitative measures of psychology and
emotions, and quantitative calculation about almost everything.
Whether these activities are on a do-it-yourself oral hired out basis,
marketers need to determine what kind of information will best suit
their needs, how and where to find it. And how they can utilize it.
Poor information can lead to poor decision making, which can be
very costly. Obviously, it is essential to have good information.

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 TEEN MARKETING

INTRODUCTION
Teen marketing is the promotion of products and services to teenage
consumers through the use of endorsements, product placement, and the
support of events in which they attend. Effective authentic teen marketing
campaigns not only create more brand awareness, but they also help ensure
future success of the brand through long-term brand loyalty. Common forms
of teen marketing include viral marketing, college marketing, buzz
marketing, and guerilla marketing. Thanks to the enormous economic might
of the teenagers, there is a mad rush among marketers to target this very
lucrative and exciting segment. Marketers are harnessing all the resources at
their command to fire up the imagination to teenagers and storm their way
into their impressionable minds. But this is easier said than done. To peep
into the complex psyche of teen consumers. Marketers have to ponder over
issues related to their personal psyche, social context and the general
environment around them. Though this article is partly drawn from the
American context, the general observations and universally applicable.

MEANING

TEEN MARKETING: DEFINITION

“Teen marketing is the promotion of the product services to teenager’s
consumers through the use of endorsement product and placement support of
event which they attend”.

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CONCEPT
Teens are persons in the age group of 13 to 19. Of late, they are being
targeted by many multinational marketers for selling their product.
Marketers are adopting new strategies to attract these teenagers and thereby
harvesting huge revenues from this segment. This article focuses on the
current scenario of marketing to teens, its concerns and problem.

Recently Johnson & Johnson has organized marketing campaign to promote

its teen skincare-clean & clear with oil and acne control ingredients. Its
targeted teens, for which oily skin affects their confidence to face the world.
Pimples are perceived to be the result of oily skin, and Johnson & Johnson
used this psychological feeling among teen to promote its product. To – ‘this
positioning was considered appropriate as competitive brands have not
addressed the skin care issues of the huge India teen population in the big
way”
Remember apple computers which dominated the education market in the
1990s? They have now lunched an innovation product for teen, which is the
iPod. Recent survey their shopping list. But widespread teen interest in iPod
did not developed in a single day. Like other trends among the youth, it
began with the cool hunters (opinion leaders telling everyone that this would
be the next big thing.

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GROWTH OF THE TEEN MARKET: A RESULT OF
INCREASE IN BUYING CAPACITY
Increase in the size of the teen market from the 1980’s onwards due to the
remarkable improvement in buying power. Primarily through professional
school and summer jobs, teens have started to earn more than their parents.
This means they have a lot of money available to spend on luxury electronic
items, latest music albums, vacation, restaurants etc.

Studies conducted in the US indicate that the average teenagers there append
as much as $4000 a year. Only 37% of the teen’s income comes from their
parents, and the rest is earned by taking up jobs. Further, online expenditure
by teenagers has increased quite rapidly

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OVERVIEW

The youth sector plays a key role in overall Asia Pacific mobile data market
development. The key applications include messaging, ring-tones,
wallpapers, logos, games, music and videos, and others. The total youth
mobile data services revenue reached $15.2 billion in 2004, and the forecast
growth rate is estimated at 15.3% from 2004 to 2010.

Because of the importance of the youth sector in the Asia Pacific, this report
covers and forecasts top youth applications as well as youth subscribers, by
country for 13 countries, in the region. Additionally, assessment is provided
on the handset providers and how their products are positioned to compete in
the Asian Mobile Youth Market.

"Messaging services will continue to remain most popular in the youth

market in the near term," says Rudy Tang, In-Stat analyst. "Revenue
generated from SMS swelled 30.1% in 2004 and is likely to continue
growing over the next two years."

KEY FINDINGS:

- Key applications for Asia-Pacific mobile youth include messaging, ring-

tones, wallpapers, logos, games, music and videos.

- Messaging accounted for 40.3% of Asian Mobile Youth data expenditures

in 2004.

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- Ringtones, screensavers and wallpaper accounted for another 29.7% of the
youth market followed by games at 9.7% and video, still nascent, at 6.5%.

"Asian Youth Mobile Trends: Devices, Data, and Multimedia" covers the
Asia-Pacific mobile communications market with an emphasis on the impact
of the region's youth market segment. It includes mobile data market
forecasts for the total Asia-Pacific market and for the youth segment from
2004-2010. It also contains carrier profiles and analysis of market
opportunities and trends in the youth market.

