teen marketing

8/8/2019 Teen Marketing

1/8

Collegiate

Case

Study

THE NATIONS NEWSPAPER

Marketing to Teenswww.usatodaycollege.com

Summary: Understanding what potential customers want and will buy is an

important business strategy. This case study examines the buying power of

teens and identifies their musical preferences. Unique characterisitics and

peer pressure influence Generation Ys purchases. Predicting what teens will

buy may be an art, not a science.

Ages 14-21, over 30 million strong

Teens spent $155 billion in 2000

(Teenage Research Unlimited)

Top attribute teens associate with

a cool brand: quality

(Zollo, Wise Up to Teens)

More than 80% of teens say its

cool to be smart

(1998 Roper Youth Report)

Teen girls, ages 15-18, desire to be

an average of three years older than

they are (TRU, Fall 1998)

Case Study Expert:Carl Grunander

Musical fads come and go, but Generation Y not the record biz controls the spin

Cover story

Country is still cool

USA TODAY Snapshots

By Cindy Hall and Marcy E. Mullins, USA TODAY

Source: Interep

Radio formats we listen to most in the car:

Country

Alternative

Rock

New/talk

Oldies

Religious

Top 40

Urban

Adult Contemporary 28%

28%

31%

31%

32%

33%

34%

35%

35%

By Bob Laird, USA TODAY

Facts about Gen Y

Professor of Technical SalesWeber State UniversityOgden, Utah

Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

BS01-01
http://www.usatodaycollege.com/http://www.usatodaycollege.com/


2/8

AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, SEPTEMBER 22, 2000, 1-2E

By Edna GundersenUSA TODAY

Generation Y, that rising tide of moneyed minors poised towrest pop culture from baby boomers, is in the throes ofpuppy love. Since the rise of the Spice Girls in 1997, kids havecast their adoring ears and ample allowances toward thebouncy sounds of 'N Sync, Britney Spears, Christina Aguileraand the Backstreet Boys.

But Cupid's arrow is fated to point elsewhere once theseyoungsters reach puberty.

''It always seems to be a two- or three-year cycle,'' saysKim Cooper, editor of fanzine Scram and co-editor ofBubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth, a book due in earlyspring.

''Bubblegum may be more calculated than ever with thisfactory in Orlando,'' she says, referring to Florida SvengaliLouis Pearlman, who shaped Backstreet, 'N Sync and up-and-coming O-Town. ''And there are more people groomingartists and feeding off them. But fans of this music are goingto get into harder stuff once they get angrier and thehormones get going.''

For now, bubblegum reigns as never before. Don't ask why.Ask Y. Today's chart feats and flops are dictated by theoffspring of the post-World War II baby boom. 'N Sync holdsthe record for opening-week album sales: 2.41 million,almost doubling the record of 1.1 million set by the

Backstreet Boys (who could reclaim the honor with a thirdalbum due Nov. 21).

Gen Y's leading edge, already teens, accounts for the rise ofsuch rap and rock acts as Eminem, Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock.The lagging edge, 12 and under, slurps up the syrupy hits ofboy bands and pop tarts. Together they wield unprecedentedinfluence on the marketplace.

''There's never been more attention paid to a specificgeneration,'' says Dave Adelson, executive editor of Hits.''This generation has a voracious appetite, and the recordcompanies are happy to satiate it. Kids are being bombardedwith more and more types of media designed for their

demographic, with some marketing plans targeting 5-year-olds.''Pipsqueak pop became ubiquitous with the explosion of

kiddie media. Boomers relied on radio, Gen Xers got theadded visuals of MTV, and Gen Y has it all -- a vast Internetsupply of fan Web sites and downloadable songs, RadioDisney (in 45 cities and at disney.go.com/radiodisney), andmusic fare on Nickelodeon, Fox Family, Disney, pay-per-viewand cable.

While demographers debate cut-off dates, most

calculations place Gen Y, those born from 1979 to 1995, at 79million, or about 27% of the U.S. population. By 2010, the 12-to-19 age bracket will expand to a historic peak of 35 million.

