To create successful marketing programs for the youth, a brand or advertiser must venture deep into their world and contribute something motivating and substantial.
Young consumers ignore those who try and associate superficially.
They don’t appreciate brands casually being in their world.
A variety of sub cultures: sports, music, fashion, gaming , raves, skateboarding, graffiti-street art, hip hop, punk, grunge ,Teds, rockers, mods etc have been the core areas of activity and engagement amongst youth.
If a brand wishes to engage it has broadly the following ways in which to do so: it can choose to be a platform that allows for the growth and development of a given sub culture. It provides resources feeding back into the subculture or indeed glorifying certain parts of it. Or, it can choose to be the catalyst-promoter of a movement by itself.
In any one of these above mentioned cases, the brand gets integrated and has an opportunity to contribute in a positive way.
The thing to observe is what happens when a brand associates deeply with certain talent, movement, subculture – does it get amplified, strengthened or commercialised, dull, boring and eventually – dead?
#youth #marketing #brand #millennial #personality #cultures #softpower