Do you feel your product or service has a stake in marketing to youth in the urban lifestyle? How can you get a greater understanding of the urban target audience? From my 7-year experience of dealing with the youth, I can summarise four key factors on getting a deeper understanding of the youth:1. Read. Don't know the difference between “banjuka” and “heppy?” Learning the language of the culture is a good first step toward consumer insight with the youth. A must-have reference is urban youth culture literature like The Insyder and weekly newspaper magazines like Pulse or Buzz.
2. Listen. Tune into an FM station to immerse yourself in the music. When I feel out of touch with the youth scene, I simply tune into Capital FM’s ‘Top 9 at 9’ I find the show has its frequency on the pulse of the latest youth musical preferences. You also may consider loading a selection of top hits on an MP3 player so you'll always know what's hot. If you still can't decipher the lyrics after listening for a while, check out dapslyrics.com - You'll learn words you never knew.
3. Watch. Make time to watch (or record) two shows: Club 1 (KBC) and The Beat (NTV). Music videos provide the essential link between music and style. And many of today's artists and hip-hop celebrities have their own fashion lines: Russell Simmons (of RUN DMC, remember them?) started Phat Farm; P Diddy has Sean John; and even 50 Cent has G Unit Clothing. Fashion and music are of equal importance to urban culture.
4. Go. To have a fuller appreciation for youth culture, you have to experience it first-hand. Do some research and find out where teens go for their music and fashion. Visit those stores and see how they use visual merchandising and music to connect to their consumers. You will be surprised at how deft traders at the so-called ‘Stalls’ are at reaching out to the youth. You have to admire the skills of a trader who can convince thousands of teens to consistently purchase items with a 5,000 bob price tag!
And if you really want to get knee-deep into it, go to a nightclub or attend a concert or event like the Chaguo La Teeniez Awards. Go for it; besides, you'll get “street cred” with teens when they learn that you are “down” with Genge.
Does this mean that any product or service can be marketed this way? Of course not. In fact, you simply can't stick some teen-speak into your advertising copy and expect it to work. But for the right product or service with genuine urban values, the potential is tremendous. Teens are brand-loyal consumers with significant influence and financial resources.
To connect with them in a meaningful way requires your brand to learn about and live in the culture. If your brand has values and benefits that connect with the urban youth mindset, the advertising and marketing need to reflect insights from their culture, experience and aspiration.
This feature is an excerpt taken from the October 2007 edition of Marketing Africa. It was written and borrowed with permission from Marketing Africa, and the writer, Ngaruiya Githegi.
Ngaruiya Githegi (ngaruiya@theinsyder.com) is the Managing Director of Teenwise Media Limited, the publisher of Kenya’s leading youth and entertainment magazine, The Insyder (www.theinsyder.com). He is also a leading advocate of the use of youth-focused consumer insights and competitive intelligence as a basis for brand strategy, advertising, and new product design. Ngaruiya is also a director of research, marketing and brand strategy agency, Youth Dynamix.
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