Marketing’s about more than money
By Simon Fuller. Brand generosity. Youth’s a tough nut to crack. But recent research from Nokia in the form of the Global Youth Exploration Study 2010, contains a fair few pointers for brands and agencies looking to understand and engage with that demographic.
The study, carried out by research outfit Thinktank International, involved speaking to some 250 young people around the world, and the findings, presented by Nick Roberts, associate partner at Thinktank, kickstarted our Brands, bands and social media savvy event held at the IAB in London last week.
“Young people are open to ideas of success and money,” said Roberts. “But whatever is done [in terms of campaigns by brands] needs to be done for more than just money. Marketing is not just about money.
“The expectation is that brands are generous, and like it or not, young people are used to getting things for free. Only later, if a brand earns it, will [youth] be prepared to part with money. And while they like online experiences, young people are hungry for offline experiences too.”
And it turns out that when it comes to music, it’s hard to nail down exactly what young people are digging, since Thinktank found that youth is into a variety of artists and genres, with anything that combines the old and new in creative ways also proving popular.
“Young people have always been obsessed with novelty,” Roberts explained. “It’s now more pronounced than ever. Remix culture is cool to them and… they have an openness to [different] styles. But any style needs passion and conviction.”
And finally there’s the matter of where young people can be found on social media. It’s no big surprise that the study found that there’s one destination that has grabbed the attention.
“A year or so ago people used regional networks, for example, Hi5,” said Roberts. “Now it’s all Facebook. [Young people] follow where the community is and Facebook is their first port of call.”