Baby boomers number 77 million (and shrinking), and punyGeneration X, born between 1965 and 1978, weighs in at anestimated 40 million, or 16%.

The Y bumper crop, also called echo boomers andmillennials, outspends all previous generations. Marketresearch says they'retech-savvy, coddled,optimistic, prone toabrupt shifts in tastesand tough to pigeonhole.

Boomers embroiled incivil rights battles, anti-

war protests and sexualliberation launched arock revolution in the'60s. Gen X, mired in adepressed economy,turned to angry,brooding grunge. Gen Y,marinating in financialfitness, fancies peppy pop.

The prevalence of kiddie ditties is no surprise, considering''we have peacetime, a boom economy and no functioningcounterculture,'' notes Alan Light, editor in chief of Spin. ''Butall these 14-year-olds won't be 14 forever. When the bubble

is parked at 17 or 18, what they'll need from music will bevery different.''

Talkin bout Y g-g-generation''As they go to college and work and fight with their

parents and stay out too late, I expect a rise of rock 'n' rollagain,'' Light says. ''It's sort of inevitable that the emotion andcomplexity and torment that drives a lot of rock will be backin vogue.''

Light predicts an evolution of the rap-infused sound forgedby Korn and Limp Bizkit. ''This is the first full generation ofkids who've grown up with hip-hop as part of the everydaylandscape, so I think hip-hop and rock will continue to

intermingle in much more complicated and sophisticatedways.''

Because the music industry continues to grow and splinterinto subgenres, it's doubtful that omni-genre icons, such asMadonna, Bruce Springsteen or Michael Jackson, will holdsway over Gen Y. Nor will today's teens adopt idols of thetwentysomething set.

''Generation X has been kicked to the curb,'' Light says.''They look like chumps.''

Growing up: Spears girlishnessalready seeing a transformation.

By Kevin Mazur



3/8

AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, SEPTEMBER 22, 2000, 1-2E

And their overshadowed rock heroes aren't delighting inteen-pop's rise.

''A lot of real young people out there are being spoon-fedgarbage,'' says Richard Patrick, leader of aggro-rock bandFilter. ''Thank God that Korn and Rage Against the Machineare still kicking. I don't trust anyone who doesn't write theirown songs. I think kids will want something real next,someone who writes, produces and sings. When we makemusic, it's our baby. That's what's missing in this corporateteen stuff. They take some kid from the Mickey Mouse Show,teach her to dance a little, add a little hip-hop beat and havea hit. By the time she's 25, she's going straight downhillfreaked out on too much Xanax. Excuse me, is this music?No. It's pretty, but it's tinfoil, not platinum. It has nosubstance.''

Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder is confident kids will seekbetter music. ''I was 7, living outside Chicago, when I gotturned on to the Jackson 5. That was strong soulful stuff, somy early pop experience was pretty high quality. But youdefinitely move on. By the time you're in junior high, you'reinto metal. And you explore. We encouraged our fans tolisten to Sonic Youth. And Nirvana turned people on to TheMelvins.''

Music consultant Tom Vickers speculates that ''just as theteen idols of the late '50s were displaced by The Beatles,inevitably today's teen idols will be displaced by whatappears to be this hybrid of rock and hip-hop.

''Because they are 'safe,' a number of the teen acts arepleasing both the baby boomers and their children,'' he says.''But the riskier, edgier acts will have a lot more appeal tothis younger demo once they hit their teens. And Eminem isonly the tip of the iceberg.''

The industry may be caught offguard if it persists inbreeding Britney clones. Says Vickers, ''The shelf life of teenpop may be longer because of the sheer number ofconsumers, but the teen phenomenon that labels are chasingright now will be over by the time the next wave of thesegroups hits the public's ear.''

Pete Howard, publisher of ICE monthly CD newsletter,agrees. ''I don't think any label has a battle plan to adjust to

Generation Y,'' he says. ''And the music marketplace is sofragmented, it's impossible to predict which direction thesefans will go as they mature. Some could get into jazz orclassical. Once they're in college, it's not hard to picture themturning to sophisticated singer/songwriters.''

