Youthful Ambition

What's with kids today? All they really want is a career

We know kids grow old younger, but today's youth may be more ambitious and goal-oriented than any generation before them. Some marketers are tapping into that insight, developing campaigns to attract and gratify these keen young minds.

Pfizer's Listerine promotes its PocketPaks as essential elements on the road to professional success-a unique image in the category. Researchers Youth Culture Group insists there's more to the picture and suggests marketers can win by developing youth-friendly employment policies. Youth Culture's new teen job website gives advice to teens on the job prowl, similar to the increasingly popular WorkopolisCampus, which, in addition to advice connects youth to employers who seek them. Much of this has provided marketers with an education in youthful ambition.

"You're one generation ahead, so sometimes you get cynical," says Graham Robertson, senior group marketing manager of oral care and allergy at Pfizer. "The kids today are very savvy and motivated, which was a bit of a learning for us."

Listerine commercials show a young man who comes face to face with his boss in a crammed elevator and delivers an excellent report, thanks to that Listerine PocketPak he just popped into his mouth. "Breath for success" is the campaign tag line.

PocketPaks target two groups: 25 to 39s and 16 to 24s. "We've tried to find ways to really tap into that 16- to 24-year-old target, because those guys are at a point in time where their life is changing, in a big way, and they're going through things like choosing universities and choosing careers," Robertson says. "Because it was such a new product in an ever-changing market, we really needed to define who we were. And while everyone else was after romance, we felt that success was a really good area to carve out for us."

When Listerine launched its new PocketPak Cool Citrus flavour, it partnered with CHUM's MuchMusic channel for a survey on how young people define success. The majority-89%-said happiness was the greatest indicator, but other answers included "being a highly sought-out mentor in your field" and "loving what you do so much that it never feels like going to work."

Listerine is not the only one catching on to this trend. "I've been screaming about it for years now. It's not about cool," says Kaaren Whitney-Vernon, president and CEO of Toronto's Youth Culture Group. "Today's youth are a pure product of the baby boomers. They see their parents are successful and they want to be there too." Youth Culture Group's Access 2005 study revealed that about 85% of teens and young adults identify themselves as goal-oriented. Whitney-Vernon points out universities used to target teens in grade 12, but now go younger because kids are thinking about their education sooner. According to Youth Culture's 2004 Trendscan report, the number one thing youth 12 to 24 are saving for is tuition. More than 60% keep money in the bank for school.

Whitney-Vernon adds universities are also reporting losses with their on-campus pubs. "Kids aren't drinking as much because they're studying. It's that choice they're making: 'I want to do well in school.'"

The choice, however, may have negative side effects. An April 2004 survey from Toronto's Youthography found over 27% of youth 13 to 19 say they experience high or very high daily stress levels. The majority (57%) pointed to school as the leading cause of stress.

Corporations can actually help ease that burden, says Whitney-Vernon. The number one thing young people want from corporations are job opportunities, as indicated by about 15% of Trendscan respondents. Next is scholarships and student loans (9%). Whitney-Vernon says companies that promote jobs to youth will gain in PR. "Sometimes clients forget that their customers are also their employees," which is part of why Youth Culture Group started jobs4teens.ca. The site, which targets 14- to 18-year-olds, features information on jobs, internships and careers.

The "Jobs4Teens Jobguide" lists the top five firms "going whole hog to ensure that their young employees are bringin' home more than just the bacon." McDonald's Canada offers paid vacations and scholarships (it gave away $70,000 to Canadian students in 2002), plus about 60% of its management (including chairman and CEO Bill Johnson) started their careers behind the counter. Food service company Cara Operations offers discounts, as well as $1 million in scholarships over the next four years to support post-secondary students in programs like retail management and hospitality and tourism. Winners Merchants International, Rogers Video and Shoppers Drug Mart round up the list, with perks, scholarships and advancement opportunities for young employees.

Today's students also hunt for jobs a little differently than their parents did. A WorkopolisCampus.com survey commissioned by Ipsos-ASI earlier this year revealed 28% of 20- to 24-year-olds go to a major job website before they look anywhere else. And 68% say a job site is one of the first three places they look.

WorkopolisCampus advertises on sites as well as through Hotmail and MSN Messenger. Workopolis also hires students to promote the site to other students. "It's tough to communicate to students unless you're willing to pay a fortune," says Pat Sullivan, president of Workopolis. "That's why we have the interns on campus." The number of unique monthly visitors to WorkopolisCampus grew 33%, to nearly 19,000 in April 2005 from about 14,200 in September 2001.

Some things stay the same. "If you talk to students, they'll still say it's tough to find jobs," Sullivan says. But companies may gradually be clueing in to the ambitious lifestyles of today's youth. "We're seeing more jobs," he says. "Which means it's a better hiring climate for students."