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What is mobileYouth?
"I’ve been writing mobileYouth for 6 years now and it never ceases to encourage me that there is plenty more work to be undertaken."
"mobileYouth is both a study of the universe of young people and a guide to better develop and market products for these consumers. It’s all too easy to get lost in the technology, the non-sensical self-talk of the internet, mobile and media industries when sometimes the smallest things create the biggest leverage in customers satisfaction."
"Building dialogue and trust with young consumers through internal change."
Points of change typically revolve around:
-Building proactive dialogue with consumers rather than “listening”
-Change through adopting new internal language and semantics (e.g. dumping useless terms such as “killer applications”, “value chains”, “end users” etc in favour of “services”, “value networks”, “consumers”)
-Integrating the product development and marketing processes
-Creating consumer advocacy through establishing the company within the peer group
-Experimenting with youth as brand stakeholders
-Measuring internal performance and KPI through “lifetime customer value” rather than “net adds”
From Apple to Xerox
"We’ve been covering nearly 60 countries now since the project’s inception and it continues to grow, bringing on board new and exciting clients who we have the privilege of working with and learning from for the first time - from McDonald’s to Adidas to Apple to the European Commission. It doesn’t really get much better than that in terms of scope and scale for consumer insight."
What is it not?
-It’s worth noting that mobileYouth is not a study of technology. It’s principally a study of young consumers and, incidentally, how mobile technologies fit into and compliment their lifestyles. Readers expecting to see reams of “killer applications” and a business case for the adoption of MMS are often disappointed, because they’re trying to shoehorn the consumer needs into effectively shoes that don’t fit or don’t appeal. I’d rather they were disappointed with the research than their consumer loyalty figures.
mobileYouth is also not:
-It’s not for companies focused on young people. It’s for all companies who have consumers that are or were once young. As the modern consumer becomes less responsive to traditional marketing techniques and the digital age implies a greater premium on the trust between brand and audience, the importance of initiating a dialogue between the company and the consumer at an earlier stage cannot be overlooked.
-It’s not about trying to sell to young people. It’s about developing a lifelong dialogue with consumers young and old that starts when individuals become “consumers”. Yes, Harley Davidson has been phenomenally success in the last 20 years. Why? Because. like the mobile industry it rides the crest of a wave, constantly focusing on the needs of the customer with the deepest pockets rather than the greatest lifetime value. Harley’s wave comprises aging but cash-rich consumers. The average age of an owner is now 51. What will Harley do in 20 years when that hits 71? Riding the wave brings many benefits, but all waves die out, and with it your brand. It’s harder, yet more profitable in the long term to swim into the current.
-To be honest, it’s not all about mobile either. It’s about the mobile nature of young people more than anything, how we live in a changing world, yet their needs are fundamental and often timeless. Mobile touches so many aspects of our daily lives, we could not consider this project without also considering media, marketing, consumer loyalty and so on.
-It’s not about finding the “next big thing”. Long term success does not come in quick fixes. You won’t find us touting the equivalent of “The Secret” here. Unfortunately for those that would rather pick the lock than find the keys to success, it requires hard work and to some degree change and introspection. You can hire all the trend-spotters in the world and many of them are fantastic at what they do - namely identifying what piques your consumer interest, but they are unlikely to answer the why question. Yes, London youth today like to hang out and listen to Grime on their mobile phones but will this information help you identify what comes next? As Harry Beckwith said in “What Clients Love”, “we cannot predict the future, but we can predict what our customers love”. Studying these fundamental drivers of behaviour that shape the social domain provide insights into the motives behind apparent trends such as text messaging, Facebook etc."
Latest developments
"I write this page as of November 2007 a week before our first “mobileYouth workout”. Note, this isn’t a conference - but an opportunity for companies to come together with like minded individuals and the young consumers themselves to 'work out' the issues. What do they want? What do they think of our brand etc? It’s going to be a lot of fun, and very insightful. This is just the beginning of the second part of our mobileYouth journey - heading towards the full circle where workout and research fuel each other. Stay tuned."
Regards
Graham Brown
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Table of Contents
Media Fragmentation I:
Marketing & Branding for the youth market – Q3
Report 3 Media Fragmentation I: Marketing & Branding for the youth niche market – Q307
Answers to your questions
Overview
- Find out the characteristics of the new youth consumer: what is the psychology of consumption among youth today?
- Learn how to create marketing and branding responsive to the longtail of youth demand
Understand the role of mobile and how it can be used in the new commercial landscape
1 How has the relationship between youth consumption and identity changed over the decades, and what are the implications of this change for marketers and brands?
2 How can brands handle the onslaught of consumer criticism brought about by new media?
3 What do youth value in marketing? What consolidates youth loyalty with brands today?
4 What is “Advertising 2.0” and why is it so important for reaching youth?
5 What is the value of mobile in the new media landscape?
6 How do I launch an effective marketing campaign integrating mobile?
I) Reach vs. Relevance - Traditional vs. Digital Marketing?
