Captivating Connections.

are teens more traditional than we thought?

"The research firm Forrester conducted a survey in which it asked thousands of European teenagers about their media use patterns.

The results, published this month, portray a generation that, in some ways, is more traditional than some media executives might fear. And it seems that Morgan Stanley’s intern, Matthew Robson, is out of sync with the mainstream of European teenagers in a few of his media preferences.

Mr. Robson, for example, maintained that teenagers were watching less television because of the rise of online video services like the BBC’s iPlayer, which provides British viewers with a week’s worth of scheduled TV programming via the Internet.

Actually, according to the Forrester study, European teenagers still spend more time watching television than they do with any other medium — 10.3 hours a week, on average. That compares with 9.1 hours on personal — rather than work- or school-related — use of the Internet.

Perhaps more surprisingly, according to the report, 12- to 17-year-old Europeans appear to spend considerably less time on the Internet than people 18 and older, who are online 11.4 hours a week — again, not counting professional or academic use.

And what about the idea that teenagers are inseparable from their virtual friends on social networks? Only 41 percent of European teenagers visit social networks at least once a week, according to the study."

feel motivated (or like a total slacker).

Looking for some inspiration?

Check out TechCrunch's list of 'Ten Teen Entrepreneurs To Watch', including Ashley Qualls (WhateverLife) and Patrick DeVivo (Youth Bloggers Network).

Thanks, Kimberly, for sending this!

it's all about mom.

"In these tight times, teen-clothing retailers are focusing on their core clientele: moms.

Aeropostale is designing new stores with wider aisles to accommodate parents with strollers and more seats to keep them in the store longer. Aeropostale staff also is exhorted to "TTM," or target the mom.

Buckle Inc. is offering personal-shopping appointments outside of store hours to work around parents' schedules. Old Navy is slanting its assortment to stress value as much as glamour.

Aeropostale

'You need to make that mom feel comfortable, because ultimately she's writing the check,' says Richard Jaffe, managing director of apparel and softlines retail at brokerage firm Stifel Nicolaus & Co. "She is the one who is responding to the economic uncertainty, the employment uncertainty."

Stores that attract school-age shoppers have always had to balance the dueling interests of the teen who wears their merchandise and parents who foot the bill. Historically, retailers have gone after the former, relying on teens to persuade their parents to make the purchase. But as the economy stifles consumer spending and crimps kids' budgets, retailers are re-emphasizing their mom-appeal.

'We're cognizant of the mom and the impact that that mom has,' says Tom Johnson, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Aeropostale, a New York teen retailer that has built its brand around the dynamic of parents shopping with their kids. Mr. Johnson says meeting her needs 'is critical to our success.'"

Here's the thing though...at that age, haven't moms (or dads!) ALWAYS had the final word by choosing to withhold the allmighty credit card? At least that's how it was for me when I was a teen. Maybe that's how I learned how to be a marketer, or at least tweak my powers of persuassion...sorry Dad (for all those times you were stuck bored at in clothing store listening to me argue the merits of why I just HAD to have that pair of jeans or boots, as well as the laundry list of reasons why they were savvy, smart purchases that YOU should feel good about!).

how do teens define health?

Ever wonder what the idea of “healthy” really means to teens?

 

According to Nielsen, 92 percent percent of teens aged 13-17 say that health and a healthy lifestyle are important and when asked to give themselves a ‘health report card,’ 76 percent of teens gave a grade of B- or higher.

 

‘While this self-awareness of how they rate their healthy living seems to contradict statistics on
child and teen obesity published by the CDC and other agencies, it shows that there is a foundation
or predisposition for turning awareness into actual healthy lifestyle patterns,’ said Steve Seraita, Executive Vice President, Scarborough Research.”

