The hand that throws away the money

Mumbai: The under 24 generation in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore are worth a whopping Rs 1,700 crore.

No wonder then, that from researchers to marketers, all eyes are on this young lot.

This young generation does not mind splurging their parents money, and will churn products and loyalties for brands in less than two years.

This young, cash rich, urban lot is in a hurry. In a hurry to own cars, gadgets and brands – from their own earnings or from their parents moolah. A recent Synovate study shows, that over 50 per cent of them are early adopters of gadgets, brands and what have you. They are not willing to wait and save and almost 60 per cent have no problem getting their parents to pay, to make a style statement!

Ankush Roychowdhary is just 21, he has just graduated and already owns a car. He says, "Some of the money I saved from summer jobs and I nagged my dad to give me the rest."

Synovate Director Paru Minocha said, "A very very small percentage is willing to save and buy later. It's all about buying today and using your parents if need be, to finance it right away."

Gadgets and gizmos grab the top space on the dream list for this generation, with mobile phones topped the charts. Over 80 per cent of them are exposed to television, but the Internet and television fight neck to neck, when it comes to purchase decision influencers.

Influencing purchase decision

Though on an average, most spend only about 4-5 hours every week surfing the net, vis-a-vis two hours of television viewing every day, young students and professionals like Vibhuti are logging onto the web to bag the best buy. This has forced marketers to keep a close watch on the web world.

Vibhuti Mendiratta says, "I had to buy a iPod. I googled and all the relevant information on product, colour, features was available online."

Director, Marketing-India, Mobile Devices, Motorola, Lloyd Mathias says, "We are increasingly beginning to take active positions on the web. We track blog sites to see the number of mentions our brand gets. It's an indication of cool factor.

So, what about heroes? Well, Bollywood is right at the top – no wonder then that Motorola is banking on Bachchan junior's magic. Meanwhile, sports stars have fall from grace – they don't even figure in the top 3 on the aspiration quotient. So, it's not surprising then, that Airtel has just bowled out the little master.

Top Aspirations

What's more, Generation Next wants constant change. So, while the product churn in their parents’ generation is over five years, the younger lot is switching products in less than two years. So companies will need to track the changing tunes of this crowd, to keep them hooked.