Transcript Max Valiquette's Presentation from HIEC's Spring 2005

Young Canadians Now
Presented by Max Valiquette
Presented to Halton Region
“Breakfast with the Mayors”
June 15, 2005
about youthography
• Founded in 2001, Youthography is Canada’s
leading youth marketing consultancy
• Youth market research, strategy and marketing
• Plenty of research (quant and qual)
– We put ‘youth at the epicenter’
• A lot of marketing
– ‘money where mouth is’ factor
some of our clients
contents
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demographics
psychographics and values
youth trends right now
media
connecting to students
sources
• Qualitative and quantitative research
– Regular online surveying of young Canadians
– Focus and immersion groups
• Our youth community of approximately 14,000 +
• Ping
– Current trends and related stats
• Statistics Canada
– Will refer to periodically
demographics
the 4 x 5 factor
• The 10-29 population divides into four equal
five-year cohorts
• This is the one thing you need to know…
demographics
Male / Female
(number)
Male / Female
(% of population)
2,117,600
6.7
15-19
2,120,500
6.7
20-24
2,188,500
6.9
25-29
2,118,100
6.7
TOTAL 10-29
8,544,700
27
Age
10-14
Statistics Canada, 2003
demographics
• 80% are from families with 1-2 children at home
• 60% of women work out of home
• 67% of unmarried 20-24-year-olds live at home
demographics
• 1 in every 2 young people (20-24) attending
post-secondary school
• More students working part-time and taking
longer to graduate
impact
• These demographic factors drive more youth
trends than anything else…
…keep this in mind as we move forward
psychographics and values
psychographics
• There is a prolonged pre-adult life stage
• This is the one thing you need to know…
psychographics
• Many youth ‘values’ actually have their roots in
demographics…
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Fewer siblings at home = reliance on friends
Single parent households = greater self-reliance
Six-pocket syndrome = more as-needed cash
Immigration = colour blindness and diversity
psychographics
• Partially getting into adulthood earlier, but fully
getting into adulthood later than ever…
• Average age of 1st menstruation = 12
• Average age of 1st cigarette = 13
• Average age of 1st intercourse = 16 (>)
• Average age at graduation = 26 (mean 23)
• Average age of 1st marriage = 29
• Average age of 1st childbirth = 29
psychographics
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Think about this: how old is someone who is
on-line all the time, likes movies, has a cell
phone and texts with it, is in school but working
part-time, sort of knows what they want to do
with their life, is unmarried, childless, drinks
beer, has sex, lives at home, and smokes a bit
of dope on some weekends?
Are they 15, or 25?
impact
• Some responsibilities earlier, but full
responsibilities later
• They have more money to spend on food,
fashion and fun than any other generation
before
• ‘Save to Spend’ mentality
– Some saving, but short-term (so far)
• Full adult purchases come later than ever
life stage borrowing
13 years
All Video Games
Downloading mp3s
Buying a Tim’s double-double
Skate and Snow Boarding
29 years
Networked Games
Downloading DivX movies
Brewing specialty coffee
Board Culture Brand Apparel
youth profile
• Psychographic trending with youth in Canada
continues to show a group that puts high priority
on:
– Responsibility (to self and society)
– Balance
– Individuality
youth profile
• Considered by many to be a ‘hope generation’
• They want to change things
– Focus on individual expression and creativity
– Diversity of opinion and experience essential to this
culture
– Adbusters movement
– A sense of being accountable
youth profile
• Intensely aware of the world but not
overwhelmed by it
• Late ’90s = ‘everything fast, everything new’
• Now: still there, but balanced by a meaningful
sense of responsibility and pragmatism
…so remember, it’s a high churn group
• They’re moving! The only constant is change…
• …rather than looking at fads, we try to look at
trends
• The best way to connect isn’t to segment them
into tribes or to try to catch the latest thing, but to
understand their values
what they value
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Relationships
Communication
Information
Diversity
Empowerment
And what sews it all together…Technology
impact
• College/university is no longer the huge
jump…just another transition into adulthood
that’s started when at 12 or 13
• Living a post-secondary lifestyle while still in
high school
• Controlling purchases (even if it’s not their
money) for a long, long time: that has an impact
on school-life expectations and desire to work
media
media in transition
• There has never been such a huge shift in
media habits as over the past decade
• This is the one thing you need to know…
media in transition
• Media exposure in an average day for youth:
bathroom stalls
mall
bus stop
school
magazines
radio
newspaper
TV
videogames
internet
public transit
billboards
movie theatres
wild postings
media in transition
• Internet progression and adoption was incredibly
fast compared to that of television:
– 1994: Introduction of the Internet
– 1995: In offices
– 2001: In nearly every home and school; 9/10 of young
people have “regular Internet access”
– 2003: 54% of households have at least one member
regularly using the Internet at home
television vs. the Internet
• Based on BBM Statistics, teen television watching
decreased by over 3 hours a week from 1996 to 2000…
…versus one hour for 18+
17.3
1996
Ages 18+
16.9
1997
24.1
15.9
1998
23.9
15.5
1999
23.2
14.1
2000
10
15
Ages 12-17
24.2
23.2
20
Hours/week
Source, BBM 2000
25
30
time spent
How many hours per week would you say you typically spend:
N=1537, Ping National Survey,
November 2004
Total
%
9-15
%
16-29
%
On public transit
2.0
1.0
2.3
Reading urban weeklies
1.7
0.5
2.0
Reading daily newspapers
1.3
0.7
1.5
Reading magazines
1.2
2.1
1.0
Watching TV
9.8
12.3
9.3
Listening to radio
5.1
7.9
4.9
Listening to on-line radio
4.7
1.1
5.7
On-line (for school or work)
6.6
4.0
7.3
On-line (for communication)
9.3
8.0
9.7
impact
• On-line communication is necessary…
– The Internet is still growing with this target, both in
access (high-speed is growing and more people have
access in multiple places making it more convenient)
– Always available and always meets their schedule
– You never have to explain anything—you can just
show it to someone
– Versatile (one medium, multiple uses)
• a discussion board
• skimming content on a major web portal
• creating your own blog
the school to work
transition
5 ways schools are changing
1. Teachers: content providers to content
facilitators
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–
Always something newer out there
Need to know what’s right and what isn’t
2. Internet: the dominant force in education
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The “self-directed” student
Global learning
5 ways schools are changing
3. Continued move to colleges (as opposed to
Universities- or even after university)
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Emphasis on “skills” for many; particularly relevant in
an era of communications
4. The ‘end’of the school as social hub
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Larger age gaps
More of a life that you can bring with you
5 ways schools are changing
5. Schools are more of a business
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–
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More expensive (means greater expectations)
Marketed as businesses are (the school as brand)
Elements surrounding schools – scholarship or
research websites; on-campus businesses, etc –
greater than ever before
marketing in schools
Which of the following statements is closest
to your opinion of marketing in schools, colleges or universities?
