Page 103 - Marketing Management

80 PART 2 CAPTURING MARKETING INSIGHTS

Young people may be influenced by a diverse range of heroes, from basketball player LeBron
James to punk-rock band Green Day.

EXISTENCE OF SUBCULTURES Each society contains subcultures, groups with shared values,
beliefs, preferences, and behaviors emerging from their special life experiences or circumstances.
Marketers have always loved teenagers because they are trendsetters in fashion, music, entertainment,
ideas,and attitudes.Attract someone as a teen,and you will likely keep the person as a customer later in
life. Frito-Lay, which draws 15 percent of its sales from teens, noted a rise in chip snacking by grown-
ups.“We think it’s because we brought them in as teenagers,”said Frito-Lay’s marketing director. 45

The Natural Environment
In Western Europe,“green” parties have pressed for public action to reduce industrial pollution. In
the United States, experts have documented ecological deterioration, and watchdog groups such as
the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth carry these concerns into political and social action.
Environmental regulations hit certain industries hard. Steel companies and public utilities have
invested billions of dollars in pollution-control equipment and environmentally friendly fuels,
making hybrid cars, low-flow toilets and showers, organic foods, and green office buildings every-
day realities. Opportunities await those who can reconcile prosperity with environmental protec-
tion. Consider these solutions to concerns about air quality: 46
• Nearly a quarter of the carbon dioxide that makes up about 80 percent of all greenhouse gases
comes from electrical power plants. Dublin-based Airtricity operates wind farms in the United
States and the United Kingdom that offer cheaper and greener electricity.
• Transportation is second only to electricity generation as a contributor to global warming,
accounting for roughly a fifth of carbon emissions. Vancouver-based Westport Innovations
developed a conversion technology—high-pressure direct injection—that allows diesel engines
to run on cleaner-burning liquid natural gas, reducing greenhouse emissions by a fourth.