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STRATEGIES FOR MARKETING TO TEENS

1. THE POWER OF ADVERTISEMENTS:-

Teens are the major brand ambassadors for the product decision in
their family. And they are emotionally attached to a brand once they
decide and adopt it. Therefore, advertisements now try to influence
teen in a big way.

2. BANKING ON BIGGIES:-

A famous actor or sports person advocating a product – whether

directly or indirectly, makes teems take notice and listen. Who cares
that the star paid for that? Many, teens who would not even have seen
or heard of the product otherwise, are tempted to check it out.

3. THE REPEATED EXPOSURE APPROACH:-

See the product or its advertisement at so many places and so many

times; you will ultimately end up buying. People still remember the
advertisement paanch for promoting a soft drink during 2003 cricket
world cup that was aired on all television channels.

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4. THE POWER OF MUSIC:-

Remember the music compose for airtel mobile, which attracted lakhs
of youth in particular? Now we see it in all their mobile as a ringtone.
This was a successful strategy of using pleasant music and sound
effects to enhance the reach of advertisements.

5. ADVERTISING THROUGH MOBILE DEVICES:-

Mobile marketing has been catching on at a rapid pace over the past
couple of year. Many corporate are using the facilities of instant
messaging and text messaging to propagate their marketing messages.
Almost all of us are receiving messages through our cell phone
service providers regarding the variety of offers, ring tone download,
caller tone download etc.

6. ONLINE ADVERTISING:-

Many large-sale surveys have been conducted in different part of

world about teen marketing strategies. The survey reported state that
more than two-third of teen have personal computers, mobile devices
or hand-held devices with internet connection. They are game freaks
and spend hours together in playing. Therefore, an effective way to
reach this population is through in game advertising or advertising on
game website.
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7. BUZZ MARKETING:-

Marketers face a colossal challenge in cutting through the

advertisement clutter that eclipses a typical teenager’s life. Many
companies are increasingly resorting to “buzz marketing”(a more
direct version of word-of-mouth marketing). The principal is to be
finding a cool dude or hot chic in town and gat him/her to sport your
product in order to create the buzz.

8. USING THE INTERNET:-

The internet has emerged as a very powerful medium of marketers

seeking to capitalize on the teen market. The reasons are aplenty:

 The internet is inexorable intertwined with today’s teen culture

and has become a “be all and end-all” of the teenagers
existence.
 Teens are far away from the prying eyes of parents, leaving
them with more spendable time on the net.

9. STUDY THE MARKET THREADBARE:-

Before marketers can unveil their marketing blitzkrieg, they need to
explore ways and means through which they can target ten effectively.
they will have to ponder over issues such as media that teen normally

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 respond to, product they have immense liking for, and the kind of
messages that they listen to with rapt attention.

10. IMPROVE THE COOL QUOTIENT:-

If marketers are keen on becoming popular amongst teen consumers,
their business should boast of not only the coolest product but also the
latest one.

11. GO TO TEENS WHERE THEY ARE:-

Marketers desirous of hawking product should reach out to teens in
their own space. They can explore the possibilities of advertisement
their wares in teen media. They can also reach out to the teens at their
own destinations such as pizza, malls, parks and cinema halls.

12. TURN INTO SOCIAL NETWORKS:-

Teens are unbelievably chatty. They love to exchange information.
They are more inclined to recommend product and provide
information about the latest wares in the market to the friend, known
people, and parents. Teens spend a lot of time online much of it on
social networking sites like my space, facebook, orkut. These social
networks allow companies to develop their profile and market them to
their staggering teen user base.

13. BE AUTHENTIC:-
When marketers reach out to teens, they should keep authenticity in
their minds. Teens are smart enough to see through spurious

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 advertisement and may turn down product and companies that they
think are deceptive.

14. ADDRESS THEM LIKE ADULT:-

Marketers would do well to remember that they should
communicate to teens as if they are grownup adults. Teens are smart
and intelligent enough to relate favorable to more refine and mature
messages. They get put off if marketers talk down to them.

POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN MARKETING TO TEENS

A. Wherever possible, use graphics and animation. Teen are

attracted by bright colors stylish graphics.

B. “Spread the words” teenagers communicate with their peers

quite quickly. Let them spread the word about any fascinating
product, useful discount etc.

C. Design interactive web pages, so that teenager’s participation

can be increased, which they would love to do. Include polls, surveys
and also don’t forget display survey result.

Why focus on teen

Marketers can ill afford to discount the looming presence of teen for variety
of reasons. They are crucial because:

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  They have plenty of discretionary income.

 They spend family money and also influence their

parents on
both big and small purchase.
 They shape and impact new fashion and lifestyle trends.

