Audience Survey 2012

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Protein® Audience Survey 2012

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Survey Introduction

IntroductionWelcome

For over 14 years Protein has specialised in

connecting audiences with emerging culture and

new ideas. At the heart of everything we do is our

global audience of over 50 million 18-35 year old

influencers. They’re what we call cultural innovators

- they create trends, change thinking and

continually challenge traditional models of media.

More importantly though, this audience is redefining

consumer tastes, attitudes and behaviour, meaning

that what they’re doing today is what the wider

market will be doing tomorrow. And because of this,

Protein Networks continually researches their habits

and lifestyles in order to understand where they are,

how they think and what makes them tick. So we

created this, our second annual Audience Survey,

in which we observe, analyse and explain how they

live, work and play.

However, your research doesn’t need to stop there.

You can continually monitor and track behaviours

and new ideas through the Protein OS, a suite

of apps, events and daily insights. We’ve also

produced a short film to accompany this survey,

which presents street voxpops from around the

world, alongside animated data visualisations and

profiles of the people driving these trends, all of

which you can view here:

http://prote.in/audiencesurvey

I hope this 2012 edition provides you with some

inspiration and insight for your year ahead.

We’re always keen to hear any feedback, so if you

have any questions, comments and suggestions,

please just drop us a line.

William Rowe, CEO & Founder, Protein Ltd.

[email protected]

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Survey Methodology

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MethodologyThe Survey

The audience is what makes us. It’s what we call

the readers of our online publication network, a

group of leading cultural websites that specialise in

music, art, design, fashion, travel and technology.

It’s our quantitative sample of consumers that we

continually talk to, monitor and analyse. It’s through

these observations that we can understand the

tastes, attitudes and behaviours of tomorrow’s

18-35 year olds.

To do this we conducted a survey across our global

network, which consisted of a series of questions

about lifestyle habits. An MPU advert was placed on a

series of key websites, which invited people to fill in a

short survey. This ran for two months in late 2011 and

allowed us to collect a total of 2,218 responses.

This year’s survey was the biggest yet and used even

more of our network. Participants included Dezeen,

ArchDaily, MoCo Loco, Who Sampled?, FACT

Magazine, Superfuture, Unlike City Guides and Vimeo.

Once the survey finished running, our in-house

insight team analysed the data and contextualised

the findings. To do this we used desk research and

our existing observations on trends and behavioural

change, as well as asking leading experts their

thoughts about the current state and future of

their industries. And we created further context

by including examples of key cultural innovators,

projects, stores and spaces that resonate with our

audience and are shaping future trends.

The result is what you see before you: an in-depth

trend report that analyses the behaviours and tastes

of today’s 18-35 year old cultural innovators.

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Survey Demographic

19%

16%

16%

7%

7%

4%

4%

4%

3%

3%

2%

2%

Art & Design

Student

Advertising

Media & PR

Architecture

Music

Science & Tech

Fashion

Education

Online Services

Journalism

Retail

35+

25-27

31-34

22-24

28-30

19-21

16-18

UK

United States

Canada

Germany

Australia

France

Brazil

Netherlands

India

Ireland

Mexico

Spain

43%

16%

3%

3%

3%

2%

2%

2%

1%

1%

1%

1%

How old are you?

23%

17%

15%

14%

11%

11%

9%

What industry do you work in?

What country are you from?

DemographicOur Audience

So who, exactly, is the Protein Audience? The

majority of this year’s survey sample are 18-24

years old, with 77% in this age group while 23% are

over 35 years old. Most of them are male (57%) and

around 43% are female.

The UK is the most represented country with 43%

of the sample. Around 16% live in the US and 3%

in Canada. Europe is also included in the sample,

with 3% from Germany, 2% from France, and 2%

from The Netherlands. A further 3% are Australian

and 2% are Brazilian. In total, the sample included

people who lived in over 80 different countries

around the world.

According to the results, our audience is a highly

educated group with around 85% saying they have

an undergraduate degree or higher, and a third say

they have a postgraduate degree. Some are still

studying, with 16% saying they’re currently students.

Those currently in work are mostly employed in

creative roles. The most popular industry is art and

design, with around one fifth (19%) of the sample

saying they work in this sector. A further 16% work

in advertising and marketing.

