Baby Boomer Segmentation:

Equally different
All teens are not alike, and grouping them together could be
a roadmap for disaster. Take, for example, a typical eighth
grader compared with a college student. While Disney’s
“High School Musical” is all the rage for one, the other is
much more engaged by the latest drama on MTV’s “The
Real World.”
And don’t discount the hugely important gender differences.
Anybody with kids knows how different boys are from girls.
Therefore, when analyzing teens, boys and girls need to be
viewed separately. For example, girls believe that they are
more grown-up than boys, and spend their money on very
different things, such as jewelry and clothing, while boys’
interests trend toward games and electronics. However, both
spend money on music and movies, which increases as kids
shift from the 12–14 age bracket to the 15–17 one.
It is also important to realize that “what’s hot” can be
polarizing, because for each teen fad with adoring fans,
there is a subset of teens who simply hate it. Finding a teen
idol as a spokesperson for a brand could divide an audience.
For each loyal fan of Justin Timberlake, there is another
teen who simply abhors him. Interestingly, this love/hate
relationship seems to be more common with the “beautiful
people” than with stars like John Heder or Jack Black, who
garner more universal appeal.
Stay ahead of the curve
For the most part, young people take their cues from those
a few years older than themselves for trends. This may be
why the Harry Potter books and movies which feature teens
have their strongest appeal to younger children. Or why
movies with a PG-13 rating are more enticing to teens. Or
why Paris Hilton, who is in her mid-twenties, is a fashion
icon for many teenage girls.
Whether the new fashion is Crocs or Lacoste, whether the
latest video craze is Nintendo DS Lite or GameTap, you
can be sure of one thing: what’s hot today is not tomorrow.
Rather than focusing on what’s hot right now, it is more
important to develop tools and approaches to monitor and
anticipate changes.
For example, tap into the fickle world of teen trends by
checking out websites such as Billboard.com for the most
popular ringtones, which btw, as of this writing, is the
Nintendo Super Mario Brothers Theme by Koji Kondo, or
the hottest digital songs (Fergie’s London Bridge), or number
one album (the self-named Danity Kane), or top single
(Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack”). Another popular teen
website is MySpace.com, where teens connect with others,
blog, rank music, and much more.
Cash or credit
The fact of the matter is, teenagers represent a powerful
buying force in the U.S. market. According to the 2005
Roper Youth Report, kids are earning $29.20 per week, two
dollars more than in 2004, with 29% of their money coming
straight from parents. Chores (37%) and gifts (23%)
account for other popular sources of teen income. Nearly
one-third (30%) of 8–17-year-olds say they are involved in
making family purchase decisions, up four percentage points
from last year, as parents increasingly turn to their kids for
advice on what to buy. Teens also indicate that they influence
purchase decisions on everything from cell phone service
to the right cable provider.
For better or worse (probably the latter), teens are also
enamored by the magic of credit. According to the
Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, an educational
organization, nearly a third of high school seniors
reported having a credit card of their own or one co-signed
by a parent.
22 Fall/Winter 2006