SOUTH AFRICA’S YOUTH BRAND PREFERENCES · understanding who the millennials are and what makes...

Sunday Times Combined Metros 1 - 2018/06/18 01:42:16 PM - Plate:

SOUTH AFRICA’S YOUTH

SURVEY REVEALING THE

BRAND PREFERENCES

OF KIDS, TEENS

AND YOUNG ADULTS.


20186

Make the Con nection

By ALF JAMES

● Generation alpha are mostly thechildren of the millennial genera-tion, who are just starting to havechildren, the oldest of whom arenow around seven years of age.

“Millennials are expected to havesmaller families. This trend is al-ready evident, due to cost and thefact that they take parenting seri-ously and with time-constraintscaused by stressful jobs, they wantto be able to parent one child wellbecause they value parenting,” s aysNikki Bush, parenting expert,speaker and author.

“So generation alpha is likely togrow up receiving a lot of attentionand could, potentially, grow up to bemore self-centred, expect instantgratification and also customisationas a consumer.”

The millennial generation is like-ly to prioritise investing in educa-tion and technology for their alpha-generation children, according to

Bush, co-author of Future proofYour Child.

However, she says generation al-pha are too young for us to singleout what their defining characteris-tic will be that will trigger a differ-ence or change in their behaviourfrom generation z.

“For example, whereasgeneration z, which over-laps a little with generationalpha, has largely been de-fined by smartphones, gen-eration alpha might be thepost-cellphone generationby the time they reachtheir late teens or early20s.

“The kind of fac-tors that are on thehorizon for genera-tion alpha that maydetermine the waythey think and thethings they do in-clude: the rise ofwomen; global

warfare; what happens if globalisa-tion decreases and localisation in-creases together with polarisationand a more insular perspective, be-cause that trend is already discern-able; the rise of black consciousnessas a dominant culture; and the factthat generation alpha is growing upin a hostile environment.

“Alpha generation’s world ishostile; their social media world ishostile, because it is so competitiveand everything about their lives iscompared to so many people outthere .

“Although it is too early to tell,these kids could become more

conservative. What we doknow already with generationz, and it is likely to continuewith the alphas, is that theyare the generation that willrecycle, upcycle, repurposeand reuse, because they’ve

had environmentalismdrummed into them atschool and by the me-dia . ”

However, Bush be-lieves the decline ofshopping malls will be-come a reality in thelifetime of generationalpha .

“There is alreadytalk of the retail apoca-

lypse — millennials are already veryfaddy shoppers. The parents are do-ing their pre-shop and price-check-ing online; then they price-check inthe retail store online or by phoningin; then they go to the retail storeand try the shoe on; and then th eygo home and place the order online.

“So they are using stores for test-driving a product, but not necessar-ily for purchasing a product.

Bush says, interestingly, thatalphers will still crave the humantouch and a sense of belonging andtogetherness, in the human sense, isstill going to be incredibly impor-tant for them.

“There is still nothing that can re-place a human relationship. We willalways seek human beings to helpus fill our emotional cup to validatewho we are, which might increasewith the alpha generation.

“This means that brands willneed to focus on customisedlifestyle experiences that bring fam-ilies together as opposed to meresales . This is already true forteenagers who identify themselveswith the brand of cellphone theyuse and the brand of clothing theywear, which need to say somethingabout who they are.

“However, we don’t know aboutgeneration alpha yet — they mightturn-reverse the trend,” says Bush.

Likely to demand morecustom isation

Generation alpha

Brands need to mimichuman relationshipswith their consumers.Instant gratification,hyper - personalisation ,and technology as a

means to utilise or a value-add willdetermine the brands thatgeneration alpha will choose toengage with, according toMarthinus van Loggerenberg, whoheads strategy at digital agencyHellocomputer, in Cape Town.

He says one may even go as far assaying that generation alphas (thoseborn since the year 2010 and untilthe year 2025), who are the childrenof millennials, are likely to focus onwhat a brand stands for and how itbehaves in its business practicesmore than the image or even thecommunication message that it istrying to relay to them.

“They will focus on buying theproduct or making use of a service,most likely in isolation of brandimage, with a considered choice tothe brand or company’s actual bestpractice and ethics,” says VanLoggerenberg .

Although generation alpha ismost likely to mimic the spendingbehaviour of their parents, VanLoggerenberg says businesses thatare seriously considering thefuture-proofing of their brandsshould take into account that alphasare also likely to be more selective

consumers and may not buy intomass consumerism as we know it.

“Not many brands have reallydeveloped an understanding ofgeneration z and generation alphaand who their future consumer is,because their focus is onunderstanding who the millennialsare and what makes them tick.

