In 1997 Max (Marketing the Arts in Oxfordshire) received funding through the National Lottery Arts for Everyone scheme to develop arts attendance in the 15-19 year old age group in Oxfordshire. The starting point was to commission a piece of research aimed at developing a strategy for attracting and inspiring the target group. A year later they launched a magazine as the focal point for a series of campaigns based on those findings. At the end of the project MAX commissioned a second piece of research to measure their success in developing young audiences. The results were presented at a special one-day conference held at St Catherine’s College, Oxford on 10th January 2001.
The day kicked off with an overview of the youth market based on the Mintel Report ‘Youth and Leisure’ presented by Richard Hadley from Marketing: Arts. He asked for a note of realism to be introduced into expectations of significantly developing attendance from the youth market – officially designated as aged 15-24 and representing 1 in 7 of the population. Despite the growing influence of this segment, there are obvious limitations to their availability as arts attenders including extreme competition for limited leisure time and the constant need for peer approval, to be seen with the ‘right crowd’. Audience segmentation is changing and age is no longer considered a significant divider. Attitude and interests are more reliable indicators of potential arts attendance – a theme taken up by the next speaker.
Janine Braier from Define Research presented a session that looked at how the youth market can be segmented and then effectively communicated with. Her starting point was that whatever the changes in society, there are enduring principles of psychological development that make ‘youth’ the same in every generation, regardless of their actual age. She had segmented youth into eight stages of development that moved individuals from their original place within the family “I am my parents” to the final adult individual, confident in their own persona. Research appears to show that today’s youth get to the final stage more quickly but, with the emphasis on achievement, have less fun getting there so may regress in their 20s when they finally have time to play. But however long the process takes – and some people never develop beyond certain stages – youth share key psychological needs that have to be understood by anyone trying to communicate and attract them
The key needs are:
1. The desire to be different, separate from what has gone before
2. The desire to destroy the old (moving ‘away’ comes before moving ‘towards’)
3. The desire for stimulating but safe experimentation
4. The desire for relevant role models
5. The desire for opportunity and empowerment
6. The desire to put ‘me’ first
7. The desire to avoid humiliation
8. The desire to maintain boundaries
9. The desire to belong
10. The desire for breeding opportunities!
So how do we communicate effectively with such a complex group? There are key rules that have been tried and tested and the most important of these is DON’T ATTEMPT TO USE YOUTH-SPEAK!
This is a serious warning because appropriating something that ‘belongs’ to a group you don’t will automatically devalue it in their eyes (like Jeremy Clarkson in jeans) and with the language there’s the added risk of getting it wrong and actually showing just how out of touch you are.
Communication needs to have an honesty (these are very media-literate people, they’ve grown up with advertising and brands and can spot a phoney a mile away) but speak within peer groups and in private (to make sure there’s no chance of humiliation). Scoring highly on all these points are targeted magazines, radio stations – and, surprisingly, flyers. All of these score highly on ‘privacy’ – little chance of parental take-up if correctly branded – and on ‘belonging’ but, at the end of the day and however well-targetted, nothing will work if the product is wrong.
This theme was taken up by the first session looking at the Project itself. MAXX showed how they had used focus groups to look at the suitability of existing arts provision, to identify triggers and barriers to attendance. They found that, even amongst non-rejectors, most current arts events (except music) register low interest and low awareness - the arts just aren’t relevant to most young people.
To address that MAX launched a free magazine for and by 15-19 year olds called Catalyst. It was a quarterly publication, including articles on forthcoming events and ticket subsidy vouchers, and to encourage young people to join the free mailing list, the launch was preceded by a campaign using bus ads, local press, direct mail and posters. Later motivational tools included a club night and interactive website.
A separate session on web marketing looked at how design company Oyster had worked to establish a digital identity and generate sales from the target group (15-24 year old females) for well-known High Street store Accessorize. It was a fascinating case study of how to move from traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ selling to a combined ‘bricks and clicks’ strategy that opened the brand up to new markets. From the need to confirm brand values in-house before attempting to create the online identity, through the creation of ‘elastic viral marketing’ strategies (creating a compelling reason for individual to both return to the site and pass on details to their friends) to the final lessons that you can target one group but still attract another (14% of e-shoppers since the launch are men, attracted by the ‘no-embarrassment’ factor in distance selling) this was an entertaining and thought-provoking presentation.
So finally, what was the impact of the Oxfordshire project? From the readers of Catalyst surveyed, 30% said their attitude to the arts had changed and 45% that they felt much more aware of events in their area. Interestingly (and, I admit, rather cynically) there was a corresponding shift in the top three reasons for non-attendance:
Catalyst reader Public
% %
Not enough time 42 24
Don’t hear about what’s going on 16 31
Nothing on that I like 16 23
This was an interesting project, which did supply the definitive research on preferred methods of communication amongst young people, a new approach to segmentation by development and an interesting (if expensive) profile-raising campaign. The legacy for arts organisations included a greater understanding of the target market, increased attendances and proven access to the target market via the new database – at least for the next few years. The debate about young audiences will continue.
If any wants to read the full report of this project, give SWAM a ring on 0117-927 6936.
2002-2008 © Audiences South West