Insight to Successfully Market to Tweens and Teens

Understanding the youth market is crucial for any company attempting to capture the attention of today's tween and teen consumers.

During this webcast you will learn:•What tweens and teens do with their free time•What is important in their lives today•Their relationship with technology•Their engagement with social issues•Where they get their money•How today's economy is impacting them•How they find out about new products•Ways to reach this illusive audience

Aquent – The Talent Agency for Marketing & Design

Aquent’s marketing practice partners with companies to help them run their marketing more effectively and efficiently.Aquent can help with:

• Flexible brand, product and marketing communications teams• Support and execution for marketing programs• Specialized skill sets/knowledge for projects• Brand and business planning• RFP proposal development• Data analytics

Contact usaquent.com

3

Presentation Title Here

SessionName and Company

Concerned, Connected & Plugged In

►June 23, 2009

The Psychology of Kids…

• Four underlying factors that motivate kids’ attention & interest

• Desirable products or services have meaningful “pay-offs” (i.e., meet kids’ needs)– By age & gender– The more dimensions, the better!

Pleasure/Fun

Power/ Control

SocialAcceptance

Personal Development/Self Confidence

4

Products That Are Home Runs!

Pleasure…Control…Personal Development…Social Acceptance

5

6

Why these products are a homerun?

Pleasure Control DevelopmentSocial

Acceptance

• Fun • Stimulating• Physical &

emotional, • Resolution &

payoff

• Stimulating

• Exciting• Surprising

• Customization• Break the rules

• Customization• Do it myself• Collectability• Identification

• Customization• Feel grown up

• Skill/ competency• Ego boost

• Creativity/Self-expression

• Unique identity• Identification

• My importance• Aspirational

• Appeals to others• Allows me to be

social• Fit in with peers• Gender differences

• Fit in with peers• Makes me feel

special – status• Dual personalities• Gender differences

• Allows me to be social/interactive

• Fit in with peers• Makes me feel

special

7

Context

Marketing Challenge…The Tween/Teen Paradox

• The Size and Opportunity is exciting but…– More autonomy for tweens and teens means its harder to find

them– More fragmented lifestyle means its harder to reach them– More tech savvy means its harder to impress them

8

The Internet & Technology RevolutionThe Years that Preceded Them

9

3 millionth IBM PC shipped

Cell phone network

introduced in U.S.

First edition of MS Windows

sold

CD’s Introduced

Macintosh Plus

1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 19871980 1988 1989

The Years They Were Born

10

Goes public with 165 locations

World Wide Web

DVD format introduced

Cell phone boom

Instant Messenger

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1998 199919971990

The “New” MillenniumThe Years of Their Childhood

Opens 12,000th location

Cable providers

start to offer DVR service

DVD Players become portable

PSP unveiled

Xbox launched

Wii revolutionizes

Console Gaming

11

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Today’s Presentation…

• Is from our YouthBeat® Syndicated Report:– YouthBeat® is a comprehensive report providing

an in-depth view of today's youth covering grades 1st-12th (or 6-18 years of age)

– Based on more than 200 questions and approximately 7,000 monthly interviews of kids, tweens and teens

12

Data in this presentation was collected during July – December, 2008, with each topic surveyed among approximately 2,800 U.S. tweens and teens.

13

13

Go on Internet74% / 78%

What They Do in Their Free Time (Weekends)

Watch TV83% / 77%

Media

Non-Media

Solitary Social

Prepare a meal43% / 45%

Read42% / 40%

Paint/Draw28% / 16%

“Hang out” w/friends68% / 73%

Go Shopping41% / 44%

Watch Movie/DVD at Home

64% / 62%

Play Video Games Alone

55% / 41%Play Video

Games w/Others

60% / 44%

Exercise40% / 33%

Listen to Music

67% / 78%

Tweens / Teens#’s / #’s

Design Websites4% / 5%

Knit/Sew6% / 4%

14

15

A Perfect Saturday

Tweens

Teens

16

TV is Not A Lost Past time

• Although busy and heavily scheduled, Tweens and Teens still manage to find time to watch TV– Not surprisingly, they have more

time to watch on the weekends than during the week

# of Hours Spent Watching

TV (Weekdays)

# of Hours Spent

Watching TV (Weekends)

Mean(Hours per

Day)

2.1 2.1 3.3 3.2

Tweens

Teens Tweens

Teens

17

Online All the Time

• Most tweens and teens are online daily• Many, especially teens, go online several

times each day

Frequency They Go On The Internet

19% 14%

25%21%

41%

6%16%

59%

Tweens Teens

Several times a day

Once a day

3 to 5 days a week

Once a week or less

80%

1x+ per day

66%1x+ per day

18

Social Network Connection

• Among youth who use social networks…– MySpace and Facebook dominate– But, MySpace is trending down over time, while Facebook is trending

up among both tweens and teens.

