Reaching the Elusive Young Adult Male, and Actually Getting Him to Listen - Kristin Youngling-BrightLine

Young adult males have always been a problem a problem for their parents and teachers a problem for their female counterparts and ever since the creation of advertising a problem for marketers Historically a very difficult demographic to reach today39s young males defined as 1824 yearolds are even more challenging to reach and engageamp8230 given their collective ADD and the recent flood of devices technologies and other quotshiny newquot distractionsSo what39s the key to cracking this elusive yet valuable group of young potential client customers We call it the quotROSEquot factor an interesting acronym for young males Relevance of content ampamp delivery Organic ampamp robust user experience Seamless interactivity Entertain ampamp informOr in quotguy speakquot meet them where they are with content they care about and make it easy for them to check it outIt39s easier said than done though Young males don39t utilize much traditional media They don39t read many magazines except maybe on their tablets By the time they learn to read a newspaper those may well be extinct or at least transformed They listen to some radio but mostly they39re listening to music on their smartphones And while they still watch a handful of TV shows it39s rarely in realtime and seldom with commercial breaksThere is however one media genre that is gaining in popularity with this group The release of 7th generation game consoles marks a very real transformation from what used to be a gaming device into a truly multidimensional entertainment hub With a combined 40 million active devices in the US Microsoft39s Xbox LIVE and Sony39s PlayStation Network platforms are now giving millions access to huge online content libraries custom apps social networks and in case you39re bored video games Not surprisingly adoption is quickly on the rise with the number of global subscribers to these platforms39 online content services now 40 times what it was just 8 years ago Usage is also up 30 year over year and with nongaming activities accounting for half of time spent these platforms are now being used more to access TV music and movies than to game Last year at BrightLine we created more than 40 ad experiences on Xbox and PS3 for brands looking to reach young adult males This was more than double the previous year39s number It39s no surprise that these systems have become many of our clients39 preferred medium for engaging this group because nowhere is the quotROSEquot factor more apparentIt39s with this in mind that brands like AXE and Red Bull who first entered the space in 2009 are now 25 campaigns deep and consistently using gaming platforms to deliver some of the most robust interactive and rewarding digital ad experiences out there In addition to a superior user experience viewer analytics have been a huge factor in the growing inclusion of connected game consoles across brands39 marketing mixes Brands are now more directly able to quantify the impact of their ad spend through these devices and measure the lift in brand KPI39s Not surprisingly they are seeing that when content is relevant entertaining and easy to quotcheck outquot our guys are eager to engage clicking through on branded content at rates far beyond online or mobileTo give you a better sense of exactly what kind of results brands are seeing let39s take a look at a few BrightLine campaigns that were recently designed to harness this behavior Earlier this year BrightLine worked with a popular men39s hair care brand to engage young males across Xbox LIVE and PS3 using cobranded content from a major motion picture Effectively reaching viewers as they searched for entertainment on their consoles the brand generated nearly 5 million engagements in just 2 months lasting on average 4 minutes eachamp8212that39s 5 times more engagements and nearly 13 more time spent than what39s seen across other digital platforms In a slightly different case where a wellknown soda brand was looking to engage and drive trial among young adult males but had no real content to leverage BrightLine built and seeded custom branded games across Xbox LIVE marketplaces This campaign led to tens of thousands of requests for a free sample outperforming other proven sampling methods by more than 2XSo now that brands have figured out where and how to reach and engage this group the logical next question is quotwhat value does this engagement drive for my brandquot Or in other words quotafter engaging with my brand are these guys more likely to take actionquot The answer is for the hundreds of guys we39ve asked a resounding quotYesquot A sentiment that has been confirmed across several effectiveness studies in which more than 1 in 3 young adult males say they actually purchased after engaging Herein lies the story of how a once problematic audience is ceasing to be a problem at least for marketers

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Reaching the Elusive Young Adult Male, and Actually Getting Him to Listen - Kristin Youngling-BrightLine

Publish date

Channel

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 6) - By Carl Mayer

More Videos:

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Reaching the Elusive Young Adult Male, and Actually Getting Him to Listen - Kristin Youngling-BrightLine

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 6) - By Carl Mayer

The payment was successful

Cookies