A new report by the Buzz Marketing Group conducted with 9000 gender balanced participants, aged 13-18, show some interesting trends emerging among teens:
- Warholism: Teens want their 15 minutes of fame and can get it online
- Massclusivity: They want exclusive products from major brands
- Technoholics: “It’s now chic to be a geek” and they are big purchasers/users of tech
- Global Mobiles: 99% have cell phones
- Insta-Messengers: Teens are continuously in communication with friends
- Transculturism: Strong interest in other cultures and custom
We have seen a lot of these same trends emerging and they are shaping our thinking at Replicator (Warholism, Massclusivity, and Transculturalism especially). This first generation that grew up with the internet has lived through a shift more profound than the introduction of television. It is no surprise that 90% of teens prefer participating in communities on the internet (active entertainment) compared to watching television (passive entertainment). Teens now have complete control over media and are able to express themselves online in any number of ways.
This transition from passive to active entertainment is not going to stop with the internet. In the last 5 years we have seen the launch of MySpace and Facebook, Youtube, explosive growth for blogging platforms, Twitter, etc. which have permanently altered the media landscape.
Combining custom manufacturing technologies with web-based tools is going to enable the same kind of change in product development, fundamentally altering the way we purchase products.
The following are the slides from the BuzzMG presentation at the “What Teens Want” conference:
