Bubble Bursters

Bubble Bursters

Insights that help marketers think differently

London bubble? There's a growing trend for metropolitan marketers to hothouse 'cultural' differences across the UK. There's a lot of 'going on safari... but if London based marketers want to better understand people, they can start a lot closer to home.

Of course there are deep divides across the UK. But maybe that's about people trying to pursue the same values and goals in very unequal economic contexts?

At everyday people, we're not keen on the label 'Gen Z'. For us, it highlights a fundamental contradiction in the marketing story. The marketing industry fetishises youth. But it lets young people down - failing to represent the real-world diversity of their interests, lifestyles and values. All the time.

Our new Worldview segmentation highlights the reality of being young in 2024.

Some inconvenient truths for a marketing industry addicted to reductionist generational stereotypes and creating 'Gen Z' in its own image.

The marketing and research industries tend to think that understanding people is all about understanding differences. But people have much more in common than marketers think. Our new 'Everyday People' worldview segmentation shows that despite all the talk of transformative power of 'Gen Z', young people, more or less see and interpret the world the same way as everyone else does.

If you want a strategy that truly sets you apart from the competition, you need to start thinking about what people have in common, not what seperates them.

Marketers have a highly materialistic view of what constitutes the 'good life'. The industry positions itself as experts in the understanding of people. Sadly, that's just not the case. Marketers enjoy relatively privileged lives, and the lack of diversity in the industry means we don't meet many people who aren't like us. This has a profound impact on our knowledge of a large proportion of the UK.

Marketers see a much stronger relationship between income and quality of life. Dramatically underestimating the quality of life for everyone earning up to £50k per year (77% of the UK) whilst overestimating the quality of life of the highest earning 10%.

The debate about the role of social purpose in marketing continues to rage. But those on both sides of an increasingly polarised debate generally
agree that brand purpose is a ‘progressive’ or ‘left wing’ idea.

But, out in the real world, it turns out that trusting brands to behave in a socially responsible way is 1) not very popular 2) more aligned with right wing values than with those on the left. This may surprise a lot of marketers. But, social and political scientists less so. Left wing people aren’t usually fans of capitalism and big business!

And as with many other things, Gen Z look a lot like everyone else.

Brands are routinely marketed using individualistic messaging and increasing levels of personalisation.

The underlying assumption in our industry is that people's product choices are motivated by a need to stand out and signal their unique personality and identity.

But our research is consistent with the academic literature. People have no problem with being similar to others. In fact, owning the same stuff as others makes them feel good.

For the majority, feeling 'special' comes from being the same as others rather than being unique.

One of the many myths about ‘Gen Z’ is that they are focused on ‘purpose’ in their buying decisions or, at the very least, they balance performance and purpose in their relationships with brands.

But, as with many other things, when it comes to buying priorities, our research shows that ‘Gen Z’ looks a lot like everyone else. And for all ages, performance comes before purpose.

In their determination to compete on purpose, marketers increasingly overlook so called ‘functional’ attributes like quality, reliability and service. But they remain the basic building blocks of decision making - for everyone.

Marketing is based on the principle that choice is a good thing.

An academic paper 'When choice does not equal freedom', found that middle class people are more comfortable with making choices, and regard making choices as 'normal'.

Our research shows that this is also true of marketers. However, for a large proportion of the population, choice can be stressful.

We need to be mindful of this when seeking to understand how people make decisions out there in the real world.

Marketers and market researchers call other people 'consumers' all the time. Reducing people to what they buy has become so hardwired that we scarcely give it a second thought. In fact, it's now a default term for describing people across all facets of our society.

But our language matters. Academic research on the relationship between materialism and social wellbeing shows that when we frame people as 'consumers', we limit everyone's potential: Reducing trust, perceptions of fairness and capacity for co-operation in solving problems.

Here's a snapshot from a simple A/B framing experiment Ian did many years ago.

Marketing orthodoxy tells us that 'Gen Z' are motivated by social purpose, personal growth and wellbeing. But in the real world, it's young people that over index on status and materialism.

This isn't a generational difference. It's a facet of ageing, and we are all likely to go through the same process. For better or worse, we have made our way in the world and are more confident in our identity and accepting of our choices as we age. Older people have also had more time to acquire 'stuff'. Many feel more financially secure than they did earlier in life. And whether it has made them happy or not, they have less need to strive for more extrinsic rewards.

It's fair to say that connecting youth and freedom is a deeply embedded trope in popular culture.

But does the everyday experience of the young people that marketers like to call 'Gen Z' stack up?

Here's some data from everyday people that shows in many ways, 16-24s feel less free than their older counterparts.

Can it really be true that young people are ready to save the world when they feel less able to express themselves, decide how they live their life and appreciate plants, animals and the world of nature?

Sound familiar?

Here's a quote from our recent research for DCM on the power of real life connection.