Understanding the new youth intelligence

Specialist HDI Youth Marketers new MD, Jason Levin, was introduced to the media yesterday, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, by founder and CEO of HDI, Liesl Loubser, who has handed over the MD position to Levin in order to focus on innovation and international expansion.

For the past 12 years, HDI (starting out as HotDogz Inc) has led South African brands in understanding the youth market (kids aged 6-12; teens aged 13-18 and young adults aged 19-23). The company has restructured recently to focus on new opportunities, expanded research into the market, international clients such as Cartoon Network and own branded platforms and client platforms for experiential activations.

'Classic' brands

In creating brands with youth appeal, the quest is to create an icon and avoid fads, short-lived crazes or even becoming a staple brand (which is a non-brand as they are commoditised), explains Levin. “You really want to be a classic brand, i.e., like Coke. That is the quest of youth marketers.”

In the increasing minefield of legislation in marketing to the youth, marketers are running scared and have conflicting information on what is allowed and what is not allowed these days. Coupled with the increasing power of the Internet and social media in engaging with the youth - which brands only operating in the traditional media space are finding more fraught - there seems to be a massive generational gap appearing between marketers and their youth consumers, their consumers of tomorrow. This is particularly the case among marketers in South Africa. And with 52% of the population under the age of 25 years currently, this is without a doubt the market to reach in the near future, even if your brand is not specifically a youth brand - start building loyalty in advance.

HDI's credo is its belief in three things: SA, marketing and the youth. “That is non-negotiable in our business. You can't mess kids around because you're trying to promote brands.”

Levin goes on to say that the degree of “filtering sophistication” of brands by young people is extremely far advanced and reaching them is getting more difficult - marketers have to engage differently.

Community power

Internationally we have seen a fundamental power shift in brands no longer pushing information to consumers and looking for points of engagement with them rather. But, as Levin says, it's taking a while for the local marketing community to start realising the rise of power of communities which now decide whether or not to “allow your brand in” and the incredible power for your brand when such communities embrace it, instead of ignoring it, or even worse, slamming it.

“Lots of the DNA of HDI already supports that approach... how you build communities. The sophisticated urban youth in South Africa see through crap advertising. They are not easily duped. And big blue chip multinationals are fully aware of it and developing many experiential (brand) properties that add value to your life, i.e., MyCokeFest - it is not just an event, but a broader strategy of forming communities.

“We believe in platforms - some we co-own and manage. But much of our future-focused work will be on creating platforms that live beyond a single brand activation. There is the long term benefit to brands,” Levin pointed out.

The prevailing paradigm in South Africa is the push by marketers of information to fairly passive consumers. Consumers here are used to being spoken to by brands. But the shift, being experienced internationally already, will happen first in young people, Levin emphasises. “Young people are far ahead of that curve, more so than adults and the new brand shift that HDI is poised to take advantage of... are these consumer communities led by the youth.”

New youth intelligence

Loubser goes on to explain that the youth have a new intelligence - this multi-tasking intelligence brought on by their exposure to new media, the Internet, gadgetry, social media networks on their mobile phones, etc, that adults who remember life before TV, before the personal computer and before email and cellphones and the Internet, are battling with. It's not in our DNA, we have to learn it. For young people exposed to it from birth, it is more natural.

“They are engaging in a different way. Marketers are battling to understand their way of life. We need to understand what the driver is for young people. Retailers and banks need to look at the cellphone category to understand how to adapt to doing business with young people. It is nothing to do with competitors in your own industry any longer. Marketers need to understand the ultimate issues kids are faced with.

Loubser added: “Even owning the status symbol isn't all that important anymore, and in South Africa where kids can't afford much of the bling brands, they are finding other ways of standing out. They are much more demanding of entertainment brands. The youth are part of the experience economy, and that is what they expect. We are also seeing a trend of best of best, or cheapest. There are many brands who find themselves in the middle and that is a dangerous place to be.”

Levin said marketers needed to be reminded that the youth today's entire framework of experience in business contracts and engaging with brands in a big way is based on what they get from cellphone providers, i.e., free stuff, discounts. So they don't want to open a bank account where they get no interest and have to give up what money they have to service charges, for example. Levin says brands like financial services and banks are going to have to rise to the challenge.

“We are still stuck in the paradigm of brand power vs consumer power. And it can't last much longer than five years, because in five years time, the youth today are our consumers.”

The brands

HDI run several key brand surveys and projects each year:

• Its biggest annual study is Generation Next with Sunday Times (due out 25 May 2008). It's the biggest and most robust study done among urban youth in SA. Three thousand are surveyed.
  
• Khuza Awards. Youth communication awards for youth advertising.
  
• Youth Consumer Board. Teach youth South African youth on consumer rights. Reaches 10 000 school goers.
  
• Youth University. Package of six insight engines to help marketers get it all to know about young SA. First ‘youth marketing school' for the local industry.
  
• Savvy is a counterpart of Youth University and is a whole move for young people understanding brands - the first youth consciousness programme. The long term goal is to make young South Africans aware and conscientise them about brands and advertising. Partners include Department of Education, South African National Consumer Union, ASA, ICASA, Media Monitoring Project, and more.

HDI action properties:

1. Kellogg's Star in U Kids Awards - best youth celebs. Includes a carefully constructed EQ programme rollout in schools.
   
2. Cartoon Network - pitched to be concept partner for experiential idea generation for Cartoon Network worldwide.
   
3. Pick n Pay School Club - big schools programme nationwide. Each brand partner picks an area of interest and HDI produces a workbook which goes through teacher trainers to deliver material to schools across a variety of themes.
   
4. Imali Matters: a first in financial literacy. It's the first consumer literacy programme employing celebrities and accelerated learning techniques for the youth.
   
5. Skool's Out funstuff - first bank-media sponsored matric bash. Putting brands in front of youth people to provide year end party. The intention is to make this a long running brand loyalty programme and not just a once-off activation.
   

Looking ahead to 2008, HDI has split into two new business units: a full inhouse research team and new inhouse creative agency.