Dubit CEO appointed to Advertising Association’s Children’s Panel
Dubit CEO, Ian Douthwaite, has been appointed by the Advertising Association (AA) to its new youth advertising industry panel.
The panel will provide industry leadership on the way in which advertising and marketing communications engage with children and young people. Its first task will be to address the specific concerns outlined in the Bailey Review including ‘sexual imagery’ on billboards, the use of brand ambassadors and peer-to-peer techniques, the harmonisation of the age of a child and improving industry and regulatory understanding of parental concerns.
Ian’s appointment follows Dubit’s work with the Advertising Association on the development of the Check website – a toolkit for anyone whose business involves marketing and communication with children.
Following his appointment Ian said: “As highlighted in the Bailey Review, the digital age presents new challenges for the marketing industry and rightly places greater responsibility on the shoulders of those communicating with children. As ethical marketers we must ensure that we meet these challenges and face the responsibilities. I’m looking forward to continuing Dubit’s work with the Advertising Association and advancing ethical practices.”
The panel will comprise of a small number of senior practitioners drawn from relevant companies across advertisers, social media, mobile, internet, youth marketing agencies and the internet. Advice will also be sought from independent academics and children’s and parenting groups. Douthwaite will join Andria Vilder of EMI on the panel, which is being chaired by Mark Lund, former Chief Executive of the COI and co-founder of the Now agency.
QR Codes – The winners and the losers
When we released the results of our survey in to what young people think and know about QR codes, awareness proved to be the biggest barrier to their success. This was closely followed by poor application.
Since then we have been trawling streets, internet and television to find the five best and worst examples of QR codes in the wild. If you’ve got any examples then please post them in the comments section.
The Best
Gravestones
Japan really sets the benchmark for QR codes. One of the most bizarre is their addition to grave stones, as seen in this video. Having more than the deceased’s basic details on stone can look crass and that’s even before you look at the cost of extra text. But a simple and discreet QR code means that visitors can see photos, videos and text on those who have passed away.
The World Park
This campaign by Magma pretty much ticks all the QR code boxes. As well as being well sign-posted with plenty of instructions for QR virgins it manages to incorporate video, quizzes, maps and a host of content that really improves on the experiences of people at New York’s city parks. We’ve seen museums and galleries do similar applications but this really does make the parks come to life in the way a only a smart phone and QR code can.
Nutritional Info
Another cracking example from Japan, this time McDonalds are using them to present nutritional information on the food. It might not be as flashy as other examples but it provides relevant additional content where it may otherwise get lost.
Gumball dispensers
Don’t have change to buy sweets? This tweeting gumball machine lets you use the QR code to pay for your food. While we wait for Near Field Communication to gain momentum QR codes for payment might be the perfect stop-gap. Oh, it also tweets your purchase!
Speaking adverts
Instead of using their print adverts to send readers elsewhere, Reporters Without Borders used QR codes to make them more engaging. Further Brownie points are awarded for clear instructions on how to make them work
The Worst
Lynx
In game advertising has great potential but we have to question Lynx’s decision to place adverts with QR
codes in EA games, such as Fight Night Champion. The advert on the ring looks great but nobody who is playing the game is going to stop so they can pull out their phone and take a picture. Marketers need to consider the competition for consumers attention, which in this case will always be won by the boxing game.
Labrinth
Simon Cowell’s Syco Music decided to add QR codes to material promoting their new act, Labrinth (horrible spelling, we know). With a new music act the opportunities for QR codes are vast with rich media such as video and audio being perfect for fans smart phones and favoured by the youth. Instead, they used the QR code to send fans to the artist’s website – a missed opportunity.
Sky
Despite the ironic “But lo, what is this? A QR code?” recognising that people are still a bit confused by QR codes, Sky’s advert still doesn’t tell readers what to do with it. Top marks for letting them know what the benefits are (online movie demos, it would appear) but being told to ‘follow it’ seems to confuse matters. If they wanted to retain the medieval language a simple ‘point your magical smartphone at this cryptic image’ would have sufficed.
SIDI Crossfire
We’re all too familiar with the feeling that a QR code was just slapped on to an advert but in this mess of an advert it’s probably true. As well as having little information on what to do, apart from ‘Scan Me’, it’s also too small and gets lost amongst the boots and bike. When it is scanned it then links through to a full version of the website, hardly mobile friendly and something that could be achieved by the URL.