Carey, 21, Student, Manchester

Alex, 23, Blogger/DJ, London

Jo, 25, Trend Researcher, London

Marshall, 22, Promoter, London

Ansen, 20, Shanghai

Ansen, 20, Blogger, Shanghai

Ansen, 25, Marketing Assistant, Shanghai

Camille, 28, Art Director, Brussels

Survey Music

Music

Red Light Radio, Amsterdam

‘The increased inter-connectivity of everyone has made it much easier to have an audience. You don’t need a publicity machine behind you.’Sam Spiegel, Music Producer

Hypermarché, Hamburg

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Survey Music

Listen Up

While the industry itself may remain flustered by the

internet, our audience’s behaviour is slowly redefining

how music is consumed. For them, it’s all about shared

experiences, whether that’s on- or off-line.

From stacks of CDs and records, to heavily stocked

iTunes folders, ideas around the ownership of music

are changing as streaming technology gets faster

and better. It’s no longer necessary to physically

own a piece of music, as sites such as Spotify,

Rdio, MOG and Grooveshark now offer access

to seemingly endless amounts of music all in one

place. Not to mention, it’s legal. It’s a trend we

expect will grow even more, with one fifth of our

audience saying that they prefer to listen to music

on streaming sites.

When our audience want to find new music,

they typically turn to their friends (77%) for

recommendations or use music sites (64%) such as

Pitchfork and FACT Magazine. And as more music

software integrates with Facebook, such as the

recent Spotify app, our audience are turning to social

networks to discover new music (54%), often based

on what their friends have been listening to.

Vinyl Revision

As we continue to move into the ever faster and

digital realm, we’ve noticed some of our audience

want to slow this movement down. Although CDs

may well and truly be over, we continue to see a

rise in the number of vinyl releases from artists.

In fact, according to the Entertainment Retailers

Association (ERA), UK vinyl sales were up 55% on

last year in the UK.

A number of smaller record labels are leading this

movement and continuing to bridge the gap between

music and art, partnering with artists to produce

limited edition vinyls and prints. We found that a small

group of vinyl fans in our audience (16%) are keeping

the format alive. And despite the digital revolution, a

few – around a tenth (11%) of our audience – are still

purchasing physical albums as keepsakes.

41%

21%

16%

11%

10%

0%

MP3

CD

Don’t purchase

Vinyl

Online streaming

TDK C90’s

Which format do you purchase the most?

56%

20%

16%

8%

0%

MP3

Online streaming

Vinyl

CD

TDK C90’s

Which format do you prefer to listen to?

40

Survey Music

Live Music On The Rise

Live music is very much alive and well. Our

audience regularly watch bands and DJs play at

concerts, clubs and events: a tenth see live music

every week, around 12% see it every fortnight,

and a further quarter (26%) see it every month. No

wonder there’s been an explosion in micro-events

and boutique festivals. According to industry

magazine IQ, in Europe alone there were between

2,500 and 3,000 music festivals this year.

And live concerts aren’t always just a band on a

stage. Increasingly, innovative twists on traditional

performance are coming to the fore, giving 18-

35 year olds a more visceral and unpredictable

experience. Rizlab, for instance, is a live music

workshop by Rizzla, which pairs a musician with a

visual artist in order to create a multi-sensory event.

For those who miss it, coverage can be watched

online in real time via a video stream.

Community Broadcasting

Many of these 18-35 year olds are taking their

hyperlocal sensibilities and adding them to the live

music experience. The result? Community radio

stations. Just look at the success of East London’s

Boiler Room. Part-live gig and part-online radio station,

the show invites people to come to its regular events

to watch emerging DJs play, while coverage is also

streamed live over the web. Anyone with an internet

connection can join in.

NTS Radio, also in London, is another example. It

broadcasts from a town square in the Dalston district

of the city, and uses its website to let people listen

to its shows, as well as see the personalities behind

them and photographs of the Dalston community. ‘I

guess we’re offering a really good way to tap into a

scene,’ says Clair Urbahn, co-founder of NTS Radio.

‘There seems to be a worldwide interest in Dalston at

the moment.’ The trend exists beyond London, too.

In Amsterdam, Red Light Radio broadcasts live DJ

sets from a former brothel window in a backstreet of

the city. And DUBLAB in Los Angeles, as well as FBi

in Sydney, both use a similar mix of in-the-flesh and

on-the-web live events to present new music.

‘If we can listen to an album online, why shouldn’t we be able to watch a live show or club night online too?’Antony Hill, FACT Magazine

Numbers Warehouse Party, London

Survey Fashion

Fashion

Norse Projects, Copenhagen

‘Everyone is really discovering heritage and utilising it to tell their own story.’Marcus Ross, Jocks & Nerds

RlLacoste x LOOKBOOK.nu

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Survey Fashion

Style Council

Many of our audience live at the cutting-edge of

fashion. But this cutting-edge isn’t so much about new

trends and standing out, as spending wisely, valuing

quality and looking for craftsmanship in items they buy.

