Ain’t your typical youth stuffs

This is it.

2010 is the year those with the deepest youth customer insights will win.

Mobile Youth Unconference Asia 2010 is the premier event gathering 350 youth trendsetters (18-25), marketeers, stakeholders, media, innovators, tech experts and investors.

While the youth trendsetters continues to actively ‘move & shake’ the commercial world, this Unconference takes a good in-depth look on current youth insights and trends, what’s really going on in the youth community and how youth brands can effectively engage with the youth market.

Here’s a Sneak Peak into what’s brewing at the Mobile Youth Unconference Asia 2010 ; 11 & 12 March 2010.

Exclusive Keynote by Youth Specialists from the Youth Research Partners*
Listen to a panel of Youth Specialists as they share successful youth engagement strategies and activations with you.
Learn from internationally-recognized highly specialized youth agencies from London, China, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

*Youth Research Partners is the world’s first and only global network of Highly Specialized Youth Agencies spreading across the Europe, Asia, South Africa, South America and the US continents. (www.youthresearchpartners.com)

Young Ideas Salon
Do you know your young market via datas and statistics?
Or…do you really know What Youth Think and Want?
For the first time ever in Malaysia, 4 Young Ideas Salons will run concurrently touching on a wide range of youth engagement topics i.e. new media, technology, mobile & public sectors.
Conducted in a lively atmosphere, this unconference style setup allows full interaction between youth trendsetters and youth brands.
The Salons are kept in small breakout groups to ensure a high intensity of no-nonsense, no-hold-barred real time live feedbacks, ideas and debates among the delegates.

Awesome Pitch
Is your youth marketing winning customers or winning awards for your agency?
Are you marketing TO or marketing WITH?
It’s time to put your strategies to some real test – right in front of your young market.
Pitch it to the youth trendsetters live – 2010 is the year your young market is going to tell you whether you’re good or you’re actually truly relevant.

GrassRoots Action
Ever wonder how youths run a campaign or organize a campus event?
Ever wonder why you’re always paying (sponsorships) but not achieving desired returns?
Have Youth Trendsetters pitch selected projects/campaigns/events to you.
Learn from the grassroots youth how it is done, what are the factors involved.

“In 2010, Attention is your biggest cost. Youth only process 5% of the marketing information they receive at any time, 95% being ignored…” Youth Research Partners, 2010

What makes you worthy of that 5%?
Listen, Learn and Engage.

Youth Party
2010 will see grassroots youth movements actively mushrooming within the communities.
Party on with more than 500 grassroots youth as we gather local youth movements to jointly host this party.
It’s time to take that first step to build that quality relationship with your young market.

“2010 is the watershed year when marketers will shift to match the changing landscape;
youth no longer want to hear stories told about brands, they want to tell their own…”

Are you telling your own stories or helping your young customers tell theirs?

Youth Biz-Match
Opportunities, opportunities, opportunities.
It is all about getting onto the right platform where doors open up and opportunities are abundance.
Youth Biz-Match allows youths to schedule appointments with key decision makers of the various youth brands to take on collaborative proposals together.
This ‘business matching’ session(s) are to be scheduled during lunch hours and business fellowship sessions throughout the Unconference.

Registration goes live 1 February 2010 @ www.mobileyouth.my

Mobile Youth Unconference Asia 2010 is proudly brought to you by Summer Sands Group (Malaysia), MAD Incubator (Malaysia), mobileYouth (London) and GrassRoots Youth Network.

We’re up & Good to Go!

Together with our ever-dedicated partners -

MAD Inc & Mobile Youth (London), we present to you

Mobile Youth Unconference Asia

Malaysia 2010

Registration begins 1 Feb 2010.

Stay tuned as we bring you more Exclusive updates!

Telling OUR story : 40 solid Youth Trends in 2010

2010 is the year you got to let us (youths) tell OUR story.  Allow us to be free, make us significant while we run together.

Together with our buddies from Mobile Youth (London) and the Youth Research Partners worldwide, we present you 40 solid Youth Trends in 2010.

This compilation of Trends is an extensive effort of highly specialized youth agencies around the globe – right from Europe to Asia to South America to South Africa continents.

Youth Trends 2010 FULL version

View more presentations from Bernard Hor.

Think these Insights would be of great resource and help in your business?  Want Summer Sands to visit your team for a good chat?

Get in touch with us at bernardhor@gmail.com.  We’re more than happy to share what’s Inside the Insights with you.

The author is a Youth Engagement Specialist, business author and a professional speaker based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  An active partner with mobileYouth, London& Youth Research Partners Asia, you can Google him or be his friend at www.facebook.com/bernardhor or follow his awesome Tweets atwww.twitter.com/bernardhor.

Attention IS your biggest cost.

I had the privilege of chilling out with a few groups of 18 year-olds last week while we spoke about What 18-21 year-olds does nowadays.

