Procter & Gamble to target teens via word of mouth

by Staff,, Brand Republic 29-Oct-02, 11:10

NEW YORK - Procter & Gamble is to target the teen market by signing up 200,000 teenagers to talk about its brands with their peers.

The US project, which goes under the name Tremor, will give members ideas and inside information on new products in food, fashion, games and entertainment. The idea is that these members will then talk to their friends about the products they have seen.

P&G brands to benefit from the push include the youth make-up brand CoverGirl and Old Spice, which is now the most popular male youth deodorant brand in the US.

Although the members are not paid for their time, they will have the chance to win prizes in exchange for filling in online surveys, as well as receiving a welcome gift.

In return, they will receive information from different companies around twice a month, which they can review and rate in a process that should take around five minutes.

Details of how the members of Tremor will be chosen have not been revealed. However, the company's website says that only about one in 10 teens will qualify and that membership is by invitation only.

Jim Stengel, global marketing officer for P&G, has said in reports: "Word-of-mouth advocacy is the gold standard in marketing. And with Tremor, we've created a tool that helps us do that with teens."

The strategy could be used to target other demographic groups, he said.

For many years, the buzzword among youth marketers has been credibility, with advertisers being told that young people respond better to subtle branding campaigns rather than big advertising pushes.

Earlier this month, Avon announced it was launching a new brand for teenagers called Mark, which would be sold by an army of young sales women it planned to recruit from colleges, high schools and shopping malls.

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