2000 %
2002 %
No marketing, period
17
26
Special circumstances/
company gives back
72
64
Marketing is perfectly fine
11
10
work and school
Simply rate each of the following concepts, ideas or values in terms of their importance to YOUR LIFE
n=1480
Internal National Study / Spring 2004 / 1329 year old
Top Box Results
Total
13-17
18-22
23-29
Developing new skills
90.9%
86.9%
91%
94.8%
Getting formally educated
88.9%
81.7%
90.6%
84.9%
Finding things for yourself
84%
79.7%
84.2%
87.8%
Having a lifelong career
82.8%
88.3%
87.7%
80.2%
Being informed - current events
65.6%
61.1%
64%
73.8%
Being street smart
58.4%
61.4%
58.9%
54.1%
Starting a business
32.2%
30.6%
31.7%
34.2%
school
• Formal education is seen as being most
important for 18-22 year olds – the age where
people are most likely to be in some form of
post-secondary education
• High school students are least likely to realize
the importance of formal education or acquiring
new skills…
• …but like every other demo, place more
importance on skills than a formal education
school
• More and more getting involved in post secondary – at
least 85% put high priority on “formal education”
• Many take a vocational approach (the BA and certificate)
• Tempered by an equal thirst for diversity of experiences
that lead to a “more whole” life education
• Lots more travel
• Lots more “holding off” on a big career until
later…looking for “street smarts” and life knowledge
school
• They need more money than ever
– Average tuition increased over 135% over the last 10 years
– Average tuition in 2003 was $4,025 nationally
Increase 1990-2000
Quebec
Central
East
West
0
1000
2000
3000
Tuition Costs
4000
5000
school
• About half of college and university grads left
school owing money for their education, mostly
from government student loan programs
• One in seven university graduates owes 25K or
more in government student loans upon
graduating
• More are working part-time and taking longer to
graduate
school
Which sources, if any, are you depending on to help you
fund your upcoming year of study?
Total
Personal earnings / savings
78%
Parents/relatives
60%
Scholarship/ bursary / grant
59%
Federal government loan (CSL)
36%
Provincial government loan
27%
Bank loan
18%
Company / Work pays
1%
RESP
1%
Other
1%
N=1258, Canadian Youth 13-29, Ping Survey, July 2004
school
• Increasingly seen as part of a “whole life”
equation
• Increasingly seen as expensive
• Increasingly seen as part of a longer period of
transition into full adulthood
• Increasingly difficult to connect to students
through school and school alone
school
• “I don’t think I am learning things in school that
are going to help me get a job, though.”
– Male community member, 17
• “I know that I have to get in [to a university] but
none of us know what we’re going to be doing
there. I’ll decide when I am there.”
– Female community member, 17
• “Everyone knows that a BA won’t get you a job,
but I’m taking one anyway.”
– Female community member, 19
work
• “Work,” for young Canadians, divides into three
neat categories:
– A job for money and money alone (tweens and teens)
– A job for money and money alone (young adults who
won’t be moving into a career they love)
– A job for love (or at least like) and money (young
adults who have started their careers)
work
• Huge difference between job for money and jobs
as a career: important to recognize those
differences
– “Money” jobs have a lot in common, one sector or
industry to another
– “Career” jobs are driven by a desire to get involved in
a particular sector
work
• “Money” jobs: a means to an end (usually paying for
post-secondary education, a car, basic living expenses)
until they leave post-secondary; or something they are
“stuck” in
• “Careers”: aspirations are for a “lifelong career” (less and
less about a single employer or company)
• “Money” and “Careers”: want a diversity of experiences –
and while focusing on stability they put increasing
emphasis on developing new skills, knowledge
• Expect to be working at a whole range of jobs
• Many have aspirations for owning own business
work
• “I left high school and I knew I wasn’t going to
college and I needed a job and here I am.”
– Male community member, 22
• “I didn’t know how to do anything other than
retail after school but it’s not what I wanted.”
– Male community member, 20
• “I felt like if I wasn’t going to university or college
or something then there wasn’t anything for me
to do.”
– Female community member, 24
lessons learned
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This is a time of great transition for young people
More partially self-sufficient from an early age…
…but only totally self-sufficient at a later age
“Working” begins earlier, work-for-cash ends later:
increased pressure to have job skills right away
• But less of a feeling that education provides these
practical skills
• How to balance a need for academic and practical
education?
Thanks!
Questions?
Comments?
Cocktails?