Substantial Opportunity for Brands to Connect with Young People

When we asked if they knew a brand or company which could help people like them in an area of their lives they spent most of their time thinking about, 50% of the young people we spoke to said they couldn’t name one!

The aspect of their lives that they spent most of their time focusing on and trying to improve included:

Which of the following are you spending most time thinking about or spending time trying to succeed at?

There is a gap here, between the way in which brands are trying to reach young people, and the way in which young people want brands to connect with them.

(Some brands they did mention included Nike, Guardian Jobs, Superdrug, Weight Watchers, Topshop, Timeout, Kayak, Student Finance, The NHS, YouTube, Thomas Cook, Apple and others. These brands are helping young people live their lives.)

To connect, brands must understand. Successful brands have connected with young people by listening to their interests, listening to what they care about and filling the void left by traditional institutions, be it by providing sports training like Nike does, equipment for learning new skills like Apple does or pointers on future careers like Guardian Jobs does.

Our exploration threw up exactly what it is our young people are looking for today…