A Case of the Skippies
By: Geo (November 18th, 2007)Skippies is the market research term for young teens with earnings and (or) purchasing power, and there is no mistaking their influence in the buying decision anymore. And it is not just restricted to products that they buy for personal use. Whether it’s a car, a TV, breakfast cereal or gum, the young members in the family have a definite view on most purchase decisions.
In India, Wrigley introduced a new kind of Juicy Fruit in two flavors: ‘strappleberry’ and ‘grapermelon.’ The new gum is shaped in candy-coated pellets instead of the traditional sticks. Now, why would the Wrigley, a top seller in the US for the past 100 years go in for a makeover in India? Why should a company known for sticking with tradition and doing it consistently with marked success try out something new in India? The answer is skippies. This conclusion extends to products across the board and it is more noticeable in international products.
I was meeting my friend, working with a premier market research agency, after a very long time. He was in town for a day. He called me up and we decided to meet up over High Tea. You can very well guess where we were meeting up. Soul Café. The last time at the Soul Café, I had been humbled by a teen! Since that day, I had been closely following the emerging behavioral patterns of teens. This meeting with my friend was perhaps an opportunity to get first hand information on facts not so often published.
After the initial exchange of routine inquiries, I shifted to my concern of the month. I asked him if he had heard the term ‘skippies’. Of course he had and he was really excited about getting an opportunity to talk on something he was already working on.
Friend: In US, the American teens spend close to $200 billion on products for themselves or their family households, up from $155 billion in 2000. So, these days, whether it is a US auto manufacturer or a Swiss chocolate manufacturer, they all look for advice from college students, teens and ‘tweens’, who are preteens as young as eight.
Me: ‘Tweens’!! As old as eight!! Firstly, how do you guys come up with such terms? Secondly, such little children are considered by agencies and companies as advisors for marketing!?
(I had ordered for a frappe and he for a mocha. My God, these names!!)
Friend: Surely pal, they greatly influence the buying decisions of the parents. They are ones who watch every commercial and even remember them. It should not be surprising to know, that an 8-10 year old knows more about any given product than the grown ups.
Me: Of course, the lions and the lionesses are ruling and hunting in the concrete jungles of our mega cities, while the TV parents their cubs!!
Friend: And teaches them how and what to wear, eat, drink, talk, vacation, entertain, and even invest!!
Me: “Teaches” is a very civilized way of putting it pal. Surely, these kids tell us what to buy and what not to buy. And it happens often that we have no clue about many of these things and so obviously we abide by their opinions, however biased.
Friend: Its not just the influence on the buying decisions that makes us consider the teens and the tweens. They are now increasingly involved at every stage of the product development and marketing. Right from home visits directed at meeting them, to focus groups on the conceived product to the test launch of the developed product and its promotion, all activities factor in the young buyer who knows his mind and can influence others’ as well.
Me: So kids today are doing much more that homework, assignments and tuitions.
Friend: Well, the buck does not stop there. Some companies are asking young people to help them with marketing the product and not just be members of focus group discussions. A group of students from the University of Texas was involved with the marketing of the new Honda Element - a truck/SUV combo meant to appeal to young surfers, skiers and outdoor enthusiasts.
Me: So what did they do and how did they market this product?
Friend: The students took the car to three locations, including a popular spot for runners in Austin called ‘stretch rock.’ They rolled down the windows and turned up the stereo, but let people come to them. “People our age don’t want to be told ‘This is the car for you,’” said one of the members of the group. “So, we wanted to leave it up to the buyer to say ‘Yeah, that’s the car for me.’”
Me: Yeah, I recollect the advertisements being put up across this town, saying that ‘we don’t sell our products, we just help you buy them!’ But pal, you are telling me about the US? What about our country?
Friend: The Indian story is no different. The total spending power of the Indian youth is about $6.5 billion-their own discretionary income plus what their families spend on them and it is growing at a very brisk pace driven by the new age employers. The Indian youth now carry considerable economic clout, as well as the power to influence their parents’ purchasing. Indian teens alone buy nearly 60% of the fizzy drinks, chocolates, and jeans sold in India. Most of them chill out in café’s like this.
Me: 60%!? But then almost 60% of our nation is below the age of 25.
Friend: Precisely, and that’s a reality marketers in India are increasingly waking up to, as demographic trends push the number of young consumers higher every year. 54% of them are earning while they are studying. Call centers and BPOs have helped this sudden spurt of working youth. Multiplexes, Fast food joints like this and Cyber cafes are the other major employers across the nation. And unlike their parents, this computer-savvy generation has no qualms about consumerism.
Me: No qualms at all. They believe in a Fully Loaded living. Shoes, watches, glares, cosmetics have all surged in sales. The rate at which these teens change their mobile handsets, tells me to go and hide. They have the latest handsets with them, while we still fidget with the first generation handsets.
