What drives young customers?

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* Build a business case for the $500bn youth market
* Turn customers into fans
* Identify and measure word of mouth
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signuppic-rsz_mobileyouthimg_2868 “Thank you for sharing this, it is one of the most insightful analysis I’ve read recently. Will share it with my colleagues” – Ioana Ban, Market Research Analyst at Vodafone

Why are Facebook Fans not real Fans?

May 20, 2013 by
Without fans you are nothihng

“How do we get more fans?”

It’s one of the most popular questions people shoot me in response to reading our newsletter.

Fans are a core composite of the successful modern brand. If you look at brands that regularly feature as the most profitable in their category you’ll find a list of brands with very strong fan bases.

My answer is a hackneyed version of the old adage: “know the why and the how will work itself out.” So, the purpose of this article is to help you find out about the drivers behind fans, how they make brands and what you can do about it.

  continue reading...

Is it time to rethink customer segmentation?

May 13, 2013 by

Last week we established 3 reasons why youth are important to your business. Now you have the business case, how do you start to manage the youth market?

Before we jump into segmentation, let’s first look at youth market. A good a places as any is to start with music because if you want to understand young people today, look at the changes in the music industry:

  • Musical genres like “rock”, “pop” and “world music” have become irrelevant
  • Successful artists like Jay-Z, Madonna and Bowie transcend genres
  • Success has moved from servicing a genre to joining the dots between them

Music is an analogy for identity and, therefore, a powerful insight into marketing.

If we can understand how music is changing, we gain valuable insights into how marketing and segmentation needs to change.

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3 Reasons Why Youth are Important to Your Business

May 7, 2013 by

In this article I’ll look at the myths involving the youth market and offer 3 reasons why you need to be on board to keep your brand relevant – not just in the future but right here today.

Exploding the Myths

  • “Youth are cheap”
  • “Gen Y is fickle”
  • “Millennials are only good for prepaid”

We hear these words every day and every day we simply point to the evidence – great brands like Apple and Amazon have successfully built their businesses on the youth market, so why can’t you?

The reality is that ARPU is a weak measure of value and particularly for mobile operators, we need to move from measuring revenue to measuring value. Here’s how we do that.

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5 ways to build a better smartphone experience (without changing the handset)

April 23, 2013 by

Customer smartphone experience varies by market, even with the same handsets. How is this possible?

Through the lens of traditional research you may conclude “our customers are different here” but I want to share with you why that conclusion is a big mistake.

Teens in France and India aren’t so different their experiences of smartphones change. People don’t change, but the Soft Factors that shape the smartphone experience do. If you understand Soft Experience, you understand the smartphone experience.

Let’s take a look at what defines smartphone experience and how you can improve it without changing the handset.

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The Top 3 Reasons Why Youth Buy Samsung (and why these are not enough to beat Apple)

April 15, 2013 by
Screen shot 2013-04-18 at 08.36.05

It’s a question I think about a lot because handset brands keep asking me. My answer to Samsung lies in measuring the emotional attachment between youth and the Samsung brand.

Do youth like or love Samsung?. Take a look at these insights from young people talking about Samsung and Apple:

“Why did you buy Samsung not Apple?”
“It’s lighter, slimmer and has a better camera”

Keep reading for more insights.

  continue reading...

Are you ready for the Peak SMS world?

April 12, 2013 by

According to data from the 2013 Mobile Youth Report, SMS has reached a plateau and non-SMS messenger app usage will surpass SMS by 2014.

You only have to look at the numbers to see that when the media talks about messaging, we are dealing with a market primed for growth. There are messaging apps that most people have never heard of with user bases in the hundreds of millions. WeChat, for example, has 220 million users, Nimbuzz 120 million and Line 100 million.Heard of Kakao Talk? If you live outside of Latin America, probably not but it claims nearly 75 million users.

Find out what lies ahead for mobile messaging and how are youth shaping the future.

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Is Messaging Facebook and Google’s $1 trillion giveaway?

April 11, 2013 by

Mobile operators have long scratched their heads about what happens next in the $1 trillion messaging market.

Perhaps the disruption won’t come from incremental improvements in business model, technology or charging but a wholesale change in the role of messaging. What if messaging was given away for free purely to upsell the next generation of mobile services?

For operators, it appears unthinkable. There is too much revenue resting on the messaging market. But for new players like Facebook and Google it’s a distinct possibility and one that may end up putting some mobile players out of business.

Find out more about the shift to a post SMS world and what it means for mobile.

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Selling Smartphones: Youth Lead the Multi-Channel Retail Experience

March 4, 2013 by

Retail: it’s not just about the store anymore.

The store is a pitstop in the customer’s journey. The modern customer’s journey isn’t linear like it used to be. Rather than a journey punctuated by a definable end-point, it’s a process involving multiple consultations with peers and online reviews. Youth are calling their peers for advice and checking video reviews on their smartphones while in store. Retailers need to build around youth behavior and redefine how they deliver this experience.

Find out how retailers can go multichannel to meet customer expectations and address the showrooming trend.

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‘I’m so over SMS’: 2013 is the year youth abandon SMS in favor of Twitter, WhatsApp and Kik

February 12, 2013 by

SMS traffic has peaked. 2013 is the year that mobile messenger app traffic will surpass SMS.

Key Insights

    Mobile operators face a decline in ARPU. As youth shift from SMS to messenger apps, operators can no longer depend on SMS as a reliable income source.

    Continue reading to find out what operators need to do.

  1. Youth are the Change Agents: Youth turned SMS into become a trillion-dollar market for mobile in the last decade. A new study, commissioned by Twitter from Compete, shows that people in the 18-34 age group are 52 percent more likely than other age groups to use a mobile device to access Twitter.
  2. Like for Like: Youth are still texting each other but they have changed the platform of choice from SMS to messaging apps. The behavior remains the same but the tool has changed.
  3. Make-or-Break Year: 2013 is the watershed year for mobile operator brands to replace lost SMS revenues with growing revenue from messenger apps.
  continue reading...

BlackBerry growth depends on youth

February 11, 2013 by

With over $2bn in cash, BlackBerry could instigate a turnaround story but only if they maintain a lean structure with a core focus on the customer segments that drive their brand appeal.

A significant market change that has worked against BlackBerry is the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) movement. The decision about which mobile phone to bring to work has shifted from the corporate IT department to individual employees.

The youth of today will influence the executives of tomorrow. Once handset choice shifts from corporate IT departments to individuals, the decision is shaped by Earned Media. 65% of youth bought handsets based on peer recommendation.

Find out how BlackBerry can turnaround to take on Apple and Samsung with the help of teenage girls.

  continue reading...

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