Gen Y's current teen-pop craving is no indication of futurepreferences because ''the trend is based not on music but onsex appeal, good times and having fun,'' he says. ''Historyshows us that fans don't go from one fresh hot trend toanother. The disco crowd of the late '70s didn't graduate toU2 and The Pretenders. They were already mature clubgoerswho probably settled into mainstream pop. Having virgininductees is the very definition of a hot new trend.''

Though preteens are near-unanimous in their zeal forbubblegum stars, they ''won't continue to buy en masse,''predicts Adelson. ''You can't draw the conclusion that theirtastes are tainted by chasing Britney around. The generationthat bought Archies records is into fairly sophisticated musicas adults.''

Gene Sculatti, Billboard's director of special issues, likewisecautions against generalizations. ''I have some sense thatteens are much more catholic in what they listen to than Iused to be. Punk and metal were once on opposite sides ofthe table. They merged long ago. You may see more of that.''

And while labels attempt to shape trends by assailing kidsvia endless promotion avenues, peer pressure remains aparamount force, Sculatti says. ''I'm sure in elementaryschools, there are semi-avatar kids saying, 'Oh, you still listento 'N Sync? Well, my brother has this Eminem record.' Everykid travels that channel.''

As genre boundaries blur, kids could embrace diverseartists, says Johnny Wright, manager of 'N Sync and co-manager of Spears.

''On MTV, you have an 'N Sync video next to Metallica. In

Next moves: N Sync Lance Bass, left, Joey Fatone, JC Chasez, ChrisKirkpatrick and Justin Timberlake will need to make more thanchoreographed steps in their future if they want to stay on top.

Trio troubles?: Brothers Isaac, left, Zach and tay-lor of Hanson recently released an album thatmay have been too adult for their young fans.

By Bob Riha Jr., USA TODAY


Marketing Case Study


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the past, you had to pick a side be a rocker or a popper.Now you can be both.''

Anticipating a backlash to computerized music, Wright isgrooming Gotti XIII, ''a group of real musicians playing realinstruments.''

Smart move, says Kathy Keeley, music editor of GenerationY Web site katrillion.com. She's detecting subtle shifts in tasteas preteens notice the musicfavored by older siblings andschoolmates. Children arediscovering music earlier thanever, and even if their inauguralchoices are frivolous, ''the 'NSyncs and Britneys are good forgetting them into music, out toconcerts and into record stores,''Keeley says.

''Young kids love the glamourand choreography of teen acts,but after a while, they wantsomething more, maybe bandsthat play their owninstruments,'' she says. ''Olderteens are into Papa Roach, TheDeftones, Incubus. As youngerfans are influenced by peers,their tastes may evolve in thatdirection.''

Dance music may be the

logical next step, says SteveGreenberg, president of S-Curve, home of pop-rapsensation the Baha Men.

''Music that Generation Ylistens to at the moment tendsto be rhythmically driven andmore rooted in hip-hop thanrock,'' he says. ''My guess is that as they get older and start todate and go out at night with friends, dance music willbecome relevant. Right now, they don't really have a night life.As kids get exposed to clubs and DJs, we could see lessbubblegum and more sophisticated rhythms getting on radio

after being exposed in clubs.''

Young fans aren't necessarily drawn to diverse sounds, ''butthey are far more colorblind than previous generations andmore likely to relate to artists of a different race than theirown,'' he says. ''In the '70s, The Osmonds were dreamed upas a white equivalent of the Jackson 5 so that white girls couldhave teen idols. I don't think that's necessary today.''

Who'll stop the reign?Are today's teen stars doomed to an early retirement? The

Beatles and Frank Sinatra beat the curse that sends most popidols to history's dumpster. A majority vanish.

''There's no future,'' Cooper says of pop's kid stuff, pointingto waning interest in still-young Hanson and the Spice Girls.''They have no legitimacy. They try, but it's hopeless.''

Not necessarily, says Greenberg. ''If they grow with theiraudience, there's no reason to believe current teen acts need

to fade away. Michael Jackson isthe best example. He was a kidact who grew up and reachedhis peak in adulthood. Onemistake a lot of these acts makeis trying artistically to outpacetheir audience. You have to puton the brakes. The nextBackstreet Boys album should bemore mature but not too

mature. If you're trading strictlyon a pin-up, then you'll clearlyfade. If you have talent andcontinue to connect with theaudience, you can stick around.''