“However, they need to look atthe z and alpha generations andhow they can future-proof brandsfrom a generational perspective.”

Van Loggerenberg saysgenerations z and alpha are morelikely to support smaller, niche andcustomised offerings as opposed tomajor brands pumping out mass-produced merchandise or cookie-cutter services.

“They will spend time andmoney with brands that haverelationships with them and makean effort to understand them inmore than just one dimension oftheir life. They will carefully choosewhich brands they want to buildrelationships with,” he says.

“Brands with a virtual presencewill take preference to bricks-and-mortar offerings. While alphas arestill young they may enjoy the tripto a mall, but mostly because of theentertainment factor. They willprobably just frequent malls foreither entertainment or luxuryexperiences, and perhaps if thereare discounts or specials on

necessities .He says in order to future-proof

brands there is an urgent need tounderstand the consumer of thefuture, because generation z arestarting to enter the workforcealready and generation alpha, whoalthough only up to seven years old,have a great influencing power ontheir millennial parents’ pu rchasi ngpatterns .

“Both millennial parents areworking so hard that theyemphasise the necessity of givingtheir children a voice in thedecision-making of the householdthat gives the children immense

power, which brands should lookseriously at utilising.”

Van Loggerenberg contends thatan understanding of the way inwhich technology is going to propela brand forward is pertinent.

“Brands need to understandtheir customers’ cultures and sub-cultures and then try to ultra-customise a solution for theirconsumers that will enrich thebrand ’s relationship with theconsu mer.

“If a brand understands thehuman condition, has humanawareness, appreciates humanneeds, and can speak to thoseinsights, it can cut acrossdemographics and psychographicsto the extent that the brandbecomes memorable and is a brandthat consumers will want to build arelationship with,” he says.

“Generation alpha will mostlikely adopt brands that utilisetechnology to enhance andfacilitate their encounter with thebrand to make it a more seamlessassociation, which offers anexperience that delights and ismore than merely a solution to aproblem, but enriches theiridentity, ” says Van Loggerenberg.

It’s important to future-proof brandsfor new consumers, writes Alf James

Going beyond

M i l len n ials

Eye on new generations

Marthinus van Loggeren-berg, who heads up strategy atHellocomputer, Cape Town

By PALESA VUYOLWETHUTS HANDU

● About two years ago clothing re-tailer Woolworths launched its#AreYouWithUs campaign with USartist Pharrell Williams that aimedat making sustainability part of theconversation with their youngercustomers. The retailer spent mil-lions influencing popular narrativethat Going Green and making con-scious decisions on their purchas-ing habits, was in fact the rightthing to do. And as more youngerconsumers focus the efforts on sav-ing their environment, retailers areresponding accordingly.

Feroz Koor, Woolworths Grouphead of sustainability, said: “Ou rloyal following of customers thatreally care about where productsare made, who made them andhow. We see this as part of whatsets us apart, and many customersshop with us because they knowour products are produced with thefuture in mind.”

Woolworths was one of the firstretailers to have a sustainabilitypartnership with the World WideFund for Nature (WWF-SA), toleverage on the resources and cre-ate a value-sharing platform to as-sist in addressing climate change-related issues, especially in theirsupply chain; as well as recognisingthe interrelationship between food,energy and water issues.

Africa has one of the youngestpopulation, with over 60% fallingbelow the age of 25, with many ofthem looking to have a smaller im-pact on the environment, as theybecome much more socially aware.

The recent #DayZero campaign,saw retailers make a concerted ef-fort to address the water crises is-sues in Cape Town with the youth,launching various campaigns to in-clude their younger customers inthe narrative, which will have agreater impact on the environment.

Last year, Africa’s biggest retail-er, Shoprite, launched the #Smart-WaterMeterChallenges which fo-cused on initiatives to save water atCape Town’s top water-usingschools. The programme has seenover 18-million litres of water savedby 75 schools (this is increasing)and aims to save 1-million litres ofwater a day at schools across CapeTown and the Western Cape.

Day Zero was launched by theCity of Cape Town to focus every-one ’s attention on managing waterconsumption as tightly as possibleby cajoling water consumers intoreducing usage as the taps ran dry.

Swedish retailer Hennes & Mau-ritz (H&M) currently has a garment-collecting initiative, where cus-tomers take their unwanted clothesfrom any brand and in any condi-tion to stores, so “we can give it asecond life through reuse and recy-cling , ” said Amelia-May Woudstra,head of PR and communication atH&M, whose consumer base isyoung adults between the ages of 18and 30.

Youth havefuture inm i nd

Sustai nabi l ity

Nikki Bush, parentingexpert, speaker and author

Picture: 123RF

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