Why are teens buying

Teens buying as they grapple with basic development issue, even while they
metamorphose from childhood to adulthood. They are possessed by a strong
need it just belong. “Looks” definitely matter a lot to the teens as it is seen
as a sign of social acceptance. Teen also suffer form pangs of uncertainty as
they group in the dark trying to figure out their identity. Many a time, they
find their own identity inexplicable interlinked with the group they belong
to. And to a great extant, they look up on movie icons, successful of
inspiration to get the “right way’s” to carry themselves with aplomb.

What they are buying

A sizeable percentage of teenagers append on personal care and
entertainment product. According to a market research on youth purchase ,
34% of teens buy clothing, 22% append their money on buying
entertainment items and 15% buy food items to satiate their palate.
It may sound terribly hackneyed, but it is true that all teens are not same.
Any attempt by marketers to bunch them together could prove to be a

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failure. Marketers should not ignore the difference in genders as well. So
when marketers want to analyze the teen segment, boys and girls should be
viewed independently.

Focus on teenager’s lifestyle, attitude and behaviors:-

Today’s teens live in the era of radical technological changes and affluence.
As a result, their attitudes, behavior and culture mores demonstrate certain
unique characteristics:

 They are pretty much pragmatic, individualistic and exude optimism.

Though they have an independent streak, this is not strong and their
predecessors.

 Teen like to be in control of the situation. They want to have a vise

control over their media experiences.

 Teen have an unprecedented and unlimited access to cutting-edge

technologies like wireless phones, instant messaging, iPod etc.

 They thrive on the presumptions that are killjoys, and they do not
want to end up living their lives in the similar stressful manner.

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  Teens strive for success. Being good at one job and possessing
complete control over one’s personal and professional lives are the
teenager’s barometer of success.

 Teens are used to living with paradox. They do understand that the
choices they make are likely to being mixed fortune.

TEENAGERS CUSTOMERS: CHARACTERISTIC

1. Eternal search for identity:-

The age bracket of 13-19 years represents a group that is perpetually
looking for a distinctive identity. Today’s teen are not comfortable
being somebody son or daughter. They want to be known for what
they are. They want name, fame and fortune under their own steam.
Group activities find then eating out, hanging out, hitting and
discotheque or painting the town red.

2. Self-esteem:-
Initially, the teens do a lot of introspection. They are driven by the
need to have a strong and healthy self-esteem. They are constantly
learning to deal with their own full-blown ego. Mainstream
acceptance, unqualified love, and good success are very critical for
fostering a healthy ego and a strong teen identity.

3. Streak of independence:-

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 A strong need of independence rushes through the veins of teenagers
which often manifests in the form of taking unilateral decision. They
may not go by the judgment of parents or other adult. For instance, it
is not uncommon to find teenagers going on shopping sojourns on
their own or with peers. This gives them a stratospheric level of
independence.

4. Better cognitive power:-

Every teenager has to traverse two distinctive stages in developing
and strengthening his/her cognitive abilities. The first phase
encompassing the age bracket of 13-15 years, is typically
characterized by the maturation of abstract thinking skills. They put
their abstract thinking to test with a view to solve ticklish problems
and this aids them in forging their identity. The second phase
straddling between 16-19 years is typified by a demonstrable shift in
their manner of thinking, and looking at thing in totality.

5. Changing in location:-
Teenagers will have to relocate from the place where they spent a
sizeable part of their lives to a terrain, which is new, strange and
unfamiliar. In their bid to create a familiar setting around them,
teenagers are susceptible to spend on things they desire.

6. Enhanced buying power:-

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 Today’s teenagers have more money compared to the previous
generation. But ironically, population in the higher age brackets is
rising sharply. It implies that there will be less numbers of teenagers
per adult population in higher age group.

7. Pester poster:-
Today’s teenagers are becoming more voluble in airing their pet
peeves, their desires and aspiration. They are becoming more
demanding, unlike the like the teen of the 1970’s and 1980’s, who
swore by the sage judgment of their parents. Today’s teenagers do not
mince words. They may exert pressure on their parents to have things
their way. Euphemistically speaking, this is what is called “pester
power”. Pester power is one of the most important factor which every
marketers should understand and cash in on.

8. Identity and brand loyalty:-

Marketers should strive to create identities for their product/brand,
which fit in snugly with the identities the teenagers are hoping to
carve out for themselves. This will lead to a long-standing association,
multiplying the benefit manifold for the marketer. The teenager’s
customer of today will obviously morph into the true blue loyal
customer in the foreseeable future.

