First launched in 2001, mobileYouth is an ongoing study of the behavioural and consumption trends of young people worldwide.  Covering the KPI indicators for mobile handset manufacturers and operators, mobileYouth research includes  both qualitative and quantitative insights on youth churn, market penetration, saturation and more.  The annual mobileYouth report covers 65 markets worldwide and drill-down data by country is available on mobileyouth.org.

Born in the UK, Graham Brown has spent his life living and working in both London and Tokyo. A keen psychology graduate, Graham has focused his marketing career on understanding what influences consumer behavior.

Graham established mobileYouth in 2001 with Josh Dhaliwal at a time when the blanket industry response to youth was “we don’t do kids”. Needless to say, things have changed a little since then and Graham’s role in the organization has evolved from knocking on the doors of operators to maintaining the research momentum and deepening our understanding of what the consumer wants.

As well as speaking at industry conferences on the subject of young consumers, Graham has appeared on CNBC, Sky, CNN and BBC TV regarding youth marketing issues as well as in print with the FT, Guardian, WSJ and the Sunday Times.

It seems these days you can’t have an agency without flashing strategic credentials. Taboo subscribes to the creed that any strategy worth it’s weight in budget will be a carefully designed plan to murder the competition.

We strive to develop for our clients an ingenious path to achieving their goals. One that never deviates from its purpose. Whatever form our strategies take, it will not be the straight forward application of a formula, but a creative plan based upon competitive assessments.

Driven by brand heritage and insights that reflect crying consumer needs, our strategies leverage sustainable competitive advantage to enforce a position impenetrable to imitators. Our craft is to recognize where your market is going, and stake your claim at the precise moment it occurs to everybody else the time has arrived.

“This is the first time that Taboo has opened its insights and findings to broader groups outside of our client base. Taboo is excited to be a member  of the Youth Research Partnership and we look forward to working in collaboration with its agencies and contributing our insights about local youth culture to a global knowledge base.”

Andrew Mackinnon, Managing Director
With his natural entrepreneurial aptitude and flare for developing business, in 2000 Macca took a sip from the cup of fate, founded The Taboo Group, and hasn’t looked back since. He credits the success of Taboo campaigns to his ever-growing young team, who he is proud to develop and nurture. The unique work environment he has created within Taboo encourages accountable creativity, offering clients tailored and quantifiable solutions with tangible results.

JuniorSenior is an internationally operating full-service communication agency with a clear and sincere aim. We want to add more fun to the world. More fun for our customers and more fun for their customers. With this comes a natural success for all.

With more than 20 years experience (the senior part), we know precisely which media tools and marketing mechanics you must utilise today to reach the junior young audiences. JuniorSenior acts as a one-stop-shop from which you can change direction and gear rapidly. JuniorSenior provides well founded strategic and creative solutions and has a great many in-house specialists. Our up-to-date knowledge of concept, design and media also enables companies who wish to make an outstanding impact on their communication and marketing.

“Creativity takes you to places you’ve never been before.  We couldn’t be happier to be in this position, to be among a network of like-minded companies meaningfully engaging youth on a daily basis.” – Ab Kuijer, Founder, JuniorSenior

Learn today’s best practices when it comes to engaging youth in today’s market.  We will guide you down a path that will help you and your marketing team to focus on what’s important by sourcing valuable insights that will help shape your products and marketing for today’s youth.

Get More Insights from our 10 Part Series

How can we find our young fans? (Yes you have them)  How can we connect in a relevant  and authentic way? How can we develop fresh ideas?  These are just a few of the questions we will help you answer in our 10-week course.  Each week we will send you the youth marketing trends, insights and case studies necessary to set your team in the right direction.  Sign up to receive it free today.

Insights

The Toyota’s Scion’s monumental success in the youth market has attracted the attention of automakers across the board and has given inspiration to such models as the Ford Fiesta and the Kia Soul. The battle over the youth market intensifies when you throw in student favorites such as the Ford Mustang, Honda Civic, Volkswagen Jetta, Mazda 3 and more. With so much competition how can an auto brand create a foundation for sustainable success?

Get More Insights from our 10-Part Series

How can we find our young fans? How can we develop fresh ideas? What were the keys to the Scion success?  These are the questions we’ll be tackling each week along with the youth marketing trends, insights and case studies necessary to set your team in the right direction.  Sign up to receive it free today.

