GenDigital

Five Guidelines For Energized Youth Activation & Engagement

Over the course of the next three months we will be unveling select portions of our new youth marketing and strategy report entitled Energized Activation & Engagement. The impetus for this new offering was based upon two rather simple questions we ask our clients all of the time. Those questions are: "Do you really know who your consumers are and if so, do you know what they're up to?"

In the age of social media and digital everything one would safely assume it would be easier than ever for companies and brands to know more about their target consumer. The reality is that this is not the case for most. Breaking through all of the clutter and noise is turning out to be a heck of a lot more challenging than previously thought, while at the same time, the notion of media fragmentation and exclusive mindshare are equally as troublesome. Could it be possible that the openness of technology and the empowerment it offers has actually made it even more difficult to engage teens and college students. We believe this to be the case. We don't think there are many folks out there who would deny the belief that there are powerful shifts occurring in the physical and digital marketplaces. But with that said, is it that realistic to think that all of us can truly stay up to speed with this rapid pace of change?

This brings us to our first set of guidelines for energized youth activation and engagement. The guidelines are not representative of a secret sauce that promises to double your customer base in a year or double your GRPs. More importantly, the guidelines are not set in stone for an elongated period of time. Like everything else, they'll need to be updated and refreshed in order to remain relevant to the times we live in. The guidelines represent a pragmatic and extremely actionable approach that can be utilized and leveraged immediately enhancing both new and existing strategies and tactics.

Repetitive Authenticity - a universal commitment to honest and relevant communications

Specialized Personalization & Customization - establishing a menu of choice

Small Is Good - the drive for short and to the point messaging

Activate Utility - creation of useful, timely and relevant add-ons

Social Syndication - enablement for sharing, re-purposing and simple associations

You can learn more about the activation guidelines featured in this month's Insights report by heading over to the Youth Trends site.

Tween Online Life Highlights

The latest wave of Tweens Online has just been released. Suffice to say, they're a pretty interesting bunch and apparently a bunch that would prefer not to be left out of the social media game. Rules are rules...right? It's no secret that users need to be at least 13 years of age to be able to register for social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and others. And it certainly doesn't take an advanced tween to figure out all they need to do is fib their birth date by a year or two in order to successfully register. That said, according to the new wave of Tween Online Life, nearly one in four respondents (23% to be exact) said they had a profile page on Facebook, while about one in ten (9%) had a profile page on MySpace.

Beyond gaming the social media ecosystem, it's fair to say you can sum up the online habits of tweens in just one word. That one word is gaming. This is quite impressive - nearly nine in ten tweens regularly participate (once a month or more often) in some sort of online gaming whether it's casual online play, multi-player online play or console-based online play. This participation level is even more robust than tweens and blows away with what we see with the college segment. The reason is simple, gaming at its most basic level for tweens is almost gender neutral. The transition towards the male skew really doesn't begin until about age 13 or 14.

YouTube, ESPN, Google and AddictingGames are among the most popular and most visited sites among tween boys, while tween female favorites include YouTube, Disney, Yahoo and yes...Facebook. More than six in ten (62%) tweens said they streamed at least one video clip on YouTube during the past month while about one in six said they watched a TV show or movie for free on Hulu.

More highlights to follow shortly...

Follow Youth Trends "Lite" On Twitter

Over the next month we will be rapidly increasing the number of data-centric posts made to our Twitter account, which can be found here. Up until recently most of our Twitter posts centered on recent report releases or impactful youth-centric stories featured elsewhere around the web. Time for an upgrade...Our new Twitter jockey will be thematically posting data points and associated highlights from various YT reports that will ideally help tell a story we're trying to get across whether it's a tech-focused one or perhaps even something pro-social in nature. So, if you haven't already, go ahead and follow our latest musings on Twitter. Staying true to our mission: data in a vacuum is just another commodity. However, providing context and generating actionable insights are the real value and that's what were all about.

Speaking of insights, the Q1 wave of the College Top Ten List report is now available. We'll post a few select highlights from the quarterly pop culture "pulse" report shortly.

Most Socially Responsible Companies & Brands

Environmental and social responsibility continues to be a focal point for college students. Students are showing a greater commitment towards those brands that are continually improving and contributing to the social issues they care about most. For an increasing number of students, social consciousness plays a part in purchase intent and brand loyalty. While two thirds of students believe it's important for everyone to become more eco-friendly and aware of environmental issues about six in ten students say they're actually interested in purchasing more eco-friendly and sustainable products. Generally speaking, the definition of social responsibility can mean lots of different things to students. With that said, as a follow up to last year's social responsibility Immersion we asked students once again to tell us what social responsibility means to them. Moreover, we also asked students to tell us who they thought the three most socially responsible companies and brands were.