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PERCENTAGE SHOW TEENS AND ADVERTISING
TRUST BY MEDIUM

MAGAZINE ADS 29%

RADIO ADS 22%
TV ADS 22%
INTERNET ADS 19%

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCING TEENAGERS:

The teen segment has enormous power to make or unmake brands. There are
two major factors that are impacting the current generation of teenagers and
the way in which they act and think. The first and foremost factor is
technology. For all practical purpose, teen do not perceive technology as a
trailblazing innovation. Basically, they look at it as an extension of their own
persona; markets may tom-tom about new great through and cutting-edge
innovation. But for teenagers, it is a way of life.

The second important factor that is impacting teenagers is the economy.

World over, major economies have been growing at a frenetic pace.
Consequently, we are witnessing a growing number of upwardly mobile,
rich, and affluent class.

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In addition, there are five important changes, which impact teenagers
drastically:

1. FINANCIAL RISK:-
The current crop of teenagers is used to living on debt. They feel
that buying thing on credit helps them live comfortably and in
uninhabited freedom. At a same time, this leads to heightened
anxiety, forcing the teens to take a “predator and prey” stand.

2. ROLE MODELS:-
for many teens, the role models emerge within their family. Teens
share a string bond with parents, with its own share of ebbs and
flows. For many of them, the mother always has salutary impact on
the minds of teens.

3. RADICAL CHANGE IN THE INFORMATION REALM:-

It is believed that an average teenagers spend close to nine hours
per week on the phone, and the networking spreads far and wide.
Various studies revels that opinion leaders have complete control
over the manner in which communication flows .A closer perusal
of blogs further reveals that an average person in this tribe has
more than 400 instant message relationships. The spread of opinion
hinges on the fact to whether the opinion leader agrees or disagrees
with the messages.

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4. LEADERSHIP:-
“Everybody is somebody leader”. Teenagers always look upon
well-informed teens as a source of inspiration. From a teenager’s
standpoint, a person is perceived to be an expert because he or she
is hosting television channel. Celebrities appearing on television
shows can be self professed and their credibility may be
manufactured. But teenagers cotton on to each and every sound
bite mouthed by the “most happening celebrity.

5. TEENAGERS DISCOVER THEIR OWN WORLD:-

For teenagers, the dividing line between reality and non reality
often gets blurred. Teens like to listen and watch simple stories.
Stories that have an interesting beginning, a nail-biting middle and
a beautiful end will always find favor with the teens.

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 SWOT
STRENGTH:
1. Your specialist marketing expertise.
2. A new, innovative product or service.
3. Location of your business.
4. Quality processes and procedures.
5. Any other aspect of your business that adds value to your product or
service.

WEAKNESS:
1. Lack of marketing expertise.
2. Undifferentiated products or services (i.e. in relation to your
competitors).
3. Location of your business.
4. Poor quality goods or services.

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 5. Damaged reputation.

OPPORTUNITY:
1. A developing market such as the Internet.
2. Mergers, joint ventures or strategic alliances.
3. Moving into new market segments that offer improved profits.
4. A new international market.
5. A market vacated by an ineffective competitor.

THREAT:
1. A new competitor in your home market.
2. Price wars with competitors.
3. A competitor has a new, innovative product or service.
4. Competitors have superior access to channels of distribution.
5. Taxation is introduced on your product or service.

DRAWBACK AND CONCERNS

Teens are nowadays emerging as independent purchase decision maker in

their own right. Consumer product companies in particular are, therefore,
focusing more on ganging the attention of this audience. So far so gad, but
there is a danger associated with this. Teens are more vulnerable to attractive
and deceitful advertisement and purveyors of tobacco product and such

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others are targeting teens, which is not a good sign, especially in a country
like India.
Teens often feel insecure about their appearance and popularity among
peers. Manufacturers of tobacco product such as cigarettes make use of these
insecurities and put forth attractive advertisement. These give teens a wrong
message that smoking can help them become emotionally strong,
independent and attractive. But reality is quite the opposite. Smoking can
isolate teens from largely lead to a hazardous, lifelong habit and life-
threatening diseases. Unfortunately, as very few people being to smoke
during their adult life, the obvious targets for tobacco companies are teens.

CONCLUSION

The teen market segment offers enormous potential for marketers and they
are well within their right to benefit from it. But at the same time, marketers
should demonstrate social responsibility, so that they market the right
product and in the right manner. Teens too must be watchful about deceitful
and enticing advertisement and false promises made by companies in order
to promote their product. They can take the guidance of their parents and
other elders while shopping. Parents should keeps the door of
communication open so that there teenage children feels comfortable about
discussing their feeling and concern, so that the shopping and purchase
experiences turn out to be beneficial and not detrimental to their long term
welfare.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. www.marketingteacher.com
2. www.researchandmarkets.com
3. www.Googlebook.com

4. Marketing mastermind (www.iupindia.org)

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