Maynards
Maynards launched a treasure hunt using QR codes through the Toronto and Montreal subway with a $25,000 prize. A nice ide
a, if only the competition wasn’t hosted in the underground with no mobile internet and no way for the phone to link up to the custom Facebook page. There are some rather technical ways to get around this but they weren’t employed by Maynards. Our research showed that an obstacle preventing mass use of QR codes
was teens having a bad experience with them in the past, meaning promotions such as this can do more harm than good.
QR Codes could be a winner with teens – if only they knew what to do with them
Research conducted using our monthly Direct to Youth Digital Omnibus suggests that a lack of awareness is preventing Quick Response (QR) codes from achieving their full potential as brands look to engage teens through their phones.
The special barcode allows smartphone users to get access to information by photographing the image using free software. As they have gained in popularity, QR codes’ use in marketing campaigns has become commonplace as brands look for new ways to engage their audiences through their mobile phone. However, with 72 per cent of 11-18 year olds either not having or not being aware that they have the software to read QR codes, these brands may be missing out on a significant proportion of their audience.
Our research questioned 1,000 teens aged between 11-18 years of age with an equal balance between gender and age. When shown an image of a QR code only 43 per cent correctly identified that it could be read by a mobile phone while 19 per cent admitted they didn’t know what it was. Eight per cent of girls suspected it might be a magic-eye picture.
Although QR codes have become part of marketing lexicon – the same can’t be said for the playground. Only 33 per cent of those questioned correctly identified the image as a QR code, with 22 per cent believing it was called an RFID tag and 12 per cent labelling it as an infograph.
A positive note for marketers is that despite only 19 per cent of teens having used software to read QR codes, 74 per cent of those who have used say it was worth doing so.
Paula Cubley, head of marketing at Dubit said: “Although this research highlights a lack of awareness with teens, it goes to show that when the technology is being used it is being done affectively. What’s missing is the messaging alerting teens to the opportunities. Marketers can’t just stick a QR code on a poster or in an advert, teens need to be told what to do with them. It might even be advisable to suggest places to download QR code readers. Considering teens are very much attached to their mobile phone this lack of awareness is surprising.”
The benefits and various applications for QR Codes have been widely promoted through the marketing press, with 2011 being seen as the year QR codes go mainstream. However, Dubit’s research shows that the most desired application for teens is to receive vouchers or exclusive content to their phone. Automatically ‘liking’ the brand on Facebook was the least attractive option closely followed by being taken to a brand’s web presence or Facebook page. Both of these examples appeared below the relatively mundane option of receiving directions to the brand or store.
The opportunity to receive a ringtone or wallpaper, or view an advert or make the current advert interactive all ranked joint third for desired application.
Ms Cubley added: “It might not be rocket science that teens like discounts and exclusive content but what is interesting is that they are prepared to receive such content through the use of QR codes.
“Historically, when compared to Americans, Britons have been adverse to using coupons and vouchers. However, the popularity of Groupon and the promotion of Facebook Deals and Foursquare have made the practice more acceptable. What our research shows is that QR codes may be the way to get these vouchers into the hands of teens.”
The survey was undertaken using Dubit’s monthly Direct to Youth Digital Omnibus. The survey offers brands the opportunity to quiz the agency’s panel of over 40,000 children, young people and families.
Dubit Knowledge 28/5
Teens & Media Consumption:
We were reading Morgan Stewart’s recent on article on GenY: As They Age, So Do Their Motivations for Going Online and how it details what young people use the internet for such as Hunting for Information (20%) and Looking for Deals (20%) and it made us cast our minds back.
Remember just under a year ago, Matthew Robson caused something akin to mild terror across cyberspace with his version of how young people consume media. Of course, one person’s point of view does not make a consensus so at the time, Dubit did some real research into teens actually thought about Twitter. It’s almost a year on since we published it so in the next few weeks so, as well as the open house focus group, we’ll be repeating the study on what the UK youth think of Twitter in 2010 and seeing how perceptions have shifted over 12 months. If you have questions that you’d like to submit for the study, then email sam.brown@dubitlimited.com.
As a slight aside, you’d think that by the amount of time Justin Bieber was a trending topic, then teens own Twitter!
