Children of the Web

This is where web 2.0, globalization, and youth culture collide. Businessweek’s recent article on marketing to the global youth culture highlights the importance and advantages of using the web to bring products to younger consumers. Case studies include Axe deodorant spray. I must be older than the target demographic. I thought Axe was a pretty cheesy product judging from their product package and their scent names. But now reading their commanding and growing global market share, they are clearly doing something right.

The most interesting thing I find about this article is that the web is finally starting to show promises of the early hype of global connectivity. We are starting to see it happen. A new product or movement is introduced and within minutes it can be spread globally. We no longer need to rely on TV. Teenagers all over the world can share the same clips via Youtube and share party pictures via Facebook. The world is so much smaller. We can make friends and stay in touch with people all over the world. Cultures are shared and experienced much more easily across geographic boundaries. These are exciting times. Marketers are embracing this knowledge and coming up with some lucrative results. Teenagers are leading this charge but the connections will spread to all age brackets; just a matter of time.

Of all the companies profiled in this article, I find the FRIDAY CLUB the most interesting and personally relevant.

“The target customer for major brands is someone like Malini Agarwal, a 30-year-old radio deejay in Mumbai. After growing up all over as the daughter of an Indian diplomat, Agarwal settled down in the city and two years ago launched Friday Club, which organizes social gatherings and now has branches in four Indian cities plus Hong Kong, London, New York, and Toronto. The club's multinational members make plans, keep in touch, and share photos via social networking sites. "It's a global family," Agarwal says.”

I’ve thought about starting something like this for the Chinese set recently. I need to get off my butt and just do it. Less thinking, more action. It’s something that would work incredibly well in China and for Chinese all over the world.