The youth segment now-a-days is an “on-demand” market, with brands seeking their vivid attention. They want to know what your product has in the first few words, or you’ve lost their attention. The fickle nature of this segment although erratic, their inclination defines heavy opportunity for advertisers. Digital media today comprises a massive deal of social networking sites involved as an advertising platform, where the youth or the so called ‘potential buyers’ are always on a prowl. Secondly, mobile is widely outspread which adds to the areas that matter most while targeting the youth.
A recent global survey about the relationship between the youth and digital technology showed that despite the remarkable advances in communication technology, youth culture looks surprisingly familiar, with almost all young people using technology to enhance rather than replace face-to-face interaction.
What’s in News??
The Pepsi My Can advertising goes digital, featuring three Bollywood actors Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham and cricketer M S Dhoni. Ad Director Zubin Driver, CEO, Cell18 shared his idea of getting the ads online solely interacting with the Pepsi drinking youth. Zubin said, “The ‘What’s your way’ campaign is about giving youngsters tricky situations that they have to solve and get their picture on a Pepsi My Can. The challenge was in creating awareness about the competition, appealing to the target audience and maintaining and enhancing the brand image.”
Teenagers are perhaps subject to even more of this need for social substantiation. Despite technology advancements, then, the motivation to socialize hasn’t changed throughout the years. Instead, it’s dramatically enhanced and enriched with the explosion of digital communication platforms and social networks online. Similarly, Cell18 has introduced this interaction mode to get their target audience talk about the brand. Hence, the ‘What’s Your Way?’ campaign which gives away goodies for the most outrageous response.
Social Media for the ‘Circuits of Cool‘
Without any need of TV there are brand building strategies in the Cola arena, where innovative ideas get featured on various social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Flickr. Finding new ways to reach their market will likely mean incorporating advertising that the older market won’t understand. Hence the digital playground for advertisers are heading towards the global adoption of social media, or have they already? Expedition 206 of Coca-Cola would have never travelled 206 countries without their presence online, since the voting becomes easier and with a large number of voters available online.
However at WATBlog we’ve seen facts from different celestial orbits that differ from what the advertisers predict before they deploy a marketing strategy. True power of social networks lie in its ability to bring about change in a sensational way, but something that planners need not forget is that the impact can act both ways. Presence of audience online from the older genetration may affect the brand’s approach on a long run which could strike its impact in the near future where the so called ‘TG’ aspect is removed. One thing is for sure, the message needs to be precise, and on the right channel.
