Transcript Target Marketing

Why are teens the number one target
for advertising?
• They have money to burn, and the items they buy are
largely “luxury” items, like clothing, electronics, and
music.
• They make many, if not most, of their purchasing
decisions independently.
• They have significant influence on family purchases.
• Companies know that once they have “branded” a
child, he or she is likely to be a customer for life, or
from “cradle to grave.”
• Advertising is in magazines, movies, TV shows,
and on the internet.
• Companies glean important demographic info
about kids spending habits from seemingly
innocuous internet “quizzes” and “surveys”,
Facebook, Google searches.
• They know how to capitalize on important
teenage issues and anxieties, like body image,
peer acceptance, coolness, and a need for
power.
• Marketers hone in on themes and attitudes that
parents might find inappropriate or offensive,
like sex or alcohol and drug use, further
escalating the “coolness factor” of the product.
• Advertising works best when it creates insecurities about
something such as a person’s appearance.
• A successful ad convinces the viewer that they have a problem
that needs fixing, and then proposes to offer the solution, which
just happens to be the product they are selling.
• The message is that teens aren’t good enough the way they are.
• Many kids unwittingly buy into that message, and as a result,
end up being hypercritical of themselves because we don’t fit a
certain “image” that they believe is necessary for their
happiness.
Teenage Consumer Spending Statistics
Data
Total number of teens in the U.S.
25.6 Million
Total U.S. teen spending (Products bought by and for teens)
$208.7 Billion
Total annual teen income in the U.S.
$91.1 Billion
Average annual income of a 12-14 year old
$2,167
Average annual income of a 15-17 year old
$4,023
Annual amount of money families spend on teens for food, apparel, personal-care items, and
entertainment
$117.6 Billion
Percent of teens who have placed an online order in the past three months
26 %
Percent of teens who qualify themselves as "unemployed"
21 %
Percent of teens who would choose a new pair of shoes over 50 new mp3 downloads
75 %
Percent of teens who would choose a new pair of jeans over concert tickets
63 %
Percent of girls age 13-18 who bought 10 or more items of clothing in the past six months
41 %
Percent of girls age 13-18 who bought 5 to 9 items of clothing in the past six months
21 %
Percent of teens who are receiving the same or more spending money this year than last year
75%
Percent of girls who identified shopping as one of their "hobbies and activities"
80 %
Percent of girls saying the following is a source they use when finding the latest
trends
Friends / Peers
81 %
Fashion magazines
68 %
Ads
68 %
Company web sites
44 %
Consumer reviews
36 %
Celebrities
33 %
Parents / Adults
25 %
Bloggers
14 %
Percent who believe their opinions greatly
influence their friends’ purchase decisions
53 %
Discuss