[Interview] “Transparency and authenticity are the two values ​​to respect”

How to attract young consumers? This is a constant subject of observation for brands. Uncompromising and demanding, teenagers impose their often paradoxical consumption patterns. Insight from Wided Batat, doctor and researcher in experiential marketing.

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You are a marketing researcher. How can ethnography help brands reach out to younger generations?

Ethnography comes from the human sciences which, applied to marketing, makes it possible to decipher the codes of the consumer society and the intentions of consumers. It is an approach centered on innovation which will make it possible to reveal “the hidden evidence” in the consumer and to capture the meaning that he puts in his practices. Once these values ​​have been identified, the brand will attribute them to itself in order to connect with its public both through its communication but also through the use of the products. Thus, she knows her audience better.

In addition, ethnography makes it possible to identify the real problem beyond the questionnaires and other focus groups that work on the discursive. This method makes it possible to bring out the paradoxes of the human being. For example, on the concept of eco-responsibility, a consumer can declare to be in favor of sustainable development and, in certain purchasing acts, favor behaviors that are not always compatible.

The brand will have to take these contradictions into account. Finally, ethnography also makes it possible to reveal emotions during the customer experience according to the context and the point of contact with the brands. The brand will promote the good, repair the bad and remove the obstacles to purchase.

How should brands understand “Youth cultures”?

Young consumers are not zappers but rather adept at experimenting, in search of the meaning and the value that connects them to the brand. Through this link, the brand must show them that it has understood their universe and their codes. However, it must speak to the individual as a whole. Brands often have a hard time understanding the paradoxes of these young people. Young people are built both in a loss of identity and in transgression. He begins an experimental process with the brand in his own culture of consumption. The brand exists with young people through rites of passage (luxury brands: my first Vuitton bag …) or because it allows a process of socialization that is rewarding in a group (becoming an Apple expert, for example).

How to engage them and, beyond that, retain them? What values ​​to defend for a brand?

Transparency and authenticity are the two values ​​that must be respected with young people. If we are an eco-responsible brand, we must say it, prove it and put it forward. Betrayal is the breaking point for a teenager who sees it as a lack of respect towards him. He can then regroup with others on social networks to criticize her. The brand must imperatively remain itself. Some adopt a cool posture in their communication (familiarity …) and, when consumers come to the store, they are surprised by a welcome that is far too formal, far removed from the image they convey. Humor and creativity are also well received. The brand must become the companion of the young consumer.

What do they aspire to in terms of customer experience?

There is a “juvenile” reality which is not easy to capture in the generational approach, it remains effective but does not shed light on the complexity of these audiences. This generation has three characteristics: it is very digital, it is anxious because of the current context and, finally, it seeks meaning and therefore remains very sensitive to the social and societal commitment of brands. Brands must approach them through two main dimensions which combine paradoxes, juxtapositions and fragmentations (accumulation of identities and behaviors). The brand must capture these trends and respond to them through a unique offer, also targeting young adults in the making. When the brand addresses the individual beyond the target, it forges a special relationship. “I know you know I know”, can become his leitmotif.

Which brands have succeeded, in your opinion, in creating this relationship of connivance?

Ikea observes the inhabitants in their apartments to design products adapted to real life, every day. SFR, on the occasion of the launch of the “nine box”, features in its communication a young man in a nervous breakdown unable to buy his favorite jeans on the web because of an internet failure. Another example, the Always brand has tried to promote young girls who lack confidence during adolescence through its “Like a girl” campaign. The idea is to capture reality with its imperfections, its paradoxes and translate it into communication.

Which channel should be preferred?

Brands must design a phygital customer experience. If I’m a cool brand, I communicate on Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook via games, videos … which necessarily creates expectations among young consumers. We must not disappoint him and transcribe this state of mind in customer contact. Finally, it is necessary to segment by culture and not by age through four main “Youth cultures”: enfanlescence (mixture between child and teenager), adonaissance (teenager in the making), adolescence and adolescence.