 

So how do teens go about getting their health information? It may not be where you think:

 

“Using the internet is an integral part of teen activity, but it ranks second as a source for where teens go for health information. 63 percent of teens say that when they have questions about health or nutrition, they seek out their parents or guardians, while half turn to the internet. In both cases, girls are more likely to use either source. Seriata notes that healthcare social marketing efforts designed to reach teens might have an even greater impact if their parents were targeted as well.”

about teens (by a teen).

Here's yet another reason nobody should ever dismiss today's youth:

"A research note written by a 15-year-old...has become the talk of middle-aged media executives and investors.

Morgan Stanley’s European media analysts asked Matthew Robson, one of the bank’s interns from a London school, to describe his friends’ media habits. His report proved to be 'one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen. So we published it,' said Edward Hill-Wood, head of the team."

The 'kid' even got an invite to Sun Valley, where "Mr Robson set out a sobering case that tomorrow’s consumers are using more and more media but are unwilling to pay for it.

'Teenagers do not use Twitter,' he pronounced. Updating the micro-blogging service from mobile phones costs valuable credit, he wrote, and 'they realise that no one is viewing their profile, so their tweets are pointless'.

His peers find it hard to make time for regular television, and would rather listen to advert-free music on websites such as Last.fm than tune into traditional radio. Even online, teens find advertising 'extremely annoying and pointless'.

Their time and money is spent instead on cinema, concerts and video game consoles which, he said, now double as a more attractive vehicle for chatting with friends than the phone.

Mr Robson had little comfort for struggling print publishers, saying no teenager he knew regularly reads a newspaper since most 'cannot be bothered to read pages and pages of text' rather than see summaries online or on television."

You can find the full report here.

how you should reach teens.

Looking to figure out how to reach teens with your message?

According to the “Teen Advertising Study” by Fuse Marketing and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, 45% of US teen Internet users were heavy users of the Web.

Thirty-eight percent characterized themselves as average users, and 16% were light users.

Teen Web users were active users of online media—90% used e-mail, 83% watched online video and 72% were social networkers.

Authors of the survey wrote that the most effective ad content for reaching teens had 'people like me enjoying the product' and humor.

Least effective were ads that caused an emotional response or '“personal interaction' with an ad.

Teens’ acceptance of ads varied by media platform.

Sponsorship of live events enjoyed the highest level of ad acceptance among teens, followed by TV, radio, print and online."

11 screens per kidlet? is that even possible?

According to new NPD research, it's only going to get harder to reach already super-distracted kids ages 4-14 (ok, so really it's kids, tweens and teens!):

"Kids age 4-14 are glued to cell phones, digital music players, laptop computers and videogame consoles more than ever before, according to a study released by the NPD Group.

While television and computers remain the top two electronics devices used by kids, those in the study's age bracket own, on average, 11 of the devices that were measured in the report, reflecting just how many screens are competing for their attention.

Indeed, kids are viewing so many screens now that they have to allot how much of their time is spent using each device. In the past, the big decision for kids was which one device to adopt.

There's no sign of the trend reversing anytime soon, the research org said, considering that one-third of parents plan to buy a consumer electronics device for their child in the coming year. Those include everything from educational learning toys for younger kids to cell phones and digital cameras for the tween and teen set.

The report also found that computers are being shared less by families and that more kids now possess their own laptops."

That's a lot to be competing with!

teens & clothing shopping.

Teens seem to be the latest demo the press seems to be focusing on when looking at how the recession is impacting different people. New research looks at teen spending...

"While the comparable-store sales declines of leading teen retailers have been telling a mostly dismal tale for months now, Piper Jaffray's new 'Taking Stock With Teens' survey pretty much confirms it: Among the 8,100 teens surveyed, with a median age of 16.7 years, spending on clothes is down 19%.

A bigger surprise, however, is that they are actually spending more on shoes -- a 9% increase, according to the 17th semiannual survey, and 8% more on accessories. In fact, shoes are hot: 'Footwear posted the strongest year-over-year and sequential results at a 4% and 21% gain respectively,' the Minneapolis-based brokerage firms says in its report -- 'an indication that the strong footwear cycle, particularly relative to the weakness in apparel, continues for the youth demographic.'