Greenberg, a former Mercurytalent scout who discoveredHanson, says the trio stumbledin leaping too far from 1997 hitMMMBop to current album ThisTime Around, a commercialdisappointment.

''They made a record aimed atadults,'' he says. ''It would havebeen inappropriate to makeanother kid record, but theycould have related better to theirfans if the music reflected

teenage sensibilities. The irony isrecords that best reflect teensensibilities tend to have a strong

adult behind them.''

Nonetheless, Greenberg counsels against Hanson'spremature burial. ''Taylor Hanson is one of most talentedvocalists on the planet and will continue to make vital music

and have big hits.''

Wright also sees rosy prospects for his clients. ''Britney and'N Sync have proven they're not one-album sensations. A keyfactor is growth. Britney's showing a little edge and moregrown-up themes. On the third album, we'll step it up a bit.In the past, you saw an act develop an audience based on aspecific sound and image, and on the next album they do a360 to try to expand their audience. The audience they havefeels alienated. Our main focus is to never forget who our truefans are. With that loyal core, we could be around forever.''

Good bet to last: The hip-hop/hard rock sounds of bands suchas Korn, with lead singer Jonathan Davis, probably will diversify.

By Eileen Blass, USA TODAY



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AS SEEN IN USA TODAY LIFE SECTION, SEPTEMBER 22, 2000, 5D

Light concurs that Spears could prove durable. ''Britney hasa smart team around her, and they're going to figure out a

way to develop a career there,'' he says. ''We'll see who's able

to transform and adjust their image and sound to grow withthe audience. Solo artists have a better shot. It's harder for agroup to keep a unified vision.'' Survivors, he stresses, arerare. ''Popular art of any form has a hard time transformingitself enough to remain relevant and current.''

Sculatti agrees that change is crucial. ''There's only oneplace for these acts to go next. They're nice and cute, and

then fairly quickly they have to be a little rough. We'realready seeing incremental changes in Britney, who's lookinga little hookerish now. Ultimately, they need a content move.They have to drop science, talk about something, so peoplecan see it's not so squeaky clean. If it works, they get to liveas young adults. But the road is littered with people whostumble at that point.''

Mad rapper Eminem can carp all he likes, but teen-popisn't going away soon. And no matter how often that gooeywad is ground under the foot of a hipper trend, bubblegumrebounds and recycles.

''Bubblegum continues to be this derisive term, eventhough it makes a lot of money,'' Cooper says. ''Before thisresurgence, there was a long dead patch. Maybe the reactionagainst it was so strong that it took this long for people to getthe courage to bring it back. Whether you like the music ornot, it has a legitimate audience. Kids have a right to hearmusic they dig.''

Wright doubts that teen pop will hold fast to tradition andwither. ''Even if mainstream radio and video channelsdecide not to play these artists, there are too many otheravenues of promotion,'' he says. ''Even Sesame Street has amusical element now.''

Bubblegum simply reflects the spirit of the times, Sculattisays.

''I have great respect for pop in any form,'' he says.''Herman's Hermits is perfectly fine. These groups oftenemerge because the industry notices an audience beingunder-served. The problem is, because they entered throughthat door, those acts could never go anywhere else.''

By Ralf Strathman, Reprise Records

A lot of real young people outthere are being spoon-fedgarbage. ... I think kids will wantsomething real next, someonewho writes, produces and sings.

Richard Patrick of Filter

Behind the Story: A Reporters Notebook



The introduction of MTV, CDs, the Internet and Sound-Scan (which tabulates over-the-counter album sales ona weekly basis) have forever altered the process of delivering music to the public. No longer a teenager, but

not exactly all grown up, MTV turned 20 on August 1, 2001 after a protracted adolescence

that left the globe transformed and transfixed. Since then, the channel has enjoyed steadygrowth spurts despite a few awkward transitions toward maturity. MTV reaches 342 millionhouseholds in 140 countries, 78 million in the USA. The planets biggest TV network has alock on the coveted demographic aged 12 to 24. The way this age group looks, talks, acts andconsumes is molded by the clothes, music and attitudes aired on MTVs programming andyouth-slanted commercials

Edna Gundersen has been on the music beat at USA TODAY for 10 years. Before that shecovered music at a Gannett paper in Texas, having started on this path at high school and college publications.

