With a new report stating that one in five of the UK’s young adults is out of work, it’s fair to say that the job market is a difficult world for some. Because of this, brands need to pay close attention to this demographic, as research highlights that young consumers are responding to economic hardship in different ways.
Young people are showing diverse attitudes towards the economy, and brands aspiring to connect with 18-to 24-year-olds must now tailor their offer to 5 groups, according to an agency.
The research surveyed 1,000 18 to 24-year olds, calling the group the ‘Con-Demmed Youth’, a clever play on words between the Conservative and Lib Dem government they exist under. The 5 groups are:
- Go Getters – 23% of the sample, classed as the most ambitious and socially aware people
- Cotton Wool Kids – financially protected young adults who make up 23% of this sample
- Passive Massive 22% of the sample, the laissez-faire segment
- Minimum Rage group – 17% fall into this segment, the most likely to be unhappy and lacking in ambition
- Shundergrads – the 15% who are very savvy and see little need for a university degree.
The Go Getters are perhaps where some brands should take note. Mostly female, this group are academically successful, socially aware and with high career goals. Although not particularly materialistic and happy to mix designer and high street brands, they’re likely to spend money on some premium brands and eating out.
On the other end of the scale, the Passive Massive group shows little discrimination and lacks opinions on brands, and has little interest in the state of the economy. Unsurprisingly this is where the highest level of unemployment sits, with 55% saying a career is not necessary for their happiness.
The report makes for interesting reading. Take a look at the five groups that make up the ‘Con-Demmed Youth’ study and their favoured brands. Read more…
John Lewis is using ‘Made in UK’ on over 4,000 products as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programme. So I’d like to know if London members think that ‘Made In’ is relevant to today’s consumers.
My opinion is that it works for certain countries. Switzerland is synonymous with fine timepieces, Germany highly regarded for precision machinery, Italy is the ultimate for gold jewellery, and France is associated with perfumes and luxury accessories.
What does Made In mean?
It sounds obvious, but it needs defining. Currently, as long as imported goods are 51% produced in Europe, it can qualify as ‘Made In’. But we suspect that John Lewis has a more stringent category, because as a British retailer, their customers expect it to support other British firms when it can.
What does it mean for Britain?
What do you think ‘Made in Britain’ conveys? Is it design, creativity, quality, traditionalism? Let me know your thoughts on @CIMLondon Twitter. Certainly, ‘Made In’ triggers the emotions and branding is all about emotional connections.
Read more…
Business is changing. People are engaging with social media more and more. Your potential customers are socialising online and they expect businesses like yours to do the same. This was made crystal clear at the recent Social Media Bootcamp arranged by The Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Organisations that have a social media presence are likely to be more profitable. While this has as much to do with a desirable product and a commercial business model, social media is becoming increasingly part of every organisation’s marketing strategy.
Millions of us use social media, so not surprisingly, search engines are taking note. This has led to the rise of ‘Social Media Optimisation’ – Social Media plus SEO – discussed at Bootcamp by James Fairweather, social media consultant. It involves driving traffic to your website using social media, with the ultimate goal of increasing sales or leads.
- According to Twitter, 25% of all tweets include URLs, which are a valuable natural link building tool helping you shift from Pay Per Click visits to your website to Organic (unpaid) searches and boosts your web rank..
- Someone who is engaging with your profile has already shown an interest in your product which has an important impact on uplifting conversions from visits to enquiries and sales.
- Social networking increases online brand presence and creates a powerful and more comprehensive online marketing strategy – it makes sense to be where your customers are and be part of the conversation.
An integrated social media strategy can span the marketing content ecosystem, with three types of media involved:
- Paid for media – advertising online, in print, on television
- Owned media – PR, corporate website, campaign site, email marketing
- Earned media – social networks, blogs, video sharing, forums.
Earned media, where customers and potential customers are talking about your product, recommending your service and linking to your website provides a valuable means to grow your business.
As I see it it’s essential that businesses today socialise online, in a way that they could not have imagined doing 5 years ago, to reap real commercial benefits right now.
Going by the results of a recent B2B study, businesses are beginning to understand the power of social marketing. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other blogging forums are used by business to tune in to what customers are saying about their products. The study revealed that although 63% of marketers find social marketing of interest, they don’t fully understand how it could help their business, so don’t have a social media strategy in place.
Examples in the press have shown that some businesses such as restaurants are using Twitter. If there have been complaints ‘tweeted’, they can quickly contact that individual and try and correct the problem. This is a direct way to interact with customers and may help to retain customers that would otherwise have been lost.
It’s difficult to think of a faster way to hear about what your customers are saying than via Twitter, blogs and online forums. So, is your company embracing social media? It’s important that it does – going by this study it’s not a fad it’s here to stay. Does your company have a social media strategy? Register your comments to let us know.
March 6, 2010
by zoemichelle
in Twitter
Hello from Brisbane.
I guess you have all seen the newly launched iPad now. Whilst it has got a kicking from the geeks, the marketing for it and build up has been great and the pricing is reasonable so I think there will be a storm when they are released for sale over here. I am trying to convince my husband to let me get one!!
Social Media – good use of time?
I have been thinking about social media a lot this week so thought I would base my blog on it this week. I recently sat down and worked out all the different social media platforms I am involved in whether it is for research, writing or just for fun. It’s a fair bit – well I think so!
How much is too much?
I am sure some of you are involved in more, but I am registered on: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Then as well as that I obviously write this blog, I have another one that I write on my website as well as my millions of Google alerts, and it all adds up to quite a lot of time which (my husband would disagree) is worth it!
I am obsessed with Tweet Deck and each time my desktop tweets I get very excited and want to see what the latest news is with Apple or what’s going on in the world.
Is that a bad thing?
A friend of mine in Birmingham, UK recently campaigned on facebook to see if people could spend a whole 24 hours without using Facebook or Twitter. I crashed and burned unfortunately.
Read more…
Zoe Gell
The social media scene in Brisbane is rife with Facebook, MySpace and Twitter groups to join and get involved with and jobs are also advertised this way. In fact I read when I first arrived into Brisbane that it is the Facebook capital of Australia, and more recently a survey by Scientific American Mind revealed that Australians rank 17th in a worldwide study of top social networking users.
Digital Marketing in Australia
Australia is really embracing the digital age especially where marketing is concerned, with many companies now expecting to see digital resumes with examples of work in the marketing arena as well as candidates with their own websites and wacky ideas about how to get themselves noticed. Read more…