Insights

Youth are the vanguard of change. And they’ve changed the world of marketing forever. Brands can no longer dictate, they must now collaborate.

At Instant Grass, they collaborate 24/7 with a network of the most connected, informed and influential young people, to create consumer-driven solutions for some of the best brands in the world.

This intimate collaboration allows them to unlock powerful insights and connection points, deliver fresh and unexpected product ideas, and generate credible and contagious word-of-mouth and brand advocacy.

If you’re a brand wanting to engage with the youth at a whole new level, or if you’re a young person who wants to be heard by the brands that make up your world, then welcome to Instant Grass.

“We are very excited to join the Youth Research Partners.  Tapping into a global partnership of this caliber will now give us greater insight into the trends taking place in Western Europe and beyond and having a platform for which to share our insights on a global level is truly unique.  We look forward to a wonderful relationship with all of the partners and helping brand managers understand the Russian youth of today.” Olya Gracheva, Managing Partner of Instant Grass Russia

Click here to contact Instant Grass Russia

The decision for choosing a student banking option is becoming more  and more difficult with each bank having it’s own offers such as Bank of America’s Student Package, HSBC’s Student Banking or Wells Fargo’s College Combo.  In today’s world, young people seek out their peers and trusted members of their network for advice on important issues such as personal finance both offline and online.  Personal finance is no different, that’s why banks must play by the rules of engagement today.

Banks too must understand today’s young consumers and find new ways of connecting, creating meaning and solving their problems on their terms.  Don’t worry, we’re here to help!

Get More Insights from our 10 Part Series

With an ongoing dialogue that we have had with banking executives and marketing managers over the past two years we will be addressing questions like: Do we need to be on mobile and Facebook? What are the new products we need to be offering?  How are you choosing your bank?

These are just some of the questions we’ll address in our new newsletter “Top 10 Tips for Banks to Win Young Customers”. We’ll be providing inspiration and insights from our Youth Research Partners in markets worldwide that have successfully helped banks win young customers.  Sign up to receive it free today.

Case Study

View the video and full Nedbank case study

Remember Sophiatown?!

The images of 50’s marabi high fashion and kwela music are still infused into our youth culture now (think of the retro shades / goggles, Mafikizolo, Kwela Tebza).
Well, some brands are taking advantage of the nostalgia for the ‘good ol’ days’. Take Omo’s ad campaign for instance, ‘Tsamo Reka Omo’ (playing on the children’s game song) brings back flashbacks of dusty streets and fun games for those grew up in the township.

Then there’s the Good Hope FM Kinky Afro ad campaign that shows images of the not-so-cool whites only beaches or some of the ridiculous fashion from the 80’s; and the cooll things we should bring back – the great soulful music from back then.

Some brands really hit the nail by showing how easy it is to make us all emotional about the good ol days.

What’s driving Youth culture at the moment? Is it the local brand or is it the international brand?

For more information on this or another case study email me

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Associate Account Executive

We are looking for Associate Account Executives to join our team in our flagship New York office.

Associate Account Executives will assist supervisors with background research and program development, perform outreach to target demos, and support the overall execution of diverse projects for key clients.  They will enjoy working in a fun, fast paced, entrepreneurial environment and thrive being around creativity and excitement.

Key qualifications include:

Recent college grads: 1-2 years (MAX) relevant work experience or great internship experience for an agency or client

College degree from a reputable university; degree ideally in marketing/advertising/communications or relevant major

A dedicated work ethic and desire to always over-deliver for clients

Strategic thinker, able to help guide ideas to align with clients’ strategy

Strong written and verbal communication skills

Understanding and experience in non-traditional marketing (word-of-mouth, digital, experiential, social media)

Personable and work well in a collaborative environment

Entrepreneurial background or attitude, passionate about building a great agency

Other nice-to-haves include:

Teen, college, young adult and millennial mom marketing experience

Deep interest and understanding of changes in communications including social media, word-of-mouth, and mobile

A good sense for trends, having a pulse on what’s next

To Apply:

Let us know why we need to meet you and be convincing. Cover letter and resume to hr@mryouth.com