Pitching to today's youth

By Karyn Scherer

How would you describe the younger generation? If you're over 40 and you've got anything to do with marketing, you probably think they're a lazy, cynical, rebellious bunch of weirdos who can't be sold anything.

In fact, you couldn't be more wrong, according to an Australian expert on the subject.

Mark McCrindle is just 26, so he ought to know. And in case you think he's not in touch with his own peers, it is worth noting he has literally made it his business to find out.

In Australia, he has established a thriving company called Generation Xperts, which advises companies on how to market to young people. Clients have included such big names as Mercedes Benz, Redken and AMP.

In New Zealand this week at the invitation of AIESEC, an international graduate exchange and leadership organisation, he was more than happy to share his thoughts for free.

Call them what you will - Gen X, Gen Why, or Gen Why NOT - the under-35s all have one thing in common, he insists: they are much misunderstood.

"There's a lot of hype about the market, and half-truths and generalisations.

"People judge a generation on one young person they've seen, or crime statistics or whatever, and I think a lot of that doesn't do young people any good, nor anyone else in marketing or managing strategies."

An Australian advertising agency recently found that the biggest divide currently facing the country was not gender, race or wealth, but age, he says.

There is no longer just a gap between the generations, it seems, there is a gulf.

A large study commissioned in America two years ago by advertising agency TBWA Chiat/Day reached a similar conclusion.

It surveyed 40,000 young people to find out whether the American Dream was still alive. The results surprised a lot of people.

The picture that emerged was not of a bunch of dazed and confused slackers, but a mostly ambitious, determined and independent group.

It is true, says McCrindle, that many young people are worried sick about what their future holds.

They have watched, helpless, as their parents' marriages have fallen apart and their parents' employers have turfed them out of their jobs.

They worry about whether they will ever be able to afford their own homes, and whether they will able to get jobs. The younger ones fret about drugs, and the youth suicide rate.

But for all that, and maybe in order to keep their own sanity, they are actually optimists, who hope for "more meaningful" lives than their parents'.

"They're not wanting to just make as much money as they can. The boomers grew up and worked long hours to get houses and cars. Generation X are not into status in that way.

"They're actually quite a spiritual generation. People say they're disloyal, but they're not. From studies we've done, when it comes to sticking up for their mates, they're actually very communal."

They are also a remarkably homogeneous lot, thanks to the Internet and the globalisation of the media.

The challenge for the corporate world is to tap into these values, he says, and woe betide those who can't be bothered.

In New Zealand, there are just less than 1 million people under the age of 35.

In Australia, there are 4.5 million of them.

Many companies, he says, don't seem to realise just how powerful this group has become.

"Over the last five to 10 years, there has been an incredibly big emerging market rising up that is now out of school and earning big money. They are starting to become their clients - or even worse, their competitors - and they don't know anything about them."

They are also big spenders and poor savers.

"If companies can market to them effectively, and tap into the loyalty they do have, they can have customers for life," says McCrindle.

"And the long-term value of that is quite high, because they've got their whole life ahead of them."

Unfortunately, they remain as fickle as anyone when it comes to fashion. Which is bad news for the big boys, but good news for the smaller players.

Nike and Levi's are two examples frequently cited of brands that have simply outgrown their market.

"It's a perennial problem for companies," he acknowledges.

"But it is simply a matter of reinventing themselves."

The other key to selling to Gen X is to drop the hype, he says: "They don't want hype, they don't want jargon. They just want you to tell it like it is."

Not that it always easy for companies to define what "it" is. Five years ago, for example, Coca-Cola test marketed a new drink called OK soda. The grey cans included such dismal slogans as "Don't be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything" and "What's the point of OK soda? Well, what's the point of anything?" It flopped.

Closer to home, any Gen Xer will tell you the most hilarious ad on TV right now is not the "bugger" ad, but the one trying to flog a drink called Top Secret.

Needless to say, it's not meant to be funny.

However, some advertisers have caught on. Sprite, for example, has seen sales soar since it changed its slogan from "I like the Sprite in You" to: "Image is Nothing. Thirst is Everything. Obey your thirst."

In Australia, boring old electronics company Phillips has revived its image by striking a deal with a funky young company called Attitude.

Phillips speakers now come with a sticker on them that carries the hip "With Attitude" message.

"The best way to get inside young people's heads is to employ them," urges McCrindle.

"Young people are happy to share what they feel with older people."

Too happy, you might think. But you'd be wrong again, he says. Another misconception, it seems, is that young people can't be told what they want.

"People say that it's the option generation, brought up on choices. But young people, like anyone, need direction.

"They're looking for someone who believes in their product or believes in what they're offering and says: `Let me give you some direction. Here is what you want. Even though you've already got something else, you need this'.

"If it's sincere and they can tell us why and it's pragmatic, it works."