Kenyanteen

2010-09-24T00:58:00.001-07:00

The future of product development belongs to the co-creators. Presenting Mozilla's concept mobile phone, The Seabird http://amplify.com/u/b26i http://amplify.com/u/b26m

2010-09-20T03:40:00.001-07:00

Samsung's Galaxy Pad takes aim at Apple's iPad http://amplify.com/u/at4o http://amplify.com/u/at4t

Afrihost Twitter Relaunch Campaign

2010-09-13T03:14:00.001-07:00

South Africa ISP Afrihost has recently relaunched using Twitter effectively as a marketing campaign.In celebration of their 10th birthday and the relaunch of the Afrihost brand, they are giving away prizes for 10 days, from the 10th of September 2010, leading up to the relaunch on the 20th of September. The prizes are:

Here are the awesome prizes

Three iPhone 4's (32GB)

Two iPads (64GB WiFi + 3G)

Ten 10GB ADSL Packages Daily

Got to find out about this campaign on Twitter through the top trending topics...

Check it out here: http://www.afrihost.com/relaunch/

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/acw2

2010-09-03T03:47:00.001-07:00

Nedbank takes M-PESA to South Africa http://bit.ly/9IrVzB http://amplify.com/u/9nfs

2010-08-24T22:55:00.001-07:00

Why Apple rules http://amplify.com/u/96dk http://amplify.com/u/96dl

2010-08-22T22:54:00.001-07:00

The re-invention of Kodak http://amplify.com/u/92lo http://amplify.com/u/92lp

We Have A New Website

2010-08-18T02:19:00.002-07:00

Hey, check out our new website - www.kenyanteen.com
Let us know what you think...

We Have A New Website

2010-08-18T02:19:00.001-07:00

Hey, check out our new website - www.kenyanteen.com
Let us know what you think...

Good Causes = Good Marketing?

2009-09-24T03:13:00.000-07:00

Good Causes = Good Marketing? (A look at RockCorps by Graham Brown)

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The Humiliation of Caster

2009-08-22T01:55:00.000-07:00

The opinions on this blog are mine and mine alone (Mojo Sojoh), and here's my take on the now infamous 'Caster Saga.' First and foremost, as I Kenyan I know that should SA athlete Caster Semenya lose her 800M World Title, then the gold would go to our own super athlete Janeth 'Eldoret Express" Jepkosgei. However, I have always been of the opinion that a victory is always sweeter when you win it outright, and not when it is "handed" to you.
That said, I'm appalled by how athletics governing body, IAAF, has handled the entire issue. First and foremost, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. If there were doubts about Semenya's gender, then the IAAF should've dealt with the matter discreetly and contacted both Semenya and South Africa's version of 'Athletics Kenya' directly. When athletes are busted of being drug cheats, are there speculations flying about everywhere? No. People may be suspicious of an athlete because they may be performing spectacularly well (we all love Usain Bolt, but I bet there's no one on the planet who hasn't speculated that he's on some Jamaican concoction - especially the Americans). So how come the media isn't rife with stories that Usain Bolt is a drug cheat? Dude went from having a personal best time of 10.03 seconds in 2007 to being a sub 9.58 in less than 2 years... That seems pretty suspicious to me.
Additionally, how many well built, flat-chested, deep voiced, facial hair-having female athletes are out there? Well, a huge majority of all professional female athletes look pretty masculine to me. So how come the media's buzzing about Semenya's gender? I don't want to speculate but I suspect it has to do with the world being more comfortable with Africans as underachievers. Africans cannot achieve extraordinary things in the shortest time possible. And if we do achieve extraordinarily, because we're inherently corrupt, we'd have to accomplish such a feat through unfair means. Again, I'm just speculating...
So let's all just end this speculation about Semenya until the facts speak for themselves please.

The Final Back To School Shopping Offer of 2K9

2009-08-13T04:16:00.000-07:00

Time flies when you’re busy connecting your clients to the youth market!

Below please find our final Back-To-School shopping offer for 2009

Final Term Back To School Offer

View more documents from kenyanteen.