Edna Gundersen,Music reporter, Life


6/8

By Greg FarrellUSA TODAY

Most marketers think selling a brand is a challenge. Butthere's an even tougher job: selling a generic commodity.

Think about it. You see commercials for Chevrolet andChrysler but not for the automobile. You see spots forMcDonald's and Pepsi, not fast food and soft drinks.

Yet there's one popular drink sold mostly as a commodity:milk. Two groups, over seven years, have achieved amarketing feat in making this commodity a brand. In theprocess, they blunted a two-decade slide in milkconsumption and raised sales for producers and processors.

''When it comes to a cereal or a soft drink, I couldadvertise that brand when a competitive product was notadvertising, and sales would go up,'' says Kurt Graetzer, CEOof the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board. ''Ourjob is very different: We're trying to move an entire industry.Our measuring stick involves many more bars to cross.''

Working with ad agency Bozell, Graetzer's board created

the famous ''milk mustache'' print ads using a variety of

celebrities. The idea is to make milk the ''cool'' drink. The''mustache'' still runs, with current stars such as BritneySpears.

The California Milk Processor Board used a differentstrategy to drive sales. The point of the high-impact ''gotmilk?'' TV campaign: When people are deprived of milk,eating cookies or cereal can be hellish. The success of thestate group's TV ads, from Goodby Silverstein & Partners,led the national board to use them in the past.

An example: An obnoxious yuppie is killed in an accidentand thinks he's gone to heaven -- he's in a room withchocolate chip cookies and a fridge full of milk. But when herealizes the milk cartons are empty, he knows he's in hell.

The ''got milk?'' tag line has become a powerful brand initself, playing on milk's role as one of life's necessities.

''You've got to manage it like a brand,'' says Jeff Manning,executive director of the California board.

Other commodities have tried, such as beef, promoted as''it's what's for dinner,'' and pork as ''the other white meat.''

But with chicken, Tyson and Perdue created national brands

Milk does a body good, but adsdo the industry even better

AS SEEN IN USA TODAY MONEY SECTION, JUNE 14, 2000, 7B


Then and now: Britney Spears GotMilk? ad features her at age 3 and today.

Got chocolate milk?: A California Milk Processor Board ad, by Goodby Silverstein &Partners, features a teenager using a box of cereal to make chocolate milk.


7/8

and made a folk hero of Frank Perdue. And health ads forgeneric orange juice gave way to more successful ads forbrands such as Minute Maid and Tropicana.

But milk has only regional brands. While pasteurizedorange juice lasts more than a month, most milk has a shelflife of 14 to 19 days. Cost and risk of spoilage complicatenational distribution. While the world of milk processorshas been consolidating, there's still no company with afootprint big enough to justify national ads. So the nationaland California boards continue to promote the cause.

In 1999, the national group, which had relied on theemotional appeal of California's TV ads, decided to create itsown TV campaign around milk's nutritional value. Bozellcreated three spots: In one, a man dressed in a milk cartonheckles kids on a basketball court for not drinking milk and,thus, not playing well. In another ad, three old men drink

milk and beat up some young toughs. The third, aimed atkids, shows a bigger, stronger Super Mario after he quaffssome milk.

''People knew that milk was good in general, but theydidn't know that it was important to them,'' says Sal Taibi,who manages the milk account at Bozell. ''If we made itrelevant, it would be very motivating. Milk sufferscompared to competitive beverages because it hasn't beenmarketed as aggressively, it's not as convenient and thepackaging isn't very cool. It's very easy for people to notdrink milk.''

Graetzer knows the California TV ads are popular but sayshis research shows people are responding to his message.And, he says, ''They are contemporary, humorous andentertaining. They're a wonderful sugar coating on a

nutritional pill.''

