Scenario

In a host of emerging markets (e.g., India, Brazil, Thailand), 50 + percent of the population is
under 25 years old. One marketer observes: Teenagers are teenagers everywhere and they tend
to emulate U.S. teenagers (Advertising Age International, October 17, 1994, p, 1-15) Is there a
global teenager segment? Do teenagers in, say, Beijing really tend to emulate L.A teenagers?
Task
Based on the above assertion featured in the above publication, you are required to do some
original research and write an essay to examine the concept of global market segmentation in
relation specifically to the teenage market. The essay title is Global Teenage Market
Segmentation.

Introduction
Businesses today strives to gain competitive advantage going global, operating in more
than one country. New markets and resources could be obtained in different geographical areas in
the world pertaining to desires of the particular multinational business. Rapid change of global
environment drives businesses to constantly change and restructure their business strategies and
operations to sustain in the market. The concern towards global warming has arisen many
business leaders in the world to research, develop and structure their business operation towards
a greener footprint. Obligations towards corporate social responsibility bring businesses towards
higher brand reputation, consumer confidence and stakeholders trust. The following assessment
intends to investigate the global market of teen market segmentation. Development of
technological innovation enables virtual communication beyond geographical boundaries,
accelerates the flows of goods and services between nations, hence how it attracts towards global
teen market.

Business globalization has intrigued global market segmentation to become a vital factor
to develop, position, and to market product across the globe. Global segmentation is denoted as

the process of identify specific segments, whether they are country groups, or individual
consumer group of potential customers with homogeneous attributions who are likely to exhibit
similar purchasing behavior. The existence of global customer segments that are measurable and
reachable must be considered as a prerequisite for the successful execution of any global
marketing strategy. (Kaynak and Hassan, 2013) Global marketing segmentation is and interesting
topic for three factors which are: 1) The consideration of product life cycle in its different stages
at any given time. 2) With the emergence of internet as a global network, circulation of product
information becomes increasingly fast and in variable proportions across different countries. 3)
The ultimate objective of global management segmentation is to categorize the global market to
enable a product or service into various groups of consumers or countries to create a marketing
mix hence penetrate the global market.
This assessment intends to examine the concept of global market segmentation in relation
specifically to the teenage market globally. Teenage market has gradually become one of the
prominent customers in the global markets. (Kotler and Keller, 2011) According to Cohen
(2009), the population of American teenagers alone is more than 32 million, with is twice the
growth rate of U.S overall population. On another hand, the global population of teenagers is 1.3
billion (Keegan and Green, 2013) Meanwhile, Hispanic teenagers growth rate is three times
more compared to the non-Hispanic teens, where one third of Hispanics are less than eighteen
years old in comparison of one fifth of non-Hispanics. The age group from fifteen years old to
nineteen years old is has more ethnic diversity compared to other generation in U.S. For the past
10 years, U.S teenagers growth rate were approximately 17%, in which ethnicity of African
American, Hispanic and Caucasian. According to DSouza (2010), there would be approximately
8 million Hispanic teenagers by the year 2020.
Generally, teenagers share similar habits such as spending their leisure time in a range of
activities such as surfing in social media, technology, shopping, listening to music online, joining
sports, community activities, and watching television. According to Carter (2011), teenagers
values art, fashion, environmental and cultural efforts. The fundamental guidelines to market
products or services for teenagers have common characteristics of authenticity, honesty, creating
a buzz relative to a product, offerings of cool products, simple and short marketing message, not
talking down to teenagers, high feasibility of products and engagement with teenage consumers.

(Schiff, 2007;Goodstein, 2007) According to DSouza (2010), it is said that teenagers has a
realistic behavior hence are capable of quickly adapting to new trends with a statistic that the
expenditure of male and female teenagers on clothes is the same.
On another hand, Chaers study (2012) have found out that Hispanic teenagers resemble
various characteristics of the general teenager community, the aspects are pop culture, high
media consumption, role models, internet usage and so on. The study also determines that
aspirations of teenagers are close to being exactly alike. Generally, it is known that the teen
community are have a strong desire to be successful, they are expressive, influential hence have
high level of knowledge about technology compared to the previous generations. It is because
the teen community spends more time surfing the internet, social networking and playing video
games. The below show some of the general characteristics in teenagers life that bring
significance to them.

In the study of Michman, Mazze and Greco (2003), the teen community finds social
acceptance through appearance and material things. The study shows that teen community shares
a universal wants, need, desires, and fantasies. Thus, this makes teenagers to be trend followers.
They become highly influenced by brand names, novelty, entertainment, and trendy products.

Generally, Eastern cultures are considered to be mimicking the more developed Western
countries. Not only that, due to the fact that teenagers consider shopping as an experience, thus
they become increasingly influential in household purchases. The below shows a breakdown of
teenagers expenditure from Malaysia Business Insider (2014).

The studies of Michman, Mazze and Greco (2003) have also stated that global teenager
segment is a generalization of the stereotype of teens who share similar interests in fashion music
and lifestyles. Teenagers are known to be constantly rebelling against cultural norms, and trying
to emulate other cultures to reach self-satisfaction and an increase in self-confidence. Global
teenager girls would spend most of their money on apparel, cosmetics, jewelry and fragrances
while global teenage boys spend most of their money on movies, dating, entertainment, clothing
and cars.

