Fishburn Hedges

05.07.2010

Last week I attended a talk at the Marketing Week Live event which fulfilled the Philosophy student I once was and the insights guru I hope to be. It looked at some research commissioned by MTV Belgium into how its key audience (13-17 year olds) identifies itself.

MTV is known for being a brand that knows its audience inside out. This is a big part of its appeal – being able to communicate with teenagers in a way others cannot. Such a reputation demands both impressive and current insights. MTV therefore followed 40 teenagers over six weeks to try and find out how they identify themselves both online and offline.  The research methods used and the insights gleaned were both exciting and innovative.

Power to the participant

The research produced findings that were 100% user generated as they tried to avoid errors from either the Hawthorne effect or the researcher’s bias gaze. MTV monitored the teenagers’ online identity by making friends with them via their online social networks. To monitor their offline identities, they gave each participant a camera and asked them to take videos and photos of things that were important to them. The teenagers uploaded their images and videos to a blog and annotated them with different tags and notes to show their feelings for each.

Me, me, me!

When asking the question – who are you? Very few of us would answer with an accurate picture of ourselves. To get around this, the participants were asked to take pictures of various people and places that influence their lives in different ways. The aim was to determine who the teenagers really are, which MTV termed the ‘personal me’. This was done by asking the group to depict people they don’t want to be - ‘non me’, what they want to be - ‘aspirational me’, and who are the people they want near them - ‘social me’.

This exercise in ‘co-discovery’ exposed the typical range of teenage hopes and secrets. Most of the group uploaded photos of their beds as one of their favourite places to escape to and was indicative of a common desire for self achievement and escapism. MTV took this information to plan future initiatives that concentrated on escapism and campaigns that would put its audience in control of their own entertainment. MTV then used these insights to run competitions where they would create bespoke post-exam holidays for viewers and allow them to plan their own concerts.

Choose your tribe

MTV also used the research into the individual participants to help it build a better picture of different social groups within its target audience too, such as ‘emos’ and ‘fashion girls’. By self selecting which group they belonged to, the participants were asked to help define what was important to these groups, be that looks or skills, thinking or drinking, change or conservatism and, arguably the most important, if they had ‘we’ or ‘me’ identities. The profiling exercise unearthed some fascinating insights and MTV are now in the process for doing the same with its audiences in other countries, so watch this space.

In comparing the teenagers’ online and offline identities, MTV noticed there was very little difference between the two. They attributed this to the fact that social networks aren’t actually social, i.e. the teenagers don’t use them to interact, but primarily to confirm friendships and give feedback on one another’s profiles. These acts are affirmations and exaggerations of their offline identities rather than altered personas.

If you don’t know me by now…

The MTV initiative was truly fascinating and highlighted some innovative ways organisations and brands can find insights. When we identify ourselves, some of us may side with either Satre (we are responsible for what we are - that is the fact) or Eminem (I am whatever you say I am). However, if you want to communicate authentically and really get your message heard, understanding how your audience identifies itself is what truly counts.

Posted by Rose Beynon