Enterprise : So the Junior Apprentice is entering its fourth week and it’s just like the ‘adult’ version – full of back biting, emotions and enterprise (Sarah Newton has a good review of it here). Having started as Young Enterprise company 10 years ago, Dubit can certainly relate to young people being entrepreneurial and as this blog shows, entrepreneurship is still alive in UK youth. There are a lot of positives to be taken from Enterprise Education and teens engaging with businesses as it will help create the business leaders of tomorrow and as Your Hidden Potential have just interviewed 17 year old entreprenueur Emil Hajric from Bosnia about his new venture, it’s creating the business leaders of today too! (Emil is still a teen though…his favourite TV programme is the Cleveland Show!)
Seven Trends : Graham D Brown has detailed 7 Trends That Will Rock Marketing from his upcoming book and highlights Crowd Sourcing as one of the trends. This is something Mountain Dew are leading the way with their DEWmocracy campaign – and even GE are getting the picture and thinking of crowd sourcing. Also, another key insight when marketing to young people, as Aiden Livingston highlights in a excerpt from his new book The Secrets of Advertising to Gen Y Consumers, is to always remember that small is big.
New Campaign: Toyota are launching the Scion tC later this year and they say the current Scion has the ‘youngest median-age buyer — around 25 — of any vehicle in the industry ’. Accordingly, they’ve come up with a suitably youth orientated launch campaign to back it up with a Facebook roadtrip from New York to Miami to LA with the winners getting to do it for real!
Teen Research: Online privacy is a big talking point at the moment, especially given Facebook’s recent announcement. Business Week back this up with an article saying Millennials are extra keen on their privacy, however the Washington Post argues they are also most at risk for ID theft. This is sure to continue to be an issue, with people still thinking that the Facebook announcements still aren’t enough.
FREE ONLINE FOCUS GROUP!
On June 3rd at 1400, you can watch a one hour focus group of 6-8 13-15 year olds giving us their thoughts and feelings on media consumption, Twitter, FourSquare and things that adults can learn from young people.
And it’s free!
This is part of the unveiling of the newest addition to the Dubit Research arsenal – The Click Room! The Click Room is Dubit’s unique virtual viewing facility – used for focus groups or meetings with people from anywhere in the world – and all from the comfort of your home or office.
If you would like access to the event, email jonathan.clough@dubitlimited.com and we’ll provide you with the details on how to login.
TV advertising recall of 500 7-17 year olds
Q: Which of the following TV advertisements do you remember seeing recently?* Campaign watch was conducted from 1st – 6th of September by Dubit research among 500 7-17 year olds as part of its ongoing tracking of media consumption habits
12-17 Year Olds
Total
Male
Female
Comparethemarket.com
83%
83%
83%
T-mobile
78%
75%
77%
Lynx – Fish Man
75%
77%
73%
Apple – iPhone 3GS
71%
77%
66%
Head & Shoulders
68%
68%
68%
Think! – Drug Driving – Eyes
61%
57%
65%
BT Vision
60%
59%
62%
McDonald’s – Coke Glasses Are Back
60%
59%
60%
The Final Destination
53%
50%
56%
Inglourious Basterds
47%
51%
44%
Pot Noodle
46%
54%
39%
Direct Gov – Exam Results
46%
54%
39%
Clarks – Back To School
42%
37%
48%
Sky+ HD – Jose Mourinho
40%
52%
28%
Calvin Harris
39%
35%
42%
Coca-Cola – Hello You
34%
29%
40%
Online Advertising Recall of 500 7-17 Year Olds
Q: Which of the following online advertisements do you remember seeing recently? Campaign watch was conducted from 1st – 6th of September by Dubit research among 500 7-17 year olds as part of its ongoing tracking of media consumption habit
The only monthly tracking of advertising recall with young people
12-17 Year Olds
Total
Male
Female
O2 Sims
77%
72%
83%
T-Mobile
71%
63%
79%
Free Sky+ Box
62%
57%
68%
3
45%
46%
45%
Pepsi Max
31%
34%
29%
O2 – VISA card
30%
32%
29%
Virgin Media / ESPN
30%
30%
31%
LG GD900 Crystal
20%
19%
22%
Coca Cola
13%
12%
14%
Lucazade
8%
10%
6%
Advertising Recall
With adverts being around us all the time, whether it be online or offline, there are many ideas as to how useful they actually are when targeting young people due to today’s youth being subjected to advertising from birth, so they’ve evolved to exclude and ignore an adverts presence when consuming media.
Every month, Dubit run a research study across the UK with 500 12-17 year olds to track which adverts have the best recall.
