With the debut of our 'For Youth By Youth' newsletter we've been sharing the insight of our North American youth community.

This week we bring you the 30,000-foot perspective on "The State of the New Young Consumer in North America".

Enjoy the view!

Key Points to Ponder When Approaching the Young Consumer in North America

Here's a brief overview of what makes the youth market so important to ANY large-scale business model.

-There are currently just over 6 million males and females aged 16-29 in Canada. (Stats Can 1999) This represents a solid 20% of the population.

We're looking at a similar percentage in America (20%), representing a youth population of around 57 million.
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Translation? Fully one fifth of our nation's population will continually be moving through the most important developmental period of their lives over the next decade and beyond.

Building relationships...
-This is the time at which young people experiment with personal choice and begin to solidify their choices.
-It is also when brand imprinting creates latent and overt attachments to specific icons, brands and associated attitudes.
-A company that speaks with (and NOT to) this demographic forms a relationship with these individuals for the long haul.

The brave new world of youth...
-They live and breathe information. It is all around them. They create it and understand it.
-They are drawn to the notions of self-fulfillment and self-expression.

This combination of self-empowerment and innovation has made these new young cohorts much more commercially influential than ever before.

-Entrepreneurial drive is huge with this sector. Working and living are inextricable from one another. While they party hard, they also work and plan for the future at younger and younger ages. And they are highly innovative - quite a potent combination.

Their reach is growing...

Another important aspect of this group is that their empowerment (both material and mental) has made their choices larger in scope.

Youth have become the holy grail of marketing and communication because they imbue certain products with a sense of individualism and empowerment that other groups are drawn to naturally.

The young North American market, now more than ever, exerts great influence on our society at large.

Mike Farrell; mike.Farrell@thenrggroup.com