Co-operation called for in youth market

Hasn’t Alan Brydon ever worked on a packaged goods brand, targeted at an extremely fickle bunch of people, where brand is king and if you blink, yesterday’s campaign is tomorrow’s no-go area? (MW January 8.)

Doesn’t CIA Medianetwork have any clients that are trying to understand as much as they can about an audience that changes their whole lifestyle and attitudes from term to term? Well, we do.

EMAP Youth publishes magazines for that impossible crowd of people we loosely call youth. Our magazines are competing for the same pocket money as all the other brands; alcopops, hair mascaras, speed-garage bands etc.

If you don’t second-guess what the next topic of conversation in the playground will be then you can guarantee it won’t be your magazine being read on the bus home.

We have magazines that span the time you start secondary school to the time you start your first job, and we know just how different the messages have to be. Funnily enough, we don’t try to guess what young people are doing so we spend a lot of time and money on research.

The latest research we presented to the industry, in association with Leeds University Psychology Department, analysed the changing relationships youth have with brands as they move through their teens.

Of the 120 people at the presentation, 70 per cent were marketing managers of packaged goods brands. The waves of detailed follow-up presentations currently scheduled have been arranged by agencies at the request of their clients.

The second piece of research, due out later this year, is our continued ROAR project in association with Channel 4, Kiss Radio and BMP.DDB. Our research spans all relevant media and all key brand categories.

I hope the message coming across to Alan Brydon, and any other agency personnel who worry EMAP Youth are planning to steal their high ground, is that we want to share our knowledge. We want to develop our understanding of these valuable customers as much as our clients do.

EMAP Youth wants to be recognised as an invaluable source of information on the youth of today, but not the only source.

We want to develop our relationships with anyone else trying to reach the same customers and who believes that linkages are the best way forward.

Come on Alan, let CIA be part of the club – we’re all on the same side really.

Victoria Scott

Commercial director

EMAP Elan

London WC2