The Net’s Most Wanteds

Lately it seems like every company in the world has caught on to the fact that today’s teenagers will soon be moving into the workforce, making money, and looking for somewhere to spend it. Where in the past marketing and teen PR directed at teenagers was limited to video games and snack food brands, today it is hard to turn on the TV without being bombarded by advertisements touting the extreme lifestyle or the rebelliousness that is represented by wearing certain clothes or driving a specific car.
It is a basic economic fact that the earlier a company can gain a lifelong customer, the more valuable that customer is in the long run. By gaining a foothold in this young demographic a company can drastically improve their market share as soon as these individuals start having expendable income. So the issue at hand is figuring out the best way to market to these young people.
The most important thing to keep in mind when is that teenagers are not as naive as some marketing executives would like to believe. Stamping “Xtreme” onto a product name may have worked in the early 90’s, but today’s youth are not buying that buzzword anymore. Viral marketing has certainly proven effective, but it is difficult to implement and has backfired in the past.
A good advertisement for teenagers has to portray two conflicting realities: using this product makes you independent, but it makes you fit in with your friends. For this reason advertisements should give the impression that not everyone is using the product, only those who are in the know. Viewers should feel like they have been let in on a secret that some of the people in the ad do not know. This ironic point of view makes the consumer feel a kinship with the people who are using the product, creating the type of bond that makes them also want to participate. This also creates the impression that the viewer already knew the product was great, and the advertisement simply reminded them.
The goal of this approach is to prevent young people from feeling like they are being told which products to use. If an ad makes someone feel like they are already a part of the crowd that favors a particular brand, they are more likely to feel that way themselves.