Somehow or rather, the conversation went on to online and the internet – blogs, Facebooks (and Friendster, somehow), Twitters, YouTubes, movie downloads, online games……….and finally Online Marketing / Advertising.

There are a couple of mixed responses from these groups of 18-21 year-olds.  However, I noticed two very common feedbacks and responses during the conversation which drives me to think whether we (marketers) have OVERUSED & OVER SOLD the web for brand marketings.

Two interesting insights I would love to share my thoughts with you here.

1) “Don’t sell us Online Surveys”

Online marketing surveys are a Nuisance, Annoying, “Waste-of-Time” to us.  Two pronged here:

a) If you send us an email and asked us to fill up the survey, we will very likely IGNORE it.  Even if we do it, it will be just for fun with no committed response and feedbacks.

b) If you tell us that we will be Paid filling up and completing a survey, Fat Chance!  One, we will NOT fill in our details for online payment you promised us.  Very often than not, stuffs like that turns out to be a scam at the end of the day.  And two, the payment scheme plan (RM0.20 per question) is rather ridiculous as we will only see the cash once we reach RM50!!!

2) “Too Much and Too Fake”

Pretty much referring to banner ads and blog advertising – the latter deriving more interesting insights.

On banner ads -it was plain simple -“…we don’t really remember those banner ads even though we spent more than 3 hours on the Internet daily…”

Product or event write-ups on blogs are not Full-Trust-Proof.  In short, Blog Advertising is becoming less and less ‘trustable’.  “We definitely don’t trust what is written on “his” blog.  We know “he” is the highest paid blogger in town.  But who cares?  ”He” is paid to write – “he” can’t possibly write bad about that thing…”

The level of Trust and Credibility in blog advertising in particular is rather being questioned.  Although the number of bloggers among youths is on the rise, the Trust level still very much depends on the “offline personality” of another blogger.  It is evident that youths who follow and read blogs do not necessarily buy in to the write-ups but rather have a mind of their own in the purchasing process of a particular service or product.

The insights from these youths very much shows a changing trend in the online and the internet arena.  While many marketers are heavily promoting and selling Facebook Marketing or Social Media marketing seminars and packages, youths continue to digest and derive informations on the web at their own pace, at their own cost – meaning to say at their own credible judgement.

Question is, with the level of trust among youths online, is the web just a tool of communication or is it really a tool to attract ATTENTION of the younger market?

For more insights on Youth & Online Cultures, stay tuned for our exclusive Video Insights soon.

Part 2 of “Attention IS your biggest cost” next week.

The author is a Youth Engagement Specialist, business author and a professional speaker based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  He thinks ATTENTION is not just as easy as getting online with youths.  An active partner with mobileYouth, London & Youth Research Partners Asia, you can Google him or be his friend atwww.facebook.com/bernardhor or follow his awesome Tweets at www.twitter.com/bernardhor.

From ‘Attention Economy’ to the ‘Blackberry Breakout’

Part 2 of the 2010 Youth Trends report is available now – one day after releasing our Part 1 of 3 Exclusive report.

Youth Trends 2010 is compiled by the Youth Research Partners –  a global network of the world’s largest distributed network of highly specialized youth agencies.

2010 Youth Trends Report Part 2

View more presentations from Graham Brown

Getting ON-the-LINE with Youths

2010 Youth Trends Report Part1

View more presentations from Graham Brown.

We’ve just officially released Part 1 of 3 of the Youth Trends 2010 report together with our Global Partner, mobileYouth (UK).  Downloads are available at mobileyouth.org.

Are you getting ONLINE to youths or getting ON THE LINE with youths?

Find out more in our Insights Review among Malaysian youths end week.

10% is a HUGE investment.

Indeed.

10% is a HUGE investment.

What are we talking about here?  I’ve been speaking to many people recently on selling to the youth crowd or rather pushing sales. (in a more polite manner, it’s called “Marketing”)

Interesting conversation a.k.a debate we had.  I noticed one common factor in every one of these conversations.  One, it is talking about the YOUTH market.  And two, it is mainly about the “investment” needed.

Interestingly, 10 out of 10 I spoke to had the idea that “investment” (when it comes to youth market) is all about the money.  They think (or so they thought) that the more money you have, the better (or easier) you can attract the youths.  Now, I’m not going to deny this naively.

It is true to a certain extend.  And that extend is that – YES!  youths will definitely be attracted if your “investment” is HUGE.  But, the question is, how, what, why and when do you make that HUGEEEEE “investment”?

“Throwing” or splurging the budget does not necessarily means success in youth marketing.  Like I mentioned, YES – we will be attracted.  However, the attraction, I can guarantee you – is a short-lived one.

3 simple “excuses” why we say this;

1) WE DO NOT NEED YOUR MONEY. Oh hell yeah!  We don’t actually give a damm about the size of budget you’re splurging on us.  We will be impressed (at that very moment…ONLY) with what you’ve got to flash.  But in reality, we really don’t give a *&#$ about it.

