The Problem with Men...

The second article I read for my Audience Research course was titled "Targeting Young Males" from Media. This article basically described how difficult it has become to target young men and how marketers are developing new methods of reaching them. Young males are not watching as much television as they used to. Instead they are spending most of their time playing video games. Many companies are trying to reach young males through alternative marketing because television ads are becoming less effective for this audience. Advertisers are placing their product in video games now to hopeful reach young males in that manner. The most difficult part about advertising in video games is making the product fit in and seem natural. Gamers don't mind it when the product fits in with the environment but otherwise it becomes a nuisance.

The article discussed two products in which the brands made an effort to reach this audience in unique ways. The first product they discussed was the Toyota Scion. Scion has developed alternative ways to get the attention of young males such as setting up test drive stations outside of music stores, traveling art shows, etc. The marketing objective was to target customers who hadn't previously owned a Toyota.

I found this kind of ironic since over the summer my 25 year old brother purchased a Scion. When I called him after reading this article he disappointed me by telling me that he had seen a television ad. He went on to tell me that he bought the Scion because he had the ability to customize the car. The car has tons of different options that make this car appealing to young males for example fog lights, spoilers, ground effects.

The other product the article discussed was Axe. Axe was one company that was featured in video games. Axe also sponsored celebrity events and parties to create brand awareness.