NewsLine Column: Bar-Room Branding
For years advertisers have been striving to target socially active 18-25 year olds, but with this demographic spending less time on the sofa and more time out on the town, Rick Weir, marketing director of Hi-Tech Solutions, explains that advertisers need to turn to bars and clubs to get their message across.
Most of us are aware of the many benefits in targeting socially active 18-25 year olds. They have a high disposable income, they are big brand spenders, they like to have the latest gadgets and they influence trends and opinions. And by definition, they also like to get out and about and do stuff. So why did recent research results from the UK’s top creative agencies point to sofa medium – TV – as the best way to reach these socially active 18-25s?
We commissioned research from Vivid Research earlier this year to find out what the UK’s top creative agencies thought were the best ways of reaching this market. The number one spot, with a majority vote of 39%, went to TV. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that this is a little peculiar. Socially active people are called such because they are socially active – they go out, not sit on the sofa.
Fortunately, 29% of creative agencies thought outdoor and ambient media was the best way to reach this audience, with other media such as cinema, internet, radio and magazines registering only between 4% and 8%.
Yes, socially active people go to the cinema and listen to radio, surf the net and use mobile phones, read magazines, go to sports events, use the tube, buses and pass 6-sheets. But what do they do before, during and after? They go to clubs and bars.
Bars are the common denominator that binds this group together. They are the last social junction where young people regularly congregate. According to TGI, over 95% of all 18-25 year olds visit bars each week and with more than half of the 11,000 busy bars in the UK available to advertisers, the opportunities have never been greater.
53% of bar going 18-24 year olds visit bars between one and three times a week, 42% are classified alcoholics and visit more than four times a week. Only 5% visit less than once a week. And in case you are wondering about the quality of these people, 67% of them are ABC1.
Where better to advertise your product or service than in an environment where people go to talk, socialise and share opinions. Also, with the creative freedom an over 18 environment allows, the possibilities for stimulating conversation are enlarged. Whether washroom posters, beer mats, stickers, sampling or other vehicles are used, advertisers wanting to reach socially active 18-25s being socially active need look no further than bars.
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