Teens and Online Marketing

Who’s more wired than an electricity transformer station? Able to leap vast distances in a single instant messenger bound? Spends money online faster than a celebrity? And has been labeled as one of today’s most highly influential decision makers?

Yes, TEENS, that’s who!

Labeled “Generation Y,” these 12-17 year olds represent a huge and, until fairly recently, largely untapped market. According to a recent Harris study, American kids, teenagers, and young adults, aged 8 to 21 years, [somehow] have annual incomes totaling $211 BILLION and results show that this group is spending at a rate of approximately $172 billion per year, while saving at a rate of $39 billion per year. Teens spend **81.5%** of their earned income. (Uh-oh, all you opportunist collections agents and bad debt hounds better grease your engines for this market!)

If teens are not paying rent, electric bills, credit card payments, then where is all of this money going? Let’s just put it this way: online retailers ought to welcome this audience with open arms.

According to Harris Interactive’s John Geraci, Vice President of Youth Research, “Generation Y’s needs and opinions drive many adult purchase decisions, and they, literally, represent the future market for most consumer brands.”

So just what do teens do online when they’re not shopping, and what sites do they visit?

Teens and Chat/Instant Messenger

Newsflash in case you a) were never a teen; b) live in a cave: teens love to talk. Today’s teens can talk more often and more easily than any preceding generation. While many now have their own cell phones, online communication reigns as the preferred method of chat. A recent Lycos survey showed that once the school day ends, 45% of the teens surveyed preferred to communicate via Instant Messenger (IM) outside of school than face-to-face after school (only 15%).

With the good comes the evil. Public teenage chat rooms have become stomping ground for spammers and other prowlers, but legitimate marketers can still be heard above the din. As many top consumer brand companies are discovering, solid online ad campaigns or viral marketing targeting teens can prove quite successful…and even economical. Advertisers such as Snapple, Proctor & Gamble, Hershey, and all of the major motion picture studios have implemented successful online marketing campaigns.

Hot Teen Marketing Examples

Some examples of campaigns targeted directly at teens use sweepsstakes, contests, live chat, and online tools to get youngsters active in the products that they offer.

FOX’s new hip teen targeted show, The OC, is using scheduled celebrity chats on teen sites to give teenagers a chance to chat with the stars of the show, hopefully interactively branding The OC across the teen market. Bolt.com, another teen chat site and portal, is their latest destination.

After registering their name, mailing address, and email address, the player gets three chances to identify the song title of each mobile phone ring tone at Sony Ericsson’s Name That Tone. This branded advergaming is featured on various teen sites.

Prizes include mobile phones, free minutes, and free ring tones (phone plays a song when it rings).

Kiwibox, a popular teen chat and teen portal, and Sony/Columbia Records teamed for an online gaming contest timed with the release of Beyonce Knowles’s new album. For every 1,000 points the user earns in the game, they are entered to win multiple Beyonce Knowles prizes.

Not limiting teen targeting marketers to TV shows, cell phones, candy, and the recording industry; the US Military has also used teen sites to add to their recruiting efforts. MyFuture.com is a teen advice site run by the Department of Defense, targeted to soon to be high school grads who are not sure about their future. Tools they use include a career quiz and online resume tools.

The Future of Public Chat

Microsoft has come out with an announcement that could change the future of chat forever and along with it, current online marketing tactics to teens. Due to concerns that public chats have become a haven for junk emailers, spammers and sexual predators, Microsoft will be closing its free MSN chat rooms in 28 countries and in the United States, Canada and Japan, they will be moving free chats to a paid-for subscription service.

Perhaps this gutsy move is not a totally altruistic one on Microsoft’s part. After all, industries such as online dating, business information, news and entertainment have all had success switching over to paid content. Microsoft is a company guided by numbers, and maybe they’re gambling that the numbers of online teen chatters will equal big revenues while simultaneously curbing ‘Net trash. Possibly a big win-win for Microsoft.

Teen Destinations

Besides the public chat rooms found at MSN, Yahoo, and AOL, chat directory web site, ChatMag.com, has compiled a listing of some of the most popular teen chat sites (link to list below). According to Pete Carr of ChatMag.com, “FoolMoon.com, FunkyTimes.com, and FatCatClub.com are the most popular hangouts for teens.”

Besides chatting, other online activities attracting the teen crowd include downloading music, playing online games, watching online films, shopping. AOL has recently announced that it is releasing a teens-only version of AOL, bundling all these activities all in one place. AOL, once the domininant force in teen marketing, is making a play to retake this teen market.

Here’s a list other top teen destinations:

IGN - IGN.com started as an online gaming site but has now added downloadable films and other entertainment features for its active teen male audience, including celebrity interviews, car reviews, sports news and the “babe of the week.”

Alloy - female teen shopping site Alloy showed the greatest increase in usage during the back-to-school season of 2003. In the same way that IGN has transformed itself into a teen Internet community, Alloy has added to the online experience by positioning itself as a teen portal. Entertainment, teen news, school tips, message boards, and a boyfriend help section have made this site an extremely stickey marketing magnet.

GoLiveWire.com - A forum run for teens, by teens. This teen-moderated Web community has over 8,300 ACTIVE members.

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RELATED LINKS

http://www.chatmag.com/topics/society/teen.html

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