Scenario

In a host of emerging markets (e.g., India, Brazil, Thailand), 50 + percent of the population is
under 25 years old. One marketer observes: Teenagers are teenagers everywhere and they tend
to emulate U.S. teenagers (Advertising Age International, October 17, 1994, p, 1-15) Is there a
global teenager segment? Do teenagers in, say, Beijing really tend to emulate L.A teenagers?
Task
Based on the above assertion featured in the above publication, you are required to do some
original research and write an essay to examine the concept of global market segmentation in
relation specifically to the teenage market. The essay title is Global Teenage Market
Segmentation.
Introduction
With the increase business transactions throughout the world today, globalization has
become a phenomenon in todays market environment. In the ever-changing global business
environment today, businesses need to continuously seek for better resources to compete for new
markets, products, services to innovate and sustain competitive edge in the global market.
Globalization has enable businesses to develop, position and sell products or services across the
globe.
What Is Global Market Segmentation?
The process to determine a particular segment of nation groups or individual consumer
groups in a country of potential consumers with homogeneous characteristics who may have
high possibility to attribute similar purchasing behavior, in which can be denoted as Global
Market Segmentation. There are three vital reasons to study the Global market segmentation.
First, perceiving the world as one market, with various products in different period of the product
life cycle, Marketers can categorize the market in reference to this information. However,
characteristics of these groups can be fleeting hence make it tough for marketers to re-analyze
and update information of the groups.

Second, the advancement of internet has enable information to spread out very quickly in
the market. This enables marketers to continuously penetrate the global market by
simultaneously injecting information into the market. Third, the objective of global market
segmentation is to categorize the world market into strategic marketing mix that may suit
different group of consumers globally.
This assessment aims to determine the global teen market segmentation, which has been
always in interest of marketers. Basically, teenagers are not adult but they are no longer children.
They are in the changing stage of their life, where the development of their personality takes
place in order to identify a place in the world. During this period of time, teenagers are very
sensitive to trends around them, changing environment, yet behave in a not constant manner.
Teenagers try different things in a process to understand the changing stage of entering
adulthood. However, due to the advancement of technology, it is no longer the parent that
educates the child in learning things. For example, a son would find out how a machine works
online, instead of learning from his father. Meanwhile, a daughter may learn fashion online
rather than asking her mother how to dress up. Yet with the rapid changing environment in the
global market, the ideal trend rise and fall rapidly, which there is no consistent trend for
teenagers to follow either. This actually causes the teenagers greater desire to follow the change
in the market. In this study, we intend to analyze the consumer behavior of teenagers hence find
out whether they can be denote as global teen market segmentation.
Teenagers today follow all kind of trends, from Justin Bieber to owling to Vamplets. This
make it tough for marketers to keep up with teenagers changing interest and trends, let alone to
interpret them. However, the global teenager market is constantly growing with the increase of
purchasing power of an average $30 million annually in America alone. Not only have that, the
influence of teenagers for the spending behavior of their parents reached over $150 billion. With
that, more and more organizations start to realize the importance of reaching out to the younger
generation when conducting a marketing campaign. According to Noble et al. (2009, pp. 626),
organizations today spends up to $17 billion every year in marketing campaigns that are targeted
to the teenagers.

Besides, having the incredible influence in purchasing power, the global teenager market
segmentation is appealing for organization for various reasons. For example, Barbie and Disney have
designed products and services that target the younger age children while brands like lululemon, Nike,
Coca-Cola seek a broader target market of teenagers. Global teenagers segmentation is vital in order for
these companies to sustain in the international market and compete with other rivals at the same time.
When global teen market segmentation can be tap, brand loyalty can be built for these teenagers to carry
forward with them into adulthood and continue purchasing the particular product. Organizations can
easily achieve customer retention through this method compared to sourcing for a new customer to
purchase the product or services.
Todays global teenagers market segmentation is frequently denoted as Generation Z or
Digital Natives. It is because that their unique taste, interest, behavior and purchasing habits,
conducting a thorough research on the global teenager market segmentation is necessary to ensure success
of an organization. According to Johnson (2006), there are a number of key characteristics shared by
Generation Z in the global market segmentation:
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The teen generations are all well connected in being virtually present in various online platform
today. The exposure of social media among teenagers also makes them have higher tolerance

towards diversity and acceptance in various different information, products and services.
Teenagers are comfortable hence have also high reliance in the digital-world, having spent most

of their growing-up time on technology

Although teenagers can be materially satisfied, however they have a conservative behavior
towards their purchasing habit. It is due to the fact that their elder family has experience the

economic slowdown, hence were financially affected.

The long period of time spent online enable teenagers to have high consciousness towards their

environment hence become well verse in information globally.

When it comes to advertising, teenagers has become a strategic target market as they can
comprehend the information better compared to any generation before them. Their technology
savvy behavior also makes them become more influenced towards digital commercials, friends

and environment around them.

