Sexy, haughty, spendthrift — me!

The Indian metro teen is surely that. An explicit desire to look good, resulting in fortunes spent on clothes, shoes, make up, gymnasiums, cosmetics, deodorants, perfumes, sunglasses, jewellery, grooming. A superiority complex reflected in their purchase of mobile phone instruments, personal music players, choice of restaurants, nightclubs and the like. And to them, cost is no barrier. That's the new Indian teen: sexy, haughty and a spendthrift.

A UK newspaper highlighted the fact that the value of clothes and accessories of the average 15-year old in the country was in excess of 450 pounds — Rs 34,000. This tally included the cost of a mobile phone instrument, an iPod and a pair of branded shoes.

That sounded like a small fortune for a teenager to be carrying around on his or her person, but, what the heck, this was Europe — not India. Not India?

Take a look around you, and spend a little more time observing the
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Indian metro teen and the figure is not very different at all. The value of the "basics" — shoes, jeans, T-shirts and mobile phone — is clearly nudging Rs 20,000.
Add, in the case of the teenage girl, the contents of her handbag: make up, cash, debit/credit card. Add jewellery. Add an iPod or Walkman or Discman.
Add, in the case of the teenage boy, the contents of his wallet: cash, debit/credit card. Add iPod or Walkman or Discman.
Add, where applicable, the cost of a two wheeler (motorbike/scooter) or car. And the figure is considerably higher than the Rs 34,000 that triggered this chain of thought.
This is just the surface of products that this age group (15-19) buys; in addition, they are consumers of FMCG products, a large demographic at the multiplexes, the core target of the soft drink manufacturers, of coffee shops, of pizzas, of the Internet portals. Of a long list of products...
They are also influencers in category after category, as our study, once we decided to look into this age group's spending habits more closely, showed.
While the figures of American and European teens surely shock, the figures for Indian teens shock more — because there is one significant difference in the Indian and International teen: the Indian teen has no income.
No income and amazing power... that is the Indian teen and marketers need to understand what makes this age group tick, and how they connect to them.
This is what a US study found on this groups opinion of themselves:
=They say they are: self-absorbed, lazy, spoiled, open-minded, diverse, technologically savvy, directionless and stressed
=Time is the coin of the realm
=Me-centric, but not anti-adult
To the researcher who asked them, "If young people were all shipped to Australia, what would the rest of us miss most in your absence?", the responses are truly a revelation: ="Our purchasing power"
="A lot of companies would go out of business"
="Everybody wants us to buy their products"
In India, too, a lot of companies would go out of business, and the question and the answers are stark reminders of the need to learn how best to communicate to and maintain relationships with the generation. What is is that makes this generation so different from the previous ones? What is it that makes them so aware of themselves, of their power and their self-worth? Consider the era in which they were born. These teens have:
=Never known a TV with 13 channels
=Never dialed a telephone
=Been raised in an "Instant" society: from microwave popcorn to ATMs to instant messengers
=Experienced "Disappearing Technology" — like the pager. They have seen the birth and the death of the product in their oh-so-small lifetimes
While this is an American example, look around you and it's not significantly different in large Indian cities and towns. Radio would probably receive a much lower score, but with Dr. Jaipal Reddy clearing the way for over 330 new FM radio stations, a duplication of this pattern is fairly easy to imagine.
When you layer these few learnings on the changing demographics in India, where we, as a nation, are growing younger by the day, it is apparent that much more attention needs to be devoted to understanding what makes the Indian youth tick. Currently, there are a few studies, which give one a direction, most notably the MTV study, but with the formidable purchasing and influencing power of the generation, a lot more needs to be done. Where do youth have a role to play in purchase decisions?

To read the entire article, buy a copy of Impact Advertising and Marketing magazine dated September 5-11