Youth & Sports Marketing

2009-05-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

Last April, sports fans' attention was focused on over 60 basketball, hockey, 7’s rugby, cross country and swimming teams where thousands of athletes were vying for a national title in the KSSSA (Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association) National 1st Term Games. Traditionally, national brands dominate sponsorship in the anticipation that the tournament's glow will rub off on their brands. The hope: that millions of fans (courtesy of television and print media) will also notice their brands! Indeed, marketing your brand during the national championships means you’re part of something historic and magical – like when a guy named Biko Adema single-handedly destroyed Maseno in 2005, or when in 2001 a barefoot Alice Timbilil outclassed the cross country field and then a week later repeated the same feat at the senior level...

But sponsoring the National Games, often means dropping a boatload of cash, and that's where most brands give up. They decide not to play. Here's the truth: You don’t have to spend millions to be a part of the action.

By hand-picking the right schools and putting your shillings directly into the school community, your brand can share in the excitement of high school sports and win some fans - while not breaking the bank.
If you’re running a brand on a tight budget and looking to take advantage of the goodwill and high brand engagement that sports marketing delivers, here are the schools I would recommend you look at targeting. These schools attract a combined spectator audience of more than 250,000 (this is far much more than the national championships can deliver). This audience comprises of the school’s student community, the general student community (not from the respective school) that often visits these schools for organized tournaments and the community around the school that often comes to watch the games.
These schools dominate their regions, have enthusiastic fans, and boast interesting centres of activity that allow you to reach students in a new way.
You should also know that due to the free education program, non-educational activities like sports have had to contend with serious budget cuts. Schools are now more accommodating to corporate sponsors who add value to their sports teams. Gone are the days of ‘in kind’ partnerships, when providing the school with a crate of soda was deemed as sponsorship, school administrations are now much wiser and want hard cash to run their sports teams.

My Top 5 Schools For Effective In-School Sports Marketing
1. Laiser Hill Academy – Sitting comfortably in the heart of Kiserian, Laiser Hill is a mixed school with a population of about 700. Currently the National & Rift Valley champions, Laiser Hill has a fanatical following around the area and are the toast of Kajiado District. Laiser Hill’s support also spills over to the Nairobi suburbs of Ongata Rongai and Kiserian.
2. St. Austin’s Academy – Prestigious, up market and synonymous with high school hoops. When you need to align your brand with the A,B market, look no further than this institution. They also host a lot of inter-school activities which target similar upmarket, private institutions, so partnering with this school’s basketball team will give you major inroads into this market.
3. Maseno High School – Nothing says you connect more with Nyanza’s youth than ‘endorsing’ Maseno High as the Provincial Basketball Champions. A simple billboard should do the trick. Remember the ‘President Obama’ endorsement billboards in December last year?
4. Mang’u High School – Probably has one of Kenya’s most influential alumnus associations (which boasts President Kibaki). Align yourself with the success of their basketball and hockey teams, and the influential alma mater factor is never too hard to wiggle in.
5. Mombasa Baptist - This institution’s campus is loaded with centres of activity. The fact that it is mixed and has a large population only adds to its attractiveness.

If you feel that this type of approach will work for you, why not take advantage of the 2nd term games? Remember, the 2nd term games calendar is entirely different from the 1st term, thus you need to engage an entirely different set of schools.

The Insyder Stimiulus Package

2009-04-01T07:22:00.001-07:00

The Insyder Stimulus Package

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The Insyder Presents: Santa's Gift Bag

2008-10-30T08:34:00.001-07:00

postContent

Presenting Santa's Gift Bag: Christmas Goodies For Your Brand

2008-10-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by theinsyder

Teen Lifestyle Trends 2009

2008-09-17T04:21:00.001-07:00

Kenyanteen Presentation Q3 2008

From: kenyanteen, 3 minutes ago

Kenyanteen Presentation Q3 2008

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Kenyanteen provides news, commentary and resources about commercial media for the youth, and especially teens, entertainment for teens (movies, video games, television, music, books), technology used byteens (cell phones, SMS, hardware and software), the news media’s desire to attract teens (newspapers, television stations, radio stations), marketing and advertising (targeting the teenmarket) and non-profit youth media (highlighting organizations’ efforts at promoting youthvoices in media and creating media by and for youth).

