Filed under: GROOMING | Tags: Axe, Dial, NPD Group, Old Spice, Packaged Facts
What is strewn across teenage brothers’ Noah and Keenan Assaraf bathroom counter? How about 18 different containers of grooming products including body wash, face wash, exfoliator, exfoliating wash, body hydrator, body spray, deodorant, shaving cream, shampoo, conditioner, and the gold standard, hair gel. In a December 2007 report, market research firm Packaged Facts projected worldwide retail sales of grooming products for boys’ age 8 to 19 years at nearly $2 billion. And the market keeps growing.
As Jan Hoffman reports in The New York Times, boys at a younger age have become increasingly self-conscious about their appearance and identity, which has resulted in a sharp surge in young men’s and teens grooming products. Consequently, Hoffman writes that teens and tweens are “turning to hypermasculine guideposts like Instinct from Axe, Swagger by Old Spice, and Magnetic Attraction Enhancing Body Wash by Dial.”
The short answer for the surge: peer pressure from girls. Kit Yarrow a professor of psychology and marketing at Golden Gate University helps explain this phenomenon: “more insecurity equals more product need, equals more opportunity for marketers.”
Why does Jake Guttenberg, a Manhattan seventh grader, use an Axe spray? “I feel confident when I wear it,” he said. In other words, it’s the best chance to get the girl.
And marketers are engaging this notoriously elusive market by relying less on 30-second TV spots and shifting to interactive web sites, social media networks like facebook, downloadable iPhone Apps, “advergames” on brands’ websites, branded entertainment videos on YouTube, and text messaging campaigns.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/fashion/31smell.html?ref=fashion
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