culture in transitiona Youthography outlook

Max Valiquette, President

about youthography

• Founded in 2001, Youthography isCanada’s leading youth marketingconsultancy

• Youth market research, strategy andexecution

• Plenty of research (quant and qual)– We put ‘youth at the epicenter’

• Marketing– ‘money where mouth is’ factor

• Also, we’re immature

about me• I hosted TVOntario’s “Vox Talk,” a youth-

issues talk show

• We film it, often in schools, using youthpanellists, with a young audience – cool!

demographics andpsychographics

The 4 x 5 factor• The 10-29 group divides into four equal five-year

cohorts

278,688,200TOTAL 10-29

6.82,194,30025-29

7.02,243,30020-24

6.62,145,80015-19

6.62,104,80010-14

Male / Female

(% of population)

Male / Female

(number)

Age

Home offers Less

• 80% of them come from families with only 1-2children at home

– A greater reliance on friends

• 60% of women work out of home

– Coupled with single-parent households, it meansthat “3:30 to 5:30 is my chill time…it’s the time forme alone at home.”

• 67% of unmarried 20-24-yr-olds live at home

– And yet, they are staying at home longer…

Getting into adulthood earlier…

• Average age of educational enrollment: <4

• Average age of 1st menstruation: 10-11 (vs.. 12+)

• Average age of 1st cigarette: 13

• Average age of “school-type” decision: 14

• Average age of 1st intercourse: <16 (vs.. <18)

Precocious Puberty

• Precocious puberty – or early sexualdevelopment – is a phenomenon that isoccurring in young girls and boys in NorthAmerica, the UK and Australia

“While I always believed that little girls go throughpuberty at around eleven, twelve or thirteen yearsof age, something very strange was nowhappening to our daughters. I was now being toldthat little girls are considered 'normal' if they startmenstruating at the delicate age of eight!"

- Nexus Magazine, 2004

Precocious Puberty

• A medical study in 1997 found that 27% ofAfrican-American and almost 7% ofCaucasian girls had the onset of secondarysexual characteristics (i.e., breastdevelopment or pubic hair development) byage seven

• By the time girls turn 8 years-old, 1 in 7caucasian girls and one out of two African-American girls will be starting puberty

…but fully getting there later…

• Median age at graduation: 23 (vs. 22)

• Average age at graduation: 26 (vs. 24)

• Average age of 1st marriage: 29 (vs. 25)

• Average age of 1st childbirth: 29 (vs. 26)

…equals prolonged pre-adulthood

They play teenager, not grownup

<8 years 16 years>

Get tutoredGet tutored

Volunteer / Walk for the CureWear a cause bracelet

Cell phoneFirefly

Lipstick / Foundation / BlushLipsmackers

And can share trends

13 years 29 years

Board Culture Brand ApparelSkate and Snowboarding

Brewing specialty coffeeBuying a Tim’s double-double

DIY – Value VillageDIY - Scrap booking

Networked GamesAll Video Games

What they value…

• Relationships

• Communication

• Information

• Diversity

• Empowerment

• And what sews it all together…Technology

technology matters more than anything

• " We already knew that kids learnedcomputer technology more easily thanadults. What we're seeing now is that theydon't even need to be taught. It is as ifchildren were waiting all these centuriesfor someone to invent their nativelanguage."

--Jaron Lanier (computer scientist /techno-cultural theorist)

culture in transition

the burning question

• What’s culture, anyway?

• And what’s happened over the past 10 years,anyway?

• Young people the world over are leading the

charge in how we create, consume and

manage culture, whether we – or they –realize it or not…

• …and this is having a massive impact on thesort of messages they respond to, as well

culture in transition

• We need to look at media, culture,communication and advertising inaggregate…

• …as there has never been such a hugeshift in media habits as over the pastdecade

• This is the one thing you need to know…

culture: the 3 Cs

1. Change: constant, regular change informs of media from rampant

technological change

2. Charge: consumers are in charge of

when and how they interact with media

3. Challenge: consumers challenge the

traditional top-down model of culturalcreation

1. change• Then (1980-1996):

– CDs, VHS, 30 Channels: little change in technology

– HMV, movie theatres, broadcast radio: traditionalmodels of consuming culture

• Then to Now (1996-2006):

