Meet The Parents
January 2005
Meet The Parents (Canada)
Paul Acerbi VP YC
September 2004
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Synovate YC : What we do
Global youth agency focusing on the lives and aspirations of 12-30 year olds
We provide youth brands with strategy, insight and ideas:
 Insight
 Qualitative research
 Quantitative research
 Client Immersions
 Panels
 Edge
 Continuous study of the youth context
 Creates
 Concept Development
 Re-positioning Development
 Brand Consultancy
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Synovate
Current Clients
YC : Current Clients
MTV
Britvic
BBC Radio 1
BBC 3
BBC Interactive
Nestle
Coors
Absolut
Burton’s Biscuits
Unilever Bestfoods
Rockport
Allied Domecq
Cadbury
Masterfoods
Coca Cola
Lever Faberge
Whitbread
Diageo GB
Princes Trust
Jim Beam Brands
Wrangler / Lee
Halfords
Hewlett Packard
Sony
XFM
Etam
Orange
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Synovate YC: Client views
"The complexities of researching the youth market are well documented. Synovate
YC are one of the few specialists in this field that can draw a straight line
through the issues. We are more than happy with their level of expertise and
their insights have genuinely broadened our perspective" .‘
Graham Saxton, SVP Strategy – MTV Europe
‘“YC are one of our most important partners in helping us understand the
dynamics of our young adult market - what matters, what doesn't; what's the
present, what's the future. Critically for us, YC go far beyond the remit of a
research agency, and act as a consultant and business partner in helping us
anticipate our target consumers' motivations.”
John Hosking, Consumer Planning Director - Diageo GB
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Meet the Parents
Introduction
Our research amongst youth throughout the world leads us to believe that
parents have the biggest impact on young people’s lives
63% of Canadian families have children in the home. (2001 Census)
Global societal trend of young people staying at home for longer than ever
before:
 41% of 20-24 year olds are living at home!
(Source: 2001 Census)
To understand why today’s youth behaves and responds as it does we
need to understand the parents…
Welcome to Meet the Parents Canada
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How Do We Know This Stuff?
What?
 In-depth immersions with parents with children 12-30 living in the home
 Synovate Omnibus interviews of 500 parents across Canada
 TeenNation Omnibus interviews of 500 young people across NA
Who?
 Married Couples
 Single Parents
 Step-parent & Biological Parent
 Different ethnic groups
 Experts in Canada, UK and US
Where?
 Vancouver
 Regina
 Toronto
 Montreal
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Agenda
Adult Identity Crisis
Factors influencing parenting style:
 Parent’s childhood
 Fear
Why leave home?
Parental spending blitz
What does this mean for brands?
Team exercise
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The Adult Identity Crisis
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The Adult Identity Crisis
Parents often attribute their teen’s erratic behaviour, sloth like
demeanour, and inability to take on any responsibility as an “identity
crisis.”
 However, the tables have turned and now it is the parent who is
searching for an ID . . .
We live in a culture which is obsessed with the cult of youth
 Media
 Celebrity
 Plastic surgery
Being adult has never been less culturally
desirable
 Responsibility
 Settled ways
 Boring…
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Adult Identity Crisis
Few meaningful ‘rights of passage’
Adults are not becoming parents until later
in life by choice:
 Medically possible
 Status anxiety
 Reluctant to lose youth lifestyle
 Celebrity cues
Adults are trying hard to be young…. so
what does this mean for being a parent?
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Factors Influencing Parenting
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
Research identifies 4 dominant drivers of parenting style
Cultural and religious
background
Parent’s
upbringing
Family
context
Fear
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
Parent’s Upbringing
THEN
Parents childhood = key driver of
parenting style
The Parents childhood:
 Responsibility
 Perceived safe community
 Strict parents
 Limited school pressures
 Limited technology
 Play outside
 Job security
 Less consumption
 Working father and at-home
mother
Felt different to their parents
Felt their parents didn’t understand them
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
Parent’s Upbringing
NOW
In response to parents have created a
very different environment for their
children:











They want their kids to like them
Obsessed with cult of youth
Lack of responsibility
Fear of violence and crime
Academic pressure
Technology-obsessed culture
Competitive job market
Student debt
Rife consumption
Both parents in the workforce
Working longer hours
Try to be accepted by their kids
Try to understand their kids
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
Parent’s Upbringing
43% North American parents want to be their child’s best
friend
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
Parent’s Upbringing
Parents believe that “kids are getting smarter
these days” because they know about:
 Technology
 Education
 Internet
 Media
Parents mistaking:
 EXPERIENCE and WORLDLINESS
for
 INTELLIGENCE and KNOWLEDGE
“Kids are becoming exposed to a far greater range of
experiences that are distinct from their parents . . .
The parents think, well I don’t understand this, so
therefore they must be smarter than me.”
Frank Feradi, Professor of Sociology,
University of Canterbury
This contributes to the parent’s lack of
confidence in themselves
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
Parents Upbringing: Pushover Parents
A shift in power dynamic within household
from adult to children
Many parents are longing to regain control
over their household and their children's lives
 Parental frustration
 Parental disappointment
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Fear Factor
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
The Fear Factor: The Outside World
All parents considered themselves worried about their children
regardless of age
37% would prefer their kids at home at ALL times
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
The Fear Factor: Underachievement
Youth have a myriad of distractions,
have little sense of future plans
….and are notoriously lazy!