Nevertheless, the brand of the product is still ultimately important for teenagers to make a
purchase decision as they are not as loyal as marketers perceive they are. Compared to the 1980s
where you may find most teenagers dress like Spice Girls or other popular superstars.
Teenagers today are exposed in vast amount of different popstars that may be ambassadors for
different clothes brands and so forth. Thus, these group are spoiled for choice hence needs to be
target strategically for marketing campaigns to be successful. For example, you may see Jessica
Alba wearing a Target brand tank top, yet she might be also wearing a hand sewed sweater from
Etsy.

The brand choices today enable teenagers to be more close to their families by expressing their
feelings not only through physical contact, but also virtually through social media such as Twitter,
Facebook, Instagram and so on. Not only that, teenagers have a better entertainment channels to
share with their family, for example the famous Pokemon Go which is just released in
Malaysia.

Thus, with the various characteristics portrayed by teenagers enable marketers to customize a market
plan for global teen market segmentation. Marketers can develop and simultaneously update an online
existence through virtual channels such as social networks, digital content, multimedia and website.
(Cheung, Harker, and Harker, 2008) Not only has that, marketers needed to embrace technology oriented
marketing and sales mediums such as WhatsApp, WeChat, mobile internet and experimental marketing.
Sales pitches also need to focus on personalization and bonding of relationships that can relay to
teenagers so that they can be emotionally attached to the products or services of the organization. Besides,
organizations need to place extra efforts in offering greater value to the global teen market. Creating
Green environment focus product can also be one of the advantages for organizations. It is said that young
teenagers can vary from time to time, they are impetuous and skeptical yet at the same time, these group
can be giving and loyal. To be able to conquer the global teen market segmentation, marketers need to
understand them in-depth to that a strategic marketing campaign can be designed to outreach to them,
hence convert them into a long term consumer for the organization.

Global teen market, as we have discussed, is not like any other context of marketing. Not only does
marketers need to simultaneously identify trends, but also need to move the marketing process hence
create value for the teenagers globally. For example, a soda is merely just a flavored drink added with
sugar, coloring and carbon dioxide, marketers design a teenager branding around soda so that it will
become popularly accepted by the global teenager market. Coca-Cola is one of the famous success soda
brands hiring various athletes as their brand example, interpreting the youth, vibrant and energetic brand
in consuming Coca-Cola. Various television advertisements also developed to emphasis and portray
characteristics of teenagers such as having fun, being socially accepted in groups, happiness when
consuming Coca-Cola. Thus, these attract teenager consumers as there are not only attracted to the taste
of the soda, but also the Brand itself.
From the description above, it shows that consumers, teenagers especially do not just purchase a
product. The teenagers also purchase the branding of the product of what they perceive the product is.
Teenagers purchases the emotions attached when purchasing the product, hence satisfaction may be

derived from the sense of belonging that the product reflect who they are, or who they want to be. In
global youth marketing putting content into the context of portraying to teenagers who they are,
connecting them to the products, hence leverage with the marketing strategy will advantage the
marketers. Content denotes the what that consumers purchase while context denote the feelings
attached towards the content portrayed. Details and information drives contents through media
advertising, digital media, blogs, and so on. Meanwhile, context are driven by consumer as they comment
in the particular context or when they rely the content to themselves. Marketers uses this emotional
connection as an advantage hence leverage on the consumers emotion to enhance the marketing message
to the global teenager market. Marketing context is attributed by the common perception of communities
and events. (Wolburg, and Pokrywczynski, 2001)
Brand have realize that the most successful marketing strategy for global teen market is not the
brands that utilize marketing and sales mediums such as WhatsApp, WeChat, mobile internet and
experimental marketing, but those that utilizes the digital world to entice teenagers to share and provide
positive image of the brand. Creation of brand have become increasingly democratized that marketers
would need to place extra focus towards the marketing strategy used. (Harris, 2011)

Conclusion
At the end of the day, global teen marketing today focuses on what people talk about, all the teenagers
want is for a product or services that can help them have greater networking with one another. The sense
of belonging to a community when a product is commonly used is the greatest unspoken advertise or
branding an organization will have. If an organization succeeds in achieving that, then there is no doubt to
an excellent teen market segmentation strategy.

References

Cheung, L. Harker, D. Harker, M. 2008: The state of the art of advertising from
the consumers perspective: a generational approach. Marketing Review;
Summer2008, Vol. 8 Issue 2, 125-146. p.

Noble, S. M. Haytko, D. L. Phillips, J. 2009: What drives college age Generation Y

consumers? Journal of Business Research 62 (2009) 617 628. p.
Johnson, L. 2006: Mind Your Xs and Ys, Free Press: New York.
Wolburg, J. M. Pokrywczynski, J. 2001: A psychographic analysis of Generation Y
college students. Journal of Advertising Research, 41, 5, 3353. p.

Harris, Sarah. Children of Seven Years Old More Likely to Have a Mobile Phone than a Book |
Mail Online.Daily Mail. 28 May 2010.