What drives young customers?

Now’s the time to learn how our insights can help you:
* Build a business case for the $500bn youth market
* Turn customers into fans
* Identify and measure word of mouth
Just enter your email below and click "Get Updates!"
signuppic-rsz_mobileyouthimg_2868 “Thank you for sharing this, it is one of the most insightful analysis I’ve read recently. Will share it with my colleagues” – Ioana Ban, Market Research Analyst at Vodafone

Join us on a Journey into the World of the Social Customer

June 18, 2013 by

In the world of Big Data, there are too many anomalies that break the mold.

Too much of human interaction isn’t as predictable as the market research industry makes out. The answer lies in less efficiency and more empathy. The more we empathize with people, the more we build organizations where empathy happens naturally, the more we are able to understand the behavior of people.

So what’s important? More efficiency or more empathy? More scale or more enjoyment? We can decide the future shape of the companies we want to work in by making choices about the kind of research we undertake.

Join us on this journey of discovery into the world of the Social Customer and how we intend to put empathy back onto the corporate table.

  continue reading...

The Pizza Delivery Boy and Why Ogilvy is Wrong About Innovation

June 10, 2013 by
Justin Knapp

Following our recent research into Co-Creation in the Connection Economy, I’d like to look at innovation and creativity at the micro level of young people’s lives.

It’s here that the traditional creative industry model breaks down and becomes defunct.

In this article we look at how youth innovate and generate ideas and why the traditional models of product development and ideation are becoming ineffective in harnessing change.

  continue reading...

The 3 Laws of Community: What Brands Should Do and How Agencies Get it Wrong

June 3, 2013 by
Japanese B-Style

Throughout my travels into youth culture, I’ve often returned to the Japanese High School Girl because this world offers so many valuable insights into the future of research and marketing.

In this article I look at the latest memes to come out of Japanese HSG culture and how these signal a fundamental shift in the relationship between brands and “customers”. Sure, this is a post about Japanese High School girls, but to the informed among you it’s a post that can apply to any form of community from extreme sports to Minecraft.

If you understand the why of this behavior you can learn a lot about brands and communities, in particular how brands often get it wrong. I also look at how youth identity is changing from what we knew when we were young and how some broken ad agencies may actually be getting in the way of change and prevent brands from realizing this shift.

  continue reading...

5 Reasons Word of Mouth is a Myth

May 27, 2013 by
Dove marketing campaign

Word of Mouth is not core to our social nature.

If we want to understand influence we need to move beyond the hype and look at the social dynamics of real world interaction.

In this article I want to expose some of the scams perpetuated by the creative industry and give you an insight into where and why real influence takes place.

If you’re in the creative sector you’re going to find this uncomfortable but then that’s a rally call for change. Advertising may be broken but the traditional ad agency model refuses to die. If you’re in insights then here’s a new take on influence that may challenge some of the traditional assumptions that may be holding you back.

First, let’s start by looking at how the industry sees influence and why that model is broken:

  continue reading...

Why are Facebook Fans not real Fans?

May 20, 2013 by
Without fans you are nothihng

“How do we get more fans?”

It’s one of the most popular questions people shoot me in response to reading our newsletter.

Fans are a core composite of the successful modern brand. If you look at brands that regularly feature as the most profitable in their category you’ll find a list of brands with very strong fan bases.

My answer is a hackneyed version of the old adage: “know the why and the how will work itself out.” So, the purpose of this article is to help you find out about the drivers behind fans, how they make brands and what you can do about it.

  continue reading...

Is it time to rethink customer segmentation?

May 13, 2013 by

Last week we established 3 reasons why youth are important to your business. Now you have the business case, how do you start to manage the youth market?

Before we jump into segmentation, let’s first look at youth market. A good a places as any is to start with music because if you want to understand young people today, look at the changes in the music industry:

  • Musical genres like “rock”, “pop” and “world music” have become irrelevant
  • Successful artists like Jay-Z, Madonna and Bowie transcend genres
  • Success has moved from servicing a genre to joining the dots between them

Music is an analogy for identity and, therefore, a powerful insight into marketing.

If we can understand how music is changing, we gain valuable insights into how marketing and segmentation needs to change.

  continue reading...

3 Reasons Why Youth are Important to Your Business

May 7, 2013 by

In this article I’ll look at the myths involving the youth market and offer 3 reasons why you need to be on board to keep your brand relevant – not just in the future but right here today.

Exploding the Myths

  • “Youth are cheap”
  • “Gen Y is fickle”
  • “Millennials are only good for prepaid”

We hear these words every day and every day we simply point to the evidence – great brands like Apple and Amazon have successfully built their businesses on the youth market, so why can’t you?

The reality is that ARPU is a weak measure of value and particularly for mobile operators, we need to move from measuring revenue to measuring value. Here’s how we do that.

  continue reading...

5 ways to build a better smartphone experience (without changing the handset)

April 23, 2013 by

Customer smartphone experience varies by market, even with the same handsets. How is this possible?

Through the lens of traditional research you may conclude “our customers are different here” but I want to share with you why that conclusion is a big mistake.

Teens in France and India aren’t so different their experiences of smartphones change. People don’t change, but the Soft Factors that shape the smartphone experience do. If you understand Soft Experience, you understand the smartphone experience.

Let’s take a look at what defines smartphone experience and how you can improve it without changing the handset.

  continue reading...

The Top 3 Reasons Why Youth Buy Samsung (and why these are not enough to beat Apple)

April 15, 2013 by
Screen shot 2013-04-18 at 08.36.05

It’s a question I think about a lot because handset brands keep asking me. My answer to Samsung lies in measuring the emotional attachment between youth and the Samsung brand.

Do youth like or love Samsung?. Take a look at these insights from young people talking about Samsung and Apple:

“Why did you buy Samsung not Apple?”
“It’s lighter, slimmer and has a better camera”

Keep reading for more insights.

  continue reading...

Are you ready for the Peak SMS world?

April 12, 2013 by

According to data from the 2013 Mobile Youth Report, SMS has reached a plateau and non-SMS messenger app usage will surpass SMS by 2014.

You only have to look at the numbers to see that when the media talks about messaging, we are dealing with a market primed for growth. There are messaging apps that most people have never heard of with user bases in the hundreds of millions. WeChat, for example, has 220 million users, Nimbuzz 120 million and Line 100 million.Heard of Kakao Talk? If you live outside of Latin America, probably not but it claims nearly 75 million users.

Find out what lies ahead for mobile messaging and how are youth shaping the future.

  continue reading...

«Older Posts