Market Profile and Communication Profile Situation

Toyota’s 2003 Matrix is affordable, sportingly stylish and youthfully appealing with high functionality. It has all the elements that interest the youth market of 20 to 30-year-old adults. This young and ever-changing audience desires the flexibility and change that the Toyota Matrix offers. Deemed as a CUV, or cross-over utility vehicle, the Matrix incorporates many elements of a multitude of vehicles. The practicality of a sports utility vehicle, the sleek design of a hot rod and the affordability of a sedan are major concerns for young adults and apparent functions of the 2003 Matrix.

Today’s youth consumer has an experiential demeanor with unclearly defined images of society. Wanting to do it all and full of doubts, this audience relies on media to facilitate the decisions they make as consumers. Old enough not to be fooled by glitter and bright lights and young enough to be swayed from habitual behavior, the youth market often looks to television and radio as the major sources of social and cultural influence.

According to a 2001 study from Simmons Market Research Bureau, over a third of the youth market rely on television as the only source of entertainment, while over 40 percent rely on the mass medium of television to keep them informed. In concordance with television, radio is the main source of information for over 25 percent of the youth market. Notably, 54 percent always listens to the radio when in the car.

The addition of more technological media to the lives of the youth market is apparent and very significant. According to a 2002 study conducted jointly by Harris Interactive and wireless industry research firm Telephia, the use of wireless phone services and internet by young adults is on the upswing, while the market is slowly declining. The data indicates that young adult usage of these services has climbed to 45 percent, while the usage by all users has stagnated at 22 percent.

Communication Profile Dynamic

According to William J. Donnelly of Planning Media, the youth market tends to be physically and socially active, with interests in sports, movies, concerts, eating out, entertaining and travel. Young adults are highly independent and extremely self-focused networkers. They spend freely in categories that support their lifestyle.

One area that supports their time-poor lifestyles is the wireless connection medium. The youth market relies heavily on accessibility. The ability to multi-task is important to this market, which makes cellular phones and the internet the primary method of communications among the market of 20 to 30-year-old adults. The ability for young adults to communicate on-the-go via any wireless device is vital to the efficiency of a day’s work.

Another medium that supports the lifestyle of the youth market is radio. It is a background medium that does not get much recognition. Nevertheless, it is probably the most used medium in America. Young adults wake up, travel, work and retire with the radio. It is a personal medium that paints a picture for its listeners. With music and words, the audience is required to use their imagination to live the experience that the radio conveys. Radio also serves a social function that provides interactive contact and context for the listener’s lives. Young adults tune to the radio for information regarding traffic, weather, concerts, personnel ads and much more. Radio has become a social companion with the same interest, ideals and experiences as the youth market.

Television is an immediate, instantaneous medium that provides a direct imitation of reality. The broadcast of music, sports and entertainment on television reflect the youth market’s lifestyle. Through the television experience, young adults can internalize the events on screen that define the culture they live in. Primetime broadcast offers the construction of quick awareness for young adults, and late night television enables these viewers to gain recognition and top-of-mind awareness for certain brands through repetition and higher frequency.

Communication Strategies to Facilitate Change

According to Donnelly, what a prospect knows and does is result of what the prospect reads, sees and hears. Consequently, there is a time and place where marketers must be when they have something to sell to create a demand for their product. By placing advertising in media vehicles used by the youth market like television, radio and wireless services, consumer demand of a product is created. When combined with copy and art that are designed specifically for the same target prospects, the media efforts yield the desired change.

Another element that will facilitate change is the proper advertising schedule. Pulsing allows higher levels of advertisements during selected months of high social activity for the youth market. Months leading to summer or winter, for example, are periods when the accessibility of a cross-over utility vehicle comes in useful because of the need to travel with large equipment.
The collaboration of all the media is also important. For instance, television and radio will assist in the awareness and comprehension stage of advertising, but with the use of the internet, interest and desire for the product will occur. This leads to the prospect taking action and making a purchase. This could be accomplished by holding special promotions advertised on radio and television that direct the prospect to the World Wide Web of the internet. Here, the prospects can learn more about the promotional event and the advertised product.

It is also important to advertise when the prospects are listening to the radio or watching television. On the way to and from work during the day are prime times to reach the youth audience with radio. Over 80 percent of the target market prospects watch network primetime television, so these hours are key to reaching young adults through television at night.

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