A groundbreaking new study has torpedoed many of the myths surrounding young adults and revealed a thoughtful, complex generation concerned above all with their stability and security. In doing so, it calls into questions many of the assumptions that have governed youth-focused marketing solutions over the past decade.
The in-depth international study from research agency Synovate’s OnePointNine division reveals a generation that shuns many of the revolutionary ideals of baby boomers, and young people who resemble their grandparents far more closely than they do their parents.
Developed in partnership with Microsoft, the study uses an online panel of over 12,000 18 to 24-year-old respondents drawn from 26 countries worldwide. Youth experts and sociologists in the different countries are used to provide perspective and commentary on the findings.
Pragmatic rather than hedonistic or rebellious, the young adults emerging from the study seem reluctant to leave the security of the family home and keen to create their own stable environment as soon as possible after doing so. They identify family as the single most important thing in their lives, followed by girlfriends and boyfriends. Friends, frequently assumed to be the most important ingredient of a fun-filled young life, only come in third. Spending time with the family was preferred to listening to music as an activity.
Young people’s devotion to family shouldn’t be confused with an abdication of personal responsibility – or an assumption that mum and dad will bail them out. Getting a good career and getting a good education top young adults’ list of concerns.
These conservative tendencies have huge implications for the channels used to target marketing solutions at the young, and the type of product and brand messages they are likely to respond to.
Far from the fad-driven, ‘early adopters’ of marketing myth, young adults seem far more pragmatic in their attitude towards technology: keen to acquire new devices with proven use and value but always wary of missing out on later price falls. Social networking sites, far from eroding traditional emotional ties, are used for specific forms of communication with other channels maintaining more intimate bonds; young adults are very capable of distinguishing between different forms of friendship.
Encouragingly for marketers, young adults reveal an engaged and interested attitude to brands. They see themselves as potential experts keen to share opinions and information online and aware of their potential to influence others. Over a quarter had talked about brands in forums and a similar percentage added brand-related content to Instant Messenger or social networking sites. Brand involvement was welcomed at music events and festivals.
The key findings of the study will be revealed over the coming months in a series of new research pieces on the Microsoft Advertising website.