Friend: You are talking about handsets, and I can tell you about the auto market. Consider this: In the 1950s, there were just two cars in India: the boxy Ambassador and the equally stolid Fiat. The waiting list took six years, and customers took whatever color rolled off the assembly line that month. Now, there is a choice at every conceivable price point. The consumer is simply spoilt for choice with auto manufacturers falling on top of each other for a place in the consumer’s mind and on the road.
Me: The number of models and the new colors and the add-ons that are increasingly being served out with each passing day gives me the idea pal.
Friend: In a bid to stump competition Mahindra and Mahindra has launched car-buying via the Internet. Now mind you, it’s not just a question of punching in an order. Customers will be able to use software to create their own customized versions of the sport-utility vehicle. Mahindra is targeting young drivers for the $10,500 car, buying slick advertising spots on video music channels like Channel V. They say, ”We want to grab the funky market”. ”Kids persuade their parents what car to buy. They determine style and fashion today.”
Me: Everything is customized!
Friend: It has to be increasingly so or in the long run, the snails and the tortoises will be edged out of the market.
Me: Tell me pal, is this going to last?
Friend: I bet it will. It is how things are going to be from now on. The youth-consumerism age ushered in India with the MNCs which brought with them a range of experience. The Indian youth was ready to embrace consumerism and these companies pitched it right at them. And they scored! These companies used famous actors, sports figures, and catchy slogans to woo the youth.
Me: The Indian companies couldn’t do anything?
Friend: No. In an open market, things don’t happen that way. Moreover, the MNCs came in with deep pockets. The Indian companies followed the leader. Even stodgy-old-family-owned companies are increasingly catering to the youth market. Changing buying patterns - in which teens are no longer content to have their father’s hand-me-down watch and instead want to buy their own - are part of the reason.
Me: So you mean the the Bajajs, Tatas, Ruias, Birlas, Modis are all forced to sell things they way they have not been used to? They all are studying things afresh at this age and selling things in new ways?
Friend: (laughs) They have to. But in many such cases, the things have been easy with the helm of the company been passed down a generation, and younger CEOs who are more hip and with it have taken over operations. That’s happened at the Bajaj and Mahindra for sure. Now, Indian kids are getting what we could only read about in American comic books.
Me: I am just too scared to think about where this trend will lead? With more money in their hands, it’s not just the purchasing that they are influencing. You only talked about the financial and economic aspects of the emerging trend. These kids are also becoming increasingly independent in other aspects of life like “lifestyles”, and also they are less and less dependent on their parents in their decisions. In fact, I have often seen that the parents are dependent on the skippies as they bring in more money per month than the parents do and so the parents are silenced.
Friend: What do mean by “life styles”?
Me: I meant what they do with their money, where they spend it, what they eat and wear, and even whom they move around with and where they sleep over, and what time they return home and how they spend their holidays etc etc.
Friend: Well, that is a hard fact and we cannot avoid allowing such things too.
Me: But isn’t it so unfair. When the child is born, it weighs a couple of kilos and the parents tend to it night and day and meet all its needs, protect it, nurture it, nourish it, love it, and then one fine morning, the child comes of age, it get enlightened and suddenly demands freedom. A divide of my and you appears, especially, the money the child earns on its own. I hope you are able to understand my feelings.
Friend: Well, aren’t you getting too emotional?
Me: Maybe. The generation of today, most of them, feels they are self-made! Atleast they do idolize the self-made heroes! Firstly I don’t understand the definition of the term self-made. Secondly, I contend that, none who has walked on this planet was self-made. A lot of people made them, what they became. And therefore, they owe it back to the people, not necessarily to the same lot, but they need to keep giving back.
Friend: Well, you do have a point, but is there in any point in you and me talking about it here in this café?
Me: Well, Maybe there is no use, but at least, I intend to tell every ‘skippy’ that I meet, that they owe it back to the parents and society and to God.
Friend: God? Why does God need money?
Me: God doesn’t need money, but see pal, we get money in exchange for our time. When we spend money in matters of God, we are in a way sharing our time for God.
Friend: Well, I don’t agree with you 100%. At least I don’t agree with the way you put it!
Me: Agreed. But you don’t have to agree with me 100%. We all can sit on our opinions in this matter.
Friend: Hey, can we continue this discussion after my business meeting? Shall we meet up again to talk on this and related topics? Since you have brought up the topic of God, I would like to speak my mind over several things.
Me: Sure. That will be interesting. So same place?
Friend: Will call you up and confirm.
My friend left. As he walked to the door, he walked past several ‘skippies’ inside the café, and he looked back at me and smiled. I was wondering what was it that he wanted to talk about later that day. I was planning to leave when this young man, apparently having over heard our conversations came over to me to talk. What transpired…is another story.
Tags: earning teens, lifestyle, skippies, tweens