* How is the change in consumer behaviour affecting marketers and brands?
- What are the characteristics of the new young consumer?
- What is youth’s attitude towards traditional advertising and new media?
* Reach vs. Relevance: How do you reach young consumers?
- Are the traditional ways of advertising still effective?
- How can you reach young consumers without disturbing them?
- Why are interactivity and relevance the 2 fundamental elements of effective advertising?
- How do you calculate an effective mix of media based on target audience, product type and message?
* What value can mobile offer to marketing campaigns?
- To what extent should mobile be integrated in traditional marketing campaigns?
- What are the benefits mobile marketing has to offer?
- What are the difficulties when implementing mobile marketing campaigns, and how can they be solved?
- How can you measure the effectiveness of your mobile marketing campaign?
II) Value Trade: What do Brands need to Offer Today’s Young Consumers?
* What do youth value in marketing?
* How can brands and marketers benefit from engaging with blogs, podcasting and social networks?
- How can communities create customer advocacy?
- Value Trade: Why do brands need to offer value to communities?
* What are the potential pitfalls when dealing with communities – and how can they be avoided?
- How do you deal with empowered and critical consumers?
- How can communities damage the image of a brand?
- What can we learn from cases like Kryptonite Locks?
III) Engagement Marketing – What are the 3 Steps to Creating Consumer Loyalty?
* Authenticity: How important is it to young consumers?
- Can authenticity be manufactured?
* What are the lifestyle benefits successful marketing has to offer consumers?
* How do you successfully integrate product development and marketing?
- What are the benefits of involving consumers?
- How can brands and advertisers use word-of-mouth and viral marketing?
- Can this approach also work on the mobile?
About Us
World Forum Group is a business development and knowledge share network of over 10,000 senior executives in 100 countries. The Forum is an invaluable source of relationships, opinions and credibility for the mobileYouth project.
About mobileYouth
mobileYouth has been World Forum Group’s flagship product since launch in 2001. The annual report sells in over 50 countries and has been featured on CNN, in the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal.
The mobileYouth team
Josh Dhaliwal, Head of Client Services
Josh co-founded Wireless World Forum having spent several years spent in broadcast television and new media. Josh is an occasional speaker and commentator on the subject of young people and mobile phones an area in which he has chaired several industry conferences as well as being a spokesperson for the media. His media credits include appearances on CNN, Sky News, BBC Breakfast News, Tonight with Trevor McDonald and BBC Radio.
Nadja Litschko, Research Consultant
Nadja has a Master in British Literature, Art History and Ethnology, and has been with Wireless World Forum since she arrived in the UK early in 2007. A native of Germany, Nadja looks forward to bringing you a great report in 2007.
Selena Hu, Marketing and Research Consultant
Selena joined the Wireless World Forum early in 2007 as Marketing and Research Consultant. Previous to that, Selena worked at a PR Company based in China for a photo exhibition for China Pavilion, which was held in Japan in 2005. Originally from China, She studied BA in Advertising & Mass Communication in Beijing and Msc in Corporate Communication & Public Affairs in Scotland. Selena is look forward to finding out what clients really want to know.
What do Clients say?
Xero Mobile
“I read the [mobileYouth] report from top to bottom, it was brilliant”
Avery Dennison
“We bought 30 reports when working on that project and mobileYouth was the best of the lot”
Comverse
“mobileYouth has deep psychological observations and great youth market analysis”
Tony Kypreos, International Vice President, T-Mobile
“We use Mobile youth extensively within International Marketing at T-Mobile as it is a consumer centric comprehensive report that effectively describes the desires, motivations and behaviours of this complex consumer segment to mobile as part of their overall lifestyle…[issues are] debated throughout a report offering valuable insights backed by robust quantitative analysis.
Harry Prabandham, Global Alliances Manager, Motorola Inc.
"The report gives us some unique insights into youth."
Tobias Freudenberg, Product Strategy Manager, AOL Deutschland
"We found the report very informative and have used the extensive data supplied"
Dusan Hamlin, Director, Carat International
"An excellent report! One that we have used again and again."
Caroline Dewing, Communications Manager, Vodafone
"mobileYouth has been very helpful in the development of Vodafone's approach to delivery of content in a responsible manner"
Matt Champion, Brand Advertising Director, Mediacom
"We have found the report to be an invaluable source of data and statistics that we have used again and again."
Nicolas Droulat, Senior Analyst, Bouygues Telecom
"We used the report to help us understand what products we should be focussing on in our youth offering."
Damien Brady, CEO, Extreme Mobile
"As always, an excellent report"
Daniel Bevis, Knowledge & Intranet Administrator, Leo Burnett
"A thoroughly informative and enjoyable read. I was particularly impressed with the deconstruction of perceptions of youth and fashion - very insightful - and the presentation of data is very accessible too."
For full details, please email keithw@cmsinfo.com
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