The booming youth market

Arthur Tong

copyright 2004 TongMedia

A little bit about me

Marketing & Communications Strategist, Asia Pacific Region Specialist (TongMedia) Current tenure with Westpac Banking Corporation Multi-industry experience, marketing and media planning consultation Starbucks, Honda, Diesel Footwear, Visa International Former editor-in-chief of Faan, Australias first Asian lifestyle magazine Spokesperson on Asian consumer markets interviewed by Bulletin/Newsweek, BBC World, SBS Co-author, Ingenious- Emerging Youth Cultures in Urban Australia, Pluto Press.
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Faan covers

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Todays discussion
A new definition of the youth market
Size (global demographics) Beliefs & attitudes: educated, smart & savvy $$ Market value.

The Asia Pacific- nerve centre of youth culture

Cultural fusion; Eastern values, western dreams Impact on global consumer trends: food, fashion, finance Impact on youth marketing and the bottom line.

How to tap into their mindset

Preferred communication channels New language.
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What is the youth market?

Size and global demographics

Traditional definition: 15-24 (UN) Comparison by world regions 51% of 15-24 live in Asia

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What is the youth market?

Size and global demographics
Country US Canada Argentina Columbia UK Youth Population 39,237,000
4,114,000

Statistical breakdown- global Median Age 35.8 36.9 27.8 24.2 36.8

6,658,000
8,008,000

7,136,000

Germany
France Italy Russia

9,155,000
7,721,000 6,687,000 22,745,000

39.4
37.8 39.9 36.9

South Africa
Nigeria Egypt

9,111,000
22,899,000 13,911,000

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17.4 22.2
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What is the youth market?

Size and global demographics
Country Australia China Rep. Korea India Indonesia Youth Population 2,703,000
200,010,000

Statistical breakdown- Asia Median Age 35.1 30 28.9 24 24.7

3,397,000
189,356,000

42,272,000

Japan
Laos Malaysia Philippines

16,100,000
1,024,000 4,327,000 15,414,000

40.8
17.3 22.5 21.5

Singapore
Thailand Vietnam

501,000
11,670,000 15,843,000

34.3
28.1 22.6
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What is the youth market?

Size and global demographics
(UN stats)

2030, there will be a decline in the size of the 15-24 age group as a % of total national populations: -3.5% in Asia, -0.6%US, -1.5% UK

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What is the youth market?

Size and global demographics

Misconception #1:
aging population = decline in youth market

Reality: prolongation of youth

Closing the attitudinal and behavioural gap between the 15-35s Great news for marketers and communicators!

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What is the youth market?

Beliefs of a new generation Shaped by education
In the West, tertiary education rates, traditionally high The growth now is in the East

Disenfranchisement of the old boys in politics and business (examples) Soft depression of the world economy and levels of freedom

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What is the youth market?

Beliefs of a new generation Tertiary education, US and Asia (UN stats projected
2003) US 14 million, China 12 million, India 9.5 million enrolments Comparatively, the Asian region, regardless of levels of development, value education highly Although enrolment statistics in China are proportionately low, it is mainly due to the developing infrastructure (16% of youth place education as MOST important aspect of life) Asians continue investing in overseas education, developing intelligence enclaves around the world e.g. US, leading to a more worldly and socially aware populace
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What is the youth market?

Beliefs of a new generation Youth political trends
Global loss of faith: US, Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific (case examples) Activism vs Apathy Political disenfranchisement: the commonality amongst polar-opposites Youth attitude: wary and cynical What does this mean? According to AC Nielson, McCann Erickson, Time magazine, a common outlet for political disenfranchisement amongst youth is material escapism What should marketers and communicators do?

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What is the youth market?

$$ Market value
(US Census Bureau)

US youth purchasing power: $350 billion Breakdowns by minority groups in the US: a crystal ball of where the $value lies
One third, Hispanics, African-Americans and 26% Asian Americans under 18! Hispanics $580.5 billion, 38.8m, 57.9% growth (90-00) African Americans, $645.9billion, 36m, 15.6% growth (9000) Asian Americans, $344 billion, 11.5 million, 46.3% growth (90-00)

Youth technological consumption rates: identifying the global hotspots

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What is the youth market?

$$ Market value Mobile phones (year ending 2003, eMarketer,
Time Asia) Saturated Western markets:
EU 75% (323m) US 47% (141m)

China: 200 million subscribers

Falling growth rate due to older generations unwillingness to adopt (only 15% of population) Saturated in terms of network subscription but still handset-crazy (holds 25% of all phone sales)

India- hottest market, annual subscriber growth rate 80% (2003)

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Asia-Pacific: nerve centre of youth

Cultural fusion Eastern values, Western dreams

Consumption, adaptation, innovation

Moving from industry to strategy, (case examples): Korea, Philippines, India

Young Asians and their global network

Residence in the West and connected to the East, (case examples): Hawaii and California

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Asia-Pacific: nerve centre of youth

Cultural fusion Eastern values, Western dreams

Impact on global consumer trends

Young Eastern tastes spicing up the West: food (Yoshinoya), fashion (young Asian moguls), finance (the new rich) Communicating through consumption
Media & Entertainment (case examples): Asian urban culture in Hollywood Reinventing subcultures, how niche interests create the mainstream

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Asia-Pacific: nerve centre of youth

Cultural fusion Eastern values, Western dreams

Impact on global marketing and the bottom line

Inclusion and engagement Cross-industry case-studies
Starbucks: stealth marketing, getting it right with the youth Westpac Multi-cultural Sales and Youth Marketing: segmenting and making your customers feel important Diesel Footwear: regional licensing, its okay to leave it to the experts.

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How to tap into their mindsets

Preferred communication channels Boring processes can be livened up by clever use of technology and popular forums: youth voting
SMS crazy Philippines Russell Simmons- stirs youth political interest by way of hip hop SMS/MMS Online communities Importance of friendship networks (Dr. Melissa Butcher, Institute of Cultural Research) Importance of tangibility in a cynical generation

Quick & painless

WOM & Print still reign supreme

When to use which channel

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How to tap into their mindsets

Preferred communication channels Online communities and statistics
Technically savvy, educated escapists Interest based virtual communities Over 205 million internet users in Asia-Pacific region (year ending 2003, eMarketer) Worlds largest internet market, ahead of both Europe and North America 2005 Estimate: approx 230 million (Morgan Stanley) 75% of the regions usage comes from Japan, China and South Korea.

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How to tap into their mindsets

Language of the time poor Communicating with earnestness Misconception #2: you have to dumb down when talking to the youth

Industry-speak acceptable within context not when used to confuse or deceive (Dr. Butcher) Simplicity not simplistic W. Chea, president of MSA student society, UNSW D. Torres, Youth Leader, IABC Philippines Findings from Faan magazine opinion poll

Speaking for themselves

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Key messages to go!

Mental/attitudinal age is more important than physical age when it comes to communications The youth market remains a valuable and sizeable market for years to come despite aging population The physical growth, the connectedness and cultural popularity of Asians makes the AsiaPacific region the youth hub of the new millennium Genuine inclusion and engagement is the most effective way to communicate with the young
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Contact
For sources and contacts to help you communicate with the youth, please contact:

Arthur Tong +61 416 148 889 atong@tongmedia.com arthurtong@yahoo.com

www.tongmedia.com

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