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90210 Marketing – Everything old is new again!
I recently sat hiding in my basement as 10 women in their 30s, my wife included, giggled, screamed and laughed in my living room while watching the season premier of the new 90210. I bought a cabbage patch kid last Christmas for the local toy drive. My brother gave his son a Transformer as a birthday present this year. It seems like my childhood years of the 70s and 80s have gone through a time machine. All the brands that I grew up with as a Gen Xer are back – and back with a vengeance.
I’ve been asking myself, how is this possible? Is it customer centric marketing? If so, who the heck is the customer? I spent a morning at the Gen Y conference held by the Canadian Marketing Association last week, and I sure don’t think it is Gen Y. In fact, Gen Y gets upset at being marketed to at all – and if the marketing doesn’t promote a (legitimate) green initiative or CSR, it wouldn’t land with them anyway. The real target is the nostalgic Gen X parent or adult! The end consumer, in the case of a My Little Pony, may be a young girl, but the customer is clearly the parent. In the case of 90210, Kelly and Brenda are key characters designed to keep the Gen X crowd glued to the TV – in fact, the subplot of whether Dylan is coming back is more interesting to the audience than any new character's teen tribulations.
It seems that many childhood and teen brands may have two lives with the market, but with a single customer. Why? First, innovation is expensive. Second, finding a new ‘hit’ toy or show is rare. Finally, marketing a new brand takes more time and money the rejuvenating a legacy brand. It all goes back to Marketing 101, which tells us that it costs 10x more to acquire a new customer than service an existing one. What do you think? Is it smart marketing, or just co-incidence that kids nowadays like the same concepts and brands as their parents used to? Who do you think really drives this market? Gen X or the end (children/teen) consumers?
~Mark Binns / Partner / Torque
