REPORT - TEEN POWER 2000: Give 'em what they want: fun, laughter, and above all, honesty

To effectively communicate with the elusive teen market, advertisers have to give them what they want - honesty, laughter and fun - according to Adpower Media Consultants International MD Georgina Chin Quan. She referred to a global youth survey conducted last year by DMB&B (now D'Arcy), which covered 26 countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Teens said that in order to reach them, marketers needed advertising which could make them laugh, used popular music, was fun, used young actors to whom they could relate, and above all, be realistic. The survey found that 50 per cent of respondents felt that most advertising can't be believed. "Thirty years ago, most advertising for teen products and services was targeted at their parents," Ms Chin Quan said. "Now, this segment is being targeted directly, and tends to address emotive issues and aspirations - it's much more psychographic than demographic." The media and creative aspects of a campaign aimed at the youth market have also become more complicated. In terms of media, network TV once ruled. Now, interactivity is king, whether through broadcast media or the Internet. However, Ms Chin Quan advised marketers not to abandon traditional media options. "Don't sacrifice mass media in favour of the Internet - not at the moment, anyway," she said. "Plus, in each marketplace, people react differently to media." For example, consumers in Korea, Thailand, Japan and Indonesia tended to prefer local media; in Hong Kong and Singapore, the more cosmopolitan markets offered equal voice to foreign media in terms of reach target groups. "Among teens, 73 per cent said their main source of information about products came from television advertising," Ms Chin Quan said. "This was followed by TV programmes, at 62 per cent. "TV is still the No.1 way to reach teens. Having said that, every single market in Asia must be looked at separately."

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