Teens and Money, a Potent Combination: Looking at the Increases in Teen Spending Since Frontline's 2001 Episode "Merchants of Cool"
It's a normal weekday afternoon outside of McClatchy. As the end of the school day comes, teenagers spill out of the school and flood onto Freeport Boulevard. Some head home, but just as many head to places along the way like Oscar's, Quickly's, and McDonald's. On this day alone, thousands of dollars will pass hands between these teenagers and the businesses they go to and this is not just the case outside of McClatchy. In 2001, Frontline did an episode on what they called the "merchants of cool," marketers looking to exploit the previously untapped teenage market. They found that in 2001, teenagers spent or influenced $150 billion worth of sales. That number has nearly doubled to $258.7 billion in recent years (according to the article linked below), or an average of nearly $10,000 a year spent by every teenager in America. That number seems a little extreme to me, but just how accurate is it? With this blog, we will look at why teenagers spend so much and also why they have the means to do so in this growing world.
First, teenagers spend a lot of money because they have a bigger and more accessible market to spend money in. As we have gotten older, the world has increasingly gotten more technologically advanced, making it easier for teenagers to order products online from sites like Amazon and eBay as well as from brands themselves. In the past, teens would have to buy such products in public at a store or mall which required transportation if they could not drive themselves yet. Now, however, teens don't have to worry about waiting for mom or dad to drive them to the store but can simply open their computer, hit a few buttons, and wait for the package to show up. Furthermore, as marketers have gotten wiser to the potential of the teenage market (as referenced in Frontline's episode), they have started to widen the market of products available for teenagers to buy from. When once there was one company creating a certain product, there are now six, all vying for the teenager's attention as they try to become a part of the "culture" like white moms trying to dab. This combination of convenience and expansion of choice has created an environment ripe for teenage spending, which explains why they do spend so much.
In order for teenagers to spend so much money though, they must get it somewhere and that somewhere is the expanded opportunities of the modern world for making money. Now according to that study from earlier, we are all spending a solid $10K a year (which still sounds bogus to me, but for the sake of this post, we'll work with it). Now, where does that money come from? I don't know about you guys, but I don't spend my free time watering my money trees (for one HISP doesn't allow the time for that). So where is all this money coming from? I would argue that again the solution lies in the power of the Internet. What were once dishwasher jobs and strip mall stores' cashiers, now exist as online jobs and opportunities. Think about all the ways people can make money online for cheap. There are the hype flippers who buy expensive clothing for cheap and flip it for much more money, there are the YouTube/Instagram "influencers" who can make thousands of dollars if they establish a following (or absolutely nothing if they don't), there are even the survey-fillers, the modern day focus groupers, who fill out online surveys for a couple bucks a piece. With all these opportunities literally at our fingerprints, it is no wonder that teenagers on average have more money than previous generations.
So how crucial is the teen market for advertisers? It's everything. Teens have money now thanks to the opportunities of our digital world and they want to spend it (college saving, who?). Now it's just up to the brands of society to give them a path to that goal (like a drug dealer or fisherman depending on which way you want to look at it). So hook me in corporate America, I apparently have $10,000 on me and I would love to spend it on your newest Nikes.
Article on average spending by teenagers: https://www.reference.com/family/much-money-average-teenager-spend-3fbb309f1fdb12af
First, teenagers spend a lot of money because they have a bigger and more accessible market to spend money in. As we have gotten older, the world has increasingly gotten more technologically advanced, making it easier for teenagers to order products online from sites like Amazon and eBay as well as from brands themselves. In the past, teens would have to buy such products in public at a store or mall which required transportation if they could not drive themselves yet. Now, however, teens don't have to worry about waiting for mom or dad to drive them to the store but can simply open their computer, hit a few buttons, and wait for the package to show up. Furthermore, as marketers have gotten wiser to the potential of the teenage market (as referenced in Frontline's episode), they have started to widen the market of products available for teenagers to buy from. When once there was one company creating a certain product, there are now six, all vying for the teenager's attention as they try to become a part of the "culture" like white moms trying to dab. This combination of convenience and expansion of choice has created an environment ripe for teenage spending, which explains why they do spend so much.
In order for teenagers to spend so much money though, they must get it somewhere and that somewhere is the expanded opportunities of the modern world for making money. Now according to that study from earlier, we are all spending a solid $10K a year (which still sounds bogus to me, but for the sake of this post, we'll work with it). Now, where does that money come from? I don't know about you guys, but I don't spend my free time watering my money trees (for one HISP doesn't allow the time for that). So where is all this money coming from? I would argue that again the solution lies in the power of the Internet. What were once dishwasher jobs and strip mall stores' cashiers, now exist as online jobs and opportunities. Think about all the ways people can make money online for cheap. There are the hype flippers who buy expensive clothing for cheap and flip it for much more money, there are the YouTube/Instagram "influencers" who can make thousands of dollars if they establish a following (or absolutely nothing if they don't), there are even the survey-fillers, the modern day focus groupers, who fill out online surveys for a couple bucks a piece. With all these opportunities literally at our fingerprints, it is no wonder that teenagers on average have more money than previous generations.
So how crucial is the teen market for advertisers? It's everything. Teens have money now thanks to the opportunities of our digital world and they want to spend it (college saving, who?). Now it's just up to the brands of society to give them a path to that goal (like a drug dealer or fisherman depending on which way you want to look at it). So hook me in corporate America, I apparently have $10,000 on me and I would love to spend it on your newest Nikes.
Article on average spending by teenagers: https://www.reference.com/family/much-money-average-teenager-spend-3fbb309f1fdb12af
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