Top Characteristics Of Socially Responsible Behaviors:

Eco-friendly/"green" practices - 84%

Ethical/responsible business practices - 73%

Charitable contributions/philanthropy - 71%

Community outreach - 56%

Hiring/labor practices - 47%

Most Socially Responsible Companies & Brands (First Mention)

1. Ben & Jerry's - 16%

2. Burt's Bees - 12%

3. Coca-Cola - 10%

4. Starbucks - 8%

5. Whole Foods Market - 7%

6. Patagonia - 6%

7. Kashi - 4%

8. Stonyfield Farm - 4%

9. Timberland - 3%

10. Seventh Generation - 3%

February '11 Insights Report Highlights: Spring Break & Mobile

The February 2011 edition of Insights is now available. This month we take an in-depth look at the upcoming Spring Break travel season. This year a record number of students will be traveling during the month of March. Of the 48% of student travelers nearly seven in ten are headed to domestic destinations while the remaining 32% will travel abroad. Somewhat surprisingly, the top domestic Spring Break destination this year is not located in the state of Florida or even California for that matter. The other feature in this month's Insights report is entitled Mobile's Rising Tide, an examination and analysis of three key macro themes prevailing in a world of portable connected devices. Lately, teens and college students have been snatching up a new generation of portable connected devices faster than you can say "friend me." Clearly this shift in purchase behavior and associated usage will have marked changes in the months to come.

College Digital & Mobile Life Highlights: Facebook Mobile

A few mobile-related tidbits from the recently released College Digital & Mobile Life report looks at the explosive growth of Facebook Mobile. First off, mobile Internet access among students has more than doubled over the past two years as nearly three in four students accessing the Internet using their mobile phones during a typical month. That alone is pretty impressive, albeit expected in these times. Among the 72% of students who regularly access the mobile Internet, a whopping 92% access Facebook from their mobile devices compared to about six in ten just a year ago. Now that's hockey stick growth for you. Facebook Mobile activities tend to mirror the same activities students partake in when they're accessing from their computer although a few stick out, namely link sharing and status updates. The top Facebook Mobile activities include:

- read status updates

- view photos

- write status updates

- upload/share photos

- add friends

- post/share links

- like something

- chat

- plan/organize events

College Digital & Mobile Life: Fall 2010

We've just released the topline findings for the latest wave of College Digital & Mobile on the Youth Trends site. The report is a thorough examination of all things digital and mobile-related from basic measurements like how much time students are spending online each week to more granular data points like the percentage of students who are actively using Netflix to stream movies. You can check out the table of contents here. College Digital & Mobile Life is a key component of the broader comprehensive College Lifestyle report we release twice a year. What are the hot tech and mobile products and services students are yearning for? Why are smartphone users so much different than feature phone users? All questions can be answered with the latest installment College Digital & Mobile Life. Be sure to check it out...

How About Those Superfans!

Our latest research shows that approximately one in six teens and college students can be classified as "superfans" of at least one TV show. The notion of a superfan is defined as those individuals who not only regularly watch a TV series live, but also re-watch episodes online, on-demand, on their DVRs as well as connect with shows (and their characters) via social media. The implications for advertisers are significant as opportunities to connect and ultimately create a dialogue with this special segment of fans go well beyond on-air messaging. For content producers, TV networks and their distributors, superfans can represent the foundation of an integrated social media strategy. Not surprisingly, these superfans are also among the heaviest consumers of entertainment content across a variety of categories. From the perspective of superfans, it's a validation in some respects as they feel a personal connection to a show or a character in the show coupled with a certain level of enthusiasm to talk with others.

Top 5 Superfan TV Shows:

1. True Blood (HBO)
2. Jersey Shore (MTV)
3. Glee (FOX)
4. The Office (NBC)
5. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)

2011 Youth Macro Trends & Predictions

Out with the old and in the new. With 2011 now in the horizon, we're pleased to present our annual Youth Macro Trends & Predictions report for the coming year as well as revisit a handful of trends and topics from last year's report to see how they've played out over the course of this year. Instead of providing an esoteric and rather exhaustive list of trends, the main objective with Youth Macro Trends & Predictions is to provide actionable views that have multiple implications across various industries and product categories. Ultimately, there should be something in this report for everyone. That something will hopefully result in a conversation starter, a strategy re-visit and an indelible edge on the why behind the what when it comes to all things youth-culture related. You can view the table of contents here

Where Did The Youth Vote Go?

There are lot of juicy words that can be used to describe yesterday's mid-term elections. Candidates spent a record amount of money advertising their messages across the air waves while the cable news networks featured non-stop coverage. Moreover, let us not forget about Facebook and the crucial role it played in the '08 elections. Yet, according to our Youth Trends Instant Feedback survey conducted yesterday with 858 college students between the ages of 18 and 23, only about one in ten (8%) said they planned on voting. This is in stark contrast to the 27% who said they voted in the '08 elections. What the heck happened? In two words: "turn-off." The single largest reason given to us by students who said they were not planning on voting yesterday was that they were essentially turned off either by the candidates, or more generally speaking politics in general. Although about four in ten students said they still support the president, about half said they felt he could be doing "a better job." Hmm, where did all that hope, enthusiasm and excitement go? With an ever growing list of supporting voter assets students can turn to via Facebook, foursquare, campus-specific, etc. planned voting still dropped precipitously. Incoming congressmen and governors take note, based on what we've observed, most college students pretty much think you're lame.