Summary
This article looks at how British people in their 20s and 30s are delaying significant life stages compared to previous generations. The average age for taking out mortgages, getting married and having children is getting steadily older, while increased numbers of people aged 20-34 continue to live with their parents. There is widespread pessimism and the strains facing Generation Y are widely recognised by consumers across all age groups. Financial tools and services have come to the fore, as brands recognise the longer-term dependence of children on their parents, with the Family Springboard mortgage from Barclays and PNC's Virtual Wallet both cited. It predicts the appearance of more brand offerings that have the explicit aim of helping financially pressured Gen Y's to reach important landmarks.

Summary
This article details research into the mobile media habits of teenagers in the UK, France and Spain. Drawn from a study commissioned by Orange, the telecommunications operator, it shows that mobile is established as the primary screen of choice amongst 11-18 year olds, due to its highly personal quality. Blackberry is still a significant platform amongst this age group, particularly in Britain and Spain, with penetration two and three times higher than the overall population, in part due to its affordability. Brands must be in tune with what teenagers really want and build trust, as they are very savvy when it comes to advertising and will engage with brands that meet their specific needs. Teenagers also demonstrate a voracious appetite for social networking, online gaming and social TV but they are also using their mobiles primarily for communication purposes and download more content than adults. With teenagers adopting mobile as their key device and adults using multiple screens interchangeably, marketers are encouraged to integrate mobile into the marketing mix fully, instead of treating it as an add-on.

Summary
In this point of view, Byron Sharp questions why marketers continue to pursue the youth market when the ageing of the population has been well publicised. While marketers may believe that youth are more fickle and so must be caught before they are older and more brand loyal, research shows that the repeat-buying of older consumers is no different from that of young consumers. Both groups tend to buy from fairly fixed repertoires of brands and this repertoire is no smaller among older consumers. However, targeting young consumers can be beneficial as buyers maintain the composition of their repertoires for quite long periods and so gaining these new customers may mean they are likely to remain with a brand for a long time.

Summary
The role of consumer co-creation in developing multi-market Asian brands is the focus of this paper. It focuses on a co-creation project undertaken by Mizone, a beverage brand that has grown strongly in the APAC region, with an independent brand voice in different Asian markets. The key business challenge for Mizone was to develop a consistent, but differentiated, brand voice and vision that worked across markets, supported the growth of the brand and was relevant to consumers. It achieved this through a research process involving ethnography, online communities and co-creation workshops. Using this process, the authors argue, helped to root the brand vision and purpose in consumer truth and allowed Mizone to rapidly test and re-iterate the activations and articulations of the brand vision in real time.

Summary
This report summarises presentations on general business, creative and branding from Ad Week Europe 2013, with speakers ranging from CP+B, WPP, the London Olympic Games and O2. The main themes of the presentations are: that marketers must have clarity in what they are doing and what they aim to achieve; that brands can do good – but it must be credible and integrated with their product offering; and that agencies should become more flexible – or risk falling behind as clients become more innovative.

Summary
This presentation shows how Russian cultural specifics (as well as its growing similarities with the West) can be successfully considered and implemented into multinational brand strategy through a case study of the Danone kids' brand Rastishka (known as Danino or Danonino in English speaking countries). The paper presents a holistic view of Russian kids aged between 5 and 8, from both the perspective of an insider and by contextualising this culture with that of Western Europe. Russian children watch The Simpsons, listen to Justin Bieber, aspire to have 'gangsta style' and sometimes even say 'hey' instead of the (Russian) 'privet'. But the paper also argues that, while Russian kids might appear to be similar to their Western this is merely a pitfall for international brands aiming to directly export Western marketing communication to Russia. Because the differences are not obvious from the outside, the authors argue that it is more important than ever to go beyond the surface and listen to cultural specifics.

Summary
This paper describes a project undertaken by telecoms firm T-Mobile, based around two events aimed at engaging consumers using pop culture using pop divas Katy Perry and Mariah Carey. The reasoning behind launching the project is that marketing communication cannot be based solely on information about the product, brand or service; instead, to attract attention and establish a relationship with the consumer, it must give value, help build identity, or be recreational. The paper describes how the events created challenges for organizers as well as researchers, who were responsible for evaluating the participants as well as the suitability of the events to the T-Mobile brand. It also highlights the challenges of evaluating events, how methods and instruments of research were adjusted to measure emotions, and a comparison of real occurrences with the symbolic brand representation.

Summary
In this article, David Haroldsen, creative director of Intel's Creators Project, talks about how the company managed to engage with an influential audience of young artists through a tie-up with Vice Media. Based on the insight that its technology was increasingly relied upon by this creative class, Intel was able to both change perceptions of its brand and yield useful ideas about the next generation of computing tools.

Summary
This paper reports on research into social media habits in Asia, with a particular focus on mothers and Generation Y (Gen Y) consumers in Singapore, a nation found to be avid users of social tools and platforms. Eight key findings for Gen Y are listed and include: friends and family are more influential than online reviews; they distrust advertising; they are motivated by entertainment and everyday life, rather than self-improvement; and they are active video watchers. Key finding among mothers include: they seek expert opinions online; they use the internet and social media to connect with their kids; and they go online to be 'me' as well as a mother. The paper concludes with some implications and practical advice for brands.

Summary
There are 192.9 million students in higher education worldwide, which represents a 26% growth from 2007 to 2012. This has been driven by a competitive labour market and high youth unemployment, and seen particularly in China, India and the US, and other developing markets. Non-essential categories that students typically spend money in are fashion, going out, mobile downloads and travel. They are technologically savvy and carry out a wide range of activities via the web and smartphones. When it comes to food, they are likely to eat meals later and snack more frequently, regularly order takeaway food, be vegetarian or meat-avoiders and pay more for organic, fair trade or locally sourced products. Opportunities for marketers are highlighted.