Branding for Russian youth

First of all, at young age consumers begin their acquaintance with brands and start absorbing messages about product benefits and characteristics. It is "the entry point" for most products. Secondly, young people are highly oriented towards prestigious consumption and are very responsive to brand communication. Besides, youth's lifestyle is becoming more and more a reference point for consumption culture in a modern society.

However, marketing to youth presents its difficulties. With a generation gap between marketers and the young group they are trying to reach, the marketing experts have very little information available about this group. Participation of children in market research is restricted, and teenagers often display insufficient command of language to express their thoughts and feelings correctly. Besides, at teen ages, they tend to conform to various stereotypes and clichés, which makes it difficult for researchers to access their real needs and aspirations. Even supposing the above challenges can be overcome, youth is a very dynamic, rapidly changing consumer segment requiring constant observation.

ACNielsen has employed qualitative and ethnographic research techniques to explore the latest youth lifestyles, values and consumption patterns and how these influence the young consumers' attitudes to brands. What kind of message should a modern brand convey to draw the attention of the youth?

Eight mini-group discussions and four in-home interviews were conducted with adolescents aged 18-23, in the cities of Moscow and Samara in Russia. In addition, seven experts in the subject were interviewed, including a university lecturer, a DJ, a producer of radio programs for younger listeners, a fitness trainer, the editor of a youth magazine, a sociologist, and a music publisher/musician.

The results of this study proved that communication with peers is what young people value most in their lives. They want to be attractive, they seek friendship, love, understanding and respect from their peers. Attaining a high social status, high income and independence were also featured among significant values. Another group of values was the need for self-actualization, creativity and self-expression. However, communication and socializing is much more a priority. As far as creativity is concerned, even the closest personal dimension - creating their own home environment - evokes little interest. Those who said they lived apart from their parents, confessed that their apartment location, type and interior were mainly the result of their parents' effort.

It is an interesting fact that respondents stressed their communication needs in the first place. Usually, these priorities are more characteristic of teen ages, while people between 18-23 years old are supposed to think primarily of independence and professional development. This slight delay in "growing up" could be due to the relative economic well-being established now in Russia. "It is a well known fact that the more prosperous the society, the longer the childhood," says Papanthymou. The reluctance of the young to think about work may also be partly attributed to the return of the traditional Russian belief that labour is a routine and a dull necessity. After the splash up in career pursuit by young people in the '90s, youth would again rather have everything ready-served. Respondents hardly mentioned work during the interviews. Their references to job were mostly associated with the result of a career, rather than the process of obtaining professional experience. "I want to be a boss and earn a lot of money" was a typical expression with all the respondents. Many of them recognize the necessity of education to achieve the desired social status, however treat it as a formality - the diploma is seen more important than knowledge.

The need in communication essentially determined their leisure activities, which were discovered to be various types of group activities like picnics, eating out, partying, clubbing, going to concerts, sport clubs, going for a walk with friends or shopping.

Consumption of goods is considered as a way to demonstrate belonging to a particular social group. Mobile phones, clothes & shoes, beer, audio and video electronics were cited the most relevant categories of products for that purpose. Additionally, for females it is cosmetics and perfumes, for males - computers and peripherals. Cars were often named as the symbol of personal and social success.

To reveal the adolescents' perception of brands, ACNielsen researchers asked them to position various brand names along two axes - "for youth vs for other groups" and "stylish vs ordinary". The way the young people put the brands on this imaginary map reveals the importance of new products for them. Some brands fell into the quadrant of "stylish" and "for youth" simply because they were new in the market! On the contrary, a brand targeted at young people may be considered "adult" due to its long presence.

The description of an ideal youth brand is in tune with the respondents' description of the ideal self. This finding confirms the fact that the emotional components of the brand's image and the social implications of the particular product are much more important that the product's functional benefits.