– CD to MP3, DVD, Gaming Consoles, All-in-ones

– Complete reversal in way culture is distributed

• Now:

– Huge speed of change is regular

– Big brands aren’t necessarily best positioned to keep upwith that change

technology in transition

…and they adopt it quickly

• Entertainment & Technology

– The $399 Desktop PC

– The $49 DVD Player

– TV on your cell phone

– TV with a hard drive (DVR/PVR)

– TV on your PC

– TV on your iPod

– Home Wireless Internet

– Web radio and Satellite radio

– Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and PS3

– Etc…

2002 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006

2. charge• Then (1980-1996):

– TV, Movies, Music: someone else’s schedule, deliverydevices, w/ little variety: little personal control, choice

– You have to watch commercials, be home at a certaintime, use limited radio formats, go to a store, etc.

• Then to Now (1996-2006):

– Internet and digital culture changes everything

– Culture-on-demand!

• Now:

– Seemingly infinite choice of what to consume, when, how

– Control shifting from creators to consumers

…and they adopt it quickly

• Cultural Control

– Napster to Kazaa to iTunes

– The PVR

– Downloading TV

– Downloading Movies

– DVDs of TV series

– DVDs released months (not years)

– Zip.ca or Netflix

– 100s of radio stations

– Your iPod playlist

downloading activity

6.7%3.6%6.2%Essays

3.8%2.4%3.4%TV Commercials

19.1%24.8%20.9%None

8.7%

9.9%

10.6%

15.5%

18.2%

19.6%

21.2%

31.9%

42.7%

57.3%

Total

9 to 29

6.8%

3.2%

8.8%

11.2%

12.0%

22.8%

59.2%

44.4%

38.0%

9 to 13

22.2%Movie trailers

21.5%Music videos

8.7%Pornographic content (asked only to 16+)

10.7%Books (text or audio)

18.3%Movies (complete movies)

13.7%TV shows (complete programs)

20.6%Software

23.9%Games

42.6%Pictures (any photos or graphics)

64.9%MP3s (and other music files)

14 to 29N=1067, Canadian Youth 14-29, national survey

October 2005

3. challenge• Then (1980-1996):

– Everything is top-down

– Corporate machine creates culture; youth absorb it

• Then to Now (1996-2006):

– “The Street” starts to drive and dictate trends

– Coolhunters and tipping points

• Now:

– Young people either directly create culture…

– …or set trends that the corporate world replicates

– First seen in fashion (as always) moved to music, filmand television, marketing and on-line

…and they adopt it quickly• Cultural Creation

– MySpace

– YouTube

– GarageBand

– Indie Movies

– Home-made TV, Movies

– Blogging

– SNL Digital Shorts

– Andy Milonakis

– wikipedia

so what does this mean?

implications: the 3 Cs

1. Control: in control of everything

2. Convergence: largely a myth for youngpeople for whom divergence is unnatural: all

media are 360 degree media

3. Choice: there is more choice now than ever

before; we (and young people especially)have a seemingly infinite variety of culturaloptions

1. control

In Control of Technology

In Control of the Culture

In Control as Consumers

1. control• Institutions (including schools!) have to stop

thinking that they control their “brands”

• Good brands share themselves with theirconsumers – or control is taken away

1. control• Your Canadian example:

• K-os “Flypaper” at YouTube

YouTube overview

• We looked up “Molson” onYouTube and found out…

• 14 of the Top 40 weren’t forMolson Ads (but were for showsat the Molson Centre, etc.)

• Ads such as “Rant”, “Anthem”and “Beaver” have been postedmultiple times

• The top 8 streams of this adhave been vewed over 100,000times

• There is no such thing asretiring a campaign anymore

2. convergence

• This is a very adult perception of the way mediaworks – my television is now connected to myinternet, “I can get music on my cellphone?”

