Using Cool in Youth Marketing

Youth Generation is not only driving the nation’s economy, but also its way of thinking. While many brands define the younger generations—Gen Y and Gen Z—as their primary targets, how many brands are actually able to speak their language?

To connect with this target audience, we recognized that coolness finds huge traction with younger generations. To comprehend coolness, it was imperative to understand the elements that make up the sensibility. We delved into the components of coolness, discovering that although one demographics definition of cool do not necessarily translate to other locales, there are quintessential ingredients—we call them “cool mantras”—that are widely accepted indicators of coolness for the youth. The cool mantras in turn infuse brands with their “cool quotient,” or degree of coolness.

To better understand this cool quotient, we looked to brands that have already decoded coolness and made it a part of their brand DNA. By analyzing these brands, we then established a “cool toolkit” to help brands that are still finding their way. Here is an introduction to the cool toolkit for marketers who wish to add a cool quotient to their brands.

The search for cool

After studying more than 100 brands to understand their histories, products, and communication styles, I’ve identified specific brands that are widely considered to be fundamentally cool. This was a relatively subjective classification based on empirical data: Looking at online conversations about brands, considered prior contributions by these brands toward shaping some aspect of youth culture, and determined which brands best resonate with a youth audience. These learnings were then distilled into the cool mantras and shaped into actionable points as part of the cool toolkit to help brands increase their cool quotient.

What makes something cool?

Cool transcends algorithms and logical definitions. Throughout history, cool has resulted from all sorts of different trends and lifestyles. But all things cool, when studied closely, can ultimately be condensed to a few common characteristics. In Asia, these include:

Cool is silent rebellion: Subtle hair highlights or hidden tattoos are symbols of nonconformity that make a statement without shouting.

Cool is a source of respect: Being cool means earning the respect of peers, and sometimes even their envy. Coolness achieves something extraordinary that’s difficult to replicate. Perhaps that’s why the stunt-driven, task-oriented reality show Roadies called its eleventh season “ride for respect.”

Cool seeks detachment but craves attention: Indian youth may plug in their headphones and update their profile pictures by the hour, but they inwardly crave attention while outwardly seeking to look detached.

Cool does more, but talks less: Many brands like Lenovo  bring this truth alive through initiatives that glorify an action-oriented, can-do way of life.

Cool is the equilibrium between individuality and belonging: Stand out too much and you’re weird, blend in too well and you’re inconspicuous. Cool is the perfect balance between these polarities.

Cool is paradoxically competitive: Cool is a ferociously competitive spirit disguised in a nonchalant, unruffled refusal to play the conventional game. Blockbuster movies like Student of the Year bring this duality to the forefront.

Cool creates its own causes: As a generation without central causes or great wars to unite it, India’s youth see movements like lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights or the Stop Online Piracy Act as causes to rally around.

Finding a cool positioning

Whether a brand is considered cool is also driven by how it is viewed by the people who are not its target audience. This group becomes “the others,” those whose reaction to and viewpoint on a particular brand drives the core target audience to adopt, embrace, or flaunt the brand.

When positioning a brand as the next cool thing, understanding how it will be viewed by people outside the target audience is just as important as considering how the brand will be perceived by the core target audience. These outsiders can love or hate the brand, they can accept it or consider it taboo, but either way, their reactions will impact how the core target audience feels about the brand.

To fully grasp the measure of a brand’s cool quotient and understand the cultural space it occupies, it can help to plot the brand on a positioning chart, considering both the target audience and the outsider’s perspective on the brand. Generally, the target’s perspective and outsider’s perspective are opposite one another.

Since cool is mutable, it’s important to note that brands can move across these quadrants depending on the cultural pulse of the moment. Strategic shifts from one quadrant to another can be brought about by specific activities that focus on reinforcing the brand’s cool image in the following ways:

From generic to distinctive

When a cool brand begins to become generic, it’s time for the brand to do something disruptive to align to its tribe. It’s okay to be hated a little by those outside the brand’s target audience, as this reinforces the brand’s cool image.

From niche to mass

When trying to maintain diehard fans, brands can sometimes become inaccessible to certain audiences, alienating them by pushing them too far outside their comfort zone. This is the time for brands to dial up their desirability and likability quotient with the outsiders.

From passé to the in thing

As culture evolves, brands may suddenly find that their edge has waned—what was once trendy is now ordinary. When this occurs, it’s time to have fun and be a little quirky to break from the sea of sameness.

From “young” to “youth”

There is a difference between those who have a young mindset and those who are young in years. A brand that becomes a symbol of youth often begins to trend with an older crowd. When this happens, it’s time for the brand to do something a little shocking or intriguing to set it apart as a youth brand rather than as a young brand.

The cool mantras: What do Indian youth consider cool?

In our exploration into the world of Indian youth, we discovered that their hyperconnected, socially active, and globally influenced lives have made them quick to judge and unafraid to voice their thoughts. In the process, we uncovered some uniquely Indian characteristics of coolness:

It is cool to pursue your dreams, even if you fail

Inheriting wealth, legacy, or tradition is not considered cool anymore. Youth want to break free and become the authors of their own destinies. We witness this in the rise of campus startups and alternate career options that young people are pursuing, leaving behind often-lucrative family professions for uncertainty and independence.

It is cool to take the lead and change the status quo

The days of Asian citizens being bystanders are coming to a close. There is a growing emphasis on taking the lead and remedying problems. From using technology in constructive ways to raising voices against injustice, the status quo is shifting. People are no longer accepting things as they are or have been, but are looking to the future and focused on change.

It is cool to break taboos

Indian culture has long been riddled with taboos and social distaste for deviation from the norm. But the current crop of youth in India is happy to embrace deviations, even breaking some long-held taboos themselves. Openness to divorce, acceptance of same-sex relationships, and acknowledgement of premarital and extramarital sex are all topics discussed more openly in homes across the country.

It is cool to be social; it’s even cooler to be on social media

Brands like WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter have ousted soft drinks as the quintessentially cool brands in India.3 Today in cafés across the country, friends can be seen sitting together hooked into their own electronic devices. The only time the group actually converses is to discuss what was said or done on social media. However, while social media is cool, brands on social media are at best ignored, and more often, lambasted.

It is cool to be hedonistic

Unlike previous generations that believed in abstinence and self-restraint, young India is a hedonistic generation. Whether it’s eating out, going to the movies, or frequenting pubs and discos, the super-fast growth of categories like restaurants, hospitality, multiplexes, and lifestyle goods bears testimony to this fact.

It is cool to be tech-savvy

With a significant share of discretionary spending on tech and tech-enabled services like cellular data, Internet connections, and mobile phones, technology is a clear favorite among the youth. This is also reflected in the fact that Samsung was named the most trusted brand in 2016 and the most exciting brand in the mobile category in a study conducted by the Economic Times.