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10 Teen Lifestyle Trends To Look Out For in 2009

2008-09-15T03:46:00.000-07:00

Now more than ever, you need to know what young consumers want in 2009

Trend #1- Fresh New Look The Insyder

As always, the pioneer youth media will be setting the trend for all others medias targeting this audience. The new look will appeal more to readers, not only in content by in column categorization (as it has been psycho-analyzed by Youth Dynamix) and thus help advertisers maximize their teen market reach.
As always, The Insyder gets a drastic makeover every year to keep up with trends and demands of the fickle teen market. For 2008/2009 – The Insyder has transformed itself into a ‘TV Network’ offering readers different ‘TV channels’ for their entertainment. These ‘channels’ have been segmented into different lifestyle categories such as Music & Entertainment, Fashion, High School News & Features, Girls’ Features, etc. ensuring we engage the teens in an environment that they related to in a fun and refreshing way.

Trend #2: Retail Networking

Forget social networking (Bebo, Facebook, Hi5, et al), there’s a networking phenomenon that is set to pick momentum within the next 12 months – Retail Networking! What’s this? Teens hanging out together at retail centres simply socialising and buying stuff. Two things will very likely make Retail Networking the next big thing;
i) Shopping Complex/Mall Popularity: It doesn’t really matter which urban centre you’re in, the concept of building one big shopping complex and renting it out to different types of businesses is catching on in Kenya (forget Village Market, The Junction, etc.), we’re talking the local ‘Shopping Mall’ with about 10 – 15 shops that include a fast food restaurant, gaming arcade, clothes store, mini supermarket, etc. These are cropping up in virtually every urban centre in the country.

ii) Increased Number of Daybugs: Courtesy of the recent high school unrest, more teens will become day scholars. Principally because of the Government policy to implement its strategy to ‘reduce’ this unrest by banning urban boarding schools, & parents’ fear for the safety of their children in boarding schools. The result? A drastic increase in day scholars! There will be a need to them to chill out and with the rapid growth of urban centre ‘malls’ chilling at the shops is becoming the ‘in’ thing to do.

Trend #3: Superstar Syndrome

Like Andy Warhol predicted, teens want their 15 minutes of fame! Growth in the popularity of local programming i.e. Papa Shirandula, Tahidi High – coupled with the increasing popularity of locally produced, but foreign owned franchises e.g. Idols, Project Fame, Big Brother, etc. will mean that TV show producers and television stations will find convergence in the two – 100% locally produced music talent search shows, dance talent search shows (the birth of Kenyan produced reality television will really happen next year).

*American artist, writer - Andy Warhol - coined the phrase “15 Minutes of Fame” which refers to the fleeting condition of celebrity that attaches to an object of media attention, then passes to some new object as soon as the public's attention span is exhausted.

Trend #4 - Textual Revolution

With more high school students becoming day scholars, the ‘ban’ on the use of mobile phones will have less effect. Expect 2009 to have the highest ever uptake of mobile phone purchase by the 15 -19 demography than ever before! Teens are text-maniacs and SMS consumption will go up tremendously, especially with more players coming into the mobile phone service providers market. With more players, you can expect a steep decline in SMS, MMS, web browsing costs.
In addition, to be more competitive, mobile phone service providers will try and integrate more added value & benefits to these youth-centric services. Thus, brands targeting the youth will get the opportunity to be more creative in using their text-based promotions, competitions, etc. SMS/texting is set to be a much more exciting tool come ’09.

