As a follow-up to my “Technology bridging teens’ socialization needs article” today’s Research Brief from MediaPost Communications encapsulates a new report from Forrester Research closely examining how young people communicate. Reviewing the Research Brief and Forrester’s summary for the report, which tabulates findings from a recent survey of Canadians and Americans aged 12 to 21, reiterates the need for those wishing to reach today’s youths to understand how technology factors into these individuals’ daily lives, and the importance of appropriately “talking the talk”. Among the reports’ gems are facts that reveal that two-thirds of respondents have computers, MP3 players top their wish lists, 94% have some type of device for playing games, half prefer game play to TV, and more than half seek and rely upon friends’ and familymembers’ advice before making purchases. The size of this group, in full, is estimated at 73 million.
I’m very proud to say that my clients at global creative agency ATTIK have firmly established their company as a leader in helping brands reach youth markets with extraordinary results. The recent work they’ve done for America Online and AIM follows on groundbreaking work for Scion, Adidas, MTV, Nike and many others. Their in-house research team specializes in gathering data from the youth audience by asking questions in their language — and putting their answers to real, creative uses. By fusing this approach with their design expertise to create a campaign promoting AIM Mail earlier this summer, they’ve helped to drive five million young folks to subscribe to the new service so far.
When done properly, marketing to the youth market is a joy to behold, because each piece prompts an emotional reaction… even with those of us who are simply young at heart.