The most important thing our audience looks for in

an item of clothing is that it suits them, with 78%

saying this was vital. Value is also important, with

55% saying they seek this in an item. A further 38%

want new clothing to be durable and last a long time.

But how do they decide what to buy? For 59% the

most popular source of fashion inspiration is other

people in the street. Nearly half (46%) say their

fashion is inspired by friends, and around 38% say

they’re inspired by subcultures. Celebrity culture,

meanwhile, barely registers with our audience. Only

10% say they’re inspired by celebs when it comes

to fashion, and only 20% say they’re inspired by

what they see on television.

In terms of fashion media, blogs remain the most

popular format, with 55% saying they regular read

them to stay ahead on new trends. But old media

isn’t redundant. Our audience still value something

they can hold in their hands, with 52% saying they’re

informed about fashion by magazines. It’s a rise of

independent fashion publications, such as Inventory

in the US and The Gentlewoman in the UK, that

seems to be giving the medium this new lease of life.

Social Commerce

Our digitally native audience are, as expected,

regularly buying clothing on the web. Around a

fifth (17%) say they make several online purchases

a month, and a quarter (26%) say they do so at

least every two months. It’s no wonder that so

many retailers are revamping their sites to include

editorial stories, video content and anything else

that helps to make them more ‘sticky’.

Luxury menswear webstore Mr Porter has

pioneered this trend with a website that’s equal part

shop and style magazine. It features interviews with

leading style icons, stories about how to dress well

and in-depth features on brands. All of which then

link back to products on sale in the shop. Topman

has also been inspired by this trend, adding a

monthly online magazine called Topman Generation

to its e-commerce site. It features profiles with

young emerging artists, designers and musicians.

And it’s not just editorial that’s being used by

fashion stores. In Sweden, interior design store

Lagerhaus created the first online pop-up shop,

the Blog-Up Store, which saw six bloggers host a

widget on their site that featured a series of curated

items that people could buy for a limited time only.

59%

55%

52%

46%

42%

38%

21%

21%

20%

10%

People on the street

Blogs

Magazines

Friends

Collections

Subculture

Music

Movies

Television

Celebrity style

How do you discover new trends?

Peop

le on the street

Blogs

Magazines

Friends

Sub

culture

Male

Female

Collections

Music

Movies

Television

Celeb

rityS

tyle

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Survey Fashion

Future Shop

Our audience are keen online shoppers but they still

enjoy the experience of a bricks and mortar store.

Despite all the frills and gimmicks that retail brands

are adding to their physical stores in a bid to entice

online shoppers back, our audience simply want

an old-school store environment. By far the most

important thing they look for in a store is that it sells

top quality products, with 81% saying exactly this.

Over half (58%) want a shop to be well-designed. And

a further 53% say they simply want good service.

And so much for QR clothes labels, AR technology

and NFC purchasing: only 6% want to see the latest

technology in a shop. And in our current age of

austerity, luxury retail just doesn’t seem to matter

to them either: only 4% say they’re interested. For

retailers, it’s time to get back to basics.

Craft & Graft

In our post-industrial and digital world, the

handmade is increasingly celebrated by people as

a luxury. And our audience is no exception. They’re

demanding more products that have been made by

hand, with around half (47%) saying they look for

‘craftmanship’ in the clothing they buy.

Several brands are responding to this need with video

content that communicates the production process

behind their goods. It’s also being represented in our

audience’s media. Inventory magazine, for instance,

features profiles with the designers, makers and

craftspeople behind contemporary brands such

as White Mountaineering and Nigel Cabourn. Ben

Sherman’s Conversations in Modernism campaign

paired two contemporary makers together to

talk about modern design, and documented the

conversation through videos on its website.

‘Social media is proving that it’s not enough to open an online store and expect lots of sales. People want to buy what their friends have.’Lee Carter, Hint Mag

Smith Journal, Melbourne

Survey Technology

Technology

Berg Studio, London

‘It’s incredible that it’s now common to see a video made by a guy in Asia, then see him have a conversation with someone in Miami and see them talk about these new creative devices they’re working on.’Blake Whitman, Vimeo

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Survey Technology

Digital Natives

Last year we reported how our audience were early

adopters of technology. Of course, they still are. But

what’s becoming more apparent is their need for

devices and software that add function to their lives.

They simply won’t download an app unless there’s

a purpose, whether that’s to pay for goods, keep an

eye on their fitness or simply check the weather.