• For young people, convergence is natural: oneor two connected devices that manage all yourand all your culture

2. convergence

• For young people, divergent technology isan unnatural state

• Finding connections between technologiesand between media is critical

• It means that if we don’t, they will

• Napster in 1999 – music to the PC

• IcraveTV in 2000 – TV to the PC

• Bit Torrent in 2004 – movies to the PC

2. convergence

12.4%I watched a TV program using Video-On-Demand

18.5%I watched a TV program on a DVR (like TiVo)

3.6%I didn’t watch TV last week in any form

2.3%I watched a TV program on a mobile phone

7.4%I watched a streamed TV program on my computer

9.1%I watched a downloaded TV program on my computer

28.7%I watched a TV program on DVD

28.8%I watched a TV program on digital TV

77.9%I watched a TV program on regular TV

2. convergence

• This means two (!) culture delivery devices…

• …both of which offer a two-way experience…

• …and means more time spent with culture

2. convergence

• What does this mean for books – reliable,tactile, warm, nice, even, but not directly

connected to their technology?

• Is a library a place for books…or a place forknowledge…or a place for culture?

• And what is that culture?

Which of the following statements is closest

to your opinion of marketing in schools, colleges or universities?

10

64

26

2002 %

30

59

11

2006 %2000 %

11Marketing is perfectly

fine

72Special circumstances/

company gives back

17No marketing, period

Marketing in Schools

3. choice

• Most importantly, this more cohesive group has amuch larger field of cultural choices to play in

• Larger cohesiveness of the group is more thanbalanced out by the “The Long Tail” (theseemingly infinite choice that exists right now)…

• …meaning that one cohesive group with easierdelivery methods, cheaper costs and moreopportunity demands more than smaller groupswith fewer choices

3. choice

3. choice

• This level of choice – and ability to distribute – isactually good for print media

• On-line bookstores offer much more content

• The Internet – through the creation of socialnetworks – encourages niches

• On-line versions of print seems to encourage

greater loyalty to the parent publication

lessons for the culture industry:we are media neutral; we are

sharing, creating, and archivingeverything, all the time

everything, all the time

infinite choice

miniaturization, compression, and storage

speed of delivery

tech-assisted organization

1. goodbye, main branch• People no longer need to go to one central

repository to get what they want…

• iTunes and your local HMV are both sourcesfor culture, just like a library

• …but are increasingly limited by their physicalsize or the specificity of their content

• Distributed computing, peer-to-peer programsand worldwide net accessibility means that noone need be limited by one source of culture

• …and (sorry!) that means eBooks are only amatter of time

1. goodbye, main branch

1. goodbye, main branch

2. hello, (opinionated) card catalog

• We’re rapidly moving to a point where everythingis out there – or it’s assumed that everything is

• But managing all of this culture and content issomething different entirely; both in quantifying itand qualifying it

• It’s tastemaker culture – we need to organize, butalso to make sense of what’s good or real andwhat isn’t

• People who love books are spending a lot of timeonline to enhance their ‘book experience’

2. hello, (opinionated) card catalog• Lets’ say you’re getting in to hipper-than-thou

Canadian musicians The Arcade Fire

• Britannica – no article at all

• Wikipedia – good article (shared / anon), links, etc.

• Allmusic – good article (authored), reviews (authored),samples of all of their music, links to purchase

• Pitchfork – 21 articles (news, reviews, etc), all by“tastemakers” Different authors, links to purchase (CDand mp3)

• www.arcadefire.net (“us kids know, an arcade firefansite”) – comprehensive discography, postings, allmanner of links, no indication of objectivity

• some random blog that mentions Funeral, their album

3. the cooler library• Content providers need to be content improvers

• It’s not enough to just have something (because it’s probablysomewhere else) – added value is important

• “Official” sources need to get ahead of the curve: the mostimportant and interesting developments in cultural(re)distribution have come from private individuals

• Napster – iTunes, Puretracks

• BitTorrent – iTunes for TV, Movies

• YouTube – TV networks rebroadcasting online the next day

• Blogging – now a part of every major publication

• Google – crushing every other search engine, redefining ads

• MySpace – redefined music marketing

trend for the future

next…

next!

• The largest trend is our off-line lives getting on-line and the boundaries being blurred informerly separated areas: consumer/publisher,archivist/distributor, school/home, evenmarketing/culture or business/art…

• For the first time ever, we will have a singulardelivery system for all culture and allcommunication

• What does it mean to take your whole culturallife with you, wherever you go?

thanks!