Overall, teen spending fell 14%. 'The decrease in spending leads us to believe that the economy is forcing parents and teens to cut back on spending across the board,' the report adds. 'Teens and their parents are still buying new clothes, footwear and accessories, but are more selective and increasingly price-conscious. This will force retailers to discount prices and offer unique promotions to keep a steady flow of spending until the economy improves.'"

A bit of good news was that among parents, who were also surveyed, the spending decline seems to have stabilized, and 2009 spring levels appear to be slightly ahead of last year. In this survey, parents say they spend $915 on clothes for their teens annually. And while that has dropped from $1,085 last fall, it's also above the $883 average in the survey last spring.

teen mindset shift impacting mall culture.

When I was a teen (yea yea, get all your "what, you mean last week?" comments out now), my friends were all about hitting certain stores for specific brands. It was a long time before recession chic. Granted, I was never all that particular, as long as it looked good, but I specifically remember one friend turning me around to look at the label on the back of my jeans once. Ah, suburbia.

ANYWAYS, it looks like (FINALLY!!) teens are getting over label lust for a more practical sensibility...

"This spring, spending by teenagers, a closely studied but rarely understood segment of the population, is off by 14 percent, a direct reflection of the economy, according to a report this month by the investment bank Piper Jaffray. And that is having a profound effect on an already unraveling mall culture, where deep discounters and stores known for heavy promotions are suddenly the popular destinations and aspirational brands are struggling to fit in.

Teenagers are noticing. 'Labels are becoming less and less of a priority for people throughout my school,'said Chelsea Orcutt, 17, a senior at the Mount Saint Mary Academy near Buffalo, where the Walden Galleria shopping center includes all of the above-mentioned stores, plus many more options for teenagers who favor a sunny West Coast surfer style or those who prefer a goth ensemble to highlight their black nail polish and lipstick. Ms. Orcutt, a bit less casual in her personal style, favors Macy's, Old Navy and American Eagle, which, she pointed out, keep teen budgets in mind."

Therefor, it sucks to be a brand like Abercrombie (who was ridiculously priced when I was a teen, which was, like I said, back in the day):

"To maintain its prestigious image, Abercrombie has stood alone among mall retailers in not blaring its sales — a strategy that Wall Street analysts have blamed for its current decline. The company reported a 34 percent drop in sales for March at stores open at least a year, the worst performance of mall retailers that month. Abercrombie executives did not respond to written questions about whether the brand — as some business columnists suggest — has lost its cool. In the past, the chain has said it doesn’t want to tarnish its image with big discounts, but the risk is that consumers may retain the habit of thriftiness even after the recession ends."

doing it for the kidlets.

Movie studios are quickly learning that, these days, they need to bank on kidlets to fill seats, not grown ups...

"Pricey, star-driven thrillers and dramas will struggle for profitability as the recession intensifies a trend toward youth-dominated movies that can open big...Older demographics may be resisting the recent enthusiasm for moviegoing. Certainly it's been months since anything has caught fire at the art houses.

But it's the ill-fated outings of studios' highest-profile adult fare that has stirred the most concern.

'Not as many adults are going to the movies because of the recession,' a highly placed studio executive lamented. 'More and more, it's the kids who come out and support the pictures over opening weekend, and not as much the older adults.'"

It's interesting, because there was recently an article about how movie ticket sales are up but DVD sales are down. We've also seen plenty of talk about the 'cost per entertainment hour' and how people are staying in and entertaining more at home. Tweens and teens, though, by nature, while they may be more comfortable staying in, still have the 'go out' itch. Movies may be expensive (I seriously spent $34 last weekend for my friend and I all in!), but, in comparison to eating out or going shopping with money they dont have/want to spend, maybe this makes more sense than we initially thought.