(01.05 MC) Tuning in Teens: Businesses Intensify Pitch for…
(01.05 MC) Tuning in Teens: Businesses Intensify Pitch for ‘Savviest Generation Ever’by Dave Carpenter © 2012 The Associated Press Demographics help explain the latest kowtowing to teen tastes—the teen population has grown twice as fast as the overall population in the last decade. They’re also easier to reach than ever via the Internet, the biggest marketing boon since the bulk-mail rate. This surge in “teen power” won’t last forever. The so-called “echo boom”—an upswing in births as baby boomers had children of their own—faded in the mid-’90s, but that isn’t stopping companies from retooling their sales pitches and strategies to make this group of mostly minors a major target. Shampoo and clothes makers, among others, are tripping over each other to associate themselves with concert tours of teen-popular acts like Spears, the Backstreet Boys and Christina Aguilera. The record industry is letting teens pick the next hits on the Web via streaming audio, which lets them listen to selections online. A linens manufacturer has come out with a separate line of towels and sheets for teens, advertised on MTV. And television commercials that used to cater to Generation X often aim younger now, at Echo Boomers—those born between 1977 and 1994. “It’s really taken off,” says Michael Wood, vice president of Teenage Research Unlimited. “What we’ve seen in the past couple of years is that all companies are re-evaluating their positions to see if there’s a teen component they could add.” How does the author reveal the connection between teens and marketing? (5 points)
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