Trend #5: Mobile Surfers

With four active mobile phone providers, a broadband cable that will quadruple the speed at which we access the internet, cheaper browsing rates and the popularity of 3G phones – teens will actively engage in accessing the internet through their mobile phones. How?
i)Numerous Options: With 4 players in the market, expect broadband value added services like WiMax enabled ‘surfing areas’ that allow one to surf absolutely free, happy hour surf times, etc.

ii) 3G Technology: 2G Edge/GPRS technology gives way to 3G making 2G Edge phones cheaper. Teens can now purchase, second hand, browse enabled phones at much cheaper rates than last year! With the introduction of 3G phones, top-of the-range 2G Edge phones have dropped by over 40% in price (and these are new phones)!!

A Nokia 5300 handset retailed at approximately KShs. 15,000 last year, it now sells at an average of KShs. 8,000. 2nd hand 5300’s sell for as low as 5,000/-

iii) WAP Browers: Mobile phone browsing applications like Opera Mini enable users to surf faster on their cell phones because the application compresses web pages making it faster and cheaper to browse. They now come as standard applications in phones like Nokia.
New generation MIM (Mobile Internet Messaging) service providers allow for users to send each other messages and CHAT online at absolutely no cost!
Bye-bye SMS, hello MIM!
According to the last Youth Dynamix quarterly ‘Youth Scapes’ trend report, the 3 most popular MIM services in Kenya are: Mig33, eBuddy and Nimbuzz (in that order)

To be continued this week...

First Kenyanteen Night A Great Success!

2008-09-15T02:56:00.000-07:00

The first Kenyanteen theme night held last Friday (12/09/08) at the Blue Times Lounge was a great success. About 50 people attended the first night dubbed: Top Youth Lifestyle Trends for 2009. Guest speaker, David Lukoye, from the Nation Media & Publishing, also gave the keynote speech, highlighting key facts about the Kenyan magazine market.

The Trends 2009 highlights were delivered by Teenwise Media Limited Managing Director, Ngaruiya Githegi, and focussed on key lifestyle trends and shifts to expect in 2009. A full report of these trends is available on this blog.

The next Kenyanteen event will be held on November 28th, 2008.

Left: David Lukoye of NM&P

Students Control 24 Billion Shilling Back To School Market!

2007-11-22T21:51:00.000-08:00

A landmark research study on the economics of back to school shopping has unveiled the existence of a massive Kshs 24billion fast moving consumer goods economy. The first of a kind research study by youth research powerhouse Youth Dynamix Kenya has confirmed that nationally, Back To School shopping is worth close to Kshs 24 billion annually.

This economy, the study notes still has room for growth given that school administrators are blocking a further Kshs 5.7 billion worth of shopping per term featuring lifestyle products.
Interestingly, the back to school period covers less than one and a half weeks, features a population of approximately 1.23 million youth, which is 3.6% of Kenya’s total population, yet contributes staggering economic revenues.
The syndicated study dubbed the Youth Dynamix Back2School Shopping Trax, unveiled November 20th revealed that an average of KShs 8 Billion is spent each term on over 120 product categories by parents sending their children back to school. As expected, students in secondary and primary boarding schools spend an average of KShs 18.3 billion annually, while day scholars contribute KShs 5.7 billion annually to the back to school spend. Interestingly, students interviewed in the course of the study confirmed that a loaf of bread is the most ‘valued & expensive’ item on their shopping lists. For this item, a total of KShs 1.2 billion is used per term to purchase it!
As an emerging trend, students are also increasingly purchasing modern lifestyle products such as water purifier, toothpicks, wet wipes and cotton buds. The study confirmed that the combined worth of the three products stands at close to Kshs 4.8 million per term. For example, 1.5%, or 18,500 students will find it prudent to carry toothpicks to school!
While presenting the findings, Youth Dynamix Kenya Strategy and Research Manager Sylvester