That’s not to say they aren’t consuming large

amounts of technology. There might be a Digital

Downtime movement, as we mentioned in our

Overview section, but our audience remain as

teched-out as ever. Around 46% of them have an

iPhone, about half (49%) own some sort of MP3

player and 64% of them have a digital camera. They

tend to prefer Apple computers, with 58% owning

a Mac and 42% a PC. The iPad is proving more

popular than alternative tablet devices, with around

16% owning one, while 2% own an Android-based

tablet device. In terms of gaming, the Wii is the

most popular device, with 13% owning one, while

a further 9% own an Xbox console, and 6% a

Playstation PSP.

People are now interested in small stories because of the media. Before it was newspapers and television. But now it’s more about Twittering small moments.’Oki Sato, Nendo

Social Content

Our audience’s online habits are a mix of social

networking and information research. Despite the

rise of Facebook, email still remains key, with 60%

saying this is the activity they spend most time

on while online. Staying up to date with the latest

news is also popular, with 54% saying they do this

the most, and a further 45% say they prefer online

editorial publications. They also like to create their

own content. With use of Facebook, as well as niche

sites such as Instagram, photo-sharing has become

a key activity, with around a third (30%) saying they

do this while online. Photo-blogging too has become

prominent, particularly with the rise of Tumblr, which

grew in membership by 218% last year.

Twitter remains popular, with about a third (30%)

saying they like to spend time reading other

people’s tweets. Branded tweets, created by

companies however, aren’t so popular, with just

10% saying they read them. But most of all, people

just want to browse the web and procrastinate, with

63% saying they use the internet to simply search

for inspiration.

Browsing for inspiration

Emailing

Staying up to date with news

Streaming music

Reading editorial content

Talking to friends

Reading tweets by people

Streaming videos

Photo sharing

Location-based social networking

Reading tweets by brands

Playing games

63%

60%

54%

46%

45%

44%

32%

31%

30%

13%

10%

8%

What do you do online?

Reading tweets by brands

Talking to friends

Emailing







Streaming videos

Photo sharing


Staying up to date with news

Playing games

Streaming music

64

Survey Technology

Mobile Commerce

The audience is using mobile phones for so much

more than just communication. They use their

devices as travel guides, as health monitors and

news services. They’re also increasingly using them

to buy products. Payment apps such as Square are

enabling this to happen outside and away from the

cash register. The system has recently been used

by the Salvation Army in the US to enable on-the-

spot donations by people who don’t have enough

cash with them. Then there’s Google Wallet, which

uses Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology

to let people make payments in a store simply by

waving their smartphone in front of a reader. The

technology is still in its infancy, but we predict it will

only get bigger. Especially as 20% of our early-

adopting Audience say they want to pay for goods

with their phone as well as their cash and card in

coming years. Plus a further 14% want their mobile

to function as a travel card.

But don’t forget the Slow Technology movement.

Many of the Audience don’t always want the latest

tech fix for the sake of it. The key is functionality.

After all, around a quarter (24%) say they just want

their phone to be a phone.

Quantified Self

Our audience are proving that data isn’t just for nerds.

A growing trend for these 18-35 year olds is the use of

apps and devices to record habits in order to improve

their lifestyles. Apps such as Daytum let people

use their phone to record, well, just about anything.

Whether it’s tracking coffee consumption or how

many miles they run each weekend, people input data

about their habits for self analysis later on.

‘People will be more active and fit if they understand

more about how they move and how their body

behaves,’ says Dr Marco Cardinale, the Head

of Sports Science and Research at the British

Olympic Association. ‘The ability to provide real time

information and continuous feedback on various

parameters can actually help more people exercise

and motivate them.’

Protein Index

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Survey Conclusion

Conclusion

Despite our turbulent times, this year’s survey

shows that our audience remain positive,

productive and pro-active. They’re a social group

operating both on- and off-line. They seek convivial

environments, niche gatherings and face-to-face

moments. They share a desire to support local

enterprise – whether it’s buying a beer from a

neighbourhood micro-brewery or supporting artists

through a community radio station.

Within retail, they look to brands that display

values of authenticity, simplicity and straight-

forward service. They support their local stores and

shopkeepers, preferring to buy products of quality,

value and craftmanship.

They also seek this sense of craft in the culture they

consume, whether that’s a workshop that invites

them to participate in a hands-on activity, or a

piece of media that shows the processes behind

a product. They want brands to share a similar

outlook and to create visually compelling content

that reveals production methods and the talented

craftsmen behind them.

Our audience are set to be at the forefront of

cultural change and new consumer behaviour.

For brands, this means engaging them online

through purposeful content and offline through

live events in their local neighbourhood.

By supporting them in a tone, manner and voice

that’s appropriate, brands can also be part of their

constantly changing world.

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Audience Survey 2012