Mapping Out Youth Marketing Strategies That Deliver
Every day the serious youth marketing practitioner is confronted with decisions which can make or mar the organisations youth-targeted objectives. Questions that consistently rear up include “How can we reach and engage the youth? What do they really want? Will they like what we are offering? What are the best ways to reach them? How is youth marketing done elsewhere in the world? Are youth marketing and advertising one and the same?”
With a view to providing guidelines for mapping out youth strategies that ultimately deliver their potential, Lagos-based FB Initiatives and Innovations once again got the Youth Marketing industry to put their thinking caps on as Funke Babatola and her team hosted the second edition of the annual Youth-Marketer Converge Series Breakfast Meet (YMC2.1) recently) at The Function Suites, Sheraton Hotels & Towers, Ikeja.
YMC 2.1 was an exciting session led by the ever effervescent Steve Babaeko, former Business/Creative Director 141 Worldwide Ltd, now Founder of X3M Music and X3M Ideas who spoke on the topic ” Youth Marketing vs Advertising: Convergence or Divergence”. Babaeko, who recently returned from the Cannes Advertising Awards in the South of France and himself “dressed to impress” like a youth, debunked the general notion that the youth market is a destination where people speak, dress, think and act alike.
He cited as an example, the Northern part of Nigeria, Plateau State in Jos, where we have the Birumi indigenes and the Hausa indigenes who dwell in the same geographical area but yet dress and speak differently and have completely different lifestyles.
Clearly it would be foolhardy to target the youth market as though it were one nation.
He pointed out the need to segment the youth market appropriately and illustrated this using the Instant Grass Report’s lifestyle classification which identifies “seven tribes” of youth namely the Wannabes, Little Miss Thang, Banker Boys, Efikos, Social Climbers, Rich Kids and Kokolets. Other reports use various other classifications
Tackling the issue of convergence versus divergence, he said “ten years ago there was convergence due to the fact that it was easier to target and advertise to young people via one box – the television”. It was a medium you could use to capture their imagination with an interesting tv advert. However, with what currently obtains on the technological and digital landscape, divergence is the name of the game.
He went on to say there are presently five screens competing for the attention of young people namely the Television, Computer, Tablets, Phone and Game consoles. Today you have to go beyond traditional advertising to reach young people because online media is king. This is evident in the impact of social media which has, due to its ability to be instant, and to spread like wildfire, been seen building and ruining reputations overnight and even bringing down governments. There are no longer any hiding places. “If you say something negative about DBanj for instance, over 200,000 fans will be abusing you on Twitter in just a few moments”
Babatola who is CEO of the host company had earlier explained that the annual Youth-Marketer Converge Series, comprising, International Conference, Breakfast Meet, Business Forum and Interactive Youth Panel is targeted not at the youth per se, but at those companies and organisations seeking to attune their brands to the youth. Thus, she said to those present “you ALL are Youth Marketers”.
Delegates who benefitted from attendance include executives from School Kit Ltd, SkyeBank, Architrave Nig. Ltd, Youth Dynamix Nigeria, Cortez HR, Lagos State Government, Karale NGO, Emoire Group, Federal High Court, Bold Entertainment, , Stress Busters Event, Glamour-On-String, Health Plus, Duduprintz Media Co, Simple AdminSolution, Lagos State Sports Endowment Fund and HFE/KKB Children Show. Media partners include Brila FM, Classic FM and TW Magazine. FB Initiatives will host the Business Forum (YMC 2.2) in September.{jcomments on}
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