Consumers Rule

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Age Subcultures Chapter 15
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Age and Consumer Identity

• A consumers age exerts a significant influence
  on his/her identity
• We are more likely to have things in common and
  speak in a common language with others of our own
  age
• Age cohort (my generation)
• Marketers target specific age cohorts
• Feelings of nostalgia
• Our possessions let us identify with others of a
  certain age/life stage

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Discussion

• What are some possible marketing opportunities
  present at reunions?
• What effects might attending such an event have
  on consumers self-esteem, body image, and so on?

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The Youth Market

• Teenager and Seventeen magazine
• Elvis vs. Pat Boone rebellion vs. conformity
• Generation Y
• Eminem

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Teen Values, Conflicts, and Desires

• Puberty/adolescence uncertainty, need to
  belong, finding unique identity
• Choices of activities, friends, and clothes
  social acceptance
• Advertising group of in teens using product
• Teenagers express needs via product usage (e.g.,
  smoking cigarettes)
• Most important social issues for teens
• AIDS, race relations, child abuse, abortion, the
  environment, additional family responsibilities

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Teen Values, Conflicts, and Desires
(Contd)

• Four basic teen conflicts
• Autonomy vs. belonging
• Rebellion vs. conformity
• Idealism vs. pragmatism
• Narcissism vs. intimacy
• Internet provides anonymous forum for
  experimentation
• One persons rebellion is anothers disobedience
• Cross-cultural differences in rebellious
  attitudes and advertising

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Tweens

• Children aged 8 to 14
• Spend 14 billion a year on clothes, CDs, movies
  (feel good products)
• Exhibit characteristics of both children and
  adolescents
• Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen brand
• Victoria Secrets Pink lingerie line for younger
  girls (Team Pink)

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Getting to Know Gen Y

• Echo Boomers and millennials make up
  one-third of U.S. population
• Spend 170 billion a year
• First to grow up with computers in their homes,
  in a 500-channel TV universe
• Multitaskers with cell phones, music downloads,
  IM on Internet
• Most diverse generation ever
• Most raised by single parent and/or working
  mother
• Gen Yers value fitting in/teamwork
• Reject violence, tobacco, alcohol, teen pregnancy
• Trust government and parents

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Discussion

• Kids these days seem content to just hang out,
  surf the Net, IM with their friends, and watch
  mindless TV shows all day.
• How accurate is this statement?
• This chapter describes members of Gen Y as
  much more traditional and team-oriented than
  their older brothers and sisters
• Do you agree?

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Marketing to Gen Y

• Most of 100 billion that global youth market
  spends goes toward feel good products
• High birth rates large proportion of young in
  population
• Gen Yers are much less brand loyal
• Connexity

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Speaking to Teens in Their Language

• Teens are more TV savvy
• Must see messages as authentic and not
  condescending (B.S. alarm)
• Marketing rules of engagement
• Dont talk down
• Dont try to be what youre not. Stay true to
  your brand image
• Entertain them. Make it interactive and keep the
  sell short
• Show that you know what theyre going through,
  but keep it light

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Youth Tribes

• Products/trappings reinforce the notion of
  belonging and the group bond
• French in-line roller skaters
• And 1
• Tribes in Japan
• Technocultural suppleness

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Researching the Youth Market

• Research firms come up with innovative ways to
  tap teen desires
• Coolhunters/live with the natives
• PGs teen community Web sites
• Cool vs. uncool
• Teens as consumers-in-training
• Brand loyalty develops during adolescence
• Teen influence of family purchase decisions

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Discussion

• If you were a marketing researcher assigned to
  study what products are cool, how would you do
  this?
• Do you agree with the definitions of cool
  provided by the young people in this chapter?

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Big (Wo)Man on Campus

• College market is attractive
• Many students have extra cash/free time
• Undeveloped brand loyalty
• College students are hard to reach via
  conventional media
• Online advertising is very effective
• Sampler boxes
• Wall media
• Spring break beach promotions

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Discussion

• What are some of the positives and negatives of
  targeting college students?
• Identify some specific marketing strategies that
  you feel have either been successful or
  unsuccessful at appealing to this segment
• What characteristics distinguish the successes
  from the failures?

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Baby Busters Generation X

• Consumers born between 1966 and 1976
• Marketers initially thought that Gen Xers felt
  alienated, cynical, and depressed
• But, Todays Gen Xer is both value-oriented and
  value-oriented
• Desire stable families, save portion of income,
  and view home as expression of individuality

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Baby Boomers

• Consumer born between 1946 and 1965
• Woodstock Generation created revolution in
  style, politics, and consumer attitudes
• Active and physically fit
• Currently in peak earning years
• Feathering their nests
• Food, apparel, and retirement programs
• Midlife crisis products (reward cars)
• Baby boomlet

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Discussion

• Why have baby boomers had such an important
  impact on consumer culture?

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The Gray Market

• Traditionally neglected by marketers
• People are now living longer/healthier lives
• Zoomers active, interested in life,
  enthusiastic consumers with buying power
• Fastest growing group of Internet users

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Gray Power Seniors Economic Clout

• Impact of gray market on marketplace
• Most brand loyal of any age group
• Economic health of gray market is good and
  getting better
• Exercise facilities, cruises/tourism, cosmetic
  surgery/skin treatments, how-to books/classes
• Most advertising campaigns dont recognize gray
  market

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Understanding Seniors

• Psyche of older people is important for marketers
  to probe
• Key values of mature consumers
• Autonomy
• Connectedness
• Altruism

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Perceived AgeYoure Only as Old as You Feel

• Age is more a state of mind than of body
• Mental outlook/activity longevity/quality of
  life
• Perceived Age
• Feel age
• Look age
• The older we get, the younger we feel relative
  to actual age
• Marketers emphasize product benefits over
  age-appropriateness

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Segmenting Seniors

• Senior subculture is extremely large
• Well suited for segmentation
• Can be identified/located easily
• Segment dimensions
• Age cohort
• Marital status
• Health/outlook on life
• Self-sufficiency and perceived opinion leadership
• The way a person deals with being old
• Social aging theories

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Table 15.2 (Abridged) Gerontographics
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Selling to Seniors

• Most older people lead more active,
  multidimensional lives than we assume
• Older consumers are finished with many financial
  obligations
• Most own their own homes
• Child-rearing costs are over
• Were Spending Our Childrens Inheritance
• Marketers must provide more welcoming advertising
  for mature market
• Packaging sensitive to physical limitations

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Mature Marketing Messages

• Basic guidelines for effective advertising
• Abundance of information
• Simple language
• Clear, bright pictures
• Use action to attract attention
• Speak clearly, and keep word count low
• Single sales message, emphasize brand extensions
  (familiarity)
• Avoid extraneous stimuli (excessive pictures)