Young people live here ... approach with care!

Increased social mobility opens up a choice of lifestyle, and frequently nowadays we are allowed to decide how old we want to behave;


• we observe kids of 12 behaving as though they are 15-16, not so surprising


• but, we also observe the middle aged acting much younger.

One thing is for sure. Both the above groups share one desire. They both want to be cool ! And the components of cool are:


• they embrace technology and expect it to move faster ; they consume it like their music and to them it is fashion


• they value originality and authenticity


• they strive to balance the busy world round them with the very important 'chill out time' ; they need to feel in control


• they express themselves through their music and technology.

How Should We Communicate With This Market?

15 year olds do not associate with Direct Mail. Traditional ways of information seem to miss them off the radar. The important elements in their life are music, mobility, technology, independence, strong brands, peer groups, media literacy and their willingness to be convinced of the right brand or product.

One thing they all have in common is the comfort and ability to maximise the available technology around them. Both IT and Telecoms. They use and value technology for its interactivity. They will respond to online voting, gaming, chatting, sports updates, gossip, feedback and shopping.

Youth use their mobile phones to stay connected. They are heavy users of SMS and fully exploit the culture of connectivity. The differences across the ages are interesting.

Observe in a restaurant a table of 15 year olds. They will have their mobiles in front of them, probably all connected via Bluetooth and sharing information or games without too much eye contact or discussion. A few tables down the middle aged gathering will be asking permission to leave their phone on (even though it is only on vibrate) and will feel guilty when receiving calls !

The 15 year olds are the 'thumb generation'. They are always happy to receive SMS and send replies. Studies have shown that the SMS and MMS usage are increasing and some 80% of all mobile phone users in countries such as Finland, Japan and UK use SMS. Almost 50% of the world's mobile population use SMS daily and in places such as India the average user sends as many as 70 SMS a day. It is projected that the Wireless data market in Europe alone will be worth some € 30 billion in 2005 ( doubled from 2004 ).

Youth is tuned into the advertising messages out there and they are influenced by the PR/marketing machine. They have their own music, their own celebrity icons, dance clubs and many underground movements. It is therefore important to have your brands share this identity and equity as openly as possible.

Identify your target segments in the market, keep a strong brand, and always evolve your products - always innovate, innovate, innovate. Timescales in this market are much shorter. Youth expects change and innovation.

How Does Market Research Keep Up?

Traditional methods like telephoning and asking to talk to the 15 year old in the home will most certainly fail. They are difficult to catch, uncomfortable in telephone interview settings and private. A set of well thought through targetted questions on their mobile or e-mail will be more successful.

Many fast food chains have started embracing the mobile phone (SMS and MMS) in order to access what is for them a very important and in many cases key strategic market segment. They are using the mobile phone to capture customer experience when it happens, as close to live as possible. A set of 6 to 8 questions can describe a customer experience very accurately - and guide the product development teams.

Youth also uses information in a much more viral way than the older generation. They broadcast to their community of friends and keep them up to speed with technology developments.

Car manufacturers are also using SMS to encourage test drives, directly linking into younger markets, such as 20-24 year olds. 3 to 4 short SMS questions can qualify a target. Linked to this, campaigns can offer additional information on the web which can be on an opt-in basis.

Banks use SMS for daily updates. Universities in Australia publish exam results on it. Doctors send updates to patients.

So What About The Future For Market Research?

The wireless evolution with 3G mobile phones and the true wireless PC's will enable us all to increase our mobility, accessing more information on the go.

Traditional methods of accessing and researching various target segments, such as the youth market ( a technology fully enabled segment), will find it increasingly difficult to associate with their mindset. New ways such as SMS and MMS will become commonplace.

Youth will drive the changes and show us the way to communicate with more flexibility, more speed, and more on the go. We will end up having more data than we have today, and our biggest challenge will be to translate this into fast, actionable reports.