Things Marketers Should Know About Teens and Tweens

Posted by Chris Patheiger

There are 49 million 8 to 18 year olds in the United States today. They love music, clothing, movies, and television. They worry about their future, privacy, and safety, and they have opinions about politics and religion. They’ve also embraced technology to an unprecedented degree. In fact, technology has been integrated into every aspect of teenage life, from connecting with their friends through wireless communications (calls and text messaging), accessing the Internet, downloading music, and television entertainment. It’s even infiltrated the other quintessential teen activity—defining their own unique identity. Phones have custom ring tones and photo albums. Facebook pages, Habbo rooms, and Bebo pages are means to express their individuality. Try this one on: Today’s teens have never known a time when television was their primary means of entertainment. This is a generation that never had to learn phone numbers off by heart! It’s speed dial, or a quick search of the address-book. The answer to every question is literally seconds away. It’s truly Information at your fingertips and not in your brain.

When we marketers look a bit closer at the 8 to 18 year olds, two key tribes appear: teens and tweens. From a brand marketing perspective, tweens tend to be more brand loyal and teens more brand apathetic. Being the old-time sales guy that I am, I know this means endless opportunity. If tweens are brand loyal, then we need to find ways to either keep them or switch them, depending on what their brand is. If teens tend to be more brand apathetic, it means they are going to be more easily swayed by what they see and hear—so we need to find a way to reach them through entertainment like TV, film, and music, or through conversations with friends or brands online. It all becomes about timing.

Either way, they have a disproportionate amount of spending power for their personal income. Studies have shown that although today’s teens have been pretty vocal about their concerns for their future, education, and the economy, it hasn’t affected their actual consumption at all. According to a recent WeeWorld survey, the economy is not affecting teen spending power. In fact, 31% of respondents said they were getting more allowance money now than in the past; 26% said they get an equal amount. That translates into more buying power, not less. What I have to say to marketers today is: There are 49 million 8 to 18 year olds in the United States today! Take a page out of any parenting magazine and learn how to communicate with them now!

I’ve accumulated some interesting data below that might help your plight.

Teens vs. Tweens
• Teens are more independent in their decision making and behaviour, and the opposite applies to tweens
• Teens are transitioning into adulthood; tweens are transitioning from childhood
• Family and safety is more important to tweens
• Teens and tweens both wish to be seen as individuals; however, teens tend to skew toward independence while tweens skew toward the group
• They both love music, TV, and movies, but not the same programming

Individuality
• Both teens and tweens have embraced technological innovations as a means to create their own forms of individual expression
• Social networking and unique content creation is on the rise—more than half of teens and tweens in America have created some form of content This includes
• blogs,
• Web sites and pages,
• artwork,
• mashups or remixes of popular music, and
• self-created video.

Relationships with Parents
I don’t buy that today’s parents are still the “enemy.” The gap between parents and teens is collapsing, and the new relationship is more teamlike than antagonist. Commonalities create relationships.
• They have similar tastes in music, movies, clothing, and communication (devices and mediums like social networking, IM, etc.).
• Marketers who acknowledge this new allegiance will see themselves delivering better results than those that don’t.

The Messenger
• 84% surf the Web during their leisure time, and it’s their favourite leisure activity.
• TV ranks fourth TV becomes less important with age, with just 60% of teens saying they “love” TV, compared to 80% of tweens. Either way, they’re loving it on their laptop or mobile device more and more.
• If teens were forced to choose between giving up cable TV, the Internet, or their cell phone, 48% would choose to live without cable TV.
• If tweens and teens were forced to choose only one medium, 69% would select the Internet, far more than any other single option.

The “Right Now” Factor
Teens want immediacy, in other words, instant gratification. Online buying of physical product is hard for them because it takes too long. I’m only in my thirties and I remember waiting for everything. I waited to go to the store. I waited for sales. I waited for catalogues to come out. I waited for my birthday or Christmas to get anything. Today’s teens can’t even tolerate shipping time.

• 85% of teens have a cell phone and use instant text messages to reach friends.
• Anywhere. Anytime. A majority of kids watch favorite shows online, whenever they want to watch.
• The Internet makes any friend or piece of information available to them, immediately. And 99% of teens use social networking sites to interact with friends.
• Teens are avid users of on-demand entertainment, with fewer than 1 in 10 exhibiting no on-demand behaviours at all.
• Over 50% of teens and young adults download music in a given month.
• 10% download music videos.
• 75% of online teens opt for instant messaging rather than e-mail due to the greater immediacy associated with IM.

The mall—really?
• Despite the high-profile role of technology in their lives, teens and tweens continue to value personal, face-to-face relationships.
• More than 2/3 of teens visit a mall weekly—not just to shop, but to socialize.
• Malls and retailers are capitalizing on this fact by creating destinations for young people where they can relax, buy products, listen to music, and socialize with other teens.
• Brand marketers also realize the importance of the mall, often creating teen- and tween-targeted experiential marketing initiatives for that environment, typically coupled with music, video games, or other entertainment activities. A couple examples that come to mind are the mall within Habbo and games within Facebook that enable friends to play within their friendship group.

The following are the critical components of success in media planning for teens and tweens:
1. the opportunity to personalize, customize, and self-create (i.e. “user-generated content”);
2. a mean for teens and tweens to network, communicate, and organically generate word-of-mouth;
3. a reflection of teens’ and tweens’ need to multitask and receive content through multiple media;
4. a concession to their 24/7, on-the-go lifestyle through portability, on-demand access, and convenience;
5. a personal touch through experiential marketing support;
6. the integration of music and entertainment into all facets of a campaign; and
7. an acknowledgement of teens’ and tweens’ parents as allies rather than adversaries.

Regardless of the individual strategies and tactics used in ad campaigns, teens and tweens prefer brands with messages that are tailored to them and that authentically speak their language. The most important point to remember is that teens and tweens know what marketing is and will resent any effort to disguise it. Many marketers have fallen into this trap by unwittingly alienating their target audience, most often by appearing condescending or by pandering to them. On the other hand, teens and tweens will embrace products, brands, and marketing messages that are a good fit with their lifestyles and identities. Know your teen from your tween, learn the language, and be authentic. Remember, there are 49 million 8 to18 year olds in the United States today.

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Chris Patheiger is a Vice President of Business Development at Redux Media, a leading international online publisher network of top-quality, specialty websites and media representation firms. Chris is responsible for Communications, Sales and E-Publisher of the Redux Blog. He can be reached at chris@reduxmedia.com