Most recently, Burson-Marsteller applied its knowledge of influential groups to the youth market. Leveraging the firm's proprietary algorithm, we isolated the most influential group of tweens and teens in order to understand their communications habits. Youth-fluentials, the most easily influenced as well as the most influential subset of the youth audience, represent an enormous and often overlooked opportunity.
Directly and indirectly, Youth-fluentials exert power over billions of American consumer dollars. Burson-Marsteller's research revealed that - in addition to having control over their own spending money - Youth-fluentials dramatically impact what their friends buy. Nearly 100% of Youth-fluentials influence the clothing, movies, music, gaming, and electronic items their friends purchase. In addition, the most influential youths are much more likely than their peers to have influence over household expenditures in areas that are not typically considered "kids stuff." Notably, over 80% of Youth-fluentials impact their parents' purchase decisions in key spending categories.
Targeting the youth-fluential market requires a deep understanding of how to combine off and online marketing efforts and how to approach Youth-fluentials with a message that appeals to their conflicting needs to fit in amongst their peers while simultaneously expressing their individuality. Leveraging its Youth-fluentials knowledge, Burson-Marsteller offers our clients custom research to pinpoint how Youth-fluentials' make purchase decisions, rank brands, and obtain information in their category. We subsequently develop effective Word of Mouth campaigns and target the most influential online and offline media sources. In addition, Burson-Marsteller offers digital check-ups and blog monitoring in order to analyze company's messages in the online sphere from a youth perspective.