Manning is proud his campaign has been so memorable,enough for the national board to license his ''got milk?''

slogan for its mustache ads and new TV spots. But heacknowledges the importance of what Graetzer's group isdoing.

''They're on a nutrition education strategy, and we do ourdeprivation stuff,'' he says. ''I support them in their quest toreinforce milk as a great source of calcium.''

Manning's ongoing challenge is to keep his long-runningTV campaign fresh. It has been running since 1994 andgarnered many industry awards. Agency founder JeffGoodby remains vigilant about avoiding formulas. ''We'vehad to watch out for this. A guy gets his mouth full, and yousay, 'I know where this is going.' ''

Goodby's latest ''got milk?'' ad goes for the gut in a newway. A teen pours milk into a box of chocolate cereal, shakesit as he gyrates to tunes on his headphones, then pours out .. . chocolate milk.

Someday, a processor might be big enough to market anational brand, such as Dean Foods, which has swallowed abatch of smaller processors and introduced innovationssuch as single-serving Chugs. Dean's director of marketing,Sylvia Oriatti, sees a bright future. ''Milk may be a sleepinggiant, but it has great potential.''

It took a tough Frank Perdue to make a tender chicken,and a national brand. Maybe someday, milk will find its ownFrank Perdue.




8/8

For more information, log on to http://www.usatodaycollege.com

1. Based upon the maturation of MTV advertising and the growth of internetadvertising, what role can the traditional forms of advertising (networktelevision, billboard, direct mail, newspaper, etc.) play in the marketing ofmusic to Generation X and Y?

2. Explore the types of advertising that should be used to reach the five-year-

old market and how you would determine the success of each.

3. Discuss the ethics of marketing directly to a five-year-old.

4. Due to the fragmentation of target markets and media choices in themusic business, what market and media strategies make the mostfinancial sense?

5. How much credence should be given to music artists who comment aboutthe direction that artists and their music should be going in order to meetthe needs of the industry and their target market? Are their remarks self-serving? Do their comments truly reflect the industry?

6. Can a "player" in the marketing arena who is from another generation(such as a baby boomer) remove themselves from their personal paradigmand truly understand and meet the needs of the other generations (x and y)?What are the challenges of this ongoing battle with self?

7. What part do parents play in marketing to minors in the music business?How do you influence parents? Is attempting to influence them practical?

About Carl Grunander

Additionalresources

www.ubl.com

www.musicnewswire.com

www.rocktropolis.com/allstar

www.billboard.com

www.canoe.ca/JamMusic

www.mtv.com

www.sonicnet.com

www.mylaunch.com

www.wallofsound.com

Future Implications

Carl Grunander is a professor of technical sales at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, where he serves as

the department chair of Sales and Service Technology. Grunander teaches classes in advertising,

merchandising and sales, and he is an "Honorary Life Member" of DECA. He was recently honored by the

Utah Association of Marketing Educators as the "Outstanding Utah Post-Secondary Marketing Administrator"

for the year 2000. Grunander has been teaching for over twenty years.

1. Is the segmentation of music by race, culture, etc., necessary? Is thereenough "crossover" to be financially successful? Is there a market?

2. Loss of influence by baby boomers and increase in influence ofGeneration Y. How long will the transition of power toak take? Whatwill be the marketing differences?

For Discussion
http://www.usatodaycollege.com/http://www.ubl.com/http://www.musicnewswire.com/http://www.rocktropolis.com/allstarhttp://www.rocktropolis.com/allstarhttp://www.billboard.com/http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusichttp://www.mtv.com/http://www.sonicnet.com/http://www.mylaunch.com/http://www.wallofsound.com/http://http//www.weber.edu/http://www.usatodaycollege.com/http://http//www.weber.edu/http://www.wallofsound.com/http://www.mylaunch.com/http://www.sonicnet.com/http://www.mtv.com/http://www.canoe.ca/JamMusichttp://www.billboard.com/http://www.rocktropolis.com/allstarhttp://www.musicnewswire.com/http://www.ubl.com/

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