Youth study discounts celebrity factor

<p>HONG KONG: A youth marketing survey found that tapping into the </p><p>passions of young people rather than looking to engage mass, </p><p>celebrity-driven strategies had more influence with this major market </p><p>segment. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The recently-released survey, Digital Tribes Series 2, conducted by </p><p>youth marketing specialists, Filter, in conjunction with AMI, </p><p>highlighted three leading trends to shape strategic marketing </p><p>initiatives in Asia. The first was that keeping up-to-date with music, </p><p>football and tech gadgets were the areas of greatest interest to the 15 </p><p>to 24-year segment across Asia. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The survey then measured these areas of general interest to discover </p><p>which "tribes" demonstrated the highest level of passion. The music </p><p>findings look set to break the mould of traditional youth marketing in </p><p>Asia. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We looked at different music styles, such as R&B, commercial pop, </p><p>techno and hip-hop and found that while commercial pop had more </p><p>listeners, the smaller tribes of techno and hip-hop had much higher </p><p>levels of passion," said Filter founder Ian Stewart. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"This is interesting because a lot of the big brands go for the big </p><p>celebrities which attract more people, but hip-hop, for example, is a </p><p>part of people's lives. The implication is that you may reach more </p><p>people, but you need to question how much relevance does that have," </p><p>Stewart added. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He expected to see more companies tapping into the passions of tribes, </p><p>especially following San Miguel's backing of hard-core Chinese hip-hop </p><p>act LMF. The spread of what the survey called the Japan Watchers </p><p>phenomenon was the third trend influencing youth consumer choices in </p><p>markets such as Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, where </p><p>Japanese products were preferred over US or European products. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>