The Middle East is one of the youngest regions in the world in terms of its population, with around 60 percent of its inhabitants under 24 – a demographic gold mine for marketers. But with Arab society in flux and market research in short supply, the youth segment remains an enigma. Advertisers who try to speak the language of the young often find their efforts falling on deaf ears.
Last year, Communicate’s annual youth marketing report highlighted the need for more insightful research into the habits of youth – and, perhaps more importantly, the psychology behind these habits. For this year’s report, we commissioned some research of our own.
Our survey, conducted by Dubai-based youth marketing agency Out of Bounds, asked 200 Arab secondary-school and university students from nine countries (split evenly between male and female) to choose their favorite brands. We also asked them to name their least favorite brands – and to give their reasons for making both choices. The results certainly make for interesting reading.
Particularly in the GCC, there’s a huge group of media- and marketing-savvy kids, teens and young adults with money to burn. And lots of it. Our survey results are probably skewed toward more affluent young Arabs, since half the respondents – including many who are not UAE nationals – are based in Dubai.
There are signs that cultural conditions play a significant role in determining which brands local kids want to purchase, interact with or dream about owning. Most young Arabs live at home until they are married, which may explain the presence of old-school household names like Dettol and Lifebuoy – probably purchased by parents – on the list of least favorite brands.
Yet it’s also clear that our respondents share many universal traits with all young people. Bryan Urbick, CEO and president of the UK-based ConsumerKnowledgeCenter, says there are certain “drivers” that all youth around the world share, regardless of their cultural environment. Urbick will be speaking at “Generation Y,” a youth marketing forum taking place in Dubai on June 24-28.
These universal drivers are: control (kids want to be in charge of themselves and their immediate environment), aspiration (they want to be treated as older than they are – to be addressed as equals, rather than talked down to) and a stated desire to experience excitement and stretch boundaries.
FAMILIARITY WITH A TWIST
The last one – kids’ professed desire to experience something new – is the trickiest. Urbick stresses the difference between what youths say they want and what they actually want. Most kids suffer from neophobia, or a fear of the new. So brands mustn’t go too far.
“It varies by category,” he says, “but very often you’ll say, ‘Try this.’ And they’ll say, ‘No. I won’t like it.’ And you’ll say, ‘Well, how do you know you won’t like it?’ And they’ll say, ‘Because I’ve never had it before.’… This is very important in the food world, for example, but it plays a role in lots of other aspects of children’s behavior.
“They learn to outgrow neophobia in many situations. As kids get into their teens, they sort of grow out of it, but even adults are neophobic at times, so it’s not something that ever goes away completely,” he continues. “But that’s why it’s important you see creating excitement and stretching boundaries as a stated desire for something new and different. Kids say they want that, but actually they want familiar with a twist.''
This need for a blend of familiarity and novelty, he says, is at the heart of our respondents’ choices of both their favorite and least favorite brands.
For instance, CNN is vilified for its perceived anti-Arab slant. Yet it turns out that a large portion of the respondents who named it as one of their least favorites have hardly ever seen it. What they’ve been told by family and friends has formed an impression already, and the perception sticks in part because they’re not ready to try something new.
SMALL STEPS
Nokia’s recent resurgence of cool can be attributed to the company’s marketing of its N-series models, which created aspiration for the brand by addressing the need for “familiarity with a twist.”
“[Nokia] has used innovation to create excitement and stretch boundaries. But you’ll notice something very clever about how it works. It’s not such a huge innovation that everybody doesn’t get it,” Urbick says. “It’s small steps.”
It may seem like a simple formula for success. But Urbick stresses that it’s difficult to get it right.
“What very often happens is that brands forget they have to keep the excitement alive, and then they don’t do any activities,” he says. “If a 15-year-old likes something, then a 12-year-old – because of aspiration – wants it too. But if that brand stops talking to the 15-year-old, he’ll only see the 12-year-old liking it and he’ll think it’s for little kids, so he’ll grow out of it.” Before you know it, the 12-year-old doesn’t want it anymore, either.
Happily for agencies, there’s an obvious way of addressing the need for reinvention. “Promotions can play a role to add excitement,” says Urbick. “You don’t change your product, but you add promotions to keep young people interested, for example.”
Marketing innovations would have the same effect too. It helps if your product’s good, of course, but if your marketing’s great, you’re on the right track.
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