Teens the newest
marketing frontier

An isle magazine exec says
advertisers are seeking business
from the under-18 group

Teens rolling in dough

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By Erika Engle
Star-Bulletin

HAWAII TEENS ON THE GO magazine editor Norisse Jastillana is on to something. It's the latest niche market -- teenagers.

Jastillana was a featured speaker at the International Association of Business Communicators monthly luncheon meeting yesterday, where she talked about spending habits and brand loyalty facts that would have most any advertiser salivating. For example:

>> Teenagers spent $98 billion of their own and their parents' money in 1999.

>> An estimated 86 percent of teens receive money from parents when they ask for it.

>> Teenagers spend an estimated $12.7 billion a year at fast food restaurants

>> More than 20 percent have access to a credit card.

"The teen market has long been undervalued," said Hawaii Teens on the Go media consultant Jan Nagano.

For example, when researching a story on cell phone plans for teenagers for the magazine's March/April issue, Jastillana found most national providers running specials, but only one, AT&T, advertising a cell phone plan designed specifically for teenagers.

The tricky part is, according to KDDB 102.7 FM program director and disk jockey Leo Baldwin, the teenage demographic also likes what's new, cool and trendy.

Advertisers want their brand name to crop up first in a customer's mind, and for that customer to make that brand their first choice in purchasing decisions. It's more challenging to build brand loyalty among a fickle group, but not impossible, Baldwin said.

Baldwin said the pop group 'NSync sold 2.4 million copies of a new CD within one week of its release, and that those sales were buoyed by girls buying five or six copies to help the boy-band break sales records.

Britney Spears, he said, recently signed a $50 million endorsement contract with Pepsi to promote its product to teenagers, showing that the soft drink maker is among those who realize the potential impact of the teen demographic.

Leo said while the radio format he launched in November of last year is aimed at 18- to 34-year-old women, the station started out its marketing efforts at local high schools, giving away T-shirts, bumper stickers, "anything with our logo on it, to get our name out there."

He said it is those teens who "control the radio listening in the car," drawing knowing chuckles from around the Plaza Club meeting room.

Teens also drive radio airplay demand at night on stations such as KDDB and Leo said the station targets the female demographic in part because of its spending habits. He offered the comparison between a teenage male's bedroom and a teenage girl's bedroom.

The latter, he said, would likely be full of posters of the artists, and other related lifestyle purchases.

Oceanic Communications Local Sales Manager Kendall Char said an entire niche of the population has yet to be tapped, and held up the latest issue of the trade publication Broadcasting and Cable magazine. The banner headline refers to "Tykes, Tweens and Teens."

He said there are several musts for effectively reaching the youth market.

"It's all about connectivity," he said, "to everything, access to radio, the Internet, everything."

He said teens in Hawaii have some 134 choices of entertainment from cable networks, where during his youth "there were, what, three networks -- tape delayed -- we had no choice."

The range of choices of entertainment and activities, coupled with increased disposable income, Char said, have contributed to making teenagers more sophisticated as consumers than their parents were at that age.

Oceanic has issued "club cards," for children, teens and adults, and is looking at a retooling of the MyTV card it issues to teen-agers. He said companies targeting the youth market must carefully consider marketing images and alliances.

"It's about substance, not just style," he said.

Teens rolling in dough Some statistics about the teenage market, from Hawaii Teens on the Go editor Norisse Jastillana: >> More than half influence household purchases of video games, sports equipment and travel. >> Teenagers encourage parents to buy preferred brands, especially gifts. >> About 14 percent have access to a department store charge card. >> 16- to 17-year-olds spend an average of $101 per week. >> 12- to 15-year-olds spend an average of $62 per week. >> Close to 75 percent of young women shop for family groceries. >> Nearly one out of 10 people in the United States is between the ages of 12 and 17, and the age group is growing faster than the 18 to 34 year old demographic. The teen population is expected to grow by 7 percent over the next decade.