2) WE DON’T REMEMBER WHO “THREW” IT. Sad fact – but yes!  We don’t really remember who splurged all that cash on us.  Not unless you kindly deposit that cash into our savings account and make sure it is not ‘withdrawable’ (not at least for the next 5 years!!)  We MIGHT remember you then.

3) WE COULDN’T CARELESS ABOUT YOU…not unless you are Apple or Google or maybe…Facebook…otherwise, screw it and live with it!  You got to really understand that we don’t wake up thinking about you (your brand).  We love choices.  We adore choices.  We desire choices.  So, don’t bother telling us you’re good, you’re the best, you’re the cheapest or you’re the ONE (that’s the worst thing you could ever say to us).

And 3 simple “reasons” we might want you to know (or rather, you might want to know) ;

1) WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT….and you just got to be the ONE to guide us and show us the way.  Many of us are loss – but heck it! – we’re not gonna admit it to you anytime soon.  And don’t think that you could “get” us just by pulling off a smart publicity or CSR stunt once.  We have to be nurtured.  We have to be cared for.  We have to “understood”.  We have to be INVOLVED.

Run with us to create that change…TOGETHER.

Are you willing to “invest”?

2) WE WANT TO BE IN CONTROL….who doesn’t?  rather, which young guy/girl doesn’t?  What we’re trying to tell you is, let us have the ownership.  Whatever way or whichever PR agency you’re hiring, make sure they’re good enough to ‘convinced’ us that we’re IN CONTROL.  We will be the one to tell you, “It’s under control, don’t worry…”

Are you willing to “invest”?

3) WE “MIGHT” WAKE UP THINKING…no!! not about you…but at least, you’re worth to be ‘part of the thought’ first thing in the morning.  Let us tell you what we do straight from the bed – we log in to Facebook, reply some messages, comment on some walls and check on Mafia Wars….then we’ll surf into some “news” of the day, start the MSN Live or GTalk machine…etc etc etc…

So, be glad if you make it to the ‘part of our thought’ segment.  Don’t push it!  Not that we never warned you before – don’t push it!

Tip here is : Get something done that NOT ONLY reach out but reach IN into our hearts.  The thing is, you have to remember that we’re not 6 year olds that you can “convinced” just by some kiddy publicity stunt by your ad agency.  Neither are we 60 year olds who in many ways doesn’t even really bother anymore!  We’re the “stucked in the middle”, swarmed with 1001 choices every day and have a great tendency to kinda “forget” you.

Again, are you willing to “invest”?

Read carefully the one-liner above and observed that the word to focus on is not “invest” but rather focus on WILLING.

How willing are you?  How much time are you WILLING to spend with us?  How much are you WILLING to let go for us to take ownership?  Are you then WILLING to take the risk?  Just in case we fall, will you be WILLING to fall with us?

You don’t need HUGE inve$tment$$$$ – Influence and Trust are two things money can’t buy!  You just got to earn it.  And once ‘betrayed’, that’s all folks…

The funny thing here is that, you don’t actually need BIG FAT BUDGETS to sell to (oops, i mean market..or engage) ALLLLLL of us!  What you ultimately need is to identify and ACKNOWLEDGE the 10% of us – something your Ad and PR or Event agencies will never ever tell you!!!

Work on the 10% and you shall eventually see the rest of the puzzle falling into place.

Question is, are you WILLING to work on that 10% – yes, 10% is, indeed, a HUGE investment.

The author is a Youth Engagement Specialist, business author and a professional speaker based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  He enjoys talking about youths with the like-minded over a cuppa.  An active partner with mobileYouth, London & Youth Research Partners Asia, you can Google him or be his friend at www.facebook.com/bernardhor or follow his awesome Tweets at www.twitter.com/bernardhor.

Customers = Your Brand

Customers Are The Brand

View more presentations from Graham Brown.

A powerful presentation from my buddy in London, Graham.

Better than Greater

We’ve got an early Christmas present for everyone! And we’re just as anxious as you to reveal this. Stay tuned everybody!

Facebook : www.facebook.com/bernardhor

Engaging Youth at the GrassRoots

Summer Sands signature project – Project GOssip in mobileYouth TV (London).

mobileYouth TV features three (3) signature projects around the globe which has successfully engaged the Youth market.

Bret Bernhoft, Insyght Consuting (Portland) on “Increasing Gen Y volunteerism”.

Bernard Hor, Summer Sands Group (Malaysia) on “Engaging Youths via Social Entrepreneurship”.

Marlon Parker, Cape Town on “Involving Youths in Social Challenging programs”.

Also, for those (brands) interested or still trying or desperately selling hard to the Youth market, this is my early Christmas gift to you – Engaging your Youths (click to download) It’s a Free download courtesy of Mobile Youth – an globally renowned youth marketing and mobile culture Team in London.

Meanwhile, we have another great Christmas gift for all you out there.  Stay tuned!