Mumbai, July 20: While most fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are doling out considerable amount of cash on market research to gain insights into the youth market, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (P&G) is achieving the same through "Masti.com". Masti.com - the latest brand from P&G, as the company describes it - is a youth portal which functions as a learning opportunity for the company. P&G plans to hook 30 per cent of the total youth Net surfers onto Masti.com by the end of this calendar year.Even though Masti.com is funded by P&G, the company has decided against promoting its brands on the Website. ``The idea is to understand the youth, their habits, their likes and dislikes, etc. in order to get a grasp on what drives the youth today. We did not want to highlight our brand names or even the name of the company on the Website as such a move could discourage the target audience,'' said a company spokesperson.
P&G claims that Masti.com, launched six months back, is different from other such portals because the people behind the scene are college-going youngsters. ``The aim is to build the Website first, and then at a later stage look at attracting online advertising,'' said the spokesperson.
Since its launch, Masti.com has achieved 45,000 registrations and about one lakh page views per day, the company said. The site is now being relaunched to give it the right kind of modifications, keeping in mind the target segment. ``Since the site has been designed by youngsters in their teens, we believe that Masti.com is getting the right kind of content to draw the youth community to this Website,'' the spokesperson said. Masti.com, point out industry observers, could lead P&G into gaining some useful insights into the minds of the youth and the knowledge of their aspirations.
This could provide inroads in terms of assisting the multinational in strategising future marketing plans for brands targeted at the youth segment.
As per industry estimates, the youth market offers an immense potential for growth for the FMCG sector. What with the awareness levels going up among the youth, this segment is expected to heavily influence the purchasing power of a family, said industry observers.
After launching Masti.com in Mumbai, the same is being rolled out in Bangalore. It will be present in six cities in the country. The company is targeting leading colleges so as to create awareness for the site.
The various sections of Masti.com are designed to cater to youngsters. These include: Youth Speak, a forum where one can highlight his or her views; Swap Shop, where one can exchange objects like an old motor bike, study material, books, cassettes, etc; and also Agony Aunt, a service dealing with problems generally afflicting the youth. It also has a Career Planning section for students.
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