One of our clients is a fashion brand that has recently decided to focus on customers in the 18-25 years age-group. Another client has launched an online portal and is curious to know if younger customers will find the proposition attractive. A friend is working on making her organization more friendly and attractive to a younger workforce. We ourselves at Inception, interact a fair bit with a roster of bright interns who are young and enterprising.
It seems increasingly common to find a brand or service or organization that is focusing on the younger consumer and the younger employee – generalized and referred to here as the 20-something. As typical marketing sleuths, our curiosity has been sufficiently piqued and we would like to explore in this two-part blog – what it takes to sell (a product, job or service) to this increasingly powerful target audience.
I still hear some old-timers (not necessarily by age) clucking that youngsters these days lack values, have an easy life, have no concept of time or generally are poor judges of value or money’s worth. My hypothesis however is that this is a completely misguided view of the 20-something that you find around you today. At the risk of generalizing, I must say that our take is that the typical Tween today:
- · Is completely and irrevocably Networked
- · Is doing more with his/her time than any of us a decade or earlier
- · Has an uncanny sense of value for money and usually would not compromise on value
- · Researches deals, believes in the power of group bargaining
Intimidating? We think so too. We really believe that winning over this target segment is no joke – and requires some dedication to understanding their motivations, influencers and needs. Honestly, based on my own personal experience, I would hazard a guess that it is easier to work on customers in the mid-30s on to the 40s. If many people my age are like me, then she/he:
- · Is hard-pressed for time, and willing to take shortcuts in the buying process – even if it means you may pay more
- · Is probably more networked but would be embarrassed to discuss value propositions with too many people
- · Gets used to a brand and may rather stick on in several situations
Well, this is all still in the realm of hypotheses – so what better way to find out that to ask some of the 20-somethings we know some rather pertinent questions. Do bear in mind, this is not a fully blown out market research initiative (can explore that if a suitable client is willing to foot the bill ;-)) but simply an attempt to get some real-life subjects to share their perspective. I do promise not to doctor the findings, even at the risk of having some of my presumptions torn asunder.
Watch this space for more updates on Selling to the 20-something……….
Until then – Adieu Amigos…
