“Targeting Adolescents in the Facebook Era”

1. “Targeting Adolescents in the Facebook Era” Kathryn Montgomery, PhD American University

2. Focus on Adolescents • 1 out of 3 teens overweight or obese • Teen years critical developmental period – lifelong eating behaviors established • Biological and psychosocial vulnerabilities to advertising • No policy or self-regulatory safeguards

3. Doritos Asylum 626

4. Elements of the Doritos Campaign • Social media • Entertainment – “gamification” • Cross-platform • Viral/Peer-to-peer • Automated data capture • Under the radar • Measureable impact on sales

5. Three Trends in Contemporary Marketing to Teens • Growth of social media marketing • Advances in data collection, targeting, and measurement • Emergence of mobile, location, and payment technologies

6. 1. Social media marketing is a core strategy for reaching and engaging teens • Facebook now one billion users worldwide • Sea change in how people engage with brands, consume products & services • Youth at epicenter • 85% of online teens use social media

7. Research on Social Media & Teens • Essential arena for personal and social development • Tapping into adolescent needs • “Networked Public Culture” “Social Capital” • Influencing and altering behaviors • “Self-socialization”

8. Social Media Marketing • Woven into daily interactions and social relationships • Orchestrating influence • Fostering fans • Activating “brand advocates” • “customers creating customers” • “Social Ads” turn routine actions into marketing messages

9. How Social Media Marketing Works

10. Oreo Moments Gallery

11. Between June & August – “likes,” “comments,” and “shares” increased 110% - New York Times

12. Social Media Impact • Industry reports document greater numbers of consumers engaged with brands. • Ogilvy and Chat Threads report (2011) – QSRs (including KFC, McDonald’s & Wendy’s): use of social media led to “significant sales” and boosted “brand perceptions.” • Coca-Cola, Oreos, Skittles, Pringles, McDonald’s, and Dr. Pepper in the top 20 for their number of Facebook Fans.

13. Top Food & Soft Drink Brands on FacebookNumber of fans • Coca-Cola – 53,974,141 • Oreo – 30,022,148 • McDonald’s – 25,240,443 • Skittles – 23,706,309 • Pringles – 20,805,714 • Subway – 17,863,110 • Dr. Pepper – 13,224,185

14. 2. Data collection, measurement, and targeting are woven into content and functionality of digital media. • Era of “Big Data” • Triggering and measuring actions in real time • “Path-to-purchase” • Levels of precision unprecedented • Under the hood of the e-commerce engine

15. Marketing increasingly targeted at individuals, not demographic groups

16. Microtargeting • Personalized messages • Based on detailed profiles, behaviors • Psychographic characteristics • Online and offline data • Targeting & retargeting • Content changes instantly to respond to user actions

18. 3. Mobile devices are at forefront of marketing • Mobile use among teens (and children) soaring • African American and Hispanic teens – greater use & engagement • 24/7 accessibility • Geolocation, geofencing, geomapping • Coupons, social check-ins • Point of influence linked with point of purchase

19. Coke Olympics Mobile Campaign

20. Free WiFi in a Vending Machine

21. Location Payment Systems

23. New Marketing Paradigm • Marketing fully integrated into teens’ personal and social lives • 360 degree cross-platform media and marketing “ecosystem” • Disappearing distinctions between new media & “old media” • Each marketing experience is individualized • Closed loop between persuasion and purchase

24. Implications for Research • Beyond effects – direct & indirect • Revisit cognitive defense – incorporate adolescent development, risk-taking behavior • Social relationships and interactions – nature of influence • Understand individualized marketing and targeting process • Brand identity in identity development process • Qualitative methods – ethnography, “netnography” • Adapt industry research, metrics, concepts to analysis of health consequences

25. Policy Opportunities & Strategies • Growing debate about online privacy and digital marketing • Teens are on the agenda • FTC privacy framework – teens as “sensitive users” • White House “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights” • Multi-stakeholder process to develop industry codes of conduct • Facebook and Google FTC settlements • Complaints against problematic practices • Influence self-regulatory regimes • Do Not Track Kids Act – bipartisan House Privacy Caucus • COPPA update – implications for teens (PII, mobile, etc.) • Fair Marketing Principles for Teens

26. Digitalads.org