Today s teenagers often have two working parents and may take responsibility for grocery shopping and cooking. They appear to have unprecedented influence over the purchases made by their parents. Even younger children, the offspring of the Baby Boomer generation, have many more material possessions than their predecessors, and high expectations. The article describes the main characteristics of today s young people and suggests ways in which the marketer can attract their interest. The author discusses use of the Internet as a way to cultivate long-term loyalty and the growing use of street marketing as a way to reach the teenage market.
Young people are, of course, particularly susceptible to the power of the brand.
Their parading of Adidas or Nike training shoes, and their ubiquitous cans of Coca-Cola, are powerful testimony to that. KPMG Consulting s Business Guide to Branding in the E-Space claims that, from the days of ranchers marking their cattle, to the brewing company Bass pioneering its red triangle trade mark, branding has evolved as a way of making a product stand out from the crowd. From ice cream to cars and from toothpaste to computers, all brands should provide specific propositions that meet certain consumer needs. Successful brands then develop this consistency of quality and offering into a consumer relationship. Some brands are linked to a strong personality, such as Richard Branson s Virgin.