MindShare plugs into youth habits

Developed by MindShare, which engaged Synovate Filter to recruit a network of young scouts, who then gathered panels of opinion leaders and trendsetters, the study will roll out across Asia-Pacific in coming months.

"This is important because we're living in tribal times," explained James Chadwick, director of insights at MindShare. "Because of digitalisation -- mobile phones, the internet -- we're seeing more like-minded tribes socialising in person and virtually. So it's more important than ever to understand people's passions.

"Tribal times is not conventional market research, which focuses on demographics rather than tribes. And furthermore, we don't ask conventional questions. We talk to these panels about the sort of trends they're seeing in their cities."

The pilot study focused on three topics: 'Cola wars' -- a stack-up between Coke and Pepsi; the local 'indie music' spirit; and World Cup fever. In 'Cola wars', the panel designated key words to each brand. Coke invoked words such as classic, proud, stable, and musical, whereas Pepsi was described as modern, action sport-oriented, superficial and risk-taking.

The panel concluded that although Coke was a more sophisticated brand, Pepsi's marketing taps better into the Thai mentality with its direct, youthful approach. Next up for Tribal times are Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney, which are rolling out within a month. Following that, the study will cover 10 cities each quarter, speaking to over 150 trendsetters and content creators in Asia.

"We'll use this network to understand how the trends are flowing between Asian countries and are imported from Europe and America," Chadwick added. "For example, we all know that Japan is a major trendsetter, but we don't know why or how Japanese trends flow in and out of other markets." What we've developed is something that doesn't currently exist in Asia -- the ability for clients to run an idea across our panel of opinion leaders and trendsetters."