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November 17, 2003 - Strategy Media Archive
Special Report: Reaching Youth

Back to basics
Unpredictable,

by Lucy Saddleton
page M 16

Over the last few years Internet and cellphone technologies have evolved at such a rapid rate that youth-focused marketers have enjoyed an ever-increasing selection of innovative new media vehicles. But marketers who jumped right in found that the water was pretty cold, and many discovered the hard way that the transitional, constantly evolving nature of new tech vehicles like SMS makes them a real gamble.

"There is a general sense that technology is changing so rapidly that it is difficult to settle on one format that will definitely be successful," says Max Valiquette, president of Toronto-based Youthography. "You don't want to throw a lot of money behind a campaign in an area where the dust hasn't settled," he warns.

In fact, a study fielded by Youthography in September found that 25% of respondents aged 15 to 29 had replaced their cellphone handset within the last three months, indicating the speed with which new technology is replacing the old.

The study suggested that, while youth still interact with many forms of "transitional" media, the lack of stability in these fields and the inability to gauge reaction means many marketers would be better off saving their dollars for the more reliable, old school methods of advertising, such as television, print, outdoor and grassroots promotions.

CHUM's Citytv Vancouver, which launched just over a year ago, is one marketer that has dabbled in new media but is now putting most of its eggs back into the grassroots basket.

In February, the TV station teamed up with Bell Canada for an SMS promotion around the prime-time show The Bachelorette, and received over 10,000 individual text messages in just over two weeks predicting the bachelorette's final choice out of 25 admirers. Although Citytv promotion director Steve Scarrow says he was pleased with the promotion from a test-model point of view, the amount of work that was involved did not make it viable as a long-term initiative.

"The problem we found with text messaging is that it remains a long way from being in mainstream use in Canada, and as a result we spent a lot of our creative time explaining how to do it," says Scarrow. "When you're explaining something complex you may be losing some opportunities to connect with people."

Those who were already SMS savvy were primarily not part of the conventional TV-watching demographic, Scarrow adds, rendering the medium somewhat inappropriate at best.

Jeff Roach, VP of client services at Toronto-based youth-targeted promotion company Masev, says he has noticed a decline in the number of Internet viral campaigns in the past two years, "maybe because the Internet bubble has burst and maybe just because it's so hard to measure results."

Roach believes that grassroots promotions are still key for reaching youth. "Young people want a brand to be real and credible and part of their lives so getting out with the grassroots is key," he says.

And indeed, Citytv Vancouver, for one, is putting the bulk of its trust back into grassroots.

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