BusinessDay, HDI Youth Marketeers reward ‘coolest brands’

As youth market takes centre stage in various economies, BusinessDay in collaboration with HDI Youth Marketeers, weekend, in Lagos ignited the consciousness of Nigerian brands on youth marketing with Generation Next Awards to 42 ‘coolest brands’ that resonate with youths.

The shift to youth market by companies is fast gaining momentum in Nigeria as the youths 3-25 years which make up about 60 percent of Nigeria’s 160 million population are becoming larger consumers and influencers in consumption decisions.

To determine the top brands that resonate with the youths who are a force to reckon with in consumption, HDI Youth Marketeers recently conducted what it called Generation Next Youth Brand Survey of 15,000 Nigerian youths to establish ‘the coolest brands’ in different categories of consumer goods.

In his speech at the colourful award event at Eko Hotels, Jemie Onwuchekwa, BusinessDay editor-in-chief, explained that the survey was in three parts. The first phase saw a poll of approximately 1,000 youths in three locations in Nigeria to shortlist the brands that went into the questionnaire for the main study.

The second phase was the main study itself which had 15,000 youths polled in three locations and the third phase which was a qualitative session of focus group discussions with the youths to explore the reasons behind some of their votes and findings from the survey.

According to him, the youth market is broken into three segments of kids, 3-12 years; the teens, 13- 18, and the young adults from 19 -25 years.

Onwuchekwa, who said that BusinessDay function is to connect brands to these youngsters through research and insight generation, noted that the youth market is a huge one. “They are primary consumers of some brands, influencers of some brands and the future market for most brands”, he said.

According to him, the large youth consumer market spends several billions of naira annually on consumption.

“With our partnership with HDI Marketeers Nigeria, BusinessDay has now positioned itself as a prime source and leader in all aspects of youth marketing, including research, insight generation, creation of platforms and management of events”.

Nominations and Generation Next Awards, he said, also offer business organisations an opportunity to expose their products and services to the important demography of young people across all sectors of the economy.

The BusinessDay editor-in-chief, who said that HDI Marketeers has been in existence in South Africa for 17 years and Nigeria for over 4 years and in Kenya for 3 years, noted that Generation Next Award is the biggest and the most prestigious awards for youths and youth focused brands in Africa.