From their excess/abstain attitude to health, to their ethical/disposable attitude to fashion, these are generations of contradictions where each statement comes with a nuance. Brands need to reject the idea of defining a generation through sweeping stereotypes and anecdotal information, which we have found can vary by age group, gender, location and even just from week to week.
Even within a 7 year age range (i.e. 13-19, which is much less than currently defines a generation) our research has shown attitudes quickly change and evolve as our audience does. From who their influencers are, to how confident they are in influencing other people, a year or two makes a huge difference. Brands need to stay on top of the evolution of their audiences to avoid becoming obsolete and staying front of mind.
We discovered that young people are looking to make an emotional connection with brands that represent their interests in terms of ethical, environmental and societal concerns.
They don’t feel they have the power to make much impact on their own. This is a great opportunity for brands to represent something bigger than their products/services driven through CSR and social purposes.
It’s common knowledge that young people are more in touch with new technology than any other group but that doesn’t mean brands should jump on the bandwagon of every new app. We found that this audience are ruthless in their assessment and any brand interaction that feels forced, inauthentic or on the wrong platform will be publicly ridiculed. Brands must have a compelling reason to be on a platform and a clear strategy for what they want to achieve from it to avoid being called out in that way.
Through the Young Blood project, we have realised brand loyalty is dead. With an audience who are transient in their identity and therefore their brand choices, the ultimate compliment is the appropriation of a brand into a cultural trend. Technology and innovation mean that new products and brands are being created and destroyed every day. In this climate brands are only as good as their last product. Brands therefore need to forget the traditional idea of loyalty and aim for fandom, advocacy and to become a solid part of their audience’s repertoire.
