100 million market

“Perhaps the most terrible (or wonderful) thing that can happen to an imaginative youth, aside from the curse (or blessing) of imagination itself, is to be exposed without preparation to the life outside his or her own sphere — the sudden revelation that there is a there out there,” Tom Robbins said in Jitterbug Perfume, a piece of fiction that has been a personal favourite for years. But the master wrote that in the early 1980s. The world has changed ever since. And I was forced to challenge my hero when I was made the editor for this issue.

And challenge we do. The youth have been heralded as the driver of our nation for years. But now it seems their time has come. The latest Census reveals that there are 100 million people between the ages of 15 and 29.  And their philosophy? Buy today and throw tomorrow. Guess what, big business is excited. This mantra is manna from heaven. Apart from being good for business, this new super customer is also intensely particular; he wants what he wants and when he wants, be it fashion, fitness or the wheels he drives. To woo these super-customers, who may well turn out to be super-employees as well, companies are changing their people strategy to accommodate their needs and wants. Some were even made CEO when they were 27 (I kid you not: check out CEO at 27...WTF?)

To appeal to the youth, some brands have evolved, while others, due to their young flavour, have become icons. And the brands that we have chosen to highlight bear that exact essence. My personal favourite, despite being a vegan, is the one on KFC . And finally, we flip the coin, walk into the hinterland and understand what the rural youth yearn for. This one’s a keeper, I assure you.

Happy reading.