Q: Which of the following online advertisements do you remember seeing recently?
|
12-17 Year Olds |
Total |
Male |
Female |
|
O2 Sims |
77% |
72% |
82% |
|
T-Mobile Sims |
72% |
63% |
80% |
|
Free Sky+ Box |
63% |
55% |
72% |
|
3 |
42% |
41% |
42% |
|
Virgin Media – Nokia 6303 |
36% |
35% |
38% |
|
Lynx Bullet |
32% |
34% |
30% |
|
Watchmen |
22% |
22% |
22% |
|
Samsung Music Bebo |
15% |
11% |
19% |
|
Coca Cola |
13% |
13% |
12% |
|
Land of the Lost |
12% |
12% |
13% |
Q: Which of the following TV advertisements do you remember seeing recently?
|
12-17 Year Olds |
Total |
Male |
Female |
|
Comparethemarket.com |
80% |
79% |
80% |
|
T-mobile |
77% |
75% |
80% |
|
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince |
70% |
63% |
76% |
|
Coke Zero – The Impossible Made Possible |
66% |
67% |
66% |
|
Apple – iPhone 3GS |
58% |
57% |
58% |
|
Specsavers |
56% |
62% |
49% |
|
Nokia N97 |
57% |
58% |
55% |
|
5 Gum – Stimulate Your Senses |
52% |
53% |
50% |
|
Now 73 |
51% |
45% |
58% |
|
McDonald’s – Cornetto McFlurry |
49% |
46% |
52% |
|
Orange – Bright Top Ups |
40% |
41% |
39% |
|
Hula Hoops – DJ |
40% |
36% |
43% |
|
Milky Way – Car Race |
37% |
38% |
36% |
|
KFC – Fire warden |
33% |
32% |
34% |
|
Mentos – Chewing gum |
31% |
22% |
41% |
|
L’Oreal – Elvive Nourish & Shimmer |
29% |
17% |
40% |
Campaign watch was conducted from 27th - 30th of July by Dubit research among 500 7-17 year olds as part of its ongoing tracking of media consumption habits. For details contact John Prorok at John.Prorok@dubitlimited.com (0113 394 934).
A 15 year old’s view point on Social Networks
We asked Dubit member, Claudia, for her thoughts…
“By definition, a social network is a social structure made up of individuals or organizations tied by specific types of inter-dependency, such as friendship or a relationship of beliefs. In reality, a social network is much more than this…
My personal preference is Facebook – the UK’s most popular social networking site – for the simple reason that everyone is on it; why would I need to sign up to anything else when all my friends are on one large network?
I find that there is also a certain satisfaction to using these social networking sites – Facebook in particular allows us to see into other people’s lives without having to ask: this summer’s holiday, or perhaps last weekend’s antics all readily available in just a few clicks.
However, as amazing as these social networking sites are, they all have downsides. Safety is a huge issue: parents understandably panic over letting their children post all their personal information online where almost anyone can access them. Although networking sites are becoming a lot more cautious about identity theft, there is still the available option some choose to allow anyone on the net to look at their personal information.
MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Friendster; any social networking site you can think of all have the unavoidable problem of false identity – anyone can create an account, pretending to be someone they’re not. This could lead to cyber-stalking and even harassment – definitely not something we want to face.
So is it really worth the risk just to waste precious hours of our lives chatting to our friends in a more effortless, impersonal and lazy way, when actually we should be encouraging our youth to develop their communication skills in person and get outside rather than stay at home in front of the computer screen all day?
Personally, I think they are great creations – the gift of virtual conversations is one we should appreciate and social networking sites such as Facebook take this one level higher. However there is an unhealthy level of addiction – especially among young teens – that will inevitably become worse over the next 5 years.
So, what I’d like to see from these social sites is a more real approach: removing the many pointless applications that appear for people to use, such as ‘HonestyBox’. Such applications are there for one thing and one thing only, to generate money.
This is something that we are now subject to from an early age: advertising.
Will it decline over the next 5 years… no!! Social network sites are big news, both in advertising and revenue. Since their humble urban beginnings, they have quickly turned into money driven juggernaut hurtling towards the big city – with their sights on the financial district.
So… where will social network sites be in 5 years time? Who knows…maybe the new T.V?”
Dubit have made their name conducting real research with real young people that gives a representative view point of what the UK youth are actually thinking. We continually run our own internal research so we always know exactly what the youth are thinking at all times.
