October 14, 2009
Audience Matters
India’s ‘Youth Bulge’ has been a talked about topic in the recent past. As the young and happening constitute a major part of Indian population, they have always been an advertiser’s purpose.
Some of the terminology coined to define them is DINK (Double Income No Kids) and YUPPIE (Young Urban Professionals) .These terms further break the young population into a set which makes it easy for the advertisers to understand their target group better, by knowing their mind set.
A subcategory in the YUPPIE segment is seen, and the name coined for them is YUMPIE (Young Urban Mobile Professional). Being on the move most of the time, they are thought to be less on media consumption. “According to me about 15% of the urban population can be classified as YUMPIES who have the disposable purchasing power of upwards of Rs 1, 50, 000/ p.a. The media being consumed by the YUMPIES is a bit different from the media consumed by the YUPPIES. The triple screen for them is the mobile GPRS, Computer screen and the TV screen. According to me they are consuming more than ever before, and the way they consume social media is actually redefining the marketing segmentation theory. The social media communities in which they reside can actually be used to target them with excellent results,” explains, Rajeev Karwal, Founder Director, Milagrow Business and knowledge Solutions.
Amit Ray, President (Head- East), Lintas Media said that they are the people who are chasing to get more than what they deserve. As they spend disproportionately higher time chasing, but it does not necessarily mean that their media consumption is less. “I am not sure whether we understand the word media consumption in same way, they may have less time to consume media, say traditional media but they have access to new world media that is net and mobile. So they might not be reading newspaper in print form but they do visit e-paper on net. The way of consuming media is different for them,” expresses Ray. He believes that these audiences are hugely in tune with what is happening around, and hence find a way to know things that are relevant for them, especially career and their interests.
On the same note Rajeev Karwal feels, “The best way to reach them is through mobiles and internet. The sites like Facebook, Linkedin, Orkut etc are great places to find them.”
As for reaching them on their mobiles, experts have reservations. Targeting Yumpies on mobile can be really tricky as it is intrusive, thinks Jyoti Kumar Bansal, Executive Director West & South, MPG India. Giving a possible solution to this, she adds, “To target them, it has to be through the media with which they interact in course of their day, it could be some non conventional touch point, it could be places they visit during their weekend or maybe Internet.”
Ray too has reservations as far as reaching Yumpies on mobile is concerned, “It is not like television where people don’t mind seeing an ad. On mobile, it is not that easy as there is DND (do not disturb) service. If you register there, you will not get these advertisements, and so percent reach would not be that high I guess. A large percentage doesn’t like to attend the call unless they recognize the number. So in today’s scenario, it is more amenable to advertise on traditional media than a media like mobile,” strongly feels, Amit Ray.
Cellular operators, however, beg to differ. “We are still in our early days and will take time to create a database. This facility is used on a low scale as it is new, but digital as well as the mobile platform is gearing up and has the capability to have a much organised format,” explains Pradeep Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular ltd. Similar is what Karwal feels, “I think the mobile marketing has seen nothing yet. I think that in the next few years the mobile will emerge as the largest disseminator of marketing messages.” No one doubts that Yumpies have arrived. They are the big spenders and decision makers for high value purchases both at their home as well in their work.
However, no conclusive agreement is reached between the experts when it comes to targeting them. Mobile is intrusive and they don’t spend too much time in watching television. Internet is one companion that is with them wherever they go in form of a palm top, laptop or a mobile. However, with a number of websites reaching the same target group, targeting would not be easy.
