WHAT DID WE DO…AND WHY? Project aim: As the authority on Urbanites (18-44, in full time work, living in urban areas), we wanted to get under the skin.

WHAT DID WE DO…AND WHY?

Project aim:

• As the authority on Urbanites (18-44, in full time work, living in urban areas), we wanted to get under the skin of 16 and 17 year olds - those on the verge of becoming Urbanites

• Find out what’s important to them, how they live their lives and what brands will need to do to engage with them in the future

• Explore their relationship with social media and the effect of this on their off-line lives and interactions. Does the psyche of ‘digital natives’ differ from previous generations?

EMERGING THEMES

THESOCIAL

CITY

CONNECTEDOPPORTUNITIES

MAPPINGTHECITY

FILTERING&

OVERSHARING

TOWNPLANNING

THE SOCIAL CITY Offline interactions and experiences are needed to create an exciting online identity

The theme

• Human beings are deeply social and teenagers are more social than most, sharing anything and everything with their peers online…

• “I usually update my status twice a day and it’s a personal rule of mine that it has to be interesting or something funny or amusing.” (Hasif,16, Dunstable)

• Contrary to popular belief, increased social media interaction among young people results in an increased need for diverse, random offline experiences to fuel their online conversations and make them look interesting to their friends

• Too much time online, and not enough time enjoying the real world, can lead to “unfriending”

The future?

• They will start to fuel their social media identities with content connected with their work as much as entertainment, but the need for offline content to project an interesting online identity will prevail

• Location based services (such as Foursquare) will make it more straight-forward to seek out those with similar passions and interests. Niche interests will prosper and the opportunities for brands to express their values through more niche interests will also grow.

• To maintain engagement, brands will need to craft more innovative online/in-city experiences; and being more spontaneous and random will definitely help! Nike Grid tapped into this expectation well: http://www.nikegrid.com/

CONNECTED OPPORTUNITIES Young people are savvy about the power of their own networks and aren’t afraid to use them to their advantage

The future?

• A more confident generation will emerge that’s less troubled by age-old notions of not having the right connections to the right people. Social media will continue to encourage them to seek out the connections they need to get on in life

• Scope for brands to play a lead role in helping them to establish networks of opportunity will escalate - brands will have the license to bring people together

• However, brands must be careful not to act intrusively on social media; they have to be invited into people’s networks. They are more likely to gain acceptance if they provide them with interesting, unique content which they can share online and in turn boost their status.

The theme

•Intuitively understanding the wisdom of the crowd, they use their networks help them to plan and organise fun and varied social lives:

•“Online makes the offline possible. We discuss, we organise, we do it!” (Sannie, 16, Birmingham)

•They’re also very aware of the opportunities available through their network – opportunities for making money, for fun and for furthering their social status.

•But they realise they need to nurture their personal brand/profile to keep their friends (or ‘fans’ as many call them) engaged. They do this by plying them with interesting content and broadcasts.

MAPPING THE CITY Young people love to share and feed off other people’s experiences in the city. Location based media is accelerating this trend, making it easier to share location and document the city

The future?

• Location based media usage will explode and teens will not out-grow it. Huge amounts of each town and city will be documented in incredible detail by the public

• Brands will be able to target ever more specifically, from particular regions through to individual venues, due to the level of information available

• Copious available data offer opportunities for pinpointing and rewarding influencers and potential brand ambassadors

• Some brands have already began to harness these targeting opportunities:http://www.brandrepublic.com/bulletin/digitalambulletin/article/1035146/starbucks-trials-new-o2-location-based-mobile-marketing-service/

The theme

•Today, “it’s about documenting the moment, pure imagery…” •“Interacting with the city through images leads people to create a map in their minds of what’s cool and what’s not.” Sharmadean Reid

(blogger, stylist, young entrepreneur)

•Teens love sharing content in all forms but “creating visual diaries” onlne is the most popular and status-benefiting of all, due to the large exposure. By this we mean taking pictures of themselves out and about and sharing them via social media

•Location based digital media (e.g.Foursquare and Facebook places) is amplifying this trend. It provides true connectivity and makes the city social like never before.

FILTERING AND OVERSHARINGYoung people are rapidly developing skills for filtering and scanning many sources of information. They struggle to process long form content, preferring bite-size information

The future?

• ‘Continuous partial attention’ means young people struggle to process long form text, preferring to deal with bite-size content which is easily scanned and shared.

• Sources such as ‘iBrain’(Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan) proposes that frequent technology use can change the way the brain is wired. Suggesting that CPA is set to continue as they get older.

• Brands may well find an increasing role in providing the means and tools to help consumers edit down content to what matters most to them

• BeerChooser for example, helps beer drinkers select the perfect beer for them by linking peer recommendations to their own individual preferences, while Commerce with a Conscience helps shoppers sort products by their ethical attributes:

• www.beerchooser.com/• www.commercewithaconscience.info/

The theme

•At first teens don’t control the endless flow of information. They share, rate, recommend, ‘like’ and sign up for as much as they can:

•“I check loads of websites and read nearly every magazine out there so I can find the latest news on what celebrities are wearing. At this moment in time, I am watching over 50 items on eBay.” (Ayla, 16, London)”

•This begins to change as they get older and begin to see the benefit in limiting their exposure. Whilst they still scan huge amounts of information, they begin to pick out only what matters most to them and their personal brand becomes a more considered, refined creation.

•This has been referred to as ‘continuous partial attention’ – skimming the surface of incoming data, picking out the most relevant details then moving onto the next. Paying attention, but only partially.

TOWN PLANNING Young peoples’ ideas on cities for the future, plus the role that brands can play

The future?

• Brands have an important and positive role to play in the city. They need to be, or at least appear to be, nimble and quick to respond (the ‘spontaneous brand’) to make benefit of the opportunities

• Ultimately, brands can become “stars of the city,” as one of our participants put it; granted permission to direct and implement change and help people to achieve their ambitions

The theme

•Future Urbanites want stability and equality from their cities, working hard together to build fun, safe, exciting environments. Cities in which ambitions can be realised; and in which self-improvement is paramount

•A key thing they want from their cities is adaptable fluid public spaces which can be used in different ways to entertain residents. “Random, fun events - that what we need!” (Naomi, 16, Brighton)

•They fully support brands taking an active role in the running of their cities….Ross (16, Sidmouth), in his city MarxKenna, describes how each brand would host its own events: “Nike for sporting events; Nescafe for worker-bee style events, getting you prepared for the hard but rewarding day ahead.”

•Another teen suggested:“Virgin could help my city’s hospital if it came into trouble.”

• Metro always has an eye for the future… Being a forward thinking brand, in October 2010 Metro hosted an

‘Urban Eye’ event focused on the future of urban living. To stay ahead of the game we recognise the need o predict trends - before they affect our business

• The Urban Eye event looked at projections for the future, from the perspective of industry experts. The next step was to ask the opinion of our future target market – 16 and 17s - straight from the horse’s mouth

• To build on what we learnt we conducted primary and secondary research. We recruited hundreds of 16 and 17s to our Urban Life panel and asked a selection of them to complete blogging diaries and tell us what their ideal city of the future would look like. We substantiated this with interviews with youth experts and robust quant research

WHAT’S IN IT FOR METRO?