Besides, it is a universal understanding that all individuals desire to be beautiful or

handsome, healthy and free of pain. The similar characteristics being held by global teenagers
made this segment active and selected by a considerable number of global firms. Organizations
such as Diesel Jeans, Coca-cola, Swatch, Sony, Benetton and other organizations are pursuing
the global teenage segment. The emergence of global telecommunication is also a vital force that
drives global teenage segmentation. Countries such as China, India and Brazil are emerging
markets that have more than 50% of their population age under 25, which place the countries on
the top list for almost all global organization. For example, Coca-cola has launched a new TV
campaign, Look Up, to focus on Thai teenagers that focused on inspiring youth to actively Go
for it. Look Up commercials emphasize an innovative idea related to the lifestyle of
teenagers, and also encourage them to believe in themselves and their abilities to overcome
difficulties and obstacle when following their dreams. These place significance for the Global
teen segmentation hence enable look up commercial to be successful.
In another example, Campbell (2012) have stated that the emergence of technology
enables Apple its expansion in the global teenagers segmentation, where there is a high level of
popularity of teenagers using iPhone (40%) and iPad (31%). It is proven from Golijian survey
(2012) Apple is one of a successful example who has composed various attractive teenager
focused campaigns hence became the favorite brand of teenagers. It is said that marketers need to
focus on the interest of global teenagers in order to attract their attention to purchase the product
or services. Some of the crucial areas that marketers should look at are: to identify the influential
people around the teenagers (friends, parents, etc.) and to enlist the product or services in social
media where teenagers are actively using social media as a communicator. Besides, there are
various marketing methods a marketer can reach out to the global teenage market segmentation,
such as using comedy, catchy music and trending items to advertise. Trending items can be items
such as Pokemon Go the current virtual game craze throughout the global teenage market
segmentation in which is a successful business model to penetrate the global teenage market.
However, some would debate concerning matters that U.S teenagers may differ towards
Asian Teenagers. The below is Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions of both U.S and Asian Teenagers.

With these analyses, marketers can design their products in accordance to suit the needs of both
U.S. and Asian teenager.

In order to achieve successful global teenager market segmentation, marketers need to also keep
the marketing message simple. Buzz marketing is one of the effective simple marketing strategies to
penetrate the global teenager market. Marketers need to emphasis on studying more regarding teenagers,
from their demographical characteristics, behavioral and also influential factors that may drive teenagers
attitude. The level of understanding these characteristics will enable marketers to comprehend unfulfilled
needs and initiate brands that will be appealing to the global teenage market. There are many ways that
teenagers would seem to own similar desires, interests and consumer pattern. Both male and female
teenagers like to spend a lot of time surfing online malls and shop virtually. They are also known to be
highly influenced by their family, friends and celebrity. Generally, both genders will surf and analyze
what they feel is in trend online before physically going to the mall. The convenience of online
information enables these teenagers to review the collection of items, check the availability and prices
virtually. However, there is one significant difference found between male and female teenagers buying
behavior, Male teenagers tend to buy for brand while female teenagers have higher tendency to buy for
style.

Color is also one of the strong influencing factors that contribute to purchasing decisions of
global teenagers. According to Witchmann, et. Al., (2002) Color attracts attention, recognition and
resemblance of items in a marketing strategy. Consistent is in the same color can create brand image for a
particular organization. It can provoke positive or even negative expression about a product or services.
This is because the diversity of ethnicity, cultural and gender perspectives contributes to comprehending
meanings of colors differently. Blue have one of a universal understanding which is calm and soothing
color for both genders. However, it is said that female would prefer softer colors like pink, yellow while
males likes bright colors. Yet, the preferable colors differ in accordance to the product offered. Thus, a
successful marketer needs to analyze these factors to suit the needs of the global teenage market. Overall,
global teenage market has a certain similar characteristics that marketers can hike on to gain market share.

Conclusion
The business reality of today towards sustainability in the global environment with raging
innovation is to participate in it. Instead of viewing business strategies and exclusive knowledge
as a determinant to identify methods to defeat ones known rivals and gain advantage in the
global market. For a business to survive today, it must strive to find new ways to satisfy its
customers by adding value to its products or services through continuous innovation.
Experimentation and innovation becomes the fundamental element of everything the
organization does as well as gaining flexibility in the ever-changing global environment to target
the global teen market segmentation.
Multinationals like Apple, Amazon, Zara are examples of prominent organizations using
this approach that have successfully attract teenagers to repetitively purchase their products and
services. These organizations have shifted the concept of the bottom line and the basic objective
of the business so that the entire organization prioritizes on delivering more value to its
customers through innovation. Thus, experimentation and innovation is included as the
fundamental of everything the organization does. Organizations with this business model have
shown a consistent capability to adapt with changing global environment and to continuously
improve their own businesses with innovation.

Reference
Michman, R. Mazze, E. & Greco, A. (2003), Lifestyle marketing: Reaching the new American
Consumer, USA: Praeger Publishers.
Carter, Bill (2011), Marketing to Tweens and Teens: Insights, Strategies, and Tactics, The
Licensing Journal, August, pp. 1-3.
Chaet, Heather (2012), The Tween Machine, Adweek, June 25, pp. 44-47
Hayley Peterson, 2014, Everything You Need To Know About How Teens Are Spending Money,
What They Like, And Where They Shop, Business Insider Malaysia.
Kaynak E., Hassan E., 2013, Globalization of Consumer Markets: Structures and Strategies,
Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, New York, London.
Kotler and Keller (2011), Marketing Management, 14 th Editions, Prentice-Hall, pp. 76-80.
Cohen, Heidi (2009), Eight Ways to Reach Teens,
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1710603/eight-waysreach-teens, retrieved: 2/8/2016
Keegan, Warren and Green Marck (2013), Global Marketing, Seventh Edition, Prentice-Hall,
Pearson, pp.199- 200.