Societal pressure for academic
success
Parents afraid that if they lack focus
they won’t achieve
If their children fail, they have failed
as a parent
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
The Fear Factor: Therapy Future
Middle class urban parents fear of
damaging the child’s development
Reluctance to discipline children
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Factors influencing Parenting Style
The Fear Factor
The fear factors result in:
 Pity
 Feel sorry for their kids having to grow up in such
demanding and dangerous world
 Life Guarding
 Create an excessively safe, comfortable and entertaining
environment at home
 So their kids never want to leave….
Parents are not afraid of what their kids may do in the outside world,
but what the outside world may do to their kids
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Why Leave Home?
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Why Leave Home?
47% of North American teenagers intend to stay at home as long as they can
Source: Synovate TeenNation
56% of North American Parents don’t want their children to ever leave home!
Source: Synovate TeleNation
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Why Leave Home?
29% of men between 25 and 29 live
at home compared to 19% of women
(2001 Census)
More younger people are staying at
home for longer
Boomerang Generation = more are
returning after they’ve left!
 73% of Parents will always
welcome their children moving
back home
In previous generations, kids couldn’t
wait to move out on their own to
escape….
But now?
They want to stay and parents don’t
even want them to leave!
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Why Leave Home?
Kids are living at home for longer and
longer because the parents want them to
 Parent losing a best friend!
 Parent losing the focus of their life!
 Parent worried about being alone!
 Parent worried about what might
happen to them!
Hence many parents create an environment
that is “impossible to leave”:
 No rent
 No bills
 No rules
 All cooking and washing done
 Toys – necessities not luxuries
 Space dedicated to fun
And they boomerang because real life is
way too tough….
“I have always encouraged them
to be at home, and that way I
know what’s going on.”
(Single mother of four older boys)
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Why Leave Home… Oh. My. God.
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Why Leave Home
Meet the Dumb 20 Somethings!
A dynamic where parents:
 Do everything for their child
 Protect kids from life experiences
 Encourage children to stay at
home longer
Result: 20 somethings with little
grasp of how to manage adult life,
(especially males)
 How to cook?
 How to get a job?
 How to pay bills?
“We get ever worsening applications for jobs. Spelling mistakes, cut n pasting,
wrong names. It’s like they don’t think. One who we turned down for just for these reasons
actually had their Dad call us to ask why!?”
HR Manager Synovate
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Spending Blitz
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Spending Blitz: Spoiled Rotten
Families will spend a $15 billion this year on consumer products for
their teens and young adults!
Attitudes and behavior related to child spending are influenced not by how
much money people have
Its all about awareness of ‘spoiling’
 Parents who refuse to spoil
 Parents who spoil:
 Haven’t thought it through
 Parenting style
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Spending Blitz
Rich
Prince Makers
Successful Drivers
• Parents have high income
• Often from a poor background
• Refuse to ask children to do anything,
provide everything for them
• Children want for nothing and know the
value of nothing
• Parents highly successful
• Understand the importance of hard work
and education
• Insist on chores being done
• Children highly focused on achieving
Unaware
Of spoiling
Aware
Of spoiling
Spoil Seekers
Value Instillers
• Parents small disposable income but
spend heavily on children
• Desire to ‘spoil’ their children
• Spend to make themselves feel good
• Spend to keep up with consumerist
society
• Shopping main hobby
• Children want for nothing and know
the value of nothing
• Parents have small disposable income
and kids understand
• Children expect little
• Children often focused on achieving
Poor
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Spending Blitz
Need.States
2%
8%
GUILT
• Long working hours
• Family breakdown
• Arguments
• Lack of connection
TREND
• Child – fits in
• Parent-peace of mind
• Parents want to be
young and cool
LOVE
• Youth becoming
less emotionally
dependent
• Parent finds
comfort in being the
PROVIDER
30%
• Reaction-based
FEAR
• Keep kids at home
• Stay safe
22%
• Educational products
EGO
• Kids =
fashion
accessories
• Kids=cool,
parents are
cool…
30%
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Spending Blitz
71% of parental child purchases are
made without any child request
(Source: Synovate TeleNation)
 Best friend syndrome
 Mom does everything…
Parents purchase based on what they
know or think their child will like…
Guess-ter Power
In research, we came across no
structured allowances – money provided
as and when required
 Older children often have parent
funded credit cards
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So, what do the kids think?
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So, what do the kids think?
Source: Synovate TeenNation
65% of teens believe their parents “try hard to be a friend"
 However, only 28% said they intend "to be a friend
first" when they have kids
 Almost half of all teens claimed they "will be strict with
kids about what they can and can't do”
Only 10% of teens intend to buy their kids whatever
they want
40% of teens indicated they would raise their own
kids differently
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What Does This Mean For Brands?
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Paul Acerbi
Synovate YC
paul.acerbi@synovate.com
www.synovate.com/edge
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