Chris Carron of Forrester has just released a report on what does it take to speak to young consumers. Here is what he has to say:
1. Gadgets
Young consumers love consumer electronics even more than their adult counterparts: more than two-thirds own PCs, DVD players, home stereos, game consoles, mobile phones, and handheld videogames. Portable MP3 players like Apple's iPod and browser- or camera-enabled mobile phones have caught on with the younger set, with adoption around one-quarter and growing: MP3 players rank first on young consumers' wish lists; camera-phones rank third.
2. Web-Based Entertainment
Music, movies, and gaming content score big with young consumers on the Net. Teens spend, on average, 11 hours per week surfing the Web, and 79% of them can be found visiting game sites like gamezone.com. More than one-third visit music sites for artists like Kanye West or The White Stripes, and almost half favor sites dedicated to films like "Napoleon Dynamite."
3. Social Marketing
Although equally as skeptical about traditional advertising as their parents, young consumers have already jumped on the social marketing bandwagon. More than half of young consumers rely on their friends and families for purchase advice, and 65% tell others about products they like. Marketers can reach young consumers' social marketing networks by using the electronic communication tools favored by youth: IM, mobile phones, and email.
4. Video Games
Almost all -- 94% -- of young consumers own some device that they use for game-playing. More than half of young consumers prefer gaming to watching TV. This affinity for all things video game, along with their love for Web-based entertainment, makes young consumers a prime audience for advergames.
5. Digital Music
Young consumers have not been mislabeled "media pirates" -- they do download MP3s and use peer-to-peer file sharing more than adults. But teens' piracy will not be the force behind the potential demise of the conventional music industry. As rates of file-sharing decline, young consumers buy more music online. iTunes and Napster To Go, legal alternatives to Gnutella and eDonkey, give young consumers an easy, inexpensive, and conscience-friendly way to fill up the MP3 players they plan to buy.
Once you become fluent in the language of young consumers, it's important to master the tools that young people use to communicate. Far from hiding behind their PCs and PSPs, young consumers prefer to be engaged in-person. In-store kiosks and other interactive face-to-face exchanges will get and keep young consumers' attention. Young consumers use IM to discuss products with their friends and are open to email about upcoming online promotions and new advergames.