November 21, 2006	Tuesday	Shawwal 28, 1427

KARACHI, Nov 20: Marketing to the Youth, the first of a series of the Dawn-Aurora Marketing Conference was held in a local hotel on Monday.

The participants said the paradigm thinking of the young generation had changed radically and they formed a huge consumer class, which had become the primary target for competitive marketing in the present era.

The chief guest, Associate Professor Ehsanul Haq at LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences) in his keynote address said every product depended on how aggressively and capably it was marketed keeping in view the psychographic analysis of their young consumers. Young consumers had impacted so heavily on the market that many older brands had to change their looks at par with present day needs. If any product today is to have appeal among youth, it should be trendy and innovative, he added.

Another participant said: “Young people are no longer citizens of tomorrow but of today in every sphere of life. Even this young lot of today is involved in the decisions which change the destiny of nations.”

Scores of leading professionals from the marketing and advertising sectors from within the country and abroad attended the conference. Senior and middle management delegates and students associated with these disciplines from across the country packed the conference hall.

The conference discussed different topics relating to the subject, including new youth lifestyle, telecommunications, marketing to the young consumer, role models for youth, and the new media and vocabulary of communication.

Several panel discussions were held in which youth in different age groups from teens to mid-20s participated and told participants and the marketing profession why it was necessary to target them with an approach that should be innovative, creative and appealing.

The CEO of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, Hameed Haroon, in his keynote address said youth today had more creativity as they were exposed to unlimited communication avenues. This had forced FMCGs to enhance their standards and marketing professionals to compete in a hugely equally-fought battle of instincts and skills.