Q. Which of the following social networks do you go to?

• Twitter may be all the rage in media…but it hasn’t made a connection with tweens/teens – at least not yet

19

Online Connection Isn’t Enough

• Cell phones are a vital connection for tweens and teens – most have them– Driven in part by parents’ desire to be able to reach their mobile kids

Tweens Teens

% Who Have Their Own Cell Phone

20

Advertising Captures Their Attention

• Tweens and teens are most likely to notice TV ads• However, in a week’s time, they are also exposed to many

types of advertising – radio, magazines, Internet

Q. Which, if any, of the following types of advertising have you seen or heard in the past week?

TVCommercial

Radio Ad Magazine Ad InternetBanner Ad

Internet Pop-up Ad

Product/Brand in TV

Show

InternetContest/

Sweepstakes

InternetAdver-game

Free Sample Product/Brand in

Video Game

TweensTeens

21

Today’s Youth Market

+ Source: 2006 U.S. Census++ Source: YouthBeat®

$48.12++ $48.12++

with

20.6M+

Tweens

20.6M+

Tweens

in their pockets right now

=$991,272,000

$39.26++$39.26++

with

21.3M+

Teens

21.3M+

Teens

in their pockets right now

=$836,238,000

What They Spend Their $$ On

• Tweens tend to spend on entertainment they can use with friends and home – particularly, video games

• Teens – with $$$ and car keys – their money goes to outside activities like. . .

– eating out– going to the movies– shopping

22

23

The Social Issues They Care About

• Virtually all tweens and teens are engaged in social issues

Q. What social issues are most important to you?

95% of tweens and teens cite interest in a social issue

!

• The issues that are most important are those that hit closest to home

• Teens are more aware of the economy

24

Being Green? What’s it Mean?

• Tweens and Teens focus on topics they learn about in school – recycling and water conservation…even energy efficient light bulbs

82% of tweens and teens

understand the meaning of

“being green”!

25

What Worries Them

Q. How do you think the world will be worse?

About the Environment

“I believe with the direction the world's natural resources are going, and the people in charge of our nation doing practically nothing, my generation will be left a HUGE mess to clean up. I'm afraid that we won't be able to correct the mistakes that people are making now.”

“The world is dying. We are running out of clean water, clean air, clean food... Everything we eat, drink, and breathe has been chemically polluted in one way or another...”

“because people don't open their eyes and their will be worse global warming, and no one really recycles and people waste so many things”

“The economy is beginning to crumble, and so is the very infra-structure of the country.”

“I think that our country will be even more in debt, with higher taxes, and trouble with our depleting oil resources

“The U.S. is in a recession, the governments a mess, and no change is being made. The future scares me.”

“It will be bad for a while. The economy is horrible and everyone is worried”

“look around you, my father lost his job, the economy sucks, stores are closing all the time and more people are out of work and I have little faith in the government to fix this mess”

About the Economy

26

What Does It

All Mean?

27

Today’s Youth Market Does Not Represent Your Childhood

• Born 1991 - 1999– Tweens – the Middle School Years (age 10-13) – Teens – the High School Years (age 14-18)

• Has never known a life without...– Computers– The Internet– Starbuck’s– Cell phones– eBay

– 24 x 7 Entertainment– MTV– The Simpsons– CDs– John Madden Football

Leverage Psychology to Make Your Product/Service a Winner

• Products and services that win with youth having meaningful pay-off by delivering against. . .– Pleasure, by making it fun, satisfying or stimulating– Control, by giving them choice, customization or personalization– Personal Development, by elevating their competency, creativity or

self-importance– Social Acceptance, by enhancing their status or fit in their world

28

29

How Do You SucceedWith Tweens and Teens?

• Strategies that incorporate tween and teen passions for causes can create an endearing linkage to your brand or service.– Tweens and teens are aware of their surrounding and the changes that

are taking place and challenge their future.– As such, they are cause focused and are willing to take action through

donations, volunteerism and brand purchasing. – They are important to them, but the focus shifts with age and maturity

away from current interests to future interests.

30

How Do You SucceedWith Tweens and Teens?

• Connectivity and Community will be a theme throughout their lives.– Tweens and teens are more connected than any generation before

them – and connected through words, voice and visuals. – Look for increased commitment to Facebook and video/ picture

sharing sites.

31

How Do You SucceedWith Tweens and Teens?

• Marketing and advertising will capture their attention and deliver your message as long as it is entertaining and authentic. – Advertising reaches this generation through many, many channels. – TV ads will get you the best reach, but be aware that non-broadcast

networks are the place your most likely to capture their viewing– Entertainment sells for this generation – and ads that deliver on it

become favorites…even if it isn’t a product that is targeted at them.

32

32

Brenda Hurley, Senior VPC&R Research/YouthBeat®brendah@crresearch.com312.828.9200Questions?

www.youthbeat.comwww.youthbeat.com