/ 1 March 2005

Mixing the Message

There’s a clip on MTV that begins, “By the time you reach the age of 20 you will have been exposed to over 20-million images—” It continues for another fifteen seconds, spewing out equally huge numbers in terms of the brands, songs, sound clips and ads that will have bombarded a youngster in that short space of time. Zero to 20 in a billion messages. Mind-boggling stuff. So there’s one question that should evoke fear in any brand keeper’s heart: “How do I get the youth to take note of MY brand and assign it to the über-elevated status of cool?”

Grant Baker, director of Club Media (which sells advertising space in nightclubs) and managing director of Move On Up (a communication consultancy focused on youth media) knows it isn’t easy to successfully reach the 18 to 24-year-old market. “This market is mobile and is generally not available to most forms of media. It is a market that feels the pressures of living in a modern society and responds accordingly. Although they do consume traditional media, consumption is generally low. Experience has shown us that the most effective way to reach this group is to find alternative methods of communication in areas where they work and play.”

Certainly, the one thing you don’t want to tell the youth is what they need. So says Gareth Gordon-Davis, sponsorship manager at Cell C. “The modern youth are media smart and don’t want to be told what is cool. Communication should challenge their intellect, involving them with the brand, while providing opportunities for them to decide that the brand is trendy by their own volition.”

Gordon-Davis agrees that to reach the youth one has to tap into their current lifestyle interests, and find innovative media types that form part of their activities. Of course there are a few local alternative media companies that purport to do exactly that.

Moving Tactics targets tertiary institutions, where an influential chunk of the youth market is represented. One of the company’s most successful alternative approaches is On Campus Promotions. Colleen Higginbotham, promotions manager, explains: “We follow a call-to-action philosophy that encourages interactivity between the student and the brand and guarantees higher levels of effective reach and focus. We ensure that the focus remains on the brand as opposed to a campaign, and aim to create longevity for each campaign by creating hype and interest around the brand, offering product give-aways and driving students to retail stores through incentives.”

Grant Harris, director of Graffiti, an alternative media company offering a number of branding and transport advertising opportunities, is also a strong proponent of campus promotions. ” Graffiti has taken a view that to reach the vast general youth market one needs to connect with the opinion leaders within that market, and the best place for that is the 18 to 24-year-old tertiary student sector.”

Indeed, the tertiary student market is both measureable and substantial, with over 600,000 waiting to be targeted. The market is also accessible, and Graffiti has come up with some radical stuff in approaching it.

“One of our most successful tactics is the use of branded student cars,” says Harris. “Personal vehicles are one of the students’ first high involvement purchases and the car you drive is as much a part of who you are as your personal signature. Lack of public transportation ensures that a large majority of students drive their own personal vehicles. One third of students have their own car. The driver thus becomes the ultimate brand advocate and ambassador.

“This ‘fleet’ of branded vehicles dominates surrounding areas as well as major arterial road routes to and from the campus, so the message [is delivered] at the right time and in the right place.”

“One third of students have their own car. The driver thus becomes the ultimate brand advocate and ambassador.” – Grant Harris, director, Graffiti.

Amongst Graffiti’s array of alternative offerings, “tabletop” media stands out as another innovative way of capturing the audience. The branded tables are based on the premise that food courts and student centres are the social epicentres within universities. “Tabletop advertising enables advertisers to have the consumers attention for an average of 10-15 minutes, which means it can be read like a magazine while consumers relax. Students will spend time inside cafeterias as part of their daily schedule. They will eat, drink, socialise and study around our tables.”

Cinema foyer advertising is another natural extension of the concept of reaching the youth in their leisure time. “Think of it as creating a lifestyle position for a brand by associating that brand with the target audience’s entertainment medium of choice – the big screen – which in turn is associated with the Hollywood stars and all their glamour appeal,” says Elmarie Pretorius, managing director of Cinemark. “The key benefits are that audiences are afforded the opportunity to experience and interact with the brand in a setting that resonates with their own lifestyle aspirations.”

A case in point was the launch of Esteè Lauder’s fragrance “Beyond Paradise” in April 2004. Esteè Lauder coupled an 8-week on-screen advertising campaign with a cinema foyer sampling campaign. This secured higher retention levels and exceptional visibility, ensuring cinemagoers were provided the opportunity to interact with the brand and sample the product directly after seeing the commercial. The results? Within four weeks of launch date “Beyond Paradise” was the top selling fragrance in South Africa.

It’s the cross-media strategy that needs emphasis here. As Baker suggests, synergy between traditional and alternative media is key. “I don’t think that alternative mediums will replace traditional media. Rather, they will work hand-in-hand to ensure the best possible reach into this target audience.”

Baker sites the recent Miller Genuine Draft campaign and MTN’s summer campaign as prime examples of such synergy. “In both these campaigns a mixture of traditional media, consisting primarily of TV and radio, and non-traditional mediums, consisting mostly of nightclubs, SMS and beach parties, were utilised to ensure maximum penetration of the market in such a manner that consumers were able to interact physically and tangibly with the various brands. This level of brand interaction creates incredibly powerful and ultimately successful communication programmes.”

Certainly big brand names in this country appear to agree with this view. All three cellular service providers make extensive use of alternative media, and other brands vary from banks (FNB) to cars (Fiat and Renault) to food and beverages (Bacardi Breezer, Southern Comfort, KFC) to retail goods (Levi’s, Guess, Truworths).

The figures may explain why. According to Logistix Kids YouthTrax 2004, South African youth directly spend around R7-billion per annum on the things they want, and they influence a further R25-billion of their parent’s spending. With 50% of the South African population under the age of 21, this is a market that by its sheer numbers represents a great opportunity for advertisers.