SA's youth a notable influence market

The youth also influence a significant proportion of the monthly spend incurred by their parents and other family members - specifically in terms of cellular telephones, the décor of their bedrooms, holiday/fun destinations fashions, personal toiletries and choice of music.

This survey was conducted among SA's urban tweens (8 - 13 years), teens (14 - 18 years) and young adults (19 - 22 years) during the first quarter of 2006. The survey is one of the largest youth brand preference studies conducted in South Africa and is designed to gain insight into this elusive market segment, for the benefit of both brand marketers and their target markets.

The extent of their influence is clearly depicted in the table below, where the results are ranked from highest to lowest influence.

As would be expected, young adults exercise substantially less influence in many categories than their younger counterparts - a trend that reflects their relative financial independence. Their influence is, however, the strongest in terms of cellular telephones (young adults are early technology adapters), as well as fashions and the furnishing of their room (both of which make a statement about who they are).

Teens, on the other hand, exert greatest influence in the areas of personal hygiene and personal appearance (they are the second largest influence sector in terms of fashions as well as entertainment (music CDs, DVDs and computer games) - factors which corroborate the self-emergence phase in which they find themselves.

By comparison the influence purchase focus of tweens appears to lie firmly in the area of foodstuffs (chocolates, sweets, crisps, snacks, breakfast cereals, restaurants, hot drinks, yoghurt, frozen foods and milk products).