Sigh. I’ll never understand why people think that marketing Girls’ Generation (whose youngest member is 21) or The Wonder Girls (whose youngest member is 20) to tweens and teens in America is a smart idea. Mostly due to the fact that it clearly isn’t. Neither group is made up of teens therefore the teens will not be able to relate to them (for the most part). When you’re pursuing a certain market it is best that you look, sound and act like the certain market. Both groups are made up of hip, fashionable, popular music-consuming women in their early twenties and that is the only market (you can include young, hip men as well) that they should be setting their sights on. Anything else would/could be disastrous and ridiculously short-sighted. Why would your average teenage girl (ages 12-17) who already has her hands full with Justin Bieber, One Direction, Cody Simpson, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Mindless Behavior, Big Time Rush, The casts of Disney Channel’s “Shake It Up!” and Nickelodeon’s “Victorious” and “iCarly”, artists who are in or were in their immediate age group when their careers hit their peak and thus more likely to understand their unique feelings and problems, pay attention to an artist from an age group that doesn’t anymore? Do The Wonder Girls and Girls’ Generation have teenage fans? Of course! But is that what makes up the majority of their American/International fan base? No. By the looks of the crowd at their Best Buy signing and talk-show appearances in New York earlier this year, they are attracting men and women, roughly aged 17-25 and racially, they seem to be bringing in most races and ethnicities. I’m confident The Wonder Girls would see the same results or atleast very similar results. I would encourage both groups to continue appealing to the demographic that already likes them.
* I’m merely basing my observations off of the events that I personally went to earlier this year.
*When I say “your average teenage girl” I’m speaking specifically about teenage girls who actively take part in tween/teen pop fandom, not ALL teenage girls.
*By “hip”, I mean men and women who pay close attention to pop music, blogs and charts. and by “fashionable”, I mean men and women who are heavily interested in the fashion industry, either as a consumer or a designer/marketer. For this particular entry I’m sticking to the general definitions of those words and not my own personal feelings..
*These are just my opinions and I am a fan of both groups! I apologize if I offend anybody! :]