Manyara further disclosed that aside from FMCG, players in the transport and banking sectors are also enjoying a slice of the pie.
Manyara who spoke during a breakfast meeting featuring local sales & brand managers and presided over by Nakumatt Holdings Operations Director Mr. Thiagarajan Ramamurthy, further disclosed that supermarkets are the dominant trade avenues for back to school shopping business enjoying more than 78% of the cake.
“Seventy eight percent of urban students shop for most of their products from supermarkets, while a further 51% will supplement with products from shops and 30% from kiosks,” Manyara disclosed.
And added: “for all students, a supermarket visit is a near must do activity even for students in rural areas given that although 58% of rural students will shop for most of their products in local shops, 57% will still find time to pick up some of the stuff from supermarkets on their way to school.”
While lauding the research study as a worthy information package, Nakumatt boss Ramamurthy challenged executives in the FMCG sector to keep up with the times by adding value to their product offering during such seasonal sales season such as back to school periods.
Marketers, he noted, must strive to raise up to the occasion by embracing flexible offers and packaging elements to attract such a key market.
“This study clearly shows that there’s a huge market comprising of students that has been previously ignored,” Ramamurthy noted. Specific to Nakumatt, Ramamurthy pledged to unveil enticing offers for back to school shopping with interested supplier to further add value to the shopping season. Other highlights in the study confirm that on a gender basis, females are the high spenders accounting for more than 56% of the overall high school students’ expenditure spending more than Kshs 13.4 billion. And while a loaf of bread is the most valuable product, a bar soap is the most ‘crucial’ item in the shopping basket, purchased by 78% of the students. tudents interviewed in the study confirmed that a bar Soap is the most multi-purpose product in the shopping basket, substituting close to 6 other products. “It is used for bathing, laundry, cleaning utensils and applied as a ‘lotion’, or a ‘jelly’ after taking a shower,” Manyara explained.

The high school market, Manyara pointed out has a population of approximately 1.23 million youth, which is 3.6% of Kenya’s total population.

Coca-Cola Teaches Teens About AIDS

2007-11-22T21:29:00.000-08:00

Coca-Cola, the largest multinational company on the African continent, has long offered HIV/AIDS education and treatment to its workers. But in recent years, it has put its corporate clout behind attempts to stem the tide of HIV infections among the next generation of workers.
According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, nearly 25 million of the 40 million people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa....

That is why, in recent months, Coca-Cola has tried to work on the problem by partnering with nonprofit groups that focus on youth, to help the next generation talk openly about sexual and reproductive health.
The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, with a donation of nearly $3 million, formed a three-year partnership with Dance4Life. The group reaches young people in nine countries -- South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Sierra Leone -- with health messages delivered via the performing arts.
Young participants in Dance4Life school programs learn sexual-reproductive health lessons before presenting them to peers in dramatic, dance or musical performances.

Why MTV Is Becoming Irrelevant

2007-11-06T06:19:00.000-08:00

Once essential, MTV no longer calls the cultural tune. At least in the western world, that is. Now, most media observers are asking, is MTV headed for the "What Ever Happened To?" list, alongside the kids from "Diff'rent Strokes" and “Kids Incorporated”? Once the Goliath of pop music and youth marketing, the MTV has become an outlet for booty-driven reality TV.

In 2007, some 26 years after MTV defined a generation , all MTV has to say for itself is "My Super Sweet 16."

The mighty MTV has stumbled, and it's twisting around like empty bubbles going down the drain. There was a time in the 1980s and '90s when the channel had the ballast to send an act to the top of the Billboard charts, but "Idols" is the new boss. There was a time when the word "clip" meant an MTV video with artistic and commercial punch, but now the word refers to the virals that ricochet through YouTube. And there was a time when a band had no future without MTV exposure, but now a MySpace page or a position on iTunes is more essential. When it comes to the buzz biz, MTV is out of the loop.

Even MTV's annual MTV Video Music Awards, once the jewel in the network's crown, have lost their sheen. In 2002, the event drew some 12 million viewers; last September, the audience hit a low of 5.77 million. And MTV's remnant music show "TRL" has tumbled from a peak daily viewership of 782,000 in 1999 to an average of 375,000. The "TRL" situation is dire enough that MTV is about to revamp it and rename it "YouRL," in a belated nod to the digital age.

From the start, of course, the relevance of MTV exceeded its ratings. MTV has been most powerful as a harbinger of attitude and innovation, making "next" into a present tense phenomenon. But the audience decline of the VMAs and "TRL" is a symptom of a more generalized impotence. Pop and its spectacles are playing at a computer near you, as well as on most of the countless music-awards shows that air on TV year - round. MTV seems to have grown too passive, or too smug, to even reckon with those obvious obstacles.

The knife-twist in the back of MTV is that the network helped to build what is overshadowing it. The digital folk-art of viral video, where imagery from diverse sources is mashed up, owes plenty to the post-modern originality and humour of MTV video. The graphic environments of entertainment websites, too, recall music videos and those flashy early MTV station-identification interstitials. And, most importantly, the youth mindset that MTV's fast-editing wit pioneered -- impatient, eager to "go to," hungry to multitask -- has aided and abetted the nimble way young people use their computers for music- and TV-related content.

The fact that Viacom has a billion-dollar lawsuit pending against Google for using Viacom properties on YouTube, and the fact that it let News Corp. buy MySpace in 2005, only reinforce MTV's lagging reputation. Shouldn't MTV be out in front, rather than the Jan to YouTube's Marcia? MTV has licensed its content to BitTorrent, and its content will air on Viacom's highly anticipated Joost site, due later this year; it has created an iTunes-like download service called Urge; and it recently gave its own website a clarifying makeover. But it has nonetheless missed the big boat that it helped to set sail. And MTV is still figuring out how to pursue the social networking revolution of MySpace and Facebook, despite the fact that it seemed to own the MySpace/Facebook generation audience beforehand.

But on a deeper and more critical level, the real problem dogging MTV isn't the way it provides content. The real problem is the content. Even if MTV came up to speed, even if it found a way to matter in today's user-generated culture, there still isn't much there. The MTV line up is too much of nothing right now, especially when compared to other members of the Viacom cable family. Comedy Central, for instance, has stayed vital with "South Park," "The Daily Show," and "The Colbert Report," and VH1 has kept its name alive with tiresome, self-parodic, but remarkably highly rated "celebreality" programming.

MTV just doesn't have the two or three series it needs to distinguish its brand and use as tent poles. The reality shows, including "Laguna Beach," "Living Lahaina," "The Hills," and "Scarred," lose their novelty quickly, as they redundantly rely on buff bodies, rigged romance, and post-"Jackass" stunts. They all blur together ; they share the same editing-with-soundtrack style that originated on "The Real World" in 1992 and that was long ago appropriated by other networks for their own reality shows. The petty MTV reality series reveal a channel in a creative rut, still hoping to expand on the early '00s hits "The Osbournes," "Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica," and "Jackass."

Where is the new talent, where are the Mike Judges and Spike Jonzes, or even the new big shots like Johnny Knoxville? Why isn't MTV snagging young Stephen Colberts? Could MTV upend and reinvent itself by subverting "You" culture and reality TV, in the way "Beavis and Butt- Head" undermined music videos? Or maybe MTV has buried itself already, and producers would rather take their projects elsewhere than watch them get sucked into MTV reality quicksand.

Naturally, MTV has its share of conscience-relieving material , some of which is well done. Ultimately, a channel like MTV defines itself with its series programming, but MTV nonetheless deserves a nod for trying to pitch public affairs to younger viewers. Its news and documentary coverage related to soldiers and the war in Iraq, and its consistent push to make its viewers more environmentally aware, have been admirable. But without a new creative direction, MTV will be delivering its good works to ever fewer eyes.

------- -------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ----

These is an excerpt taken from an article written by Matthew Gilbert, Boston Globe

Why Apple Is The Pick of the Crop

2007-11-02T00:19:00.000-07:00

Companies would do well to draw branding and marketing lessons from the creator of the iPod and the iPhone. Here's a look at what Apple does right

Like many of my peers, who went to primary school in the 1980’s, my first encounter with computers was after high school. That said, my first encounter with the Apple Macintosh was when I joined the advertising industry. Back then, Apple had yet to make a big impact on many teens' lives outside the field of ‘Graphic Design’.

Then came the 2001 debut of the iPod and the dawn of current generation’s love affair with Apple. Since I began youth marketing in 2001 (this year is purely coincidental with the launch of the iPOD), I have read numerous studies that list teens' favourite brands. Apple is inevitably at the top of every brand list. In fact, a survey carried out recently on TheInsyder.Com said teens put the iPOD higher than a car on a list of what they wanted most!

"Unique Market Niche"
But widespread teen affection for the iPod didn't happen overnight. Like most trends among youth, it began almost unnoticed and it spread until it became a cultural phenomenon. "There were teenagers who were more excited about the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, than 50 Cent," says Sylvester Manyara, Research Manager of Youth Dynamix. "They had a passion for the company—and people don't tend to worship businesses and business leaders. Apple had a unique market niche. It produced a product that met their basic need – entertainment, and complimented part of their lifestyle – fashion & technology."
The numbers prove Manyara's point. Research by Youth Dynamix found that the iPOD emerged as the brand that is "absolutely essential to teens." The research found that the product teens talk to each other about most is the iPOD. A survey found that 58% of urban high school students own a portable media player (iPOD, MP3/4 etc), and that of those students, 15% own an iPOD. From an aspiration level, 92% wish they could own one type or another of the iPOD portable player. The aspiration to own an electronic media player is not an exclusive psychographic profile for AB’s only, as would be expected. Rather, it cuts across all the socio-economic groupings, AB, C1, C2 and D’s.

Lessons To Learn
In a matter of years, Apple has gone from the maker of computers graphic designers’ use, to the designer of computers & technology products that make you cool and fashionable. What lessons can marketers learn from Apple’s unbelievable story?

1. Meet a Real Need: Music has always been teens' first love. It's the soundtrack to their lives. Back in the day, we used to agonize over the famous mix tapes created by DJ ‘So and So’ from F2 and had so much difficulty sourcing them. Almost overnight, the iPod created the digital equivalent of the mix tape. Instead of having to buy an entire overpriced tape, teens could now create portable playlists of their favourite songs. And while most were downloaded illegally, Apple also provided a way for teens with guilty consciences or extra-vigilant parents to buy them legally. Teens became the content creators—and Apple gave them the tools to be creative.

2. Design Matters. Your product should not only meet a need, but to attract teen loyalty, it needs to have good design. You can also extend that design look and feel into your marketing or branding. Think about how Apple ads use the white ear-buds and iPod in contrast with the black silhouette. They also integrate their design sensibility into their outlets and stores.

3. Let Fans and Media Do Your Marketing. Whenever Apple begins to get lots of media attention, it scales back on marketing. Also, Apple never overloads ads with information. They keep marketing simple, letting the press and fans fill in the gaps. And organic word of mouth is always the best marketing. Teens are the most social of social creatures and value friends' opinions above any traditional advertising. Think ‘Bamboocha’ – what does it mean? Fill in the gaps…

4. You Don't Have to be for Teens to Reach Teens. In some ways, this is the biggest lesson brands can learn from Apple. Their products are for everyone. Apple's ads are not age-specific; the silhouettes show all different kinds of people. The spots also feature varied genres of music, even as they resonate with a teen audience. It's the brand values of creativity, diversity, and individuality, combined with a line of well-designed products that deliver, that has converted this generation of teenagers into Mac addicts.
Locally, we have seen various brands who have noted the impact of the youth – they are numerous. Nokia, Coca-Cola and MTV’s partnership in the recent search for a VJ in East Africa, Motorola are doing this with music theme and using local musicians to endorse the product. Even soap manufacturer Protex is getting in on the act and using Kenyan entertainment celebrities to endorse the brand.
Eventually, even if you can't create your own cult of Mac, you can learn a thing or two from Apple on how to reach the iPod generation. The sooner you do this, the better it is for your brand because today’s youth are tomorrow’s (and today’s) consumers.

This feature is an excerpt taken from the December 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.

Secrets To Understanding The Youth Market

